Mrs. Woodhull (Broker) [CDV] by Woodhull, Victoria - 1870

1870. Ephemera. Very Good. A circa 1870s carte-de-visite photograph (CDV) of the first woman to run for President in the US. 2-7/16 by 4-1/16 inches. Thick mount; rounded corners.

This CDV shows Victoria Woodhull in profile from the waist up wearing a ruffled gown and a matching cap. The verso of the photograph is blank, but based on similar images is probably by William R. Howell, a photographer with studios on Broadway, in New York

Victoria California Woodhull née Claflin and her sister, Tennessee Claflin, were two of the most interesting American women of the 19th century. The two sisters formed the first woman-owned brokerage house on Wall Street in 1870 (a fact noted on the caption of this CDV); they published a radical free-thought, free-love newspaper; Woodhull ran for president as the Equal Rights Party candidate, with Frederick Douglass as her running-mate, in 1872, and they were active in the women's suffrage movement.

When they had exhausted the possibilities of New York City and were tired of the endless public scandals they generated, the two sisters went to England and married rich men. A medium contrast image. Generally a nice example.