“Whether woman needs the ballot or not, the ballot needs her.”

Lavinia Goodell, June 1871

In 1871, shortly before she gave up her job at Harper’s Bazar in New York City and moved to Wisconsin to look after her elderly parents,

Lavinia Goodell wrote a series of articles for the Woman’s Journal dispelling common myths on why women should not vote. In a piece that appeared in the June 23, 1871 issue of the Woman’s Journal, refuted the notions that women already held such broad influence that they did not need the franchise; that suffrage would do working women no good; and that women did not actually want to vote. She began:

Lavinia said women did need the ballot, particularly women of little means. “The women who possess the greatest social influence are those who need it least for the protection of their interests…. The poor working women, the widows and orphans, whose facts are worn with care and anxiety, and whose clothing is plain and meager, possess little of this influence. These are they who need the protection of the ballot.”

“A woman does not become unwomanly by entering fields in which man has heretofore been the principal worker.”

Lavinia Goodell, April 1871

Lavinia Goodell was a lifelong proponent of woman’s suffrage. Although American women did not win the right to the ballot until forty years after her death, during her lifetime Lavinia wrote many articles promoting suffrage. In April 1871, a few months before she left her job at Harper’s Bazar and moved to Wisconsin, Lavinia wrote the first of a series of articles on the topic for the recently launched Woman’s Journal, which was published by Lavinia’s mentor Lucy Stone. The series appeared under the title “Womanhood Suffrage – a Review of Objections.”

The article began by noting that one popular objection to women gaining the franchise was that it would result in women “unsexing themselves.” Lavinia responded:

Why a consideration of measures to promote the well-being of thousands of her fellow creatures would convert a lovely and conscientious woman into a monster of selfishness and hardness, while ignorance or carelessness of any interest outside her own and those of her family and immediate circle of friends would keep her gentle and unselfish, we are not told. The assertion … rests upon the assumption that a woman under the same conditions with a man would develop manlike qualities. This is a mistake. A sunflower and a rose may grow in the same soil, and be nourished by the same showers and sunshine yet the sunflower does not become a rose, nor the rose a sunflower.

Continue reading →

“There is going to be a big time here in N.Y. when the 15^th Amendment has become a law.”

Lavinia Goodell, March 6, 1870

The 15^th Amendment, which provides, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” was ratified in early 1870.  Lavinia Goodell had grown up in a staunchly abolitionist family and had assisted her father in publishing the anti-slavery newspaper the Principia during the Civil War. The Goodells found the passage of the 15th Amendment a great cause for celebration.

Lavinia wrote to her parents, “There is going to be a big time here in N.Y. when the 15^th Amendment has become a law.”

“I am getting to like Dickens.”

Lavinia Goodell, March 1, 1866

At this time of year many people have a tradition of either reading A Christmas Carol or watching one of the many screen adaptations. From 1867 until she moved to Janesville, Wisconsin in 1871, Lavinia Goodell worked at Harper’s Bazar, a fashion magazine that was part of the prestigious Harper & Brothers publishing empire. Harpers had many well-known writers in its stable, including A Christmas Carol’s author, Charles Dickens.

Lavinia Goodell was an avid reader and her letters often mentioned her current reading choice. She mentioned Dickens multiple times.  In 1862 she reported that she had finished reading Pickwick Papers and planned to read Great Expectations when time permitted. In 1866 she praised David Copperfield, saying “really am quite interested in it. It is better than anything else of his I ever read.” (In the summer of 1867 for some reason Lavinia seemed less enchanted with the British author, telling her sister that she liked Thackeray “even less than Dickens, though he doesn’t indulge so much in low characters.”)

“I have bought a new dress for summer.”

Lavinia Goodell, April 24, 1871

Although Lavinia Goodell had no illusions that she was a beauty – in fact, she frequently commented that she was “plain” and many of her short stories feature ordinary looking women with uncommon intelligence – she enjoyed dressing well and kept up with current fashion trends. For most of her life money was in short supply and she sewed her own garments – after determining where the fabric could be procured for the best price. But while she was employed at Harper’s Bazar, she had enough discretionary income to splurge on new clothes. In April 1871, she made an extravagant purchase from Stewart’s dry goods store.

Irish entrepreneur A.T. Stewart had opened his first store in 1846 at Broadway and Chambers Streets in New York. It was so ostentatious that it was called the Marble Palace. In 1863 Stewart opened what was dubbed the Iron Palace at Broadway between Ninth and Tenth Streets. It was there that Lavinia made her purchase.

“Necessity compels many women to go into the world of business”

Lavinia Goodell, November 1867

Lavinia Goodell was a voracious reader and subscribed to many publications, particularly those with a connection to the Congregational Church and those advancing the cause of women’s rights. One of the periodicals she read regularly was the Advance, a weekly publication of the Congregational Church that was headquartered in Chicago and put out its first issue in September 1867.

It was not long before Lavinia found cause to send a letter to the magazine. (Lavinia was not the first member of her family to be published in the Advance. Her father beat her to the punch by having his article “Christ for all time” published in the September 19, 1867 issue.)

“I am now a large capitalist!”

Lavinia Goodell, August 15, 1870

Lavinia Goodell made history as one of the country’s first women lawyers, but what if she had pursued a different career, such as millinery store owner? Although that might sound far-fetched, it’s not. Thanks to recently discovered family letters, we have learned that before Lavinia decided to study law, she gave serious consideration to going into the millinery business.