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Read the press release here.

View the Rap Sheets and Writings of Suffragettes at UES Exhibit

By Shaye Weaver | January 14, 2016 11:41am
 Books, posters, and even criminal records will be on display at Hunter College's Roosevelt House, starting this week.
Women's Suffrage Items on Display at the Roosevelt House
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UPPER EAST SIDE — Suffragettes founder Emmeline Pankhurst, who protested and fought for the right to vote for women around the turn of the 20th century, was arrested seven times before women in the U.K. were enfranchised in 1918.

Pankhurst was charged with obstructing police, inciting a riot, conspiring with others and breaking windows, among other offenses, according to her rap sheet, which will be on display with 74 other historical items — posters, pamphlets and literature — that played a big role in the women’s suffrage movement.

The exhibit, "Women Take the Lead," will be on display at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College through April 2.

Pankhurst’s criminal record, which includes her physical description, a photograph and the sentences for each of her crimes, as well as her daughter Sylvia Pankhurst’s rap sheet, are among the more telling relics.

The exhibit also features 22 posters from 1912 urging men to get on board with securing the right to vote for women. One even calls baseball fans to their cause with a poster that quoted Fred Clark, the then manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, saying he supports women's suffrage.

An early copy of the Declaration of Sentiments will also be on display, signed by women and men at the 1848 Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention.

The exhibit, which features items on loan from the Dobkin Family Collection of Feminist History, was put together with the new film 'Suffragette,' the forthcoming Women’s Equality Month in March and the current political climate in mind, according to Harold Holzer, the Jonathan F. Fanton Director at Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute.

"As we enter presidential primary season, it’s timely to have the opportunity to see message-oriented posters that were used in the 1912 election year — and had all the audacity, immediacy and brevity of today’s tweets," he said.

"It’s crucial to learn from history, and here we have a selection of 'campaign' messages from a presidential election and a movement for social change — a huge effort that changed politics and government in this country forever."

The Roosevelt House will also feature women's rights programming in March, including author talks and a discussion on women's reproductive health.

The Roosevelt House is located at 47-49 E. 65th St. between Madison and Park avenues. The exhibit will be open and free to the public from Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and during all evening public programs at the Roosevelt House.

For more information, visit the Roosevelt House's website.