Representing years of work and social agitation, the 30'000 signatures unfurled on the floor of Parliament by Sir John Hall in 1893 amounted to a statement of political intention which was impossible for politicians to ignore (despite their best efforts in previous years). As one of the most influential political documents in New Zealand's history surprisingly little attention has been paid to the suffrage petition itself. However, as a source, the petition sheets provide some fascinating insights into the patterns of canvassing, social structures, and characteristics of the women who contributed to the event which was, undoubtedly, the pinnacle of first-wave feminism in New Zealand. Excepting Kirsten Thomlinson's landmark analysis of the South Dunedin signatories to which I have referred on more than one occasion, little historical scholarship has sought to examine the potential of the document as a primary source. There are some explanations for this apparent lack of attention, and they're largely practical in nature. With recent digital advances, spurred by the interest in Suffrage 125, it is now easier to utilise the value of the document itself. Digital BenefitsPhysically, the petition presents a somewhat daunting prospect. The main roll, currently on display at the National Library of New Zealand, contains some 28'000 of the original 30'000 signatures (the remaining 2'000 having appeared on smaller sheets which have either not survived or have been misplaced). Until comparatively recently, approaching such a document systematically with the intention of assessing it with any real efficacy posed a significant challenge. With the recent, and enormous, effort made to digitise the petition sheets and make them available online, however, such research can now be conducted with greater ease. When Thomlinson conducted her research in the early 2000s, the petition had been transcribed and was available on microfilm. Now, it is not simply available but searchable online by name, location, and sheet number. The data can now be sorted with greater ease, significantly improving the ability of the user to identify both individuals and the significance of particular groups or regions. Such development in the digital accessibilty of this critical source has significantly aided the present research, particularly in terms of the time required to construct the sample. The Petition as a SourceI'll turn now to the petition itself because, whether they're accessed digitally or not, the 546 sheets which have survived possess some characteristics which are worth noting. Patterns of signature solicitation have been discussed by suffrage scholars in the past. On the whole, the systematic methods employed by local auxiliaries of the national Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and Women's Franchise Leagues - both of which had active Napier branches - have been well documented. In going door to door and street to street, urban areas were particularly effectively canvassed. Public meetings served as another means of engaging support, as did street corner collections and stands at railway stations. Calls from WCTU executives for canvassers to take sheets with them to more isolated regions during their summer holidays also served as a valuable means of recording more rural support. Two pieces of information were obtained from signatories: their name and address. Examination of this second component provides an insight into the canvassing methods used in particular areas. Sheets with more geographically dispersed signatures, for example, provide evidence of the use of public meetings and/or transit hub stands as a means of engaging prospective signatories. Others highlight the door to door method. Sheet 440, used in the current research, stands as a case and point, containing signatures from several Port Ahuriri streets in close proximity to one another. Useful as this information is, the manner in which the petition was constructed, in that many different canvassers were employed and many different methods utilised, has led to the presence of a number of differences within and between sheets. This can be readily identified in the format of the name identified by each signatory. I noted this challenge in a previous post discussing the challenges inherent in tracing these individuals across several documents. Similar challenges were identified for address information in a discussion on attempts to map the data provided by the sample. Familial Suffrage: Signatures of Mrs Margaret Newton and her daughters Grace and Margaret Kennedy appear on sheet 426. Thomlinson has made some further observations in this regard which add weight to the argument for utilising the petition itself as a primary source. Assessing sheets, particularly, where ditto marks have been used to indicate addresses which mirror those above them, she suggests that, on occasion, perhaps in instances where multiple signatures were obtained at one time, this section was filled in by the canvasser rather than the signatory. Such an occurrence provides an insight into the pattern of signature solicitation, it also proves problematic, however, because it is no longer clear whether the address provided is that of the signatory's residence or place of signing. Several cases were found in the Napier sample with the address provided by the petition differing, generally only by a street or two, from that provided by the 1893 electoral roll. The sheets also provide insights into the more personal connections of the signatories. Patterns of familial engagement, with several members of a single family signing together, can be identified in both Thomlinson's study and the present Napier sample. This indicates, Thomlinson has suggested, that canvassers made a conscious decision to call at times when the majority of the family would be home. There are also cases of connection to particular institutions. A cluster of women connected in some way or other to Hukarere Māori Girls' School, identified on sheet 432, serves as an example. Institutional Impact: A cluster of women with connections to Hukarere Māori Girls' School on sheet 432. Such examples provide an insight into the organisation of society at the local level. Benefits of such close examination lend weight to the significance of the petition as a social record as well as a political statement. As a general statement of purpose, Thomlinson prefaced her 2001 study with an announcement of her intention to 'give voice to those who were never asked.' The petition provides a number of key insights into the manner in which the suffrage campaign was organised at the local level. Standing as a testament to the as yet unparalleled campaign to rouse community support, it deserves significantly more recognition as a primary source in its own right. In affording the source the attention it deserves, I argue, we simultaneously validate the contribution of its 30'000-odd creators. Sources and Further Reading
Kirsten Thomlinson, 'We the Undersigned: An Analysis of Signatories to the 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition from Southern Dunedin', MA thesis, University of Otago, 2001.
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