A Different Point of View

Archived Newsletters: Summer 2003

NWHM Unveils New Program For Equality Day

August 26th is Women’s Equality Day, the commemoration of the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. This year, in celebration of Women’s Equality Day the NWHM will unveil its newest online feature: self-guided tours of the Washington, DC area. Five tours will be made available on www.nwhm.org over the course of a year. Suggested activities, maps, and other key information for visiting sites will be available on the website for those interested in taking these excursions. All of the tours will be appropriate for adults and children alike.

One of the best ways to understand the struggles of those who fought for the right to vote is to visit the sites where they planned, marched, protested, and put everything on the line. Because the launch of these tours coincides with Women’s Equality Day, the first tour, entitled In Their Footsteps, focuses on the women’s suffrage movement. The tour takes the traveler through many of the Washington, DC area’s sites associated with the women’s suffrage movement. The suggested itinerary includes six stops.

Even though the Museum does not yet have a permanent site, the NWHM staff is working to fulfill the educational mission of the organization. Educational programming such as these tours are one of the ways in which the NWHM can inform the public of the many contributions women have made to the nation. Most visitors to Washington tour museums and historic sites while in the area. The NWHM can help fill in the blanks for those looking to add a women’s history component to their tours of the nation’s capital.

Enterprising Women Scheduled for DC Stop

According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, businesses with a 50% or greater ownership by women generate over $2.3 trillion in sales. While this is certainly impressive, it is important to realize that American women have been in business since the founding of the nation. The traveling exhibition Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business explores the effect women in business have had on the business environment of the United States. Many women were able to create business empires from ‘women’s work’ such as fashion and tailoring, hair care and cosmetic products, and culinary pursuits. Other women ventured into ‘non-traditional’ areas such as manufacturing and production, media and publishing, and investing. This exhibition was organized by the Schlesinger Library of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, Massachusetts. The NWHM serves on the Honorary Patrons Committee of the exhibition.

Enterprising Women is scheduled to be in Washington from October 24 through February 29 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The NWHM is currently working with the National Museum of Women in the Arts to arrange a special viewing and reception for NWHM members. Details of this event will be made available to members via www.nwhm.org and through mailings.

The timeline of women profiled in this exhibition dates back as far as the colonial era of Eliza Lucas Pinckney who ran three successful plantations. The timeline continues to the present day with famous (and not so famous) women at the helm of major corporations. This exhibition explores how these women were able to succeed in their ventures, and also takes into account how race and economic circumstances were factors for the various women profiled.

Edith Mayo, curator emeritus of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and advisor to the NWHM, curated this exhibition. Ms. Mayo curated many exhibitions focusing on women’s history throughout her extensive career, including From Parlor to Politics: Women and Reform in America, 1890-1925 and First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image both at the National Museum of American History. Ms. Mayo also curated the exhibition Rights for Women for the NWHM in 1998 and the NWHM’s CyberMuseum exhibition Motherhood, Social Service, and Political Reform: Political Culture and Imagery of American Woman Suffrage.

Sander Honored with Teaching Award

Kathleen Waters Sander, Ph.D., a member of the NWHM Board of Directors, has been awarded the Stanley J. Drazek Teaching Excellence Award. Dr. Sander is an Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Maryland University College. She is also the author of numerous articles for journals and newspapers, as well as the author of the book The Business of Charity: The Woman's Exchange Movement, 1832-1900.

The Stanley J. Drazek Teaching Excellence Award is awarded annually at the Spring Commencement of the University of Maryland University College. Four faculty members,
consisting of two undergraduate and two graduate faculty members, receive this honor every year. Professors are nominated by students. The final selection is made by a committee of
faculty peers.

Prior to her academic career, Dr. Sander worked in institutional advancement, nonprofit administration, communications, public relations and grant management. She has served as the director of development for universities and various non-profit agencies.

Dr. Sander holds a B.S. in Journalism and English Education from The Ohio State University. She received both her M.A. and Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland College Park. Her advanced degrees concentrated on 18th and 19th century American cultural and social history, particularly the history of American philanthropy, reform, women's economic issues and entrepreneurship, industrialization, urbanization, and the volunteer sector.

Dr. Sander often speaks to local and national organizations on subjects such as 18th and 19th century history, philanthropy, and contemporary issues. In addition to serving on the NWHM's Board of Directors, she also serves on the Board of other organizations including The Woman's Industrial Exchange, Baltimore and the Federation of Woman's Exchanges, St. Louis, Missouri.

The Women's Bureau

Labor Day, the first Monday in September (this year, September 1) is a day to honor the American labor force. The US Department of Labor refers to the holiday as “a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.” The Department of Labor was founded in 1913, giving the workers of America a place in the President’s Cabinet. Seven years later, the issues of women in the workforce were given a place within the Department as well.

The Women’s Bureau of the Department of Labor was founded in 1920. It is the only federal agency in the United States government charged with representing wage-earning women. It was predated by the Women-In-Industry Service, which operated from 1918 until the founding of the Women’s Bureau.

The Women’s Bureau has played an integral part in establishing many of the procedures that women in today’s labor force take for granted. One of the Bureau’s early successes was the inclusion of women in 1938’s Fair Labor Standards Act. This act set minimum wages and maximum hours.

During World War II, the Women’s Bureau actively worked for better wages and training for the women who suddenly joined the workforce in previously unheard of numbers. The agency assisted the working women as well as employers, many of whom were employing women for the first time. The Women’s Bureau published pamphlets instructing employers on how to hire women suitable for the necessary work. The Bureau also published documents for women workers to provide them with vital information such as safety protocol and instructions for women who ran boarding houses for women war workers. It was during World War II that the Women’s Bureau began working for the passage of the Equal Pay Act, which was finally passed in 1963.

Recognizing the difficulties that working mothers face, the Bureau supported the Work and Family Clearinghouse and the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The Women’s Bureau is active today helping women balance the needs of their professional and personal lives.

Good Sport

September 20th marks the thirtieth anniversary of the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. For many people, this “Battle” was a proving ground for women, particularly women athletes. In an age where Serena and Venus Williams - not to mention Mia Hamm, Marion Jones, and countless other female athletes - dominate their sport and its coverage, it is hard to believe that that merely three decades ago the
abilities of female athletes were in doubt.

The Battle of the Sexes remains her claim to fame, but King was much more than her most famous match. She was ranked #1 in the world for five years and won 20 Wimbledon titles. Her most lasting legacy, however, was the formation of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). King served as the WTA’s first president in 1973. After
earning $15,000 less than the men’s champion at the 1972 US Open, she refused to play in the ‘73 tournament unless the prize money for men and women was equal. In 1973, the US Open offered equal money for both men and women. King was honored as a “Woman Making History” by the NWHM in 1998.

Letter from our President

In the last issue, I addressed the question of 'What' to put in the Museum. Another question we often hear is "Why do we need a women's history museum when we already have National Women's History Month, various historic sites about women, festivals and symposia dedicated to women's history, and recently the emergence of several museums with a focus on women?" While it is true that there are some outlets for women's history, there are few institutions dedicated to promoting popular understanding of women's accomplishments.

This is not to diminish the significance of the many women's history resources currently available. There have been numerous exhibitions and programs in the past few years that focus on women's history, such as the NWHM's Clandestine Women, the Schlesinger Library's Enterprising Women (which is currently on tour), and the "Votes for Women History Trail" in New York proposed by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Representative Louise Slaughter. What is depicted, however, is often an individual woman, one movement, or a singular accomplishment - small details, for which we are grateful, but by no means the full picture.

Many of the programs that explore women's roles have a fleeting existence. The information conveyed in exhibitions such as Clandestine Women and Enterprising Women advances public knowledge of women's history. But because the exhibitions are temporary, these stories of accomplishment are not preserved - and will be lost. Access to more permanent repositories of women’s history is far from convenient. The NWHM will reach and educate millions who probably would not actively seek out the individual women's historic sites or programs. In fact, many people don’t realize that these specific sites and programs are open to the public. The nation's capital is where people from all over the country - and the world - come to learn about American history. That is why we need a National Women's History Museum. Once opened, the NWHM will provide an easily accessible and permanent repository for women's history.

Celebrate These Women Born in Summer

Broadway’s highest honor, the Tony Award, is named for Mary Antoinette Perry (6/28/1888). Born and raised in Denver, the actress made her professional debut in Chicago in 1905. She made her New York debut the following year. In 1909 she gave up acting when she married. After being widowed in 1922, she was not content to resign herself to the life of a socialite, and returned to the stage in 1924. Perry was an active member of the American Theater Wing, serving as chairman in 1941. This organization opened the now famous Stage Door Canteens for World War II military personnel. When the acclaimed actress and director passed away in 1946, her colleagues on the stage felt the only fitting tribute would be to name the new award for excellence on the Broadway stage in her honor.

Mary Baker Eddy (7/16/1821) was the founder of Christian Science as well as a prolific author. Due to illness, she spent much of her youth at home. She married, but was widowed while pregnant with her son, a mere six months into her marriage. She remarried in 1853, but separated in 1866. It was in this year that she began refining Christian Science. She formally introduced Christian Science with the first publication of Science and Health in 1875. Two years later she married Asa Gilbert Eddy, a student. In 1908, she founded the international daily newspaper, The Christian Science Monitor. Prior to her death in 1910, she authored The Manual to serve as authority of the direction of the Church of Christ, Scientist. The Manual is still in use by the Church’s directors.

Sophia Smith (8/27/1796) passed away in 1870, leaving her considerable wealth to be used for the founding of Smith College, which was chartered in 1871 and opened in 1875. Smith was eldest daughter in a family of seven children. Three of her siblings died in their youth, and only one married, but he had no children. After the death of her last living sibling in 1861, she inherited the entirety of the family’s wealth. She did not take the responsibility lightly, and spent nine years meeting with advisors and revising her will to determine the best course of action. Following the instructions left by Smith in her will, Smith College was the first school of higher education in the United States to hold women to the same academic standards as men.

The first American woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize was Jane Addams (9/8/1860). An extraordinarily active social reformer, she was a cofounder of the American Civil Liberties Union, a founder and president of the Women’s Peace Party, and active in many other social causes. She is best known, however, as a cofounder of Hull-House. The Hull-House settlement, founded in 1889, was situated in an ethnically diverse neighborhood of downtown Chicago. It eventually grew into a complex of thirteen buildings, offering day care and kindergarten, spaces for labor unions to meet, galleries, an employment bureau, citizenship classes for immigrants, and numerous cultural events. Hull-House is now a museum and is open to the public.

 

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