In 1952 a remarkable generation of women were coming into their own. Elizabeth Bradley and Grace Sterling were among them. All three of these women – Bradley, Sterling, and Larsen herself – were born during the 1920’s. Women’s suffrage was enacted in 1920. Larsen’s was the first American generation to have possessed this right from birth.
Larsen and Eisenstaedt stayed long enough to shoot several rolls of film on Election Day, but by the following week New Hampshire’s election was old news. None of their photographs were published.
Here are some of the images Larsen shot when she staked out a polling place in a building that shared space with the local fire department. The makeshift draftsmen’s tables aided the polling workers in their effort to closely monitor the voters’ lists.
At least one of those polling officials was a woman. And a substantial number of the voters were women, but at that time there were no exit polls to say how many.