Tin thread holder, in cylindrical form, with printed legend 'Sarah's Thread Holder' along the body, three holes to allow thread to be pulled through, end caps detach to allow insertion of spools, manufactured by Thread Holder Company, 246 Summer St., Boston, Mass., tin and printed cellophane, some wear, 114 x 38mm., 1915

This American souvenir was manufactured in 1915 as a fundraiser for 'Sarah's Suffrage Victory Campaign' run by the Thread Holder Company in Massachusetts and, according to a legend on the side, sold for 10 cents when empty and 25 cents when filled with thread. The incentive of a $500 prize was offered to the top seventeen sellers of the device, with all money received from sales divided equally between the State League Headquarters in Boston and the local League Headquarters.

Its name celebrates Sarah G. Bagley (b.1806), an early pioneer of women's labour reform in America. She founded the Lowell Massachusetts Female Labor Reform Movement in 1844, as a response to the poor working conditions, long hours and low pay for women that she experienced as a weaver at the Hamilton Manufacturing Company. In 1846 she became the first woman telegraph operator in the newly opened telegraph office, amidst much derision in the press, but returned to the mills in 1848 before disappearing from view (see Ken Florey, Women's Suffrage Memorabilia: An Illustrated Historical Study, 2013, pp.188-189).