Massachusetts suffrage bluebird. Courtesy the National Museum of American History (https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_508085)
The Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association chose the bluebird as their symbol leading up to a 1915 state referendum on women’s access to the vote. On Suffrage Blue Bird Day (July 17, 1915) as many as 100,000 of these tin bluebird signs were displayed across the state. The 1915 Massachusetts referendum failed, and women did not get the vote in Massachusetts until the passage of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution in August of 1920.
Manufactured in New York City, these tin signs measured 12 inches tall by 4 inches across (30.48 cm x 10.16 cm). They were put up on fences, posts, and walls across the state.
