Savings Bank for the Movement

This 2” celluloid dime bank, a product of the Michigan campaign, was one of several such items issued by suffrage organizations at the time. The hope was that women of limited income would fill the bank with coins and return it to their local headquarters as a financial donation to the cause.

While a dime was worth considerably more at the time than it is today, the filling of this bank was, nevertheless, a mildly painless way for even a relatively poor shop girl to bring about change. Other types of suffrage banks were made of cardboard, some in the shape of an actual savings bank, that allowed for the acceptance of larger denomination coins and even dollar bills. Banks were one of many inventive ideas that suffragists developed to raise funds.