Suffs and the radical cookbooks behind the suffrage movement

This week, Pittsburgh CLO will present a production of the Tony Award-winning musical Suffs , a story with a surprising Pittsburgh connection. Suffs recounts the years leading up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment and the relationships, rivalries, and camaraderie between several prominent suffragists — suffragists, the musical emphasizes, not “suffragettes,” a term invented to mock these women in the newspapers. The show opens with a speech by Carrie Chapman Catt (Marya Grandy). “Let mother vote,” she and the chorus sing. “We’ve got the recipe for well-balanced government, fresh-baked with decency.” A reference to a suffrage cookbook follows the song. In fact, more than one suffrage cookbook was published throughout the movement’s decades-long struggle, which lasted from 1848 until 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified. They were used to fundraise and rebut derogatory stereotypes and criticisms made by anti-suffragists, reassuring hesitant potential supporters that the vote would not pull women away from their perceived place in the domestic sphere. One of those books was The Suffrage Cook Book , published in 1915 by the Equal Franchise Federation of Western Pennsylvania. Compiled by Elizabeth Kleber, writing as Mrs. L.O. Kleber, of Pittsburgh, it contains notes of support from politicians in western states where women already had the right to vote and a few humorous pieces, such as “Pie for a Suffragist’s Doubting Husband” and the “Anti’s Favorite Hash,” in addition to actual recipes. Recipe for “Anti’s Favorite Hash,” from The Suffrage Cook Book Credit: Public domain Some recipes are uncredited, possibly Mrs. Kleber’s own, including “Pittsburgh Potatoes” and “Pittsburgh Sherbert.” Others came from fellow Pittsburgh-area suffragists and from more famous advocates of the cause. Jack London and his wife, Charmian, sent instructions for Roast Duck. Author Charlotte Perkins Gilman gave a recipe