Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
by
Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
Part 13 out of 16
men, prove helpful or suggestive to those interested in the
advancement and success of women's work? If so, how?
Was the work of women as well appreciated when placed by the
side of that of men?
Would the results have been better if their work had been
separately exhibited?
If you have attended previous expositions, please compare the
exhibits of the work of women shown in them with those shown at
the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
Were any manufacturers asked (to your knowledge) to state the
percentage of woman's work which entered into the manufacture of
their special exhibits?
Were they shown in such manner as to indicate in any way, or to
enable you to distinguish, which part had been performed by
women, which by men?
In your opinion, what proportion of the work was performed by
women, as compared with that performed by men, in the groups and
classes that came under your supervision?
What proportion of women received awards in your group or
classes?
Was any new or useful or distinctive invention or process shown
as the work of woman, or special work of their art or handicraft
exhibited in your department; if so, please specify.
What can you say of the skill and ingenuity displayed in the
invention, construction, or application?
Were any of the exhibits of women developments of original
inventions, or an improvement on the work of some prior
inventor?
What was the value of the product, process, machine, or device,
as measured by its usefulness or beneficient influence on
mankind, in its physical, mental, moral, or educational aspects?
What of the merits of the installation as to the ingenuity and
taste displayed, and its value as an exposition attraction?
Did any new avenues of employment appear to be opened for women,
as shown by their exhibits at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition,
in the arts, sciences, industries, etc.; if so, to what extent;
what is their value?
In which of these will their work be of the most distinct value
by reason of the natural adaptability, sensitive or artistic
temperaments, and individual tastes of women?
In your opinion, what education will best enable women to enjoy
the wider opportunities awaiting them and make their work of the
greatest worth, not only to themselves but to the world, as
evidenced by their work at the exposition.
REMARKS.--Give any information or make any statement you may
think of interest in regard to the part taken by women as shown
by their work or exhibits at the exposition, and the beneficial
results to be derived by women in general by reason of their
representation at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
Department A, Education, of which Dr. Howard J. Rogers was chief,
comprised 8 groups and 26 classes, the board of lady managers being
represented in 6 of the 8 groups.
Group 1, Miss Anna Tolman Smith, of the Bureau of Education, Washington,
D.C., juror.
Under the group heading of "Elementary Education," the four
classes into which it was divided represented kindergarten,
elementary grades, training and certification of teachers,
continuation schools, including evening schools, vacation
schools, and schools for special training. (Legislation,
organization, general statistics. School supervision and school
management. Buildings: Plans, models; school hygiene. Methods of
instruction; results obtained.)
In a letter Miss Smith says:
The chairmanship which I held in the group jury was that of the
committee on the report of the jury formed to prepare a survey
of the material presented to the attention of the group to serve
as an introduction to the secretary's minutes. Owing to
circumstances the committee were unable to work as a whole on
the report and it became consequently the sole work of the
chairman. I mention this fact because it illustrates the
equality of service as between men and women in the jury of
group 1.
Miss Smith's report is as follows:
WOMEN'S WORK AT THE EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITS, LOUISIANA PURCHASE
EXPOSITION.
With respect to the exhibits at St. Louis upon which the Jury on
Elementary Education (Group 1) were appointed to pass judgment,
it would be impossible to discriminate between the work of men
and women as therein illustrated.
These exhibits comprised first and chiefly the work of pupils;
second, photographs and models illustrating school architecture,
school appliances, and school life; third, statistical charts
and reports pertaining to the administrative work of school
systems.
The great bulk of the material in these exhibits belonged to the
first of the three divisions specified above. Since very nearly
three-fourths of the teachers in the public elementary schools
of the United States are women, it is obvious that the greater
proportion of the pupils' work exhibited was the direct outcome
of the efforts of women teachers.
In the South Atlantic and South Central divisions of our country
the proportion of women teachers is much smaller than in the
whole country; in the divisions named they form only a little
more than one-half the whole teaching force, but so far as they
were represented no difference was made between the work of men
and women as exhibited in the section here considered, nor was
there any difference in the mode of estimating the work.
The second class of material mentioned, i.e., photographic views
and models, was largely the work of experts, artists, and
craftsmen employed for the purpose. It would be impossible to
determine the relative proportion of men and women contributing,
although it is probable that the former were in excess. It
should be observed, however, that many very interesting devices
for teaching children, many suggestive modifications of
kindergarten material and exercises, and many excellent
photographs showing classes at work, were executed by women. The
great skill and admirable system attained by women teachers in
the preparation of material for teaching the sciences to
children were illustrated in a very graphic manner by the
exhibits of normal schools, such as those of Massachusetts and
the State Normal School of Rhode Island.
The third class of material named, i.e., that pertaining to
school administration--chiefly in the form of statistical charts
and reports--was the work of school superintendents and their
clerical force, in which branch of the school service
comparatively few women are engaged.
The mode of installation formed a striking feature in the case
of many of the systems of public schools exhibited at St. Louis.
The highest results were achieved where the plan of the exhibit
had been carefully worked out with full regard to aesthetic
effect and educational significance. In the formation of these
plans women had very largely participated, and in one instance,
namely, that of the Minnesota educational exhibit, the entire
installation was planned and carried to a successful completion
by a woman. This exhibit was ranked in the first class for the
unity of its plan, the completeness with which it set forth the
educational provision in every part of the State, and its
aesthetic finish. In judging of exhibits, the person who planned
and organized the exhibit was regarded as a collaborator, and to
Miss S.E. Sirwell, the collaborator in this instance, the
highest award allowable was adjudged by the jury of group 1, a
distinction which was conferred upon very few individuals.
The exhibit of the public school system of the city of St.
Louis, which was universally admired, owed its chief decorative
effect to the artistic skill of Miss M.R. Garesche, who composed
and executed a series of 16 transparent paintings representing a
history of education. These pictures formed a succession of
brilliant panels on the external side of the facade, and for
this unique work a gold medal was awarded to Miss Garesche.
Mention should also be made of a very interesting series of
paintings by Miss Florence Hedleston, of Oxford, Miss.,
representing all the wild flowers of that State, an exhibit
which excited much attention both for its artistic excellence
and its usefulness in teaching the native flora.
The exhibit of New York City afforded many striking examples of
the ingenuity and progressive spirit of women teachers. The
public school system of this city has had marked development on
what may be called the sociologic or philanthropic side, and in
this development, which was graphically illustrated in the
educational exhibit, women teachers have borne a very important
part. It is, however, impossible here to particularize as to
their work in this respect.
The external side of the New York City booth in the Education
Building was utilized for the exhibit of the Woman's School of
Design. The exhibit consisted of a remarkable collection of
original designs which, with one or two exceptions, were
purchased by manufacturing firms as they stood on the wall.
Although this work did not come within the scope of the jury of
group 1, I mention it here to emphasize the fact that the
exhibits of art schools in the Education Building showed very
remarkable progress on the part of women in the art of
designing.
This survey had been confined almost entirely to the exhibits of
the United States. It need hardly be said that in no foreign
country do women play so important a part in education, and on
account of the mode of installation it would have been
impossible to distinguish between their work and that of men in
the foreign exhibits. Mention may, however, be made of the fact
that the exhibits of French industrial schools for girls and of
the French lycees for girls, which were of a very high order,
were substantially the work of women. In the Swedish section
there was a very admirable exhibit of secondary schools for
girls and coeducational schools, which had been planned and
installed by Miss Mathilda Widegren. In the English section were
shown very remarkable specimens of art work in jewelry and
silver repousse designed and executed by women students. As the
foreign exhibits specified did not come under the jury of group
1, I am unable to report the awards which they received.
The increasing recognition of the value of women's services is
indicated by the increase in the proportion of women called to
serve upon the exposition juries. The jury of group 1 included
three women, of whom two were foreigners, namely, Miss Elizabeth
Fischer, a teacher from Halle, Germany, and Miss Mathilda
Widegren, associate principal of a private school in Sweden.
These three members were all women of great experience in the
matters with respect to which they were called to judge, and
their abilities were most cordially and heartily recognized by
their colleagues. Indeed, in view of the place in education
which is now accorded to women in our own country and in the
leading countries of Europe, I should unhesitatingly say that it
is for the advantage of women and of society in general that
their work should not be separately exhibited, but should rather
form an integral part of a collective exhibit. This principle,
indeed, might not apply to certain specialties which have
heretofore been exclusively or almost exclusively practiced by
men, or which (like artistic needlework) have a particularly
feminine character.
ANNA TOLMAN SMITH,
_Member of the International Jury, Group 1,
Louisiana Purchase Exposition_.
BUREAU OF EDUCATION,
_Washington, D.C._
As chairman of the committee to report on the work of the jury, Miss
Smith writes:
REPORT OF A COMMITTEE OF THE JURY OF GROUP 1.
The material presented for the consideration of the jury of
group No. 1 (elementary education) comprised on the part of the
United States the exhibit of public education as organized in 34
States and Territories, in 6 cities (presented as separate
units), and in 15 foreign countries. In number, extent, and
complexity these exhibits surpassed all previous collections of
the kind; the separate entries ran up into the thousands,
representing for the most part such important collections as the
exhibits of cities, counties, and groups of rural schools, all
deserving careful attention.
The examination of this material in the brief time allowed
(twenty days) was a severe task, and would have been impossible
but for the circumstance that, with two exceptions, the exhibits
were all placed in one building. For the first time in the
history of expositions the chief collective activity of
civilized peoples was honored by an edifice planned and erected
for itself alone. This concentration of the material under the
general direction of an experienced and able chief, thoroughly
familiar with the arrangements and of unfailing courtesy and
helpfulness, alone brought the work assigned the jury of group 1
within the bounds of possible achievement. Their efforts were
furthered also by the expert qualification of each and every
member of the group by the system and perfect harmony in which
they worked, and by the exceptional ability of their official
staff: Chairman, Dr. E.O. Lyte; vice-chairman, Mr. B. Buisson,
representing the French Government; secretary, Mr. Morales de
Los Rios, representing the Cuban Government.
The details of the group organization are shown by the minutes
of the secretary, which also present a full record of its daily
action and findings. It remains here only to speak of salient
features of this particular division of the exposition, whose
effects can not be indicated nor estimated by any system of
awards.
The installations of the various exhibits had been carefully
planned and were, as a rule, effective, and in many cases
extremely beautiful. The United States has made notable progress
in this respect since the Chicago Exposition of 1893, and even
since the Paris Exposition in 1900, and in the present
exposition several of our States and cities offer fine models of
the exhibitor's art. This is the case especially with Missouri
and St. Louis; the latter in particular has realized the double
purpose of challenging popular attention and satisfying critical
taste. The art of effective exposition, whether worked out with
noble simplicity or rich decorative accessories, requires on the
one hand intelligent selection and coordination of the material,
and on the other skill in the treatment of space and artistic
elements. No small part of the value of an educational exhibit
lies in its esthetic quality, since this reveals not less
clearly than the methods and results of school training the
inherent genius of a people. This International Exposition has
been rich in this quality, on account both of the number of
different nations participating and the care taken by each to
give distinctive character to its display. This is marked in the
exhibits of elementary education, which in nearly all European
countries forms a complete whole, distinct from other grades,
and having the definite purpose of maintaining an established
social order or national type through the intellectual, manual,
and artistic training of the masses. The presentation of
elementary education as an independent unit indeed well accords
with the conditions in nearly all countries excepting our own.
Elsewhere, as a rule, elementary education forms a complete
system, having its separate administration, purposes, and
ideals. In this respect the United States presents a notable
contrast to the chief countries of the Old World, and one
strikingly illustrated in this exposition. In our own country
education is conceived as an integral process steadily
developing from the kindergarten to the university. To this
conception corresponds the sequence of elementary and high
schools united under a common administration and by close
scholastic bonds. Hence a measure of violence is done both to
elementary and secondary education as here organized by the
endeavor to view them separately. On the other hand, a portion
of the elementary education of foreign countries, notably of
France and Germany, does not enter at all into the sum total of
the impressions recorded by the jury of either group, because of
the social distinctions that underlie in those countries the
classification of schools as elementary and secondary. These
anomalous conditions affect particularly the classification and
judgment of the various agencies for the training of teachers
(that is, normal schools, teachers' training colleges, and
auxiliary agencies, such as normal classes in academies or other
secondary schools, teachers' institutes, etc). In the chief
foreign countries professional schools of this kind are easily
classified by virtue of their administrative relations, but in
our own country the different orders of pedagogical training
merge into each other almost imperceptibly because they are all
based upon the same fundamental conception of the teaching
profession.
It is interesting to note in this connection that the exhibit of
Great Britain and Ireland has avoided all confusion by the
selection of the characteristic features of particular schools
or of processes that have worked well in certain communities or
pupil and class work of special significance. This mode of
exhibition accords perfectly with the private character of a
large proportion of the schools of all orders in England and
with the local independence throughout the Kingdom. It results
that this exhibit has greater emphasis upon typical and
essential things than any other in the collection. In this
respect it is most nearly approached by Massachusetts among our
own States.
The confusion arising from differences in classification already
referred to, which imply also more radical differences in
opinion and practice, has led one of the most acute minds among
our foreign colleagues to express the hope that one of the
permanent results of this exposition may be an effort toward
international unity, or at least agreement in respect to
classification and nomenclature. Undoubtedly such agreement
would promote the great purpose of international comparisons
which is to enable each nation to benefit by the experience of
every other.
In addition to the broad distinctions between national systems
as here indicated, there are also disclosed by the exhibits
striking differences in the spirit and methods of instruction.
In France the teaching is logical and analytical. The stress of
pedagogical training in that country is upon the treatment of
subjects, and the abiding effects of that training are seen in
the theses by teachers and by school inspectors (the latter all
men of professional training), which form a very interesting and
instructive part of the exhibit of that country. The analytical
principle is maintained in the manual training, which, as shown
by the examples presented, consists of a graded series of
exercises upon the elements that enter into simple
constructions. Germany adheres more closely to the authoritative
method of instruction, a fact plainly shown by the photographs
of classes in which every child seemed listening with breathless
attention to the word of the teacher. From the photographic
displays one would readily infer that in our own country the
emphasis of class exercises is upon the activity of the pupil;
in Germany, upon the personality of the teacher.
The importance of photographs in an educational exhibit was
never so manifest as in the present exposition. By this means
may be shown at a glance the equipment of schools and even the
actual conduct of class instruction, and the mind distracted by
the endless succession of written work, drawings, etc., is thus
reenforced by total impressions or images. This exposition
surpasses all others in the extent, effectiveness, and beauty of
the photographic displays and the value of the statistical
charts presented. So full and graphic were these statistical
summaries from all the principal countries that individual
mention would be invidious. The jury, however, will never forget
the display of charts and diagrams by Japan, since they revealed
in a universal language the status, organization, and wonderful
progress of education in that country, whose effect must
otherwise have been lost in the mysteries of an unknown tongue.
Those who recall the Centennial Exposition, at Philadelphia,
must be struck with the progress made by our States and cities
and even by the individual colleges toward uniform statistical
schemes. The impulse to this important result came undoubtedly
from the United States Bureau of Education, whose statistical
representation of education in this country, current and
retrospective, is one of the most valuable features of the
entire exposition. As this material, however, is placed in the
Government building, its consideration does not come within the
province of the regular juries.
By means of the two media--photographs and statistics--a very
complete representation of a school system is possible with
great economy of space and special regard to essential
particulars. The extensive exhibits of pupils' work from our own
schools show remarkable similarity in methods and results
throughout the country; this similarity extends even to the
rural schools, which, in the case of some particular districts,
present work well up to the average of neighboring cities. There
are also signs that the rage for "newness" has subsided; the
work shows closer sequence and more systematic treatment of
subjects than that exhibited at Paris. Correlation, for
instance, is not so promiscuously applied, but limited to
subjects whose relations are obvious, as geography and history,
etc.
The impulses toward nature as the inspiring motive in art
instruction and toward social activities as factors in school
training have been felt in other countries than our own. Germany
has replaced the conventional art instruction by a system based
upon the study of natural forms, growths, and coloring, and
Belgium presents a remarkable object lesson in the use of local
products and industries in a progressive scheme of practical
instruction. The skill with which Sweden has reduced domestic
art and sloyd[1] to pedagogic form was already well known in
this country, but it has excited new interest by its
presentation here in one of the most admirably systematized and
suggestive exhibits in the collection.
[Footnote 1: a system of manual training in woodwork, having
originated in Sweden. (note added when transcribed to etext)]
School architecture forms an impressive feature of many of the
exhibits. Germany has made a very full presentation under this
head by means of photographs, plans, and complete models.
Argentina has an unrivaled collection of photographs, showing
palatial school buildings of noble design and well-planned
interiors. In this connection may be mentioned a device of a
portable schoolhouse for use in congested city districts pending
the erection of permanent buildings. The models shown were from
St. Louis and Milwaukee.
The great movements now in progress in our country, as indicated
by the exhibits, are, in the States at large, the improvements
of the rural schools, particularly by the consolidation of small
schools and the grading of the resulting central school, as
graphically shown by Indiana, and the creation of township or
county schools, as in Pennsylvania and Kansas.
In cities the most important movements relate to the physical
development of the young and the use of the school machinery for
the benefit of persons beyond the limit of school age by means
of evening schools, or outside the appointed school hours by
means of vacation schools and recreation centers. The most
extensive work along these lines is going on in New York City,
and formed one of the most instructive features of the exhibit
of this great metropolis.
A beginning of continuation schools for the people is seen also
in the county agricultural school included in the Wisconsin
exhibit. Schools of this type form a prominent feature of the
German exhibit and constitute for us at this time the most
important lesson of that comprehensive exposition. Apart from
the educational lessons, which possibly only appeal to
specialists, this exposition marks distinct steps in the
realization of the chief end of educational exhibits, namely,
the increase of popular interest in ideal purposes through their
effective symbolic representation.
ANNA TOLMAN SMITH,
_Chairman of time Committee_.
GROUP 2, MISS ANNIE G. MACDOUGAL, CHICAGO, ILL., JUROR.
Under the group heading "Secondary Education," the two classes
into which it was divided represented: High schools and
academies; manual training high schools; commercial high
schools. Training and certification of teachers. (Legislation,
organization, statistics. Buildings: Plans and models.
Supervision, management, methods of instruction, results
obtained.)
Miss MacDougal's report is as follows:
Study of the world's work, as displayed at the St. Louis
Exposition, revealed the truth that to-day there is no clear
line of demarcation between the work of men and of women. The
product of woman's brain or of her hand was there placed side by
side with the similar work of man, to be judged upon its merits,
not by a standard suggested by limitation and apology. Such a
cataloguing was the surest evidence of woman's industrial
progress. Her part in art, literature, music--the decorative
side of life--has long been granted; what she is capable of
doing in the practical business enterprises of modern society is
just beginning to be revealed.
My opportunity for observing this phase of woman's work was
largely confined to the educational exhibits, where I had the
pleasure of serving as a juror, by appointment of the board of
lady managers. Owing to the character of the exhibits in the
Department of Education, it was impossible to differentiate the
work of the men and the women teachers, excepting where the
exhibits showed the work of separate institutions for the sexes.
A comparison of that kind would be profitable only from a
pedagogical point of view and is of minor consideration in our
American system of education. Woman's place in the schoolroom is
defended by tradition, expediency, and merit; and instead of
surrendering in the face of foreign criticism their positions as
instructors, women teachers are to-day broadening their field of
labor by serving as instructors in many higher institutions
where a generation since they were not even admitted as
students. To-day, in high schools, academies, and colleges,
women not only share in the work of instruction, but fill
offices of administration as well.
Woman's success in a purely administrative or executive function
was what proved most interesting at St. Louis. Many of the State
exhibits of the public schools were in charge of women. In each
instance I found them well informed on questions of school
statistics and eager to be helpful to visitors. It seemed as
though these young women felt the distinction of serving in a
public capacity and had taken pains to prepare themselves for a
creditable performance. The most striking instance of
independent and original work was shown in the State exhibit
from Minnesota. This exhibit was under the sole charge of Miss
Susanne Sirwell, who planned it with the main purpose of
exploiting the complete system of manual training adopted in the
Minnesota schools. With this plan in view, Miss Sirwell
collected the specimens from various schools of the State,
supervised the erection of the booth, and installed the
displays. As a result, the Minnesota exhibit had a distinct
system and unity, was free from useless and cumbrous repetition,
its main idea was readily grasped, and it stood as a memorable
proof of one woman's artistic sense of proportion and adequacy.
It was original in conception; it had beauty of color, order,
and arrangement, and, as Miss Sirwell herself laughingly
boasted, it was one of the two or three exhibits in that huge
building which were ready and finished for public inspection on
the opening day of the fair.
GROUP 3, MISS MARY B. TEMPLE, KNOXVILLE, TENN., JUROR.
Under the group heading "Higher education" the five classes into
which it was divided represented: Colleges and universities,
scientific, technical, and engineering schools and institutions;
professional schools; libraries; museums. (Legislation,
organization, statistics, buildings, plans and models,
curriculums, regulations, methods, administration,
investigation, etc.)
Miss Temple reports as follows:
The Educational Department at the World's Fair in St. Louis
presented greater progress in woman's work since the Columbian
Exposition of 1893 than was shown by any other great division at
the exposition.
In regard to an approximate estimate of the proportional number
of exhibits by women in the five classes of group 3 (higher
education) of the Educational Department, I would say that only
in the cases of the several large female colleges which
installed exhibits at the fair were there special women's
exhibits distinct from those of men. In the United States
section valuable and important displays were made by Vassar,
Bryn Mawr, Woman's College of Baltimore, Smith, Wellesley, Mount
Holyoke, Pratt Institute (New York), Milwaukee-Downer College
(Milwaukee), and several lesser women's colleges, while in the
English section a wonderfully interesting showing of women's
activity in "higher education" was made by the Oxford
Association for the education of women, including Lady Margaret
Hall, Summerville College, St. Hugh Hall, St. Hilda's Hall; by
Girton College and Newham College, Cambridge University; by
Westfield College and the London School of Medicine for Women of
the London University; by Owen's College of the Victoria
University of Manchester; by University Hall of the University
of St. Andrew, and by Dublin Alexandra College.
In the German section no special exhibit of a woman's department
was made by any university or college. According to the German
system women's education is carried on side by side with men's.
Women acquiring a leaving certificate from a classical gymnasium
can matriculate on an equal footing with male students in the
universities of Heidelberg, Frieburg, Erlangen, Wuerzburg, and
Munich. In the other universities, except Muenster, by permission
of the rector, or under the statutes, women are permitted to
hear lectures. In all the German universities there are in
attendance many women, either as matriculants or as hearers,
ranging from 10 to 200 women at each university.
In the universities of France, Belgium, and Japan a similar plan
of educating men and women together exists. But outside the
University of Paris, of Louvain and of Tokio, the number of
women attending the courses does not compare with the number in
attendance at the German, English, and American universities.
Among the lesser nations at the fair, as Italy, Brazil,
Argentina, Mexico, China, Canada, Sweden, Ceylon, and Cuba, the
exhibits so often appearing under the name of college work
scarcely represented work in higher education, except in the
line of art.
The very fact that at St. Louis women's work was nowhere
separated from men's, but was shown side by side with it, was in
itself a radical advance in the last eleven years. While this
applied to every department of the exposition, it applied with
greatest impressiveness to the Department of Higher Education,
for this in the past had been set apart as man's special
province, though, of course, down through the ages there have
been brilliant exceptional cases of women becoming profound
students and learned teachers, as Hypatia, Maria Agnesi, and
others.
In the five classes of group 3 (higher education) in the
Department of Education there was really less scope and a more
restricted field for women than in any other group of the
Educational Department. Of the five classes, to glance hastily
over them--i.e., class 7, colleges and universities; class 8,
scientific, technical, and engineering schools; class 9,
professional schools; class 10, libraries; class 11,
museums--only in class 7 and class 10 has woman gained for
herself any distinctly marked footing. In the other three
classes, the hold she has acquired, from the very nature of the
case, has been limited, but in every class of group 1
(elementary education), of group 2 (secondary education), of
group 4 (special education in fine arts), of group 6 (special
education in commerce and industry), of group 7 (education of
defectives), of group 8 (special forms of education, text-books,
etc.), she is the controlling force, and is very strong.
Inasmuch, however, as higher education has been considered less
naturally her field, the steady advance she is making in it is
the more noticeable and more striking, as shown at the World's
Fair of 1904. In replying to the question of an approximate
estimate of the proportionate number of exhibits by women in the
five classes of group 3, I may venture to say it was near 37 per
cent of the domestic and foreign exhibits, estimating the
percentage of work exhibited by men and women as probably
proportional to the respective number of each sex registered.
(See monographs on Education in United States. See monographs on
History and Origin of Public Education in Germany. List of
British Exhibits, Departments H and O.)
In giving the nature of the exhibits by women in the department
of higher education we gladly state that they differed little
from the exhibits by men, as the requirements called for in the
circular of the department were identically the same for both.
It happened, however, possibly from being younger institutions
and having less to show in the way of literature, libraries,
histories, etc.; partly, also, from having a less liberal supply
of money; also partly from a smaller sense of ambition and
rivalry with other institutions, that the exhibits of Vassar,
Bryn Mawr, and the other women's colleges were smaller, less
costly, and less elaborate both in materials and in installation
than those of the men's colleges. The exhibits consisted largely
of photographs, diagrams of statistics, prospectuses, and
reports. In the case of the English women's colleges the showing
was quite on a par with those of the men's universities, as they
were in every case a part of the same. The American women's
colleges in addition showed charts, department work, special
work, histories, publications, and models of buildings and
grounds.
In the lesser foreign countries exhibits of art and needlework,
though sometimes questionably under the head of higher
education, were thus entered by the so-called colleges. And
while these could not be measured by the same standard as the
English and American women's college work it was, however,
valuable and instructive as showing the emancipation and
progress of women in lands where until within a few years her
opportunities have been most restricted and as presenting the
liberal spirit toward her which now animates the civilized
world. Especially in Japan and Mexico the women's displays were
novel and interesting.
I am glad to pay tribute to the department work of the Woman's
College, Baltimore, and to the advanced special work of Bryn
Mawr.
As to what advancement was shown in the progress of women, I
would emphatically answer that advancement was unmistakably
apparent in every line of women's educational work--advancement
not alone along old lines, but along new as well. One of the
greatest steps forward made by woman in the last eleven years,
since the Columbian Exposition, has been the throwing open to
her of the doors of nearly all of the old established men's
colleges, giving her in every country, in every State, and in
nearly every large town almost the same free and easy access to
learning enjoyed by her brothers. Coeducation and coeducational
institutions have rendered it possible for every woman desirous
of self-improvement to find the highest advantages immediately
at hand, only waiting for her to help herself.
Domestic science and household economics are new sciences
developed under the active interest of college women in the last
twenty-three years. Their real hold upon the public, however,
and their enlarged avenue for bettering the home, the food, the
health of the nation, and consequently its usefulness,
happiness, and prosperity has come within the last eleven years.
In all lines of art, from the fine arts of painting and
sculpture to the practical and useful work of design in its
multifold forms, women's advance is almost phenomenal. In the
sciences of astronomy, medicine, physics, and psychology she has
been far from inactive during the last half decade. In teaching,
in all its branches from kindergarten and primary work through
all the grades of intrauniversity training to specialization in
various lines, she has achieved her most striking success. In
the future her usefulness will be more and more increased in
this her beloved profession. The number of women teachers is
rapidly increasing, while the number of men is decreasing, and
more and more women's college graduates are employed in the
various chairs of colleges and universities.
While the educational exhibits at St. Louis gave, in a general
way, a complete presentation of women's part in the progress of
the world, there was far less shown of the work of foreign women
than was desired in order to make a really satisfactory and just
comparative estimate of the relative advance of the women of our
own country and those abroad. In fact, the exhibits of foreign
women were too limited to allow of any comparison between the
two.
Women's work in art, in school organization and
management--exemplified in the control of the great women's
colleges--her achievements in teaching, in research (historical
and scientific), in medicine unmistakably show that she is able
to do and is doing unusual and far more capable work than she
has ever done previously. Her pronounced success in serious
literature, as well as in lighter literature, would alone
demonstrate this.
The work of women at this exposition differed from that of the
past in having extended into many new lines, whereas in quality
it is greatly superior to anything they have ever before
accomplished. A few years ago the scientific and professional
woman was the exception, to-day she is the rule. Either working
alone or assisting some great man, woman is found everywhere. To
cite instances, I refer to the able assistance Mrs. Hedrick, a
Vassar alumna, gives to Professor Newcomb in his calculations on
the moon; to the brilliant aid rendered by the wealthy and
gifted young American girl of Leland Stanford and Johns Hopkins,
Dr. Annie G. Lyle, to the famous Dr. Theodore Escherich, of
Vienna University, in his important expert medical researches,
which have resulted in the famous scarlet-fever serum, the
discovery of Doctor Moser with the help of Doctor Lyle. As we
have said, women's work has not only grown in extent, but in
variety, in complexity, in greater thoroughness and ambition,
and especially in the greater appreciation it receives from the
world.
Woman's splendidly accomplished successes as seen at the World's
Fair give impulse to her efforts in every line. Assured of
sympathy, encouragement is imparted to other women to take up
science, teaching, the professions. Formerly almost
insurmountable obstacles were encountered by women. To-day the
open door to triumph, according to her ability, along almost
every line is hers. In primary education, in all university
training, in economic arts, in all sanitary studies, in
philanthropic work, and in much of the practical part of
medicine the Louisiana Purchase Exposition showed women's
efforts in a varied light of helpfulness and suggestion for the
future.
The juxtaposition of man's and woman's work was suggestive to
men, and at the same time will incite women to more and better
endeavors along new lines. It will enable her to acquire more
scientific ways and a better preparation for the business world.
It will teach her a saving of energy and greater self-reliance.
The incalculable advantage of women's work for the first time
having a place side by side with men's can not be overestimated.
It enabled women to see at a glance their own weaknesses, and at
the same time presented to the view of others their strong
points in the most telling manner. The jury of higher education
did not ask on examining an exhibit whether it was men's or
women's work. Each exhibit was judged entirely on its individual
merit as presented. And if the universities and great men's
colleges (and in many cases these included women's work)
received a higher grade of award than did the great women's
colleges, it was because, in the opinion of the jury, the
equipment of the former and the larger showing in the way of
actual work and appliances entitled them to the award, rather
than that it was the respective work of either men or women. But
I may say, to show the absolutely unbiased mind of the jury,
that women's work in many lines came in for even greater
appreciation than did that of the men.
By no means would the results have been better if their work had
been separately exhibited. A far greater importance was assumed
by women's work in the placing of it side by side with men's
work. Thus displayed, it received precisely equal attention and
a more liberal study undoubtedly than it would have done if
placed alone.
At Chicago and various other expositions it was relegated to a
far less desirable position by itself. The very fact of its
isolation in a building designated the Women's Building set it
apart as a different and inferior effort and created a prejudice
against it.
Women's work was far more varied at St. Louis and more
representative of different nations. The so-called strictly
feminine, viz, art and needlework, pottery, decoration,
libraries of books by women authors, attractive parlors,
displaying women's taste, which largely filled the charming
women's buildings at Chicago, at Atlanta, at the Tennessee
Centennial, at Omaha, and at Buffalo, were unquestionably showy
and striking displays. In St. Louis, on the contrary, women's
exhibits mingled with men's work in the serious and practical
enterprises of the day and appealed to the same audiences. Woman
appeared as she really is, the fellow-student, the
fellow-citizen, and partner of man in the affairs of life.
Manufacturers were not asked to state the percentage of woman's
work which entered into the manufacture of their special
exhibit, nor did I have any way of forming any estimate on this
point; neither were they shown in any manner that would indicate
in any way or enable the investigator to distinguish what part
had been performed by women.
Considering all kinds of work involved in the exhibits of the
Department of Education, whether installed by women alone or in
conjunction with men, the taste, completeness, ingenuity of the
same, the clerical work during the duration of the fair--in
other words, the whole connection of woman with carrying out the
administration of the Department of Education--it may be
considered that 50 per cent of the work was performed by women.
The German section was entirely under the supervision of men, as
were most, if not all, of the foreign exhibits. But women were
everywhere else omnipresent in charge of the Educational
Department.
In the awards to higher education I would say that upward of 20
per cent went to women exhibitors. (For percentages and other
suggestions I am indebted to Dr. J.J. Conway, St. Louis
University, also a member of jury of higher education.)
We point with pride to the discovery of radium by Madame Currie,
of Paris, as both a new, useful, and distinctive work of woman.
Columns might be written on this invention alone. The work of
Madame Currie was certainly original. Miss Annie E. Sullivan's
new methods of teaching the deaf-blind, as in the case of Helen
Keller, gives her the honor not only of prominence as an
educator of defectives, but also of inventing a very new and
valuable method of instruction. The methods of teaching
defectives are the wonder of educators, and will probably be
effective of marvelous results in the near future. The highest
praise must also be bestowed upon the work of Mrs. Shaw and Miss
Fisher, of Boston, and of Mrs. Putnam and Mary McCullough, as
the promoters of kindergarten work. Kindergarten work is
self-eloquent.
Credit is due woman for her conception of the idea of traveling
libraries, which have so effectively brought cheer and
recreation, and even reform, to many restricted lives. The
libraries of the Colonial Dames and everything along the line of
reading circles, literary clubs, etc., have had their inception
in the brains of women. Traveling libraries have been a boon to
many a small town. Though it is impossible to digress in woman's
work in the industries, the Newcomb Pottery, made at the Sophia
Newcomb College, Louisiana, should be mentioned, all of which is
done by women educated at that school of design.
I commend the ample and reliable literature on all these
subjects, as a better source of information on the merits of
these inventions that can be shown in this brief report. But
most of women's work in the educational section, the school
work, art work, etc., was an improvement along already existing
lines. But along household and economic lines women, during the
last ten years, have done original thinking and much
investigation. And the studies in sanitary chemistry, the
attainments as a scholar and scientist of Mrs. Ellen C.
Richards, Vassar, 1870, stand out conspicuously, having won for
her the respect of the world.
The question of the value of the product or process, as measured
by its usefulness or beneficent influence on mankind, is so vast
that a flood of answers sweep over one, embracing the whole
field of women's usefulness and the whole realm of education.
The usefulness of the discovery of radium has scarcely been
estimated as yet, nor has the beneficent influence of teaching
defectives, and of many of the household inventions been fully
enjoyed up to this time. The question involves much of the
scientific success of the future along both physical, mental,
moral, and educational lines, and, judging by the past, we feel
assured that many brilliant achievements will owe their origin
and accomplishment to women.
There was naturally nothing lacking in the merits of the
installation of any exhibit presented by women, nor in the taste
manifested in the placing of the same. The women's college
booths were always effectively arranged and sometimes made up
for the lack of range of exhibit by unusual artistic grouping
and tasteful placing of the displays.
Several times I have referred to the progress in art displayed
by woman at St. Louis. This was evidenced not only in the
magnificent specimens of her brush and chisel in the Fine Arts
Museum in both the home and foreign art schools, but in the
prolific efforts of her skill in outside exposition sculpture,
where woman's work, side by side with man's, was pointed to with
exultation as one of the greatest triumphs of the twentieth
century exposition. We all recall how many of the most notable
pieces of statuary crowning the various great palaces were the
work of divinely endowed women. Such was the superb "Victory,"
surmounting Festival Hall, the conception of Mrs. Evylyn B.
Longman, while the spirit of "Missouri," which winged its flight
from the summit of the great Missouri Building, was executed by
Miss Carrie Wood, of St. Louis. To Miss Grace Lincoln Temple,
the beautiful decorations of the interior of the United States
Government Building were due. The two "Victory" statues on the
Grand Basin and the Daniel Boone statue were executed by Miss
Enid Yandell, by birth a Kentuckian, but now of New York. The
statues of James Monroe, James Madison, George Rogers Clark, on
Art Hill, were, respectively, done by Julia M. Bracken, Chicago;
Janet Scudder, Terre Haute, and Elsie Ward, Denver. The
reclining figures over the central door of the Liberal Arts
Building were by Edith B. Stephens, of New York, and the east
and north spandrels of the Machinery Building were done by Melva
Beatrice Wilson, New York.
Glancing at the portrait painting of Cecelia Beaux, the work of
Mary MacMonnies, of Margaret Fuller, of Mrs. Kenyon Cox, and of
Kate Carr, of Tennessee; of Virginia Demont-Breton, of France:
of Lady Tadema and Henrietta Rae, of Great Britain, we feel, as
well as see, the exalted place woman's genius has given her in
the art world of to-day. While in science we point with
gratification not only to Madame Currie, but to the astronomical
work of Miss Whitney, of Vassar; of Miss Agnes Clerke, of
Cambridge, England, and of Dorothea Klumpke, born in San
Francisco, but connected with the Paris Observatory and one of
the foremost astronomers of France. In archaeological works Miss
Elizabeth Stokes, of Alexandra College, Dublin; in research
work, Miss Skeel, of Westfield College, London; and in
mathematics, Sophia Kowalevski, of Stockholm, and Charlotte
Angus Scott, born in England and professor at Bryn Mawr, stand
out preeminent--adding even greater luster to the woman's page
of science, on which in the past the names of Caroline Herschel,
Mary Summerville, and Maria Mitchell were written in illumined
letters.
In medical works, especially in the United States, and more
particularly in the profession of surgery, women have scored for
themselves many glorious successes, though it is not possible
here to enter into an amplification of the subject.
In conclusion, I would say that the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition markedly showed the setting aside by women of former
traditions and her expansion into a new life, where, though by
no means giving up the ornamental and social, she has yet
demonstrated her rights to be recognized in the broader and more
useful fields of discovery, investigation, and invention in art,
science, and industry. She is everywhere the rival of man,
everywhere entering with enthusiasm his chosen paths, excepting
perhaps in naval and military operations, and as nurse and
ministering doctor she is even there.
As the World's Fair at St. Louis was a stupendous triumph of
modern times in manufactures, in economic and liberal arts, in
electricity, in history, in science, in architecture, in
agriculture and forestry, in landscape gardening, in machinery,
in archaeology, in education, in fine arts--in fact, along every
line of practical work as well as in the sciences and arts--so
woman's progress in every department was such as to gleam forth
from even the superb and marvelous splendor everywhere reflected
as worthy of her highest ambition and as suggestive of untold
and signal possibilities for the future.
GROUP 4, MRS. E.H. THAYER, OF DENVER, COLO., JUROR.
Under the group heading "Special Education in Fine Arts," the
two classes into which it was divided represented: (Institutions
for teaching drawing, painting, and music. Art schools and
institutes. Schools and departments of music; conservatories of
music. Methods of instruction, results obtained. Legislation,
organization, general statistics.)
Mrs. Thayer writes as follows:
As a juror of this group I was associated with five jurors, all
men, holding positions as professors of schools of art, and they
agreed with me that the fine art work of the woman was equal to
the men students and in some schools of art it was far superior;
this was especially so in the study of the nude from the
academies of art in New York and Philadelphia.
The only school of art in which we found the work of woman
inferior to men was in Austria, excepting in the making of lace
and embroidery; but the studies in figure painting was inferior
to the same work done by woman in American schools. Yet the art
students' work from Austria, as a whole, was so fine we gave
that country the grand prize.
I was particularly pleased with the wall-paper designs made by
women students in a school of design in New York City. They were
most original and artistic. This school made a display of
several hundred designs, and we were told they were all sold for
large prices during the exposition to manufacturers of wall
paper.
The New York Night School of Art showed some remarkably good
work by girls who were employed during the day. The professor in
charge told us that the girls were so eager for instruction in
art that they would be waiting for the doors to open and would
work longer hours and make greater progress than the men.
GROUP 7, MISS HOPE FAIRFAX LOUGHBOROUGH, OF LITTLE ROCK, ARK., JUROR.
Under the group heading "Education of defectives," the three
classes into which it was divided represented: Institutions for
the blind, publications for the blind; institutions for the deaf
and dumb; institutions for the feeble-minded. (Management,
methods, courses of study; results. Special appliances for
instruction. Legislation, organization, statistics. Buildings;
plans and models.)
Miss Loughborough presents the following report:
The jury of group 7 in the Department of Education had under its
inspection the work of the blind, the deaf, and the
feeble-minded. In view of the fact that the exhibits were sent
by institutes and special schools, and were the result of the
cooperation of men and women teachers who selected the work of
both boys and girls to represent the school as a whole, it was
difficult to estimate with accuracy the proportional amount of
women's work. As nearly as it can be estimated, however,
two-fifths of the exhibits shown in the three classes of which
this group was composed were the work of women. With the
exception of a few special prizes the awards were given to
institutions and not to individuals, but about 21 per cent of
these were given for women's work. The work of the boys and
girls in the shops was generally shown distinctly, but were not
awarded separately, the whole idea being to show, not what the
boys or girls, the teachers or principals were doing
individually, but what results were being obtained in the
institutions from the best-known methods for special education,
both in class and industrial work, and particularly to show by
means of the model school--or living exhibit--some of the class
methods in operation.
The living exhibits were the most striking in classes 19 and 20.
They consisted of entire classes which were brought, one at a
time, from different State institutions. Each class remained at
the fair some weeks, were provided with accommodations on the
grounds, and had its recitations every day in a temporary
schoolroom in the Educational Building. This class room was
always surrounded by a crowd of eager lookers on, who watched
with the utmost attention the methods of instruction--so little
known to the public in general--by which the deaf and blind make
such wonderful progress. The work of instruction in the living
exhibits, although almost entirely planned by men, was executed
by women.
The awards for the living exhibits were given the institutions
from which the classes came, with one exception. This exception
was Lottie Sullivan, a deaf and blind girl from the Colorado
institution, who was awarded a gold medal for her aptitude and
the progress she had made. The jury thought at first that her
teacher, too, deserved special recognition for the results
obtained, but as it was found that the teacher in charge of
Lottie Sullivan at the fair had had her but a short time, and
that there was no one person responsible for her progress, it
was decided to make no award.
Of the special schools, not State institutions, which exhibited,
those conducted by women showed work on a par with that done in
the schools conducted by men, and received as liberal rewards.
Particularly creditable was the work done in the schools for the
feeble-minded.
In group 7 the exhibits were divided into three classes, 19, 20,
and 21, the work respectively of the blind, the deaf, and the
feeble-minded. In class 19 women showed basket work, raffia
work, modeling in clay, hammock weaving, crocheting, embroidery,
printing by means of Braille writing machines, and class work;
in class 20, sewing, embroidery, crocheting, painting, drawing,
modeling, and class work, and in class 21, basket making,
sewing, embroidery, crocheting, and class work.
There was but one foreign woman who made an exhibit. This was
Mademoiselle Mulot, a French woman, who had invented a writing
machine for blind children. She had brought a little blind
French boy with her, who was not installed as an exhibit, but
whom she brought before the jury to show the working of her
machine. This machine consisted of a small frame blocked off
into squares, in which the child was taught to write the letters
of the English alphabet. Mademoiselle Mulot's claim for award
was that with the machine generally in use it was necessary to
teach the child a language of dots and dashes which was not
legible by people in general. Although ingenious, Mademoiselle
Mulot's machine was not considered striking or new enough to
warrant an award.
There was no display within the jurisdiction of group 7 which
would seem to indicate any great advancement in the work of
women since the Chicago Exposition, though the methods of
instruction--many of them through the painstaking application of
women--have undergone marked improvement. The work of women as
shown by the exhibits in the education of defectives at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, placed on equal terms of
comparison with that of men, was very creditable. There was
nothing particularly helpful or suggestive in the school work
being shown on equal terms of comparison with that of men, for
in this field women have always kept well abreast of men, and
their work has been appreciated equally with that of men.
Department B, art, Prof. Halsey C. Ives, chief, comprised six groups and
eighteen classes, the board of lady managers being represented in four
of the groups.
GROUP 9. MISS MARY SOLARI, MEMPHIS, TENN., JUROR.
Under the group heading "Paintings and Drawings," the two
classes into which it was divided represented. Paintings on
canvas, wood, metal, enamel, porcelain, faience, and on various
preparations, by all direct methods, in oil, wax, tempera, and
other media; mural paintings; fresco painting on walls; drawings
and cartoons in water color, pastel, chalk, charcoal, pencil,
and other media, on any material; miniatures on ivory.
Miss Solari reports as follows:
WOMEN IN THE WORLD OF ART AT THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION.
The first feeling of a woman who looks back to the history of
art during the last ten years is one of pride, for she
recognizes that the exhibit made by women in the Fine Art
Department of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition is the best,
most complete, and important that has ever been made by women at
any previous exposition; that it is superior to that made at the
Chicago World's Fair in point of quality and character, and by
competent judges said to be better than that made in Paris in
1900.
As regards the St. Louis Exposition, that influence is
conspicuous which has brought about a development rather than
new foundations or new schools. In seeking subjects for the "new
thought" the "old masters" have not been lost sight of. "There
is nothing new under the sun," and as the musician draws from
the old masters his soul-inspiring theme, so the aspiring
painter studies the canvases of the past ages for his correct
guidance. And to the dispassionate observer these things prove
much with regard to the actual work being done by women artists,
and the new influences, if such they be, that have made
themselves felt during the last decade. Should we regard a work
of art as an independent entity, the result of what is called "a
separate creative act" on the part of the artist, with no
relation to its environment, we must perforce conclude prenatal
conditions in the painter which we are loath to admit. Hence we
have no reason to be ashamed of the old masters. Critics there
are who know how to judge of a picture, and critics who
constitutionally can not draw from a canvas a simple salient
good feature; they have not the knowledge of the difference
between bad and beautiful design and color, or the meaning of
harmony.
If we may apply to art what Goethe said of poetry we find that
among its votaries there are two kinds of self-half-informed
people, "dilettanti," he calls them, "he who neglects the
indispensable mechanical part, and he thinks he has done enough
if he shows spirituality and feeling, and he who seeks to arrive
at poetry merely by mechanism in which he can acquire an
artisan's readiness, and is without soul and matter."
This exposition has no doubt been the means of discouraging a
number of men and women from continuing in a profession for
which they are not qualified by the possession of any rare gift.
It is to be hoped, however, that the work accepted and shown at
the St. Louis Exposition will prove that a class of women
artists has been produced in the decade just past who have at
least learned the grammar of their chosen art work--the value of
simple lines and pure tones.
The work of the women was placed side by side with that of the
men artists and where the pictures would show to the best
advantage and harmonize with the surrounding ones.
In examining for awards the merit of the work was discussed and
considered regardless of the name the canvas bore; but that this
was the better plan for exhibiting women's work leaves room for
doubt, because as a whole women's work could not be viewed,
thereby leaving the exhibition incomprehensive to the average
visitor who could not grasp the importance of woman's
contribution to the world of art by the scattered pictures as
arranged in the various galleries of the Art Building. I do not
hesitate to say that women in general by their representation at
the Louisiana Purchase Exposition derived little or no benefit
by having their work placed side by side with that of men,
chiefly because it was reduced to insignificance by the small
proportion of works exhibited. Secondly, the visiting public was
not attracted by the fact that women had a picture here and
there hanging on some one of the walls in the Palace of Art.
Had their work been collected in one gallery the display would
have been more comprehensive and better appreciated. But,
nevertheless, this exposition has emphasized the fact that woman
fills an important place in the field of art. She wields her
brush deftly, conscientiously, and her canvases fit well side by
side with those of her brother artists.
Women at the exposition excelled most in figure paintings in
oils, and in this line of work have made greater progress since
the Chicago Exposition than in any other branch of the fine
arts. The execution is bold, free, and shows a greater
familiarity with the subject portrayed, though they have reached
a very high standard in watercolor landscapes and are notably
strong in miniature painting. The innate refinement and delicate
sense of detail and color which characterizes women are
prominent for the features for the production of the high finish
required in a miniature. Mural painting is beginning to attract
women, and with their love for beautiful homes they must soon
excel in this branch and bring decorative art to a fuller
perfection.
One of the crowning glories of this exposition is that it has
brought to the few American artists living at home the
opportunity to study the salient characteristics of the schools
of the various countries exhibiting at the St. Louis Exposition.
Twenty-four countries exhibited in the Fine Arts Department and
contributed to Groups IX and X 5,468 pictures from nearly 1,500
professional artists, of which number not more than 300 were
women (289) and fully half this number were represented by their
work in the United States section. The number of awards bestowed
in the United States section was 41 to women exhibitors against
239 to men. The total number given in the foreign sections,
collectively, was 17 to women against 398 to men. No work
executed prior to the Chicago Exposition was in competition for
award.
EXHIBITS BY WOMEN IN THE VARIOUS SECTIONS OF GROUPS IX AND X.
United States: Oil paintings, 64; water colors, 41; mural
paintings, 6; miniatures, 42. Argentina: Oil painting (by Julia
Wernicke), 1. Belgium: Oil paintings, 21; water colors, 6.
Ceylon: Oil paintings, 2. Italy: Oil paintings, 9; water colors,
2. Nicaragua: Oil painting (Miss Andrea Garcia), 1. Portugal:
Oil paintings, 4. Sweden: Oil paintings, 6. England: Oil
paintings, 16; water colors, 13; drawings, 10. Austria: Oil
paintings, 3. Canada: Oil paintings, 10; water colors, 2.
Holland: Oil paintings, 21. Japan: Oil paintings, 5. Peru: Oil
painting (Miss Amalia Franco), 1. Russia: Oil paintings, 15;
water colors, 15. France: Oil paintings, 19; water colors, 17.
The two last-named countries (France and England) did not
exhibit in any department for awards.
List of honors conferred by the international jury of awards
upon women artists exhibiting in the Department of Fine Arts of
the Louisiana Purchase Exposition:
United States section.--Group IX, gold medal: Cecelia Beaux,
Lucia Fairchild Fuller, Laura C. Hills, Theodora W. Thayer.
Silver medal: Adelaide Cole Chase, Louise Cox, Helen Emmet,
Lidia F. Emmet, Rosina E. Sherwood, Janet Wheeler, Mary S.
Green, Elizabeth Nourse, Violet Oakley, Sara C. Sears, Susan
Watkins. Bronze medal: Ellen Witherald Ahrens, Martha S. Baker,
Alice Beckington, Emma Lampert Cooper, Mary C. Dickson, Elinor
Earle, Adele Herter, Emma Kipling Hess, Margaret Kendall, Anna
E. Klumpke, Clara T. MacChesney, Rhoda Holmes Nicholls, Mabel
Packard, Pauline Palmer, Lilla Cabot Perry, Alice T. Searle,
Amanda Brewster Sewell, Mariana Sloan, Letta C. Smith, Mary Van
der Veer, A.B. Wing, Louise Wood. Group X, silver medal:
Charlotte Harding, Jessie Willcox Smith. Bronze medal: Maud
Alice Cowles, Elizabeth Shippen Green.
Belgium.--Group IX, paintings and drawings, silver medal: Louise
De Hem, Henriette Calias, Marie De Bievre, Juliette Witsman.
Canada.--Group IX, paintings and drawings, silver medal:
Florence Carlyle. Bronze medal: Laura Muntz.
Germany.--Group IX, paintings and drawings, bronze medal: Anna
Maria Wirth.
Holland.--Group IX, paintings and drawings, gold medal: Therese
Schwartze.
Japan.--Group IX, paintings and drawings, silver medal: Madam
Shoyen Uyemura. Bronze medal: Madam Giokushi Antomi.
Portugal.--Group IX, paintings and drawings, silver medal:
H.R.M. the Queen of Portugal.
Russia.--Group IX, paintings and drawings, bronze medal; Miss
Eliza Backlund, Miss Emile Loudon.
Sweden.--Group IX, paintings and drawings, bronze medal; Esther
Almquist, Fanny Brate, Anna Nordgren, Charlotte Wahtstrom.
Group 11, Mrs. Elizabeth St. John Matthews, New York City, Juror.
Under the group heading "Sculpture," the four classes into which
it was divided represented: Sculpture and bas-reliefs of figures
and groups in marble, bronze, or other metal; terra cotta,
plaster, wood, ivory, or other material; models in plaster and
terra cotta; medals, engravings on gems, cameos, and intaglios;
carvings in stone, wood, ivory, or other materials.
Mrs. Matthews reports as follows:
The recent Louisiana Purchase Exposition furnished further
evidence of the importance of such gatherings of the world's
artisans, and has left with us an illuminating impression of the
effectiveness of the greater civilization which is the result of
unification of national interest in the development of the
useful and beautiful. This is probably the greatest good from
such expositions, and they serve to cement the workers of the
world in one grand mosaic of endeavor.
The field of application is large, and the progressive people
are few. We are babes as yet in the ability to receive ideas,
and with comparatively little capacity for the expression of
them in tangible work, so that whatever tends to a common
interest that speaks for progress, let it be exultant cause for
practical thinkers to give their support to every such movement.
The wide identification women have accomplished in the fields of
industrials and art during the past decade has made it necessary
that the sex be taken into serious consideration in expositions,
and that requisite encouragement and support be given women it
is necessary that they should have adequate representation on
committees and boards that are formed for administration.
Service on such boards by women is invariably conscientious and
efficient, and for this reason their services are valuable in
all departments in which the work of women is involved, and it
is certainly obvious that socially they are indispensable.
As a member of the committee on awards in sculpture at the
recent exposition at St. Louis, I wish to say that in the
sculptural exhibit 60 out of 350 pieces, or 17-1/2 per cent,
were by women. Four of these pieces were by women of foreign
birth and residing in foreign countries. Of this number there
were a few portrait busts, and the remainder were ideal and
symbolic works.
The first impression one received in viewing the work in this
department was that there was a number of women sculptors in
this country of more than ordinary ability, and this impression
grew the more you examined their work with that of men. It is
true that by far the greater number of pieces sent by women were
small, but even they showed a capacity for conception,
construction, technique, and individuality that will ere long
make them fully the equals of men in this important branch of
the arts. And there were large pieces there, too, that spoke of
a daring that will soon develop into a confidence that promises
well for future work, and this element was what the women
sculptors of the country lacked more than any other.
The placing of their work alongside that of men will do much to
increase confidence in their own powers; and while it would not
be exact to say that the work of the two sexes was equal in
merit, the difference was not great. For this reason I think the
managers did an extremely wise thing in not segregating the work
of the two sexes, and to have placed them side by side, so that
the weak points could be discovered and remedied and the points
of excellence improved. All were delighted to see the
advancement women have made in sculptural art in the past few
years, and this advancement is attested by the fact that they
received 1 gold, 3 silver, and 16 bronze medals in this
department alone.
The progress they have made in the past ten years has been most
gratifying, and they are certainly progressing more rapidly
along certain lines than men. The deficiencies and points of
weakness brought out by this exhibition will soon be overcome,
and as women have become convinced that natural endowment does
not fit men for greater work than women, they will evolve
grander themes than heretofore. And by firmness with which woman
in art is already treading this upward path, she is convincing
others that another road exists than that which their feet knew.
It is positive that the encouragement given to man on account of
his physical prowess, by both men and women, has had a
psychological effect in helping him to evolve ideas and to carry
them out in tangible form. Women will be helped to a large
extent only by women; they must not wait for that help that has
been given man. They must do the work that comes to their
consciousness, or that which is given them to do, without
question or hesitation. There should not be any doubt or leaning
on any seeming staff. Women are the originators, the creators of
spiritual and material progress, and must not be fearful in
expressing themselves. The female mind is more refined, more
delicate, thus receiving truer perceptions than man's. The
sensitiveness of the woman nature is of much advantage in any
artistic endeavor.
The fine arts, music, poetry, painting, and sculpture, have been
the educators of nations. Now that woman's thought is finding
greater expression, their mental and moral influence on both
sexes will be great; and as such expositions are world-wide
educators, the beneficent influence of women as coworkers and
practical idealists is above and beyond computation as a proper
exposition attraction. It was a great surprise to the millions
of people who saw the excellence of talent that was shown by the
women artists, and the fact that women did it elevated the
sentiment and appreciation of art. Indeed, without the work of
women officially organized, and as individuals, it could not
have reached, as it did, the height of success.
Group 12, Miss Rose Weld, Newport News, Va., Juror.
Under the group heading "Architecture" the four classes into
which it was divided represented: Drawings, models, and
photographs of completed buildings. Designs and projects of
buildings. (Designs other than of architectural or constructive
engineering.) Drawings, models, and photographs of artistic
architectural details. Mosaics; leaded and Mosaic glass.
It is unfortunate that in this department the extent in which women
share in the kind of work represented in this group was not
demonstrated. While there are not many women architects of buildings as
yet, it is believed that the number is rapidly increasing, and within
the past ten years it has been discovered that their aptitude for
designing and working in leaded glass is of the highest, their artistic
tendencies rendering them peculiarly adapted to this kind of work.
Miss Weld reports as follows:
In this department there were only two women exhibitors, both
Americans. The English and French exhibits were not open for
competition, but, so far as I could find out, there were no
exhibits by women from either of these countries.
One of the American women exhibited as an architect some
attractive plans and interior views for a farmhouse. The other,
as a landscape architect, some photos of garden scenes.
This last exhibit was the more striking of the two, as it showed
that in the last few years women had made inroad into another
profession hitherto left to the men.
Miss Brown only finished her studies in landscape architecture
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1903, where she
was one of the first three women to take the course, a course
only established within the last few years, so that there has
not been much time in which to show what women can do in the
profession. It is only a step from private gardens to public
parks and grounds.
Until lately the laying out of the grounds has been left to the
landscape gardener, after the house and other buildings have
been completed by the architect. It is the idea of the landscape
architect, as I understand it, to consider both elements in the
original design, instead of leaving them to the different tastes
of the architect and landscape gardener in the hope of having a
more harmonious result.
Though both the exhibits mentioned above were appreciated in
their classes, I can not help thinking that not enough attention
was paid to the way they were presented, especially in the case
of the garden scenes. Six little photos mounted in one frame did
not show to the advantage or make the impression that the
working drawings and one large photo of the result would have
made.
As the work of men and women must stand side by side in the
world, the proper way is to exhibit it on terms of equal
comparison, as was done at St. Louis. If the work is better than
the men's, so much the more glory; if not so good, it ought to
arouse ambition.
It was a great disappointment to see such a small exhibit by
women in this department, a department where such creditable
work has been done by women in this country, and if there had
been at all a just representation I am sure it would have been a
great surprise to some of the foreign visitors. I hope the other
departments were better represented.
Group 14, Mrs. Eugene Field, Buena Park, Ill., Juror.
Under the group heading, "Original objects of art workmanship,"
the eight classes into which it was divided represented: Art
work in glass (other than that which is included in group 12);
art work in earthenware, pottery, or porcelain; art work in
metal (other than that included in group 11); art work in
leather; art work in wood (other than that included in group
11); art work in textiles; artistic bookbinding; art work not
covered by any other group.
It is to be regretted that Mrs. Field felt unable to make any report on
this group, which so self-evidently must have contained much work done
at least in part by women. It is well known that they have, within the
past few years, entered the field of artistic bookbinding with the most
gratifying success; that they excel in art work in textiles, and are
proficient in art work in leather.
Department C. liberal arts, Col. John A. Ocherson, chief, comprised 13
groups and 116 classes, the board of lady managers being represented in
but three of the groups.
Group 16, Miss Frances B. Johnston, Washington, D.C., Juror.
Under the group heading "Photography," the two classes into
which it was divided represented: (Equipment, processes, and
products); materials, instruments, and apparatus of photography;
equipment of photographic studios; negative and positive
photography on glass, paper, wood, cloth, films, enamel, etc.;
photogravure in intaglio and in relief; photocollography;
stereoscopic prints; enlarged and micrographic photographs;
color photography; direct, indirect, and photocolor printing;
scientific and other applications of photography; artistic
photography as applied to portraiture, landscapes, etc.
Miss Johnson says:
There were comparatively few women exhibitors whose work was
passed upon by our group jury, but notwithstanding this fact,
the work of the women ranked very high, and was fully recognized
in the awards. In this regard I do not venture to base any
report to you on my memory alone, and I have, so far, been
unsuccessful in getting any official list of the awards made.
Group 17, Mrs. Horace S. Smith, Chicago, Ill., Juror.
Under the group heading "Books and publications--Bookbinding,"
the seven classes into which it was divided represented
equipment and products: Newspapers, reviews, and other
periodicals; collections of books, forming special libraries;
new books and new editions of old books; drawings, atlases,
albums; musical publications; equipment, processes, and products
of making stitched books and of bookbinding; specimens of
bindings, stamping, embossing, gilding, etc.
No report.
That the work of women entered into the nature of the exhibit is shown
by the fact that the Exposition Company granted the board representation
upon it, and one has but to step into any large bindery to see scores of
women busily engaged in the various departments, from folding the
printed sheets to laying on the gold leaf. On newspapers the range of
their work is from typesetting to editor in chief, and no library seems
to exist at the present time without one or more women on its working
staff.
Under the group heading "Maps and apparatus for geography,
cosmography, topography," the four classes into which it was
divided represented: Maps, charts, and atlases; geographical,
geological, hydrographical, astronomical, etc.; physical maps of
all kinds, topographical maps, flat or in relief; terrestrial
and celestial globes, statistical works and tables; tables and
nautical almanacs for the use of astronomers, surveyors, and
seamen.
Mrs. Woolwine writes:
Having served as juror in group 18 of the Department of Liberal
Arts at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, it gives me great
pleasure to make for you the best report I can on woman's work,
my knowledge of most of which has been obtained from outside
sources, as by neither registration nor cataloguing was there
any differentiation between the work of man and woman.
There were two very large relief maps of New Orleans and the
levee system of the Mississippi River, which were the work of
Miss Jennie Wilde, of New Orleans, and, while they rank low in
the final prize award, attracted a great deal of attention and
admiration. Comparatively speaking, I think this work much more
ambitious than that heretofore undertaken by a woman along this
line, and should prove a stimulus to woman in a new field. I
could not see that results would have been better if their work
had been separately exhibited.
So far as I know, manufacturers were not then asked to state the
percentage of woman's work which entered into their special
exhibits; nor were they, as a rule, shown in such manner as to
indicate in any way which part was performed by woman and which
by man. The grand prize work, I am informed by the Rand, McNally
Company, was nearly half performed by women; certainly 45 per
cent of it. In this the skill and ingenuity displayed and the
originality was not separable from that of her colaborers.
Group 18, which consisted of geographical work in general, was
hardly a fair test of woman's skill, surveying and engineering
having been considered out of her line. Therefore I consider the
one exhibit by woman a step forward along a new line, a
willingness to compass great things, an evidence of woman's
ambition and desire to succeed, but with her past education and
opportunities inadequate for equal competition.
If I may suggest, it will be greatly to our interest that women
should have their work so catalogued that they may have credit
for what labor they perform. No doubt much work is done in map
making by women, but no mention of it is catalogued or credit
for its excellence asked by them.
It seems to me that a committee to investigate these questions
at the beginning of each great exposition, or at the time of the
placing of the exhibits, would be of very great statistical
value in determining the amount of labor and the degree of skill
exercised by woman in these departments.
The art of embroidery has been supposed always to be one peculiarly
belonging to women, but that the men at least occasionally invade the
field of her occupations is shown by the fact that the large Japanese
and Chinese maps exhibited in the Transportation Building were both done
by men, and showed exquisite workmanship, particularly the embroidered
one.
The letter Miss Wilde herself has written in regard to the work on her
relief map of the levee system may be of interest, as this certainly
represents a new field of labor for women. It counted one more gold
medal in the awards.
All of the work on my relief maps was done by "woman," my sister
assisting me greatly. On account of the limited time I had to
finish the maps in, I was unable to finish them entirely myself,
so had to employ assistants, but in each case it was the hand of
woman. I received a gold medal for my work, or rather my work
received a gold medal, it being an order from the State of
Louisiana, and forming a part of their exhibit the medal had to
become the property of the State.
Surveying and engineering I have never studied, except in the
making of these maps, when every assistance in regard to data,
etc., was given to me by the most noted State and city
engineers, they coming from time to time to supervise the work,
and laughingly saying, when I had completed the same, that they
would have to give me a diploma for proficiency in the
profession. Of course I had to read up and learn a great deal in
regard to surveying and engineering in making the maps, as
everything is done correctly to a scale.
Department D, manufactures, Mr. Milan H. Hulbert, chief, comprised 24
groups and 231 classes, the board of lady managers being represented in
but 7 groups.
This would seem to be one of the departments where women should have
been accorded fuller recognition. Space does not permit an examination
of the number of groups into which their work largely enters, but in the
group of "clock and watch making," for instance, it would seem scarcely
just not to grant them their full measure of praise for work well done.
In one factory alone in Massachusetts, where more than 3,000 persons are
employed, hundreds of them are women and girls, employed not only in
assembling the parts, but attending various machines. Under the group
"Toys," also "Dolls, playthings," it is self-evident women must have
much to do with their manufacture and preparation for the market, and
their inventions of toys and playthings for children would seem to
preeminently entitle them to the place in this group which was denied
them.
Group 37, Mrs. R.A. Edgerton, Milwaukee, Wis., Juror.
Under the heading "Decoration and fixed furniture of buildings
and dwellings," the nine classes into which it was divided
represented: Permanent decoration of public buildings and of
dwellings. Plans, drawings, and models of permanent decoration.
Carpentry; models of framework, roof work, vaults, domes, wooden
partitions, etc. Ornamental joiner work; doors, windows, panels,
inlaid floors, organ cases, choir stalls, etc. Permanent
decorations in marble, stone, plaster, papier-mache, carton
pierre, etc. Ornamental carvings and pyrographics. Ironwork and
locksmiths' work applied to decoration; grill work and doors in
cast or wrought iron; doors and balustrades in bronze, roof
decoration in lead, copper, zinc, dormers, spires, finials,
vanes; crest and ridge work. Decorative paintings on stone,
wood, metal, canvas, or other surfaces. Signs of all varieties.
Mosaic decorations in stone or marble for flooring; enameled
mosaic for walls and vaulted surfaces. Various applications of
ceramics to the permanent decoration of public buildings and
dwellings.
As much time was consumed in endeavoring to communicate with the
principal of this group, Mrs. Edgerton as alternate did not arrive in
St. Louis until the work of the jury was far advanced, and therefore
could make no report.
Group 45, Mrs. Isaac Boyd, Atlanta, Ga., Juror.
Under the group heading "Ceramics," the 13 classes into which it
was divided represented: (Raw materials, equipment, processes,
and products.) Raw materials, particularly chemical products
used in ceramic industrials. Equipment and methods used in the
manufacture of earthenware; machines for turning, pressing, and
molding earthenware; machines for making brick, roofing tile,
drain tile, and pottery for building purposes; furnaces, kilns,
muffles, and baking apparatus; appliances for preparing and
grinding enamels. Various porcelains. Biscuit of porcelain and
of earthenware. Earthenware of white or colored body, with
transparent or tin glazes. Faience. Earthenware and terra cotta
for agricultural purposes; paving tiles, enameled lava.
Stoneware, plain and decorated. Tiles, plain, encaustic, and
decorated; mosaics, bricks, paving bricks, pipes. Fireproof
materials. Statuettes, groups and ornaments in terra cotta.
Enamels applied to ceramics. Mosaics of clay or of enamel. Mural
designs; borders for fireplaces and mantels.
No report.
Group 53 (later combined with Group 61), Mrs. F.K. Bowes, Chicago, Ill.,
Juror.
Under the group heading of "Equipment and processes used in
sewing and making wearing apparel," the nine classes into which
it was divided represented: Common implements used in
needlework. Machines for cutting clothes, skins, and leathers.
Machines for sewing, stitching, hemming, embroidering, etc.
Machines for making buttonholes; for sewing gloves, leather,
boots and shoes, etc.; plaiting straw for hats. Tailors' geese
and flatirons. Busts and figures for trying on garments.
Machines for preparing separate parts of boots and shoes
(stamping, molding, etc.). Machines for lasting, pegging,
screwing, nailing. Machines for making hats of straw, felt, etc.
Mrs. Bowes writes as follows:
AMALGAMATION OF GROUPS 53 AND 61.
Chairman, Daniel C. Nugent, St. Louis; honorary vice-president,
Jean Mouilbeau, Paris, France; first vice-president, John
Sheville Capper, Chicago; second vice-president, J.E. Wilson,
Elmwood, Ill.; secretaries, Charles W. Farmer, New York City,
and Ella E. Lane Bowes, Chicago (elected by the jury to fill the
place of Secretary Charles Farmer, owing to his being called to
New York City). Group 53: Chairman, J.E. Wilson, Elmwood, Ill.;
vice-chairman, Charles E. Moore, Brockton, Mass.; secretary,
Ella E. Lane Bowes, Chicago, Ill.; Mary G. Harrow, Ottumwa,
Iowa; Mathilda Ripberger, Dresden, Germany. Group 61: Chairman,
John Sheville Capper, Chicago, Ill.; secretary, M. Blum, Paris,
France; M. Mouilbeau, Paris, France; Eugene Leonard, Paris,
France; Fred L. Rossback, Chicago, Ill.; W.E. McClelland, New
York City; M. Magai, Japan; Nellie Saxton, Brazil; Celia Nelson,
Philadelphia, Pa.; Ella E. Lane Bowes, Chicago, Ill.
_Group 53_.--Group 53 was composed of two men and two women
jurors, viz, the chairman and vice-chairman, men; the secretary,
the writer, an American, and a German woman.
Group 53 was composed of equipments, processes, etc. Class 326,
common implements used in needlework. Class 327, machines for
cutting clothes, skirts, and leathers. Class 328, machines for
sewing, stitching, hemming, embroidering. Class 329, machines
for making buttonholes; for sewing gloves, leather, boots and
shoes, etc.; plaiting straw for hats. Class 330, tailors' geese
and flatirons. Class 331, busts and figures for trying on
garments. Class 332, machines for preparing separate parts of
boots and shoes (stamping, molding, etc). Class 333, machines
for lasting, pegging, screwing, nailing. Class 334, machines for
making hats of straw, felt, etc.
In this group of nine classes there was no distinctive exhibits
by women, but the outcome of their skillful labor on the
wonderful machines was purely their own and well displayed.
The most practical exhibit of woman's work was the finished
product of sewing machines in the United States and Great
Britain sections.
The Singer sewing machine exhibit furnished the best display in
the group. The work was very fine in detail, done by skilled
artisans.
Among the work in the homely arts were shoes, corsets,
underwear, and skillful darning. The manufacture of these useful
articles proved interesting.
In the beauty arts was displayed embroideries and fancy
monograms, a skilled workman demonstrating a machine that would
produce twelve monograms at one time in elaborate embroidery; in
fact, the machines seemed as human as the workers themselves;
although they were not talkers, they were "Singers."
Among the notable exhibits in this group was the attractive
display of paper patterns. The Butterick Pattern Company
exhibited on life-size wax figures the evolution of dress during
the past one hundred years, true to the fashions of each decade
in style, color of dress, and bonnet.
The McCall Company's exhibit consisted of life-size wax figures
attired in paper patterns, up to date in all the idiosyncracies
demanded by fashion, an educational feature in this line of
work.
As a work of art the large and handsome display of paper
costumes has never been equaled. No such display of costumes,
representing lace, velvet, linen, silk, cloth, etc., all made in
paper, has ever been seen anywhere in the world prior to this
exhibit; and this work of art was the handicraft of women.
In the Homer Young Company's sewing machine the demand and
supply for women's comfort was again called out in the combined
dressing table and sewing machine, a good invention for flats,
the fad of the day, that was designed for convenience.
The electric flatirons were certainly an advance in the right
direction.
A great time saver was the "Universal button fastener,"
"guaranteed not to come off."
In some departments of manufacture exhibits the percentage of
woman's labor was said to be 10 per cent; the wax-figure
department, 75 per cent; in operating sewing machines for the
manufacture of wearing apparel, etc., the percentage is about
90. Operation of sewing machines and kindred industries have
reached about as high a state of perfection as possible. The
same holds good in regard to the Singer sewing machines of Great
Britain. Their output is larger for machines for the manufacture
of embroideries, lace, saddlery, leather, top-boots, sewings,
and upholstery. A specialty of machine work was their fine
hemstitching. Perhaps the attractiveness of the Singer sewing
machine exhibits was owing largely to the fact that they were
shown in motion.
Germany's sewing-machine product showed great skill in
workmanship. Lintz & Eckardt, Berlin, displayed the output of
eight styles of embroidery machines, ribbon plaiting, and a
three-needle machine with band apparatus, which turned out
wonderful work of bead and silk embroideries on silk and other
fabrics.
The many dress cutting and ladies' tailoring systems, again the
inventions of man, are perhaps among the most useful in women's
work to-day in teaching dress cutting from a perfect system, and
greatly assisting in the work of drafting garments from actual
measurements. They are time savers, and are so constructed as to
follow the changes in fashion, and women can, by their use,
become expert workmen and display artistic skill. A great
advancement has been made along this line of work during the
past ten years, or since the last exposition; not only from a
practical standpoint, but as an educational feature, especially
in rural districts, for through their schools, conducted through
correspondence, they have enabled women throughout the country
to learn dressmaking and to keep in close touch with the styles
of the world. The McDowell system, for manufacturing purposes,
is superior, and under a skilled workman is most correct. The
Edward Curran drafting machines are useful for the novice--good
on account of their simplicity, being more portable on account
of folding into a small compass. The same can be said of the
Valentine system.
In this group there was no installation by foreign women.
In group 53 there was nothing unusual displayed that would lead
one to think that women were more capable of executing more
advanced work than they accomplished eleven years ago.
In the Louisiana Purchase Exposition woman's work was installed
in such a manner and not being specified, one could not tell
where their work began and where it left off. As to the
appreciation of woman's work, it was taken as a whole and was
judged as a work of mankind. Women's work and men's work of
to-day would be hard to separate. Perhaps if women's work could
be brought out more prominently it would be better for them. No
work was displayed in such a manner as to enable one to
distinguish between the two. In the manufacture of personal
effects, the larger proportion was women's work. No woman
received an award in group 53 to my knowledge.
As has been said before, the operation of machines is especially
women's work. Women were not the inventors, but they displayed
ingenuity and skill in the operation--application. Although they
are not the original inventors, it is a well-known fact that
many improvements are women's suggestions. Their working at the
machines and the ingenuity and taste displayed in the choice of
work was of marked value as an exposition attraction.
_Group 61. Various industries connected with clothing (processes
and products)_.--Class 383, hats; hats of felt, wool, straw,
silk; caps, trimmings for hats. Class 384, artificial flowers
for dressing the hair, for dress and for all other uses.
Feathers, millinery, hair: coiffures, wigs, switches. Class 385,
shirts and underclothing for men, women, and children. Class
386, hosiery of cotton, wool, silk, and floss silk, etc.;
knitted hosiery, cravats, and neckties. Class 387, corsets and
corset fittings. Class 388, elastic goods, suspenders, garters,
belts. Class 389, canes, whips, riding whips, sunshades,
parasols, umbrellas. Class 390, buttons; buttons of china,
metal, cloth, silk, mother-of-pearl or other shell, ivory, nut,
horn, bone, papier-mache, etc. Class 391, buckles, eyelets,
hooks and eyes, pins, needles, etc. Class 392, fans and hand
screens.
Owing to Mr. Farmer being called to his home, Mrs. Ella E. Lane
Bowes, secretary of group 53, served as secretary of group 61
also. Group 61 was composed of 11 individuals, 7 men and 4
women, with an American for chairman and a Frenchman for
secretary, and two vice-chairmen.
Group 61 contained 30 classes. Within this group there was no
especial exhibit by women, although their work stood out in
prominence.
The most striking display was the corset display of Birdsey &
Sumers, of New York. The corsets were shown on wax half-size
figures, the color scheme being carried out in detail to match
the corset. The most prominent figure was one done in white
satin and real lace with jewel clasps, etc. This display, from
its artistic arrangement and elegant materials was in conformity
with the French exhibits. With the exception of the jewels, it
was purely of American production; and the arrangement and
display of the exhibit was due to an American woman, an employee
of the manufacturer.
Another notable display was that of Kops Brothers, of New York.
They exhibited the "Nemo" corset and the "Smart Set," in an
artistic manner. The arrangement of this display was also due to
a woman.
Strouse-Adler & Co., New York City, showed a practical exhibit
of what was termed by the exposition officials a "live exhibit,"
manufacturing garments from start to finish, and was an
attractive display. These demonstrations were by women.
In the exhibit of the American Hosiery Company, New Britain,
Conn., the goods were up to the high standard of the "Grand
Prix."
The Lewis Knitting Company, Janesville, Wis., made an attractive
display, and the writer was told at this exhibit that the
garments were brought to a high state of perfection through the
ingenuity of Mrs. Lewis.
The Wayne Knitting Mills, Fort Wayne, Ind., made a very
beautiful display of fine knit goods, the work of women.
The Kleinert Rubber Company, New York City, made an artistic
display of fancy things and were assisted in the arrangement of
same by a woman. This exhibit should have special mention for
having had everything in place and on time before opening day,
which could not be said of many others. I was told that here
also many of the improvements were the suggestions of women.
Many of the finest exhibits in this group were ladies' lingerie.
There were many creditable exhibits of women's underwear, the
work of their hands, and marvelous creations in bead embroidery,
lace, and artificial flowers.
A most brilliant display was made by the Rosenthal-Sloan
Millinery Company, consisting of artificial flowers manufactured
by women. This artistic display was said to have been suggested
and carried out in detail by a woman. A unique feature of this
display was a map of the United States, each State being formed
with its adopted flower, the States being outlined in golden
rod, the proposed national flower.
The writer understood that in some of the underwear and hosiery
mills women were superintendents of departments and employed in
great numbers in other work, the proportion of women to men
being between 80 and 90 per cent.
The J.B. Stetson Company, of Philadelphia, Pa., made a good
practical display of hats, and in their line the finished
product was equal to any in the world, and showed great progress
since the Columbian Exposition, when the writer had the pleasure
of judging their exhibit. The average of woman's work is about
equal.
In this group the advancement in special industries has been in
the processes of women's work in the knit goods and corsets,
which show greatest improvement. The creditable work shown in
the arrangement and display of exhibits by suggestions and
carrying out of detail by women leads one to think that women
are more remarkable along these lines of work and have
accomplished much in the last eleven years, since the time of
the Chicago Exposition, or at any time in the past.
Their work was more individualized in former expositions, while
in the latter it was impossible to draw comparisons in the
advancement or success of women's work, the work not being
placed in such a way as to enable one to judge whether it was
solely that of women or men. All work was exhibited as the work
of mankind in general, and could not be classified under the
head of either women's or men's work.
Where manufacturers were questioned relative to the percentage
of women working in their establishments, they gladly answered
the questions.
No woman received an award in this group.
Among the useful and distinctive inventions shown were the
garter supporters, well known to be the invention of a woman.
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