AMERICAN WOMAN'S LEAGUE
Rare Art Deco sterling spoon featuring the first assembly of
suffragettes for the American Woman's League.
In 1910, a meeting of about 1000 suffragettes was sponsored by
the
magazine publisher Edward Gardner Lewis.
The nice Art Academy building at the University of
Washington School of Fine Art is now called the Lewis Center and has a
historical pottery display.
The plan for the new League was to create educational and business
opportunities for its woman members.
The league grew rapidly to 100,000 members and sponsored 50,000
correspondence students.
38 chapter houses were established around the country (it is possible
that spoons for some of these local groups may exist, but I have never
seen one.)
Eventually the Lewis business empire collapsed and funding for the
league was discontinued.
Apparently in November of 1968, the renown spoon researcher, Donna
Felger, wrote an article about this spoon.
Briefly summarizing her article with some different facts.
1. The spoon she described was silver plated and made by Wallace. (This
spoon is sterling --so it was likely made in both metals)
2. University City is a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri
3. Mr. Lewis was the publisher of a magazine called: "The Woman's
Magazine" for which he charged ten cents per year.
4. He supposedly had the largest subscription list of any publication
in the world at that time.
5. He was a sponsor of the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louis, 1904
6. The building pictured on the spoon opened in the fall of 1909.
7. Postal authorities accused Mr. Lewis of mail fraud and
indicted him in 1911.
8. The Art Institute closed in 1911, which indicates this spoon was
made between 1909 and 1911.
9. The Art Academy is pictured in the bowl where the pottery was made.
At the top is the dome of city hall above the Egyptian Temple.
The circular medallion is a statue of a woman with children which was
the symbol of the League. (from an article by Paul Evans in December,
1971)
Return to Fraternal group index
Return to Spoon planet exhibit index