#52 Ancestors: Favorite Photo

 It’s impossible, I think, to pick a favorite photo out of the family collection, but it sure makes a good prompt, because it makes me consider what I know about the photo, and therefore, if there’s a story that I can tell.  (Although, I also appreciate some photos that have no definite story that I know of, but might just have a certain feel to them, like a work of art, so are worth posting too.)

The picture that I chose for this prompt falls somewhere in the middle. It shows my grandmother, Lillian Soldati Gregoire (1895 - 1987,) posing with a group of women sometime in the 19-teens, judging by the fashions, and Lillian’s apparent age - somewhere around 20, I would guess. 

I don't know anything about this photo, other than that Lillian is in it, but I do like to stare at it and wonder. Is it a suffrage group?  Is it in New York City, where she lived?  Who is the woman standing in the center, the only one without a hat?

                                            Lillian Soldati Gregoire, seated second from left,

                                       with group of women;  undated, location unknown.

                                        
I think that it might be Carrie Chapman Catt, who was very active in the suffrage movement in New York. This picture from the National Park Service, dated 1917, shows her standing on the right. In my picture, the hatless woman has the sun in her face, but her nose and mouth look similar in both pictures.

                                                Carrie Chapman Catt (right) with Anna 

                                                Howard Shaw, 1917. Bain Collection, 

                                                Library of Congress.  https://www.nps.

                                               gov/people/carrie-chapman-catt.htm

I was very happy to find the above photo to support my theory, because most photos of Carrie show her like this, with her trademark hairstyle - parted in the middle, with "puffs" of curls on each side of her head.  She may have changed that style when my photo was taken, or the wind might have played with it.

                                            From the National Women's History Museum                                                                               at https://www.womenshistory.org/education-

                                        resources/biographies/carrie-chapman-catt.

There were several "photo opportunities" in New York City in the 19teens: the campaign in 1915 to secure the vote for women in New York State, which was not successful; a later campaign which did result in NYS allowing women to vote in November, 1917, and of course, the campaign for federal ratification.

Maybe I'll get lucky and an expert on Catt will discover this post and tell me yay or nay. Meanwhile, I know that I will be obsessed with Carrie Chapman Catt from now on.