Supersisters was a set of 72 trading cards produced and distributed in the United States in 1979 by Supersisters, Inc. They featured famous women from politics, media and entertainment, culture, sports, and other areas of achievement. The cards were designed in response to the trading cards popular among children in the US at the time, which mostly featured men.
The cards were created by Lois Rich of Irvington, New York and her sister Barbara Egerman of Ridgefield, Connecticut, a teacher, librarian, and founder of the Ohio chapter of the National Organization for Women. They conceived of the cards in 1978, after Rich's young daughter asked her why there were no women on trading cards. Rich also discovered that students at a local elementary school could not name five famous women. Rich and Egerman received a small grant from the New York State Education Department and wrote to nearly 500 prominent American women in various fields. They purposely did not contact a number of notable women, including Anita Bryant, Angela Davis, Phyllis Schlafly, and the cast of Charlie's Angels. Jane Fonda, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, and Ella T. Grasso were among those who did not respond or declined to participate. Of those who did respond, they included the first 72 in the trading card set, including Jane Pauley, Margaret Mead, and Gloria Steinem. By 1981, they reported that they had sold 15,000 trading card sets, selling many to schools and colleges.
Reaction to the cards was largely positive, though some later critics called the cards "misguided" and "trivial". Sets of the trading cards are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the University of Iowa library. Card #The entire Supersisters card set is viewable online at the University of Iowa Digital Libraries at http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/founders/id/4267/rec/1 Name Occupation 1 Olympic skier 2 journalist 3 US Congresswoman 4 US Senator 5 banker 6 rabbi 7 author 8 US Congresswoman 9 singer 10 author 11 actress 12 journalist 13 author 14 lawyer, US cabinet level secretary 15 chair of Republican National Committee 16 anthropologist 17 Olympic swimmer 18 actress 19 tennis player 20 politician 21 US Congresswoman 22 New York State Senator 23 journalist 24 First female pilot to fly for a major U.S. airline. 25 US Congresswoman 26 author 27 civil rights pioneer 28 US Congresswoman 29 flautist 30 skier 31 poet 32 author 33 US Congresswoman 34 singer-songwriter 35 National Organization for Women president 36 gymnast 37 surfer 38 entertainer 39 US Congresswoman 40 composer and choreographer 41 advertising 42 newspaper publisher 43 actress 44 actress 45 author, runner 46 runner 47 Olympic skier 48 tennis player 49 federal judge, US cabinet level secretary 50 gymnast 51 film director 52 journalist 53 race car driver 54 pilot 55 actress 56 advertising 57 television executive 58 skier 59 gymnast 60 journalist 61 lawyer 62 author 63 gymnast 64 Olympic gymnast 65 Olympic equestrian 66 singer 67 roller skater 68 Olympic swimmer 69 actress 70 actress 71 US Congresswoman 72 poet
References
External links Supersisters trading cards at Iowa Digital Library