34 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | FEBRUAR Y 2020 The 19 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave American women the right to vote. Ratified on Aug. 26, 1920, women’s suffrage will celebrate its centennial this year. To commemorate the milestone, the Arizona Questers — a nonprofit group dedicated to historic preservation, restoration and education — spearheaded a statewide project. Questers has worked with other nonprofit, civic and STYLE UNLOCKED {living fashionably} governmental organizations to raise funds for and create traveling displays that reveal the monumental significance of the 19 th Amendment. But the fight to get the vote stretches back more than a century. It dates back 72 years earlier to when a group of women took the radical step of asking for the vote in Seneca Falls, New York, at the Seneca Falls Convention in July 1848. A FASHIONABLE FIGHT Arizona Questers, left to right , Linda Starr, Diana Magers, Toni Lowden, Debbie Hansen and Mary Miller. Arizona Questers shares the story —and clothing — of women’s suffrage By Karen Werner

FEBRUAR Y 2020 | FRONTDOORS MEDIA 35 It’s a story Questers members are eager to tell. “We are knocking everybody’s socks off because we decided to go big or stay home,” said Debbie Hansen, a member of the Desert Sage chapter of Questers and co-chair of the Arizona Questers Women’s Suffrage Centennial Project. “We have created a magnificent portable traveling exhibit explaining the 72-year struggle for the vote in fourth-grade language, in six panels. These will be distributed for free to libraries, museums, schools, city governments, other organizations and special events throughout the state of Arizona in 2020 and beyond.” Questers membership is open to men and women, but the group is made up mostly of women. “We’re fascinated by the physical artifacts of culture,” Hansen said. Drawing on members’ combined expertise in period costume and suffrage history, Arizona is the first state Questers organization to adopt a significant public education campaign. Recently, several Questers members came together at the Rosson House in Phoenix to share a few of their personal items. Toni Lowden, of the Four Peaks chapter; Linda Starr, from the Sedona chapter; Mary Miller, of the Hayden’s Ferry chapter; and Diana Magers, from the Four Peaks chapter, donned clothing that makes women’s suffrage come to life. Because it took so long to achieve the vote, their outfits reflected different eras of American history. Linda Starr wore a hat from the 1890s, along with a matching sash that she purchased in a Phoenix antique story some 40 years ago. “I added my own things to go with them because very few people back then were 5’8” and a size 12,” she said. Toni Lowden sported a delicate overcoat decorated with tiny French knots. “I thought it was a bed jacket but later learned it was a topper, and it goes on top of a little summer dress,” she said. Hats, train cases, vintage automobiles — the Arizona Questers are fascinated by all areas of antiques, history and preservation. Photos by Jillian Rivera Photography