36th Annual Convention of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association, October 17-20, 1904
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
The 36th annual convention of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA) was held in Auburn, New York October 17-20, 1904. Events were held at the Auburn Music Hall and Osborne Annex. The Osborne House Hotel was the convention headquarters. Participants attended lectures and meetings about advancing the cause of women's suffrage.
Images
The Flint Building in 1975 before it was demolished. The Music Hall was on the second floor of the building.
The Osborne House Hotel on a postcard, early 1900s
The Osborne House Hotel, c. 1920s.
The blue arrow at the top indicates the location of the Osborne House Hotel and the arrow at the bottom is pointing to the location of the Osborne Annex with the Music Hall next to it.
Historic locations of the three buildings compared to the modern landscape.
These are the commercial buildings that replaced the Osborne Annex in the 1920s. These buildings were demolished in the 1970s with the Flint Block.
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"Ribbon and badge : N.Y.S.W.S.A. 36th Annual Convention, Auburn. Oct. 17-19, 1904. Gold ribbon and gold decorative pin with a celluloid photograph of Anna Howard Shaw. The back of the celluloid button is white with blue printed text that reads "President N.A.W.S.A." This was issued for the New York State Woman Suffrage Association's 36th convention in Auburn, New York on October 17-19, 1904."
Pamphlet for the 36th Annual Convention of the NYSWSA, 1904 (Library of Congress)
Pamphlet, page 2
Pamphlet, page 3
Pamphlet, page 4
Ella Hawley Crossett, President, New York State Woman Suffrage Association
Isabel Howland, Recording Secretary, New York State Woman Suffrage Association
Eliza Wright Osborne, Auditor, New York State Woman Suffrage Association
Mariana W. Chapman, Auditor, New York State Woman Suffrage Association
Ida A. Craft, Treasurer, New York State Woman Suffrage Association
Oreola Williams Haskell, Chair of Industrial Committee, New York State Woman Suffrage Association
Elnora M. Babcock, Chair of Press Committee, New York State Woman Association
Mary H. Loines, Chair of Legislation Committee, New York State Woman Suffrage Association
Harriet May Mills, Vice President and Chair of Organization Committee, New York State Woman Suffrage Association
Anne F. Miller (right), president of Political Equality Club in Geneva, NY, led discussion on increasing membership at 1904 convention
Frances W. Graham, President of New York State Woman's Christian Temperance Union, provided music at the 1904 convention
Thomas M. Osborne, Mayor of Auburn and Eliza Wright Osborne's son, delivered a welcome address at the 1904 convention.
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Emily Howland, President of Cayuga County Suffrage Clubs, delivered welcome address at 1904 convention
Mary E. Craigie, addressed the 1904 convention on "Women as Educators."
Harriet Stanton Blatch, addressed the 1904 convention (Elizabeth Cady Stanton's daughter)
Susan B. Anthony, addressed the 1904 convention and presented the membership award
Rev. Anna H. Shaw, addressed the 1904 convention
Harriet May Mills, addressed the 1904 convention
Rev. Lyman Ward, addressed 1904 convention on "Industrial Training of Young White Women in the South."
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The New York State Woman Suffrage Association (NYSWSA) was organized in 1869 after the Fifteenth Amendment only granted the vote to men. Matilda Joslyn Gage organized the first state convention at Saratoga Springs, July 13-14, 1869 and the association held an convention annually after that. The annual convention was a strategy used by NYSWSA to bring together all the smaller societies throughout the state to work together to advance women’s suffrage in New York.
The 36th annual NYSWSA convention was held October 17-20, 1904 in Auburn, NY. About 500 people attended lectures and sessions at the Music Hall while business meetings were held at the Osborne Annex. The Osborne Hotel was the convention headquarters. Eliza Wright Osborne, local suffragist leader, played a big part in organizing the convention and her son, then mayor of Auburn, addressed the convention. In addition to business meetings and reports on the yearly activities of the state’s suffrage organizations, the convention was addressed by Susan B. Anthony, Rev. Anna H. Shaw, and NYSWSA leadership.
The three buildings used during the 1904 convention no longer stand. The Auburn Music Hall was on the second floor of the Flint Block. It was constructed as a live performance hall in the mid-1800s and switched to being a motion picture house in 1909. The theater moved to another building in 1922 and the Music Hall space as divided into offices. The Osborne Annex was in 1904 additional guest space for the Osborne Hotel. Originally it was the home of businessman Cary S. Burtis. After his death, his son leased the property to the owner of the Osborne House hotel (Thomas F. Dignum) and the house was repurposed into an annex to the hotel. The Burtis House/Osborne Annex was demolished in the 1920s and replaced with other buildings. Both the Flint Block (with the Music Hall) and the buildings on the Osborne Annex site were razed in 1975 for the construction of the Edward T. Boyle Center. The Osborne Hotel was located about two blocks north from the Osborne Annex and Music Hall. This is now the location of the Empower Federal Credit Union.
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"Lyman Ward (clergyman)