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About this book

Ida Husted Harper’s second volume of The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony is a meticulously compiled documentary biography. It gathers the public addresses, personal letters, and contemporary commentary that trace Anthony’s half‑century of activism, from early New England tributes and European tours to congressional hearings, state campaigns, and the formation of national and international women’s councils. The opening pages catalogue a succession of chapters that read like a chronicle of her relentless public life, detailing speeches at conventions, visits to foreign capitals, and the myriad newspaper reports that recorded her influence from Boston to California.

The work is written in the formal, report‑like prose of late‑19th‑century journalism, preserving the cadence of contemporary newspaper clippings and personal correspondence. Readers who relish primary sources, historians of the suffrage movement, and anyone interested in the social‑political networks of the Gilded Age will find Harper’s exhaustive compilation both informative and evocative, offering a rich, unvarnished portrait of Anthony’s tireless advocacy.

Who appears in this book

  • Susan B. AnthonyMid‑19th‑century American woman, dark hair in bun, plain black dress, dignified expression
  • Zerelda G. WallaceLate‑19th‑century American woman, brown hair with curls, high‑necked dress, gentle smile
  • Mrs. SewallRespectable 19th‑century American lady, white bonnet, modest gown, poised posture

The opening · free to read

THE LEGACY--NEBRASKA CAMPAIGN--OFF FOR EUROPE. (1881-1882-1883.) 533-550

National Association in Boston; badge presented Miss Anthony by Philadelphia Citizens' Suffrage Association; comments of Traveller and Globe; sweep of New England; tribute of Zerelda G. Wallace; no welcome for Miss Anthony in Albany; letter on death of Garfield; attends National W. C. T. U. Convention in Washington; Phillips' seventieth birthday; Mrs. Eddy's handsome legacy; Fourteenth Washington Convention; amusing suffrage debate in Senate; meeting in Philadelphia; tributes from Elmira Free Press and Washington Republic; favorable Senate and House Committee reports; campaign in Nebraska; addresses Lincoln Club, Rochester; decides to go abroad; Philadelphia Times account of Birthday reception; Mrs. Sewall's description in Indianapolis Times of farewell honors; fine tributes from Chicago Tribune and Kansas City Journal; N. Y. Times describes departure for Europe.

Miss Anthony's European Letters. (1883.) 551-579

On shipboard; in Liverpool and London; in Milan and Rome; in Naples; in Zurich, Berlin, Cologne, Heidelberg; in Paris; back to London; Mrs. Jacob Bright, Moncure D. Conway, Wm. Henry Channing, Mrs. Rose, Stopford Brooke; speech at Prince's Hall; Helen Taylor, Jane Cobden and others; speech at St. James Hall; Mrs. Mellen's Fourth of July reception; Canon Wilberforce, Sarah Bernhardt; Edinburgh; Elizabeth Pease Nichol, Priscilla Bright McLaren, Professor Blackie, Dr. Jex-Blake; home of Harriet Martineau; Dublin; Isabella M. S. Tod and others; trip through Ireland; characteristic descriptions; John Bright, Hannah Ford, home of the Brontes; Henrietta Mueller, Margaret Bright Lucas, Frances Power Cobbe, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Mrs. Peter Taylor; home again.

Welcome Home from Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, N. Y. Evening Telegram, Cleveland Leader; unkind comment Cincinnati Times-Star; dislike of interviewing Congressmen shown by letter to Wm. D. Kelley; Warren Keifer in favor of Woman Suffrage; opposition of Reagan, of Texas; members for and against Special Committee; Douglass marriage; letters to young workers; death of Wendell Phillips; Bishop Simpson on Woman Suffrage; fine speech before Congressional Committee; Thomas B. Reed's report; letter from Senator Palmer; Miss Anthony on Suffrage Bill in Parliament; attitude of Presidential candidates; opposes resolution denouncing dogmas and creeds; attack of Rev. W. W. Patton; Senator Palmer's speech; trip to New Orleans; tribute of Picayune; Eddy legacy received; working on History; Miss Anthony's dislike of literary labor; Mrs. Stanton's seventieth birthday; letter from Harriet Stanton Blatch.

Miss Anthony's persistence with members of Congress; Eighteenth Washington Convention; committee reports; canvass of the State of Kansas; Municipal Suffrage Bill passed by Legislature; speaking throughout Wisconsin; advice as to Church for holding convention; History of Woman Suffrage and valuable work accomplished by it; opinions of Mary L. Booth, Sarah B. Cooper and others; Nineteenth Annual Convention; Senator Blair's bill for Woman Suffrage; Senators Brown and Vest in opposition; Senators Dolph and Blair in favor; remonstrance from Boston; the Vote; women incensed at Ingalls; letter to Frances Willard on Prohibition Party; letter to Olympia Brown against bringing suit under school suffrage law; scores Senator Ingalls in Kansas; canvass of Indiana.

American Association proposes Union; negotiations to that end; plea for Mrs. Stanton's election as president; Union completed; International Council of Women; magnitude of preparations; Miss Anthony's idea of a sermon; letter of Douglass on First Woman's Rights Convention; letter of Maria Mitchell; efforts to secure Mrs. Stanton's presence; comment of Baltimore Sun and N. Y. World; Frances Willard's speech and letter to Union Signal; National and International Councils formed; at Central Music Hall, Chicago; letter urging women to go to National Political conventions; open letter to General Harrison; Republican "free ballot" plank does not include Women; dislike of "red tape;" speech at Columbus W. C. T. U. celebration not well received.

Conventions From Washington to South Dakota. (1889.) 647-661

Twenty-first Washington Convention; address before Unity Club, Cincinnati; death of niece Susie B.; letters on Death; newspaper comment on Dress; at Seidl Club on Coney Island and "Broadbrim's" account; a round of lectures and conventions; letter of Harriet Hosmer; canvass of South Dakota; Miss Anthony outlines plan of campaign; nephew D. R. describes speech at Ann Arbor; "Andrew Jackson-like responsibility"; work for South Dakota; description in Washington Star.

At the End of Seventy Years. (1890.) 663-678

Consternation at idea of selling tickets for Birthday banquet; description of banquet by Washington Star and N. Y. Sun; speeches of Rev. F. W. Hinckley, Hon. J. A. Pickler, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony; congratulatory letters from distinguished people; eloquent tributes from Boston Traveller and Rochester Democrat and Chronicle; first Convention of United Associations; money for South Dakota; in Washington society; letter on pre-natal influence.

The South Dakota Campaign. (1890.) 679-696

Appeals from South Dakota; Miss Anthony lays down the law regarding National funds; pledges of Farmers' Alliance leaders; contributions to campaign; goes to South Dakota; Farmers' Alliance and Knights of Labor form new party and repudiate pledges for Woman Suffrage; insults at Democratic Convention; Republican Convention has room for Indian men but none for white women; Miss Anthony's cheerful letters; hardships of campaign; Mrs. Howell's description of meetings at Madison; Rev. Anna Shaw's account of crying babies and drunken man; Mrs. Chapman Catt's summing-up of situation; statistics of Defeat; Miss Anthony endorsed by State W. C. T. U. and Suffrage Associations.

Debate in Congress on admission of Wyoming; first majority report from House Committee in favor of Sixteenth Amendment; Wimodaughsis; in Boston; letter of sympathy from Lucy Stone; first triennial meeting of National Woman's Council; Miss Anthony's joy; Twenty-third Washington Convention; breakfast at Sorosis; letter from ex-Secretary Hugh McCulloch; leaving Riggs House; letter describing visits in New England; goes to housekeeping; kindness of press and people; letter from Adirondacks and John Brown's home; stirs up Rochester W. C. T. U.; at Chautauqua; describes meeting at Lily Dale; happiness in keeping house; speaks at N. Y. State Fair; invites Mrs. Stanton to share her home; calls meeting to admit girls to Rochester University; speaks at Thanksgiving services in Unitarian church; appeals from Kansas.

Ignored by the Parties--appointed to Office. (1892.) 717-735

Mrs. Stanton's last appearance at National Convention; Miss Anthony made president; home life; attends biennial meeting Federation of Woman's Clubs; bust made by Lorado Taft; letter approving Southern Woman's Council; ignored by Republican National Convention at Minneapolis; "every citizen" does not include Women; bowed out of Democratic National Convention at Chicago; Frances Willard's beautiful tribute; at People's National Convention in Omaha; Woman Suffrage at Chautauqua; campaign of Kansas on Republican platform; illustrates difference in treatment of same women now and forty years ago; appointed on Board of Managers State Industrial School; press comment; addresses mass meeting on including Women in provisions of New Charter for Rochester; face sculptured on theater in Dowagiac, Mich.; John Boyd Thacher asks his father's record; Philip Schuyler objects to his stepmother's statue in company with Miss Anthony's; Justice Rufus W. Peckham's tribute.

Miss Anthony opposes holding National Conventions outside Washington; extended range of letters and invitations; urges those who can not work to contribute money; opening of World's Fair; Bertha Honore Palmer's words for women; Miss Anthony behind movement to have women on Board of Managers; President and Board of Lady Managers; Woman's Congress; Miss Anthony center of attraction; compliments from Frances Willard and Lady Somerset; letter of Florence Fenwick Miller; Suffrage leads at Congress; letters from Mrs. Palmer, Mrs. James P. Eagle; speech on Religious Press; pleasant visits in Chicago; tribute from Inter-Ocean; Woman Suffrage granted in Colorado; preparing for New York and Kansas amendment campaigns.

The Second New York Campaign. (1894.) 755-776

Speeches in Ann Arbor, Toledo, Baltimore and Washington; no creeds, no politics in National-American Association; congratulations of Chicago Journal; great New York campaign inaugurated to secure Amendment from Constitutional Convention; headquarters in Anthony home; Corresponding Secretary Mary S. Anthony reports amount of work done; opening rally in Rochester; women of wealth and fashion in New York and Brooklyn take part; N. Y. World describes the movement; "Remonstrants" organize; Miss Anthony's opinion of them; 600,000 signatures secured; Joseph H. Choate, President of Constitutional Convention, uses his influence against Woman Suffrage Amendment; Miss Anthony and many other women address delegates; representatives of the "Antis" speak in opposition; Edward Lauterbach and other members support Amendment; Elihu Root, Wm. P. Goodelle and others oppose; Amendment Defeated; tribute by State president, Mrs. Greenleaf; appreciative letters; incorrect report of speech at Spiritualist camp meeting; Miss Anthony, Frances Willard, Lady Somerset and others at Republican State Convention in Saratoga; starting for Kansas.

The Southern Trip--the Atlanta Convention. (1895.) 799-817

Not cast down by Kansas defeat, Miss Anthony speaks at Nebraska Convention; goes to New York State Convention at Ithaca; visits Cornell University and speaks to girls of Sage College; addresses National W. C. T. U. on Sunday at Cleveland, showing weakness of all attempts at Reform unsupported by the Ballot; pleasant month in New York City; letter on Y. M. C. A. for "woman's edition;" invitation from Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones and Rev. H. W. Thomas to take part in Liberal Religious Congress; addresses at Lexington, Louisville, Memphis and New Orleans; complimentary reports of Picayune, Shreveport Times, Birmingham News, Huntsville Tribune; National-American Convention in Atlanta; courtesy of press, pulpit and people; Seventy-fifth Birthday celebration and presentation of Annuity of $800; second triennial of Woman's Council; speaks at Douglass' funeral; stirs up the audience in Rochester at Ida B. Wells' lecture on Lynching; resigns position on State Industrial School Board.

The Second Visit to California. (1895.) 819-838

Invitation from California Woman's Congress; Miss Anthony and Miss Shaw have royal welcome at St. Louis, Denver, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Reno; cordial reception at Oakland; beautiful scene at Woman's Congress; eulogies of press; visit Stanford University; entertained by many clubs and societies; go to Yosemite Valley; joyfully received at San Jose, Los Angeles, Riverside, Pasadena, Pomona, San Diego, Santa Monica; address Ministers' Meeting in San Francisco; Mrs. Cooper's victory over Fourth of July Committee; speak at the celebration; miss audience at Oakland; affectionate farewell.

Miss Anthony stirs up papers with resolution on Kansas men; description by Chicago Herald; seized with nervous prostration at Lakeside, O.; sympathy of people and press; secret of vitality; letter on maternity hospitals; on "hard times;" on woman's dress; Mrs. Stanton's birthday celebration; Miss Anthony magnanimously refuses to take the lead; tribute from Tilton; appreciative letters from Mary Lowe Dickinson, Mrs. Leland Stanford; Twenty-eighth Annual Convention; Utah admitted with Woman Suffrage; women of South Australia enfranchised; resolution against Woman's Bible; speech on Religious Liberty; grief over action of convention; view of the Bible; Suffrage will emancipate from Superstition; Nelly Bly's racy interview; loud call from California; can not refuse but goes to the Golden State.

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