The Suffragents Launch – East Hampton Library (and Party Report), September 1, 2017

Friday evening, September 1, the start of the Labor Day weekend, the East Hampton Library hosted some 150 people in the Baldwin Family Lecture Room for my “author talk” about The Suffragents, followed by Q&A. The presentation and book signing took less than an hour, after which friends and family returned to our home to celebrate the launch of the book, 100 years of voting women in New York State, and the men who helped make that happen.

On the sun porch was a mini-exhibition that featured 100 of the most significant male figures in the New York suffrage campaign—framed by what I find to be a profound 1911 quote from the Atlanta Constitution, describing what drove these men to action—and copies of the relevant Article in the New York State Constitution as it appeared before and after the November 6, 1917 suffrage referendum. The word “male” was removed from the description of the eligible voter.

The party took place in a beautifully lit tent (in suffrage gold and white, of course), courtesy of our good friends at Michael George Events  and rentals from Bermuda Parties, our source for decades. We made Edwardian men’s collar centerpieces (okay, shamefully stapled because we didn’t have the brads),

and for music, there was a terrific suffrage playlist created by Brett Kroeger, which led off with this excellent “Bad Romance Woman Suffrage” parody.

There was a lot of focus from the guests on the quality of the food. For appetizers, killer pizza from the PizzaLuca truck; raw bar by the Seafood Shop; and the now legendary guacamole of Monica Torres. The home team extraordinaire orchestrated the dinner, led by husband Alex Goren, and ably enabled by Monica Torres and Slava Bednarz. On the menu was sliced filet with baguette slices and grilled chicken drumsticks;  lentil salad; Ecuadorian rice with bacon, walnuts, and spinach; corn on the cob; and grilled vegetables.

The Sag Harbor Baking Company whipped up a couple of hundred mini cupcakes in chocolate with chocolate pearls and vanilla with vanilla pearls. At the end of the night, a lonely three sat on a plate.

Here’s a photo gallery from the evening in slides with captions.

And huge thanks to Bookhampton for selling (out of ;-)) books at the Library event Friday night and putting a neat stack on display at the store this last holiday weekend of the summer.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat at The Corner Bookstore in New York City on Monday, September 11!