The State convention was held in Rochester, Dec. 16, 17, 1890, in the First Universalist Church. Its distinguishing feature was the reception given in the Chamber of Commerce to Miss Susan B. Anthony by her fellow townsmen, as a welcome home from her long and hard campaign in South Dakota. The large rooms were handsomely decorated and over 600 people were present during the evening, including President David Jayne Hill and a number of the faculty of Rochester University, several members of Congress and many men of prominence.
The speakers at the convention were Miss Mary F. Eastman of Boston, the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Mrs. Greenleaf, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell and Miss Anthony. Mrs. Blake positively declined a re-election, having served eleven consecutive years, and Mrs. Jean Brooks Greenleaf was elected president. During Mrs. Blake's presidency she had many times canvassed New York and had extended her lecture tours into various other States, going as far west as California.
Henceforth, in addition to annual conventions, the association adopted the plan of holding mid-year executive meetings in various cities for the transaction of business, with public sessions in the evenings addressed by the best speakers.
In 1891 the convention met in Auburn, November 10, 11, the audiences crowding the opera house on both evenings. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Greenleaf, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Howell and Miss Shaw were the speakers, with an address of welcome from Mrs. J. Mary Pearson. Reports showed that the membership had doubled in the last year, and that Woman's Day had been observed at many fairs, resulting in the forming of county organizations. A resolution was adopted urging the Legislature to appoint some women on the State Board of Managers for the Columbian Exposition in 1893. The convention closed with a reception at the elegant home of Mrs. Eliza Wright Osborne, niece of Lucretia Mott and daughter of Martha C. Wright, two of those who called the first Woman's Rights Convention.
Syracuse was selected for the annual meeting of 1892, November 15-17. Miss Anthony, president of the National Association, was in attendance, and the opera house was filled at all the sessions. Mrs. Martha T. Henderson, vice-president-at-large, who had been appointed to represent the State, was delegated to arrange for the noon-day suffrage meetings during the Columbian Exposition. Mrs. Greenleaf's address reviewed the great debate which had taken place at the New York Chautauqua Assembly the preceding August, between the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw and the Rev. J. M. Buckley, editor of the Christian Advocate, and emphasized the evident sympathy of the immense audience with the side of the question presented by the former. Suffrage Day had been observed at the Cassadaga Lake Assembly with an address by Miss Anthony, and also at the State Fair. The association was congratulated on the fact that there had been a further extension of School Suffrage during the year.
All interest centered in the approaching convention to revise the constitution of the State, through which it was hoped a woman suffrage amendment would be obtained. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Blake and Mrs. Howell had been appointed to address the Legislature, which they had done in April of this year, for the purpose of securing women delegates to this convention, that was to be held in 1893, but eventually was deferred one year. Committees were appointed which visited the political State conventions the following summer, asking a declaration in their platforms for this amendment, but were unsuccessful.
The annual meeting of 1893 was held at Brooklyn, in Long Island Historical Hall, Nov. 13-16. It was welcomed by Mrs. Mariana Wright Chapman, president of the Brooklyn suffrage society. The plan of work was perfected, which had been prepared by Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton, for an active canvass of the State in behalf of a plank in the approaching Constitutional Convention. Addresses were made by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe and Henry B. Blackwell of Boston, Miss Anthony, the Rev. Miss Shaw, national vice-president-at-large; Mrs. Ella A. Boole, Aaron M. Powell, Gen. C. T. Christiansen, Mrs. Anna C. Field, Mrs. Emma Bourne, Mrs. Blake and others. Among the resolutions adopted was the following:
The thanks of this association are due to Gov. Roswell P. Flower for his recognition of woman's ability in the appointment to a State office of our national president, Susan B. Anthony, viz: as one of the Board of Managers of the State Industrial School at Rochester.
The great campaign of 1894, undertaken to secure a clause for woman suffrage in the revised State constitution, will be considered further on in this chapter.
The annual convention met in Ithaca, Nov. 12-14, 1894, the opera house being filled with the usual large audiences. It was welcomed by Mayor Clinton D. Bouton and President Jacob Gould Schurmann of Cornell University. Miss Anthony was present and a galaxy of eloquent New York women made addresses.