Three Women at the Polls, October 1801

More than 20 life-like figures appear throughout the Museum of the American Revolution’s core exhibition. The historical vignettes, or tableaux, recreate moments during the American Revolution. These tableaux personalize a diverse cast of characters – many of whom were never the subject of an artist’s brush – who broaden our view of the founding of the United States.

The Museum installed one of these tableaux showing women voting in early New Jersey in the final gallery of the Museum’s core exhibition in October 2020 as a part of the special exhibition When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story, 1776 - 1807. While the in-gallery When Women Lost the Vote exhibition closes on April 25, 2021, the tableau will remain on display.

Titled “Three Women at the Polls in Montgomery Township, October 1801,” the tableau is inspired by the Museum’s discovery of poll lists, including one from Montgomery Township, that document the fact that women and free people of color voted in New Jersey in the first few decades following American independence.