Sewing and Learning: Isabella Beecher Hooker and the American Women’s Suffrage Movement

Workshop

Sewing and Learning: Isabella Beecher Hooker and the American Women’s Suffrage Movement

October 10, 2020

The October 10 session is full! There are still spots available for the session November 14.

Celebrate the Suffrage Centennial and join us for our first sewing circle to sew a replica of Isabella Beecher Hooker‘s American suffrage Phrygian-style hat, a treasured object from the Stowe Center’s collections.

Dr. Shirley Wajda, Interim Director of Enfield Shaker Museum and Ph.D. in American Civilization, will facilitate a discussion about nineteenth-century American sewing circles and the importance of the suffrage cap. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions on topics related to women’s suffrage history, anti-slavery activism, and the history of voting in America.

Rebecca Bayreuther Donohue, Stitcher and Pattern Maker, will provide a lesson on making your hat. The hat kit includes:

1 yard burgundy brocade poly satin
1 yard lining fabric
3 ribbon pieces for decorative element (ivory, navy, burgundy)
2 sewing needles
1 spool burgundy thread
An envelope with straight pins
1 copy of the hat pattern
1 copy of step by step directions

This is a virtual program and participation instructions will be emailed in advance. Hat kits will be shipped starting Monday, September 21. This program will be held a second time on Saturday, November 14.

Interested in hosting a watch party with family and friends? Write to us directly to make arrangements for ordering multiple hat kits.

Program fee: pay-what-you-can with a minimum of $10. Suggested donation: $30. Program is limited to 40 participants.
The Stowe Center thanks CT Humanities for supporting this program.

Location Online

Doors Open 2:00 PM

Program 2-4 PM

School Group Interest Form

School Group Interest Form 2023

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Adult Group Interest Form

Group Tour Interest Form 2022

Thank you so much for your interest in a group tour at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center! Please help us schedule your visit by answering the questions below.

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Are you interested in a joint visit with our neighbor, The Mark Twain House and Museum?

Yes, please.

No, thank you.

If yes, have you already contacted The Mark Twain House?

Yes

Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.