Title
Admission ticket : Susan B. Anthony's Seventieth Birthday Banquet, Riggs House, WAshington, D.C. February 15, 1890
Description
The banquet was held at the Riggs House in Washington, D.C. The tickets were sold for $4.00 each and over 200 people attended. The ticket is issued to Mrs. F. J. Rockwell
In The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Volume 2 by Ida Husted Harper, the author writes that when Anthony learned about the plans for her birthday, she sent a letter to May Wright Sewall "to voice her concerns with selling tickets to a banquet in honor of her birthday."
Anthony wrote:
"I write in utter consternation, hoping it is not too late to recall every notice sent for publication. I never dreamed of your doing other than issuing pretty little private invitations signed by Mrs. Stanton and yourselves as officers of the National Association. If its official board is too far dissolved for this, please let the whole matter drop, and I will invite a few special friends to sup with me on my birthday. I know Mr. and Mrs. Spofford would love to unite with you in a personal entertainment of this kind. I may be wrong as to the bad taste of issuing a notice, just like a public meeting, and letting those purchase tickets who wish; but it seems to me the very persons least desired by us may be the first to buy them. I should be proud of a banquet with invited guests who would make it an honor, but with such persons as will pay $5, more or less, it resolves itself into a mere matter of cash. I would vastly prefer to ask those we wanted and foot the entire bill myself."
In The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Volume 2 by Ida Husted Harper, the author writes that when Anthony learned about the plans for her birthday, she sent a letter to May Wright Sewall "to voice her concerns with selling tickets to a banquet in honor of her birthday."
Anthony wrote:
"I write in utter consternation, hoping it is not too late to recall every notice sent for publication. I never dreamed of your doing other than issuing pretty little private invitations signed by Mrs. Stanton and yourselves as officers of the National Association. If its official board is too far dissolved for this, please let the whole matter drop, and I will invite a few special friends to sup with me on my birthday. I know Mr. and Mrs. Spofford would love to unite with you in a personal entertainment of this kind. I may be wrong as to the bad taste of issuing a notice, just like a public meeting, and letting those purchase tickets who wish; but it seems to me the very persons least desired by us may be the first to buy them. I should be proud of a banquet with invited guests who would make it an honor, but with such persons as will pay $5, more or less, it resolves itself into a mere matter of cash. I would vastly prefer to ask those we wanted and foot the entire bill myself."
Date
1890-02-15
Subject
Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906
Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906. Commemoration
Birthday parties
Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906. Commemoration
Birthday parties
Format
1 card [1 p.]
Language
English
Type
Document
Identifier
ALMS.1890.01
Coverage
Washington, D.C.
Original Format
Admission tickets
Physical Dimensions
6.5 x 10.5 cm.
Comments