Duke University Acquires a Rare Piece of Memorabilia of the Women’s Suffrage Movement

The Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, has acquired a copy of Panko playing cards. The card game is named “Panko or Votes for Women: The Great Card Game, Suffragists v. Anti Suffragists.” The card game is named after Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928), a leader of the suffrage movement in Britain.

The card game was developed in 1909 to bring the message of the women’s suffrage movement into the home. Illustrations were created by E.T. Reed, a cartoonist for Punch magazine.