Skip to main content

Primary sourcePhotographc. 1870

Portrait of Susan B. Anthony Reading

Sarony & Co. · c. 1870

An 1870 studio portrait by Sarony & Co. showing Susan B. Anthony with glasses, holding a book, from the years of her newspaper The Revolution and the NWSA.

Taken during the years of her newspaper The Revolution and the founding of the NWSA.

Ask Susan B. Anthony about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Black-and-white oval portrait photograph of a woman with hair parted in the middle and pulled back, wearing wire-rimmed glasses, a dark dress with ruffled trim, and a lace collar. She looks down while holding an open book. A cursive signature reading Susan B. Anthony appears below the oval.
Sarony & Co., Portrait of Susan B. Anthony, c. 1870.

About this source

What it is

This oval photographic portrait, taken around 1870 by the New York studio Sarony & Co., shows a woman in glasses holding an open book, with a cursive signature reading "Susan B. Anthony" below the image.

Why it matters

This photograph dates from the period when Anthony published the newspaper The Revolution and helped found the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). The pose, with a book, presents her as a serious, literate public intellectual engaged in the suffrage movement.

Look closer

  • Why might the photographer have chosen to show her reading rather than in another pose?
  • What is the purpose of including her signature in the image?
  • What does this portrait suggest about how Anthony wanted the public to see her at this stage of her career?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Susan B. Anthony on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Susan B. Anthony sources

Meet the AI Susan B. Anthony →
Document

Primary source

Susan B. Anthony's Petition for Remission of Fine

Susan B. Anthony · 1874

Scan of a printed and handwritten petition titled 'A Petition for Universal Suffrage,' addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives. Below the text is a two-column list of handwritten signatures under 'Names' and 'Residence,' including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, with places such as New York, Rochester, and Brooklyn.Document

Primary source

Petition for Universal Suffrage, circa 1865

Susan B. Anthony and others · circa 1865

Scan of the front page of the first issue of The Revolution, dated New York, Wednesday, January 8, 1868. Masthead reads 'The Revolution' with the motto 'Principle, not policy; justice, not favors.' Three columns of small print include editorials on Kansas woman suffrage and a statement of editors Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Parker Pillsbury and Susan B. Anthony. A round Library of Congress stamp appears at upper right.Newspaper article

Primary source

The Revolution

Elizabeth Cady Stanton · 1868

Dark, nearly black book cover with faint embossed decorative ornament in the center and a white library barcode label on the upper left reading 3 1761 04261 4271 printed vertically.Book

Secondary source

History of Woman Suffrage

Elizabeth Cady Stanton · 1881-1922

Black-and-white studio portrait of two elderly women. A seated woman with curly white hair, wearing a light lace-edged shawl and patterned dress, looks down at papers. A standing woman with white hair in a bun and wire-rimmed glasses, wearing a dark dress with ruffled bodice, holds the papers and looks down at them. Plain grey backdrop.Photograph

Primary source

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Susan B. Anthony now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions