Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
by
Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
Part 14 out of 16
The underwear in general, corsets, and accessories are more
useful and more healthful from a physical standpoint, especially
the corsets of to-day. This is an advancement.
There was more ingenuity displayed in the installation and taste
in artistic arrangement of the exhibits, making them of greater
value as exposition attractions; whereas in former expositions
Philadelphia was experimental, the World's Columbian Exposition
educational, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition exploitive.
There is no reason why women should not have a large
representation, if not equal with men, in all expositions. While
they may not be the real inventors of the machines, devices,
etc., they many times are the suggestors. Being the spenders and
buyers for the home and family makes them more competent as
judges of merchandise of all kinds and quicker to note
improvements.
In the work of the world, especially in anything pertaining to
the home, educational matters, arts, and professions, women hold
such a prominent place to-day, almost exclusively doing the work
in the manufacture of articles and habiliments for creature
comforts, that it is impossible to ignore them.
_Summary of groups 53 and 61 (jury composed of 19 persons)_.--In
previous world's fairs they were called judges, but at this one
they were "jurors."
It would be well to dwell upon the vastness of the work
accomplished by the petit jury within a brief period of time,
for they were in constant work for twenty days, from morning
till night, visiting the many exhibits. Upon examination, the
value of the commodity or product was decided and the usefulness
of the same and comparisons made with similar exhibits,
consultation in jury meetings, where the many good points of the
exhibits were presented and discussed, and a final decision was
reached by vote of the jury as a whole.
The various machines were for the manufacture of women's
habiliments, with the much-needed garment-drafting machine,
which, if not invented by women, was at their suggestion and
creation of the demand for supplies.
The up-to-date paper patterns, wax figures, papier-mache forms,
milliners' findings, and sewing machines made the grand whole.
The finished products were the marvelous creations of her hands,
for, as truly said, man did invent these machines, but women
work and bring forth the grand finale, therefore one is not
complete without the other. In all things it takes the good work
of men and women to complete the whole. And this applies to jury
work as well.
From the writer's experience in expositions up to date she would
approve the combination of the John Boyd Thatcher individual
judge and diploma systems, together with the bronze, silver,
gold, and "grand prix," which would be preferable from an
educational standpoint and also to show to the world what the
medal was given for. Also, the group or petit jury doing the
work should combine with a larger jury, and perhaps a court of
appeal, it being impossible for anyone in a higher court to know
the why and the wherefore of the workers of the petit jury; and
as far as the writer could learn it was the concensus of opinion
of both exhibitors and jurors, as heretofore stated, that the
opportunity to hold to the last was more preferable.
As an observer of the workings of world's fairs from the
Centennial at Philadelphia, and also being closely allied with
other great fairs, having visited same since that time and being
a judge heretofore, will repeat the general remark of exhibitors
and judges of former expositions. The consensus of opinion was
that "no world's fair was complete without a jury composed of
men and women, a just representation," working in unison and
perfect accord with only one end in view--justice to all.
Group 61 (combined with 53, as above), Mrs. A.G. Harrow, Ottumwa, Iowa,
Juror.
Under the group heading, "Various industries connected with
clothing," the ten classes into which it was divided represented
(processes and products): Hats; hats of felt, wool, straw, silk;
caps, trimmings for hats. Artificial flowers for dressing the
hair, for dress, and for all other uses. Feathers. Millinery.
Hair; coiffures, wigs, switches. Shirts and underclothing for
men, women, and children. Hosiery of cotton, wool, silk, and
floss silk, etc.; knitted hosiery; cravats and neckties. Corsets
and corset fittings. Elastic goods, suspenders, garters, belts.
Canes, whips, riding whips, sunshades, parasols, umbrellas.
Buttons, buttons of china, metal, cloth, silk, mother-of-pearl,
or other shell, ivory, nut, horn, bone, papier-mache, etc.
Buckles, eyelets, hooks and eyes, pins, needles, etc. Fans and
hand screens.
Mrs. Harrow reports as follows:
The work of group 53, of which I was a member, did not take us
very extensively among the women exhibitors of the exposition,
but in every instance where their work came under our
observation or inspection they demonstrated their marked ability
in the manner and taste shown in their display, and in some
instances, where their competitors were men, they proved the
fact that if their work was not superior, it was at least equal
to that of the men.
In my opinion it is better for women's work to come in
competition with that of men and not be separated.
All women in general, I feel sure, must have been greatly
benefited by having a fair representation at the exposition, as
it could not but help placing a higher standard upon all women's
work, and that work in particular in which she excelled.
And as woman's work receives benefit, and also success by being
placed on equal terms of comparison with that of men, so
likewise may man's work receive helpful suggestions and real
advancement by being brought into competition with the work of
women.
Group 58 (later combined with Group 59), Mrs. E.D. Wood, Indianapolis,
Ind., Juror.
Under the group heading "Laces, embroidery, and trimmings," the
seven classes into which it was divided represented: Lace made
by hand, laces, blond or guipure, wrought on pillow or with the
needle or crochet, made of flax, cotton, silk, wool, gold,
silver, or other threads. Laces made by machinery; tulles, plain
or embroidered; imitation lace, blond and guipure, in thread of
every kind. Embroidery made by hand; embroidery by needle or
crochet, with thread of every kind, on all kinds of grounds
(fabric, net, tulle, skin, etc.), including needlework upon
canvas, as well as embroidery applique or ornamented with gems,
pearls, jet, spangles of metal or other material, feathers,
shells, etc. Embroidery made by machinery, with the foundation
preserved, or with the foundation cut or burned away. Trimmings;
galloons, lace or braids, fringes, tassels, all kinds of
applique and ornamental work, handmade or woven, for millinery
or garments, ecclesiastical vestments, civil or military
uniforms; for furniture, saddlery, carriages, etc.; threads and
plates of metal, gold or silver, real or imitation, spangles,
chenilles, and all other articles used for trimmings. Church
embroidery; church ornaments and linen; altar cloths, banners,
and other objects for religious ceremonies in fabrics ornamented
with lace, embroideries and trimmings. Curtains, with lace,
guipure, or embroidery, upon tulle or fabrics; blinds, screens,
portieres, lambrequins, and other draperies, ornamented with
lace, embroidery, and trimmings.
Mrs. Wood writes:
Our jury was a large one--about thirty members. They came from
France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, China, Japan, Great Britain,
Mexico, Porto Rico; the other members were Americans, and
represented the different States. The work we were to do was
what was known as "groups 58 and 59," and covered so much ground
we found that in order to finish in the required time we would
have to divide our jury, so that some were detailed to examine
embroidery, others costumes, trimming, laces, etc. I was on the
lace committee. Laces made by hand, wrought on pillows, by
needle or crochet, silk, wool, gold, silver, or thread,
machine-made laces, imitation, embroidered tulles, and lace
curtains. It would be impossible to describe the beauties of the
lovely laces, the time, patience, and labor given to them. We
examined the exhibits in the Manufacturers' Building, Varied
Industries, all foreign buildings. The work done by women in the
Philippines, Porto Rico, Mexican and Alaskan exhibits was as
fine in texture and as beautiful as imported laces. The work in
every instance was as handsome as that shown at the Chicago
World's Fair, but perhaps not on so large a scale.
I was a member of a committee of four appointed to adjust the
losses on the handsome imported costumes and wraps in the French
section that were damaged during a wind and rain storm that
swept over the exposition grounds during the summer and damaged
the building and the immense glass cases containing these
valuable goods, the loss of which amounted to hundreds of
dollars to the Exposition Company.
Group 59 (combined with Group 58 above), Mrs. William S. Major,
Shelbyville, Ind., Juror.
Under the group heading "Industries producing wearing apparel
for men, women, and children," the four classes into which it
was divided represented: Clothing to measure for men and boys;
ordinary costumes, suits for hunting and riding, leather
breeches and similar articles; suits for gymnastic uses and
games, military and civil uniforms, campaign clothing of special
types, robes and costumes for magistrates, members of the bar,
professors, ecclesiastics, etc., liveries, various costumes for
children. Clothing, ready-made, for men and boys. Clothing to
measure for women and girls; dresses, vests, jackets, cloaks
(made by ladies' tailors, dressmakers, or cloak makers), riding
habits, sporting suits. Clothing, ready-made, for women and
girls. Patterns.
Mrs. Major reports as follows:
In group 58, Department of Manufactures, the proportional number
of exhibits by women contained in these classes was small--I
would think about 10 per cent. Groups 58 and 59 exhibited laces,
embroideries, trimmings, decorations for gowns, costumes, and
wraps, drawn work and Tenneriffe. Art needlework was the most
striking exhibit by women in that department. Women showed great
advancement in each industry, without question. Very few
exhibits were installed by foreign women; the foreign costumes
were largely from the man tailor. The needlework in the Visayan
Village of the Philippine exhibit was of a very high order, but
no provision was made to grant awards upon this--the Philippine
exhibit--and Miss Anna Woolf, of St. Louis, and I called the
attention of the authorities to the deserving character of the
exhibit and made a plea for awards to be made by the higher
jurors, and they promised to do so. I do not know whether it was
done or not, however, but there was no woman's work in the whole
Louisiana Purchase Exposition more deserving or of higher grade
than the needlework in that village exhibit. Enough can not be
said of these little workers. The present age is one of
superiority, in which women not only show their ability, but
each year they are granted more, and more widespread becomes
their ability to grasp all vocations and fill them most
creditably.
I am confident there was no question of the interest shown by
men in woman's work; in fact, I think it attracted more
visitors, and the results would not have been better if their
work had been separately exhibited.
The work shown at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was on a
much greater and higher plane than ever has been exhibited
before. Where women exhibited they received a greater number of
awards in proportion. Miss Mary Williamson was an original
designer of artistic needlework, showing exceptional talent, and
was awarded a grand prix for her designs.
I attended the Paris Exposition of 1878, also the Centennial at
Philadelphia, 1876; spent much time at the Columbian World's
Fair in Chicago, and possess a diploma and gold medal for my
artistic needlework exhibited at the Columbian Exposition.
Miss Margaret Summers, of Louisville, Ky., was also a juror in the
above-combined groups 58 and 59, and writes:
In group 59 the costumes made by men were about twice as many as
those made by women, though the handsomest of the exhibits was
the work of a woman, Caroline, of Chicago.
All the work done by women showed a great improvement over that
exhibited at the Chicago Exposition, not only in the cut and
design, but in the artistic finish and the care given to every
detail.
The hand work was a special feature of all the garments for
women in the lingerie, gowns, and manteaux.
The most intricate designs were executed in a manner betokening
the true artist, and none but those educated in the art of
combining colors and in designing could have obtained the
results seen at St. Louis.
The tendency in all garments for women, however, was toward the
ornate rather than the simple, and with but few exceptions every
gown, every wrap, and all the lingerie was most elaborate. But
the hand of the true artist was shown in these garments in that
they were beautiful and in good taste in spite of their
elaborateness.
It would have been advantageous if the women's work had been
arranged separate from the men's, because they would have
attracted more attention as a woman's exhibit per se and would
therefore have called greater attention to the progress women
have made in these lines. In other words, the separate exhibit
would have served better for a comparative study of woman's
advancement in the past ten years.
There was a greater variety of woman's work than was shown at
the Chicago Exposition, and that in itself showed an
advancement. The greater scope gave evidence of a broadening
influence, and the women showed themselves proficient in all
they undertook.
As compared with the work of men, I should say that the women's
exhibit had every right to be placed side by side with the
men's, just as was done.
In Group 58 was eventually placed the wonderful piece of embroidery of
the "Sistine Madonna," the work of Miss Ripberger, of Berlin. The linen
upon which the life-like figures were wrought was probably 6 by 8 feet
in size, and in order to reproduce the colors the silk had been matched
with the colors in the original painting. The reproduction of Raphael's
wonderful work was a marvel of artistic ability and patience, and was
exquisitely executed. It justly deserved the grand prix accorded it.
Department H, agriculture, Mr. Frederic W. Taylor, chief, comprised 27
groups and 137 classes, the board of lady managers being represented in
but five groups.
Group 78, Mrs. W.H. Felton, of Cartersville, Ga., Juror.
Under the heading of "Farm equipment--Methods of improving
lands," the three classes into which it was divided represented:
Specimens of various systems of farming. Plans and models of
farm buildings; general arrangement; stables, sheepfolds, barns,
pigsties, breeding grounds; special arrangements for breeding
and fattening cattle; granaries and silos; furniture for
stables, barns, kennels, etc. Material and appliances used in
agricultural engineering, reclaiming of marshes, drainage,
irrigation.
Mrs. Felton says, in a letter accompanying her report:
In accordance with your official request, I have prepared a
short resume of the work as juror in Group Jury No. 78. It was
the central group--I mean, the leading group in the Department
of Agriculture. There were no exhibits by women, because we
passed upon matters so immense that it was the work of States
and foreign governments, rather than of individuals, that was
noted.
Mrs. Felton's report is as follows:
I was selected as a juror for Group Jury No. 78, and entered
upon the duties assigned me on September 1, 1904.
Group Jury No. 78 organized, and after the chairman and
vice-chairman were selected I was made secretary, which position
I held until the minutes and report were handed in to the office
of Hon. Fred. W. Taylor, chief of Department of Agriculture, on
September 19.
As secretary, the work of the Group Jury No. 78 came immediately
under my supervision, and I found the work exceedingly pleasant,
and my colleagues (all the members were gentlemen except myself)
were most agreeable, and we concluded our work without the least
friction or antagonism to the close.
Group No. 78 was the first on the list in the general Department
of Agriculture. It covered exhibits on main lines, other groups
taking what I might term subdivisions.
We examined farm improvement as related to inventions and
devices which were intended as fixtures to farm buildings. Group
No. 79 was devoted to such exhibits as were movable.
To illustrate: No. 78 collected data and awarded prizes on barn
gates, doors, hay carriers, silos, windmills, pumps, etc., while
No. 79 was concerned with thrashers, plows, and the various
implements which are not sold with farm buildings as necessary
fixtures.
Having lived an active life on a Georgia plantation for fifty
years, all these matters were of exceeding interest to the
secretary, although a woman.
Our jury made an exhaustive examination of the exhibits of
irrigation models, with various reports and statistics, that
were carried to St. Louis. Germany made the finest exhibit as to
number and completeness, and I feel sure there never has been
such a far-reaching display of irrigation methods in the United
States before. I was intimately connected with the Columbian
Exposition, as a lady manager from Georgia and chairman of the
woman's executive committee in the Cotton States and
International Exposition, and I feel I speak advisedly when I
tell you that nothing I have ever seen compares with the
agricultural exhibits of the St. Louis Exposition, as uncovered
to my view in performing the duties of a juror, especially in
regard to the greatest problem of the twentieth century, namely,
in regard to irrigation and its future possibilities for our
various States and Territories. You will understand, of course,
women had no part in the various governmental works where land
has been reclaimed and converted into the finest farming lands
known to this era, but in the results which followed such
reclamation the farmer's wife and daughter has been seen and
felt everywhere, although no percentage of women's work was
noted in the exhibits examined by Group Jury No. 78.
Germany, Italy, Belgium, and France were prominent, and the
States of Utah, Montana, California, and Louisiana gave most
satisfactory evidences of advanced progress by irrigation in
farming methods.
In the Belgian exhibit we were shown the beautiful and
remarkable flax grown in the irrigated districts, the material
from which the finest lace, known as the Brussels product, is
constructed. If the investigation had been pursued to the limit,
every benefit, or profit, or financial opportunity resulting
from the improvement of farms, abroad or at home, touches
somewhere the lives of our farm women in comfort and happiness.
Our jury passed upon the magnificent exhibit made by the State
of Missouri in the Agricultural Palace--the finest State exhibit
known to this continent--up to date in agriculture.
The construction of an elegant lay figure, made entirely of corn
shucks and corn silks, representing a lady of style and fashion,
was the handiwork of a woman and richly deserved the prize that
was awarded.
Group No. 78 being confined to general lines, and covering the
idea of farm improvement on an extended scale, grasping, as it
were, the great and fundamental principles of modern
agriculture, the work of the sexes was not indicated by the
exhibitors. The percentage of each was not required by
instructions given to Group Jury No. 78.
It gives me great pleasure to thank you and the board of lady
managers for kind attentions, and the opportunity for pleasure
and instruction in this group jury work, and to assure you that
it was my constant aim and purpose to prove to my colleagues and
to Chief Taylor that your trust and confidence had not been
misplaced in assigning me to jury duty in so important a place.
Group 84, under the group heading "Vegetable food
products--Agricultural seeds," was divided into eight classes,
which represented: Cereals--wheat, rye, barley, maize, millet,
and other cereals in sheaves or in grain. Legumes and their
seeds--beans, peas, lentils, etc. Tuber and roots and their
seeds--potatoes, beets, carrots, turnips, radishes, etc.
Miscellaneous vegetables and their seeds--cabbages, peppers,
artichokes, mushrooms, cresses, etc. Sugar-producing
plants--beets, cane, sorghum, etc. Miscellaneous plants and
their products--coffee, tea, cocoa, etc. Oil-producing plants
and their products. Forage, growing, green, cured, or in silos;
fodder for cattle; forage, grass, and field seeds.
Neither the principal nor alternate in this group were able to serve.
Group 89, Mrs. E.L. Lamb, Jackson, Miss., Juror.
Under the group heading "Preserved meat, fish, vegetables, and
fruit," the eight classes into which it was divided represented:
Meat preserved by any process. Salted meats, canned meats. Meat
and soup tablets. Meat extracts. Various pork products. Fish
preserved by any process. Salt fish, fish in barrels, cod,
herring, etc. Fish preserved in oil--tuny, sardines, anchovies.
Canned lobsters, canned oysters, canned shrimps. Vegetables
preserved by various processes. Fruits dried or prepared,
prunes, figs, raisins, dates. Fruits preserved without sugar.
Fruits, canned, in tins or in glass. Army and Navy commissary
stores and equipment.
No report.
Group 88, Mrs. F.H. Pugh, Bellevue, Nebr., Juror.
Under the group heading "Bread and pastry," the two classes into
which it was divided represented: Breads with or without yeast,
fancy breads, and breads in molds, compressed breads for
travelers, military campaigns, etc. Ship biscuits. Yeasts.
Baking powders. Pastry of various kinds peculiar to each
country. Ginger bread and dry cakes for keeping.
Mrs. Pugh reports substantially as follows:
The nature of the exhibits in group 88 were angel food cake,
pickles, bread, fruit cake, Purina Mills exhibit, the most
striking exhibit being a California fruit cake, made by Mrs.
Rose E. Bailey, which weighed 81 pounds. The exhibits showed
advancement in the science of good cooking, all the exhibits
being installed by American women, no foreign women that I can
recall participating, and the display was more creditable than
at the Chicago Exposition, in that the exhibitors showed more
confidence in themselves and their work, more attention being
given also to the purity and healthfulness of their food
exhibits. Their work, as shown at the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition, would most certainly prove helpful or suggestive to
those interested in the advancement and success of women's work
by their exhibition of success already achieved, and the work of
women, it is believed, was as well appreciated when placed by
the side of that of men, and the results would not have been
better had their work been separately exhibited. No
manufacturers that I knew of, excepting the Purina Mills
(Ralston) exhibition, were asked to state the percentage of
woman's work that entered into the manufacture of their special
exhibits, and only by one or two exhibits was it in a measure
indicated in any way which part had been performed by woman,
which by men; but, in my opinion, probably about one-tenth of
the work was performed by women in this group. There were eight
women exhibitors out of a total of sixty-three applications.
In the exhibits in this department daintier manipulation and
more regard for purity of foods was shown than in the past, and
in the construction of individual booths Mrs. Buchanan's
pickles, Mrs. Gautz (Northwestern Yeast Company), and Mrs.
Haffner's Swansdown flour deserve special mention. The exhibits
of the women did not show special development of original
inventions, but were mainly improvements and greater skill in
handling the products, the greatest labor-saving machine being
Werner's domestic machinery; but it is presumed this is the
invention of man only, and that while women took no part in
constructing that their installations were a credit to the most
wonderful of all expositions and were a great attraction to
visitors.
I am frank to say that as I look back upon our work there, the
women who made the greatest effort to add to the attractiveness
of the Agricultural Palace did not receive all the awards they
deserved, namely, Mrs. Rose E. Bailey, to whom was awarded a
grand prize for the ingenuity of her exhibit, never heard of the
award; Mrs. Bertha E. Haffner, representing Swansdown flour,
should have had a grand prize for her cakes, since a grand prize
was awarded Mrs. Gautz for bread. This was the consensus of
opinion of jurors in group 88.
The coffee exhibits employing women, and the flours--Pillsbury,
Washburne, and Crosby, the banana flours, North Dakota flour
exhibitors, Sanitas Nut Company, breakfast foods--were all in
the charge of women, all of whom deserve special mention for
their unfailing courtesies to sightseers.
It warms my heart yet just to think of the dear old Palace of
Agriculture, and the many delightful hours spent there in our
work. I desire to specially commend the kindness received by
those in charge of the Brazilian Pavilion and Machin Brothers'
French bakery.
Group 90, Miss Carolyn Hempstead (now Mrs. C.M.F. Riley), Little Rock,
Ark, Juror.
Under the group heading "Sugar and confectionery--Condiments and
relishes," the eight classes into which it was divided
represented: Sugar. Glucose. Confectionery. Chocolate. Brandied
fruits, preserves, jellies. Coffee, tea, substitutes for
coffee--mate, chicory and sweet acorns. Vinegar. Table salt.
Spices and extracts; pepper, cinnamon, allspice, etc.; flavoring
extracts. Mixed condiments and relishes; mustard, curries,
sauces, etc.
Mrs. Riley reports as follows:
Department of Agriculture, group 90. In this group there were
not as many women exhibitors as seemingly might have been
expected, as women have always been the exponents of this
domestic science, and have been called the "ministering angels"
to man's needs; have feasted his eyes and fed his stomach from
times immemorial with their sweetmeats. Eve, even, perhaps made
Adam happy with sun-dried figs. Who knows?
All told, there were not over thirty women exhibitors, and the
exhibits consisted of preserves, jellies, jams, marmalades,
pickles, relishes, candied fruits, crystallized
flowers--excellent in their quality and most beautifully put up
and hygienically sealed. In this, the science of our
grandmothers, much of their wisdom and practice clings to the
art of producing and effecting the good result which were
displayed before us; but if the exhibitors did have recourse to
the old cookery books, the manner of showing the exhibits, the
attractive booths, the managing ability, the business methods
were the attributes of the women of to-day--the advancing, the
farseeing business woman.
There were no foreigners in this class. The exhibitors of the
guava jellies and foreign preserves were men. Man in all
countries has been prone to reach out and gather in the best
that women have had to give, and in this branch of trade has so
enlarged and sometimes, may I add, adulterated the old recipes,
and with his money and his army of employees has established
great pickling and preserving plants designed to feed the
world's masses.
In most cases the pureness, the sweetest, the old touch of
"homemade" is gone, and only until the domestic woman, by dint
of hard pressure, has been driven out into the world to gain her
own livelihood, has this pure homemade article been put upon the
market. "Pin-money" pickles are now a household word--made by a
woman in Virginia, who started by making for her friends and
neighbors, but whose industry has grown now to immense
proportions.
In the exhibits by women at the St. Louis exposition two
exhibits were worthy of unusual merit--one a fruit cake
containing 41 varieties of preserved fruits, and weighing 81
pounds, made by Mrs. Rose A. Bailey, of California. Mrs. Bailey
preserved these fruits in sugar only. Her collection of jellies,
etc., received the warmest praise, and so much has been said
that she is now contemplating the forwarding of a "Home-prepared
fruit agency" to be handled by women only.
The other exhibit was the crystallized rose leaves and violets,
by another California woman--so made that the sugar could be
peeled off, leaving the rose leaf or violet intact and perfect
in its coloring and form.
These were the odd and new exhibits. A long line of clear
jellies and good pickles and toothsome relishes was most
willingly judged and more willingly tasted. A most attractive
exhibit of these were in the booth of Mrs. Nathalie Claibourne
Buchanan, representing an old Virginia kitchen, its open
fireplace with the fire logs in the background, the high mantel
with its rows of preserves and pickles, and a dear old black
"mammy" in kerchief and bandana as a most fitting setting to the
scene.
No woman received the highest award, the grand prix, but some
were given the gold medal.
In the exhibits of the large manufacturers there was no way to
tell what part of the labor had been performed by women; but on
the printed forms the proportion of women laborers was quite
often given, but it is a known fact that two-thirds of the work
of these large factories is done by women and girls.
This should be a wide avenue for women to enter the marts of
life, but on the small scale it is so underpaid in proportion to
the labor expended that but few are bold enough to enter.
Department J, horticulture, Mr. Frederic W. Taylor, chief, comprised 7
groups and 27 classes, the board of lady managers being represented in
but one group.
Group 107, Mrs. M.B.R. Day, Frankfort, Ky., Juror.
Under the group heading "Pomology," the six classes into which
it was divided represented: Pomaceous and stone fruits--apples,
pears, quinces, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines,
etc. Citrus fruits--oranges, lemons, limes, shaddocks, pomelos,
etc. Tropical and subtropical fruits--pineapples, bananas,
guavas, mangos, tamarinds, figs, olives, sepodillas, etc. Small
fruits--strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, dewberries,
gooseberries, currants, etc. Nuts--almonds, chestnuts, filberts,
pecans, hickorynuts, walnuts, etc. Casts and models of fruits in
wax, plaster, etc.
Mrs. Day says, in substance, in her replies to the questions:
That she can not give an approximate number of women who
exhibited in this group, but that the nature of the exhibits
shown were fruits--grapes, apples, etc.--and flowers, the most
striking exhibits being by florists and fruit culturists, and
that women have entered many more branches of this work in
recent years; that she believes their work shown at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition would prove helpful and suggestive
by reason of the great care taken in the exhibits. Mrs. Day does
not think any difference was shown in appreciation of the
exhibits of women when placed by the side of men, and hardly
thinks the result would have been better had the work of women
been separately exhibited. This seems to be almost the only
department where exhibits were shown in such manner as to
indicate whether they were the work of men or women, as all
exhibits were marked distinctly with the name of the owner of
fruit, farm, or florist, the exhibits of New Mexico and Oklahoma
being each in charge of very intelligent women. Some of the
finest fruit farms sending exhibits were owned by women, and
women also made some of the best displays of fruits and,
flowers.
Department N, anthropology, Prof. W J McGee, chief, comprised 4 groups
and 5 classes, the board of lady managers being accorded representation
upon each.
Group 126, Miss Alice C. Fletcher, Washington, D.C., Juror.
Under the group heading "Somatology," the two classes into which
it was divided represented: Physical characteristics of man; the
comparative and special anatomy of races and peoples; specimens,
casts, measurements, charts, and photographs representing
typical and comparative characteristics. Anthropometry;
measurements, charts, diagrams, etc., showing the methods and
results of comparative studies on the physical structure of
living races; instruments and appliances used in anthropometric
investigations.
Miss Fletcher reports:
In the Department of Anthropology there were no distinctive
exhibits by women that I can recall, for the work of women in
that field was represented in the general student body of the
science.
In archaeology, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall's investigations in Mexico
were represented in the publications of the Peabody Museum of
Harvard University and the University of California. Miss Boyd's
remarkable excavations at Gournia, Crete, were in connection
with the Archaeological Institute of America, and the University
of Pennsylvania. The contributions of these two and of Miss
Breton, an English woman, who has made copies in color of the
disappearing mural decorations in Central America, rank among
the recent notable archaeological researches.
In somatology, the exhibit of Bryn Mawr College showed so marked
a comprehension of the value of this line of study and its
observations and the results in this branch of science, were so
clearly and well presented as to receive a special award.
In ethnology, the work of women in this branch was included in
the publications of scientific bodies and universities. In the
collections exhibited the articles obtained by women were
indiscriminately arranged with those gathered by men so as to
make the exhibits of value and of interest.
In reply to the questions as to whether woman's work was as well
appreciated when placed side by side with that of men, as when
separately exhibited, I would say, that the trend of opinion at
the present time is to judge of work by its character and
quality rather than by the sex of the worker. Every woman
student desires only such judgment to be passed on her work and
is grateful that the day has come when she can be so dealt with.
Again, as to a comparison between the exhibits of woman's work
at previous expositions and at the one held in St. Louis; as I
have visited nearly all since that of the Centennial, I think
that no one could fail to note the fairer estimate put on
woman's work at the, recent exposition than was ever before
granted. From the days of the childhood of the race to the
present time it has always been impossible to draw a hard and
fast line between the labors of men and those of women, their
work has continually interchanged and overlapped. What has been
woman's work in one age has become man's in another. The history
of textile industries is a well known case in point. Such being
the fact, it is in keeping with the truth of the past and the
present time, not to attempt to exhibit separately that which
has always been interwoven.
In anthropology the number of women students is small, but the
work accomplished by these few has been creditable, and has
received its due recognition.
The Indian school exhibit came under the Department of
Anthropology, and several women received awards for special
accomplishments.
Looking over the field of woman's work as presented at the St.
Louis Exposition, one is convinced of the growth of a healthful
recognition of her labors in the upbuilding of social life, both
in the ideal and the practical, and can not fail to note the
uses to which she is putting the widening opportunities for her
higher education.
Group 127, Mrs. Alice Palmer Henderson, of Tacoma, Wash., Juror.
Under the group heading "Ethnology" there was but one class,
representing illustration of the growth of culture; the origin
and development of arts and industries; ceremonies, religious
rites, and games; social and domestic manners and customs;
languages and origin of writing.
Mrs. Henderson says:
In the Department of Anthropology in the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition there were but few individual exhibits, those being
principally in the section of history. Women have always been
the chief heralds of family and conservators of family records
and relics. The Daughters of the Revolution have stimulated
research, restoration, and preservation along historical lines.
For the first time in exposition management a department of
history had its own commissioner and that commissioner was a
woman. Miss Hayward justified this decidedly new step by her
services. I think I am right in asserting that she was the first
woman commissioner on the board of any international
exposition.[A] The section of history was part of the Department
of Anthropology.
[Footnote A: Mrs. Potter Palmer and Mrs. Daniel Manning were
appointed by President McKinley to serve as commissioners at the
Paris Exposition, 1900.]
New, too, was representation on the jury of anthropology of
workers in Indian affairs, as represented in the model Indian
school, containing, as it did, so large a proportion of women's
work in exhibits from different tribes and sections of the
country, and of the suggested work of the white woman teachers.
Of these latter was the juror, Miss Peters, of the domestic
science department. Advancement along these lines since the
Columbian Exposition is undoubted, except in the matter of such
Indian arts as basketry and rug making. If there be any reason
for the existence of a raffia basket in hideous aniline hues it
doth not yet appear. I think this bastard has usurped the place
of the Indians' beautiful art of long descent, and it is
distressing. White teachers who presume to instruct the Indians
in basket making, or who substitute hairpin lace and the like,
have much to answer for.
I noted no particular advance in anthropology among women since
the Columbian Exposition, when I served upon the same jury in
the same distinguished company--Mrs. Zelia Nuttall and Miss
Alice Fletcher. In other more tangible departments, so to speak,
and at other expositions, I have noted a steady advance in
woman's work and in the spread of her domain. The time has long
past when it should be segregated, as kindergarten efforts are
from regular school work.
I recall no anthropological exhibit by foreign women at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition. In fact, American women
undoubtedly lead in such study, investigation, exploration, and
publication. In their own country the opportunity is great,
especially in ethnology, because of the thousands of barbarous
people among us and savages upon our borders. Tribes still in
the stone age are our actual contemporaries. Women, quick to
grasp, able to ingratiate themselves, are peculiarly fitted to
gather the folklore of the Indians, their songs and myths and
ceremonials--weird, rich, beautiful as those of the ancient
Greeks. Miss Fletcher, who at St. Louis served upon the section
of psychometry, has done much for both ethnology and the coming
school of American music in rescuing and preserving the Indian
songs.
What has been accomplished in archaeology by women was best
exhibited in the attainments, translations, and publications of
another member of the jury of anthropology, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall,
as well known in Europe as in this country. Woman's acknowledged
intuition, patience, and enthusiasm are factors of great value
in the problem of reducing to one common denominator the life
and works of bygone man from his archeological remains.
It seems to me of great importance to emphasize the work of
women at such expositions. What woman has done, woman can do, is
an invaluable suggestion borne in upon many minds of latent
possibilities which, developed, might greatly benefit humanity.
The most important exhibits at any great exposition are never
seen, only felt.
Miss Cora Peters, Department of the Interior, United States Indian
Service, Chilocco, Okla., as mentioned by Mrs. Henderson, also served in
this Department, and briefly says:
I have not been able to give very definite replies as I had so
little time to investigate the work. I served on the section of
Indian education, and the work of the women was usually better
than that of the men, and in every case they were more
persistent in their efforts. It seems to me that there are more
opportunities open to women along educational lines, especially
that of domestic economy. The extent of women's influence in the
home will never be known, so I am very glad that at present
there is a great interest taken in that subject.
Miss Peters further says that the nature of the exhibits was
historical, such as those by the Daughters of the American
Revolution of Indian relics, and the exhibit in the Alaska
Building, the latter being the most striking exhibit in the
department. The women had more displays than men, and some of
their work was very creditable, and in some cases was as well
appreciated when placed by the side of that of men; that in one
case it might have been more beneficial in result had it been
separately exhibited, but as a whole I think women were given
due consideration. The proportion of the work performed by women
was not as large in proportion as that performed by the men, but
in the Indian section of which I was a juror I think the awards
were about evenly divided. The greater part of the exhibits
consisted of collections of relics, and the exhibits by women
showed great skill and ingenuity, and in nearly every case the
installation of exhibits was considered very good, as was the
taste displayed. Some of them were better than those by men.
Group 128, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, Cambridge, Mass., Juror.
Under the group heading "Ethnography," the one class represented
races and peoples from earliest man to the present time; tribal
and racial exhibits, showing by means of specimens, groups, and
photographs, the stages of culture reached by different peoples
of various times and under special conditions of environment.
Families, groups, and tribes of living peoples.
Mrs. Nuttall's report in the sections of archaeology, ethnology, and
history is as follows:
Exhibits of original work by women in these three sections were
conspicuous by their absence. At the same time the names of
several women figure in the catalogue as collaborators in the
installment of archaeological collections. Mrs. Quibbell and Miss
Cox gave valuable assistance in arranging the Egyptian exhibit
from the Museum at Cairo.
Miss Mary Louise Dalton not only helped to install the
archaeological and historical specimens belonging to the Missouri
Historical Society, but was also instituted as the custodian of
these exhibits.
It is impossible to overrate the value of the services rendered
to the exposition by the special commissioner for history, Miss
Florence Hayward, who not only secured the special exhibit of
the Queen's jubilee presents, but also the exhibits of the
Louisiana State Historical Society, the historical exhibit of
the city of New Orleans, and several interesting private
collections.
The highest award was given to Miss Hayward, and bronze medals
were assigned to Miss Dalton and to Miss Valentine Smith, the
secretary of the Chicago Historical Society, who installed its
loan exhibition, and likewise lent some documents belonging to
her private collection.
Two women only figured as exhibitors of single ethnological and
archaeological objects, but merely as their possessors.
The foregoing facts establish that of the three sections under
consideration (ethnology, archaeology, and history) it was in the
section of history that women distinguished themselves most at
the St. Louis exposition. It may perhaps be said that the
activity of women in bringing together and classifying
historical material was a feature of the exposition, and marks
an encouraging stage in the history of women's work in the
United States.
Department O, social economy, Dr. Howard J. Rogers, chief, comprised 13
groups and 58 classes, the board of lady managers receiving
representation in 5 groups.
Group 129, Miss Caroline Griesheimer, Washington, D.C., Juror.
Under the group heading "Study and investigation of social and
economic conditions," the five classes into which it was divided
represented Official bureaus and offices. Private bureaus,
museums, boards of trade, etc. Economic and social reform
associations, congresses. Economic serials, reviews, and other
publications. Scholastic instruction in economics and social
economy.
Miss Greisheimer says:
Studies and investigations of exhibits, Louisiana Purchase
Exposition, social economy group 129. The exhibits, by means of
reports and statistics, of leading States and countries showing
the commercial and industrial conditions of the State or
country, in regard to exports and imports, wages, occupations,
hours of daily labor, health statistics, educational facilities,
means provided for industrial betterment of employees, and
photographs and graphic charts illustrative of the above, no
doubt attracted the attention of thousands of visitors at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and will result in much good.
Important subjects are thus brought to the front and many
employers and capitalists are benefited by the experience of
others, and so go away and work out some plan for the betterment
of the conditions of their employees. It opens the way for the
capitalist to meet his workmen in the adoption of measures for
harmonizing the interests of capital and labor and binding
together in mutual interest and good will the men whose work
enriches the State and the employer who directs their labor and
converts its products into wages.
The many photographs exhibited illustrating the line of
betterment evolution and industrial commercial pursuits and
development bring facts relating to these subjects before the
public and lead captains of industry and the employer to
investigate betterment institutions and profit by the experience
of others. They also furnish an idea of the large industries,
progress, and natural resources of the country. Thus the
photographs of the coffee plantations of Brazil thoroughly
illustrated the coffee industry and gave an idea of this great
industry, its commercial value, its growth and development. The
exhibits of New Jersey by means of photographs of industrial
betterment institutions and industrial conditions furnished
plenty of matter for studies and investigations to students of
social economics.
Representatives of large industries, through the medium of
international expositions, study the means of improving the
productions of their factories, either by the use of better raw
material, securing it cheaper by importing it direct from the
producing centers, or by the improvement of their processes by
using modern machinery, and by the study of the social
betterment conditions of the employees of other large industrial
enterprises.
Many of the foreign governmental publications, reports,
photographs, statistics, and graphic charts exhibited showed the
degree of advancement reached in some parts of the country with
relation to these particular subjects, and the splendid
condition and resources of the State or country. Many of these
exhibits were beautifully illustrated, giving information of the
social and economic conditions, as well as the history,
geography, physical resources, etc., of the State or country.
The exhibits of France, Belgium, Germany, and Great Britain were
elaborate and systematically arranged, and furnished a fund of
information in social economic studies and investigations by
their most eminent economists.
The exhibits of the American Institute of Social Service
deserves especial mention. We learn from them how we can aid in
humanizing and elevating the spirit, methods, and conditions of
modern life.
This institute had on exhibition about 2,000 photographs in 10
wing-frame cabinets, which visualize and interpret all forms of
social and industrial betterment, arranged as follows: (1) The
American Institute of Social Service. (2) Civic betterment. (3)
Improved housing. (4, 5, and 6) Industrial betterment. (7)
European social studies. (8) Salvation Army and denominational
work. (9) Young Men's and Young Women's Christian associations.
(10) Institutional churches. After the exposition these cabinets
will be put on permanent exhibition at the headquarters of the
institution in New York.
These photos make a deep and lasting impression upon the mind of
the observer of the great work being done in all forms of social
and industrial betterment. It is an efficient way of showing the
needs of the times created by the new conditions in the
industrial world, and is a means of bringing together the best
thinkers of the age to devise feasible plans for the betterment
of mankind, and the solving of problems of social conditions and
industrial betterment. They also show what is being done by the
American Institute of Social Service.
The American Institute of Social Service is a clearing house for
exchange of facts, experiences and ideas on social and
industrial betterment. It is both a laboratory for investigation
and a distributor of the knowledge gained. It is practically an
international university for the study and promotion of social
and industrial progress. Its work is done on a large and
thorough plan, and benefits multitudes.
The fundamental principle and purpose of the institute is to
make the experience of all available for the instruction of
each. This principle is applicable alike to individuals,
corporations, churches, societies, cities, States, and nations.
The institute places human experience on file. It welcomes
inquiries from anyone. The answers aim to be complete, or, if
necessary, to refer the writer to the most direct and
trustworthy sources.
It furnishes expert advice for solving local problems to
employers of every kind, to workingmen, to municipal officers,
to teachers and ministers, to writers, students, and others.
Through its many foreign collaborators, the institute receives
reports, and is in close touch with social movements abroad.
The institute also arranges for addresses and lectures, with or
without lantern slides, on many important subjects, such as: The
Child Problem, History of Labor, Food, Tenements and Improved
Housing, Industrial Betterment, Substitutes for the Saloon, The
Newer Charity, Municipal Problems, Institutional Churches,
Public Baths and Wash Houses, The Better New York.
Its publications are: Social Service, an illustrated monthly
magazine; The Better New York, monographs, and leaflets.
It has a specialized and growing library, with many foreign
books and pamphlets, 3,000 lantern slides, and 4,000
photographs, showing social and industrial conditions throughout
the world.
_Results_.--Plans for new factories have been modified for
comfort and health. Result: Better workers and better work.
Facilities for warm lunches, baths, and recreation at noon have
been provided. Result: Hold of the saloon weakened.
Social secretaries have been appointed in factories and
department stores. Result: Employees and employers in harmony.
Ministers, lecturers, and writers have been aided in presenting
moral questions with force and persuasiveness. Result: Public
conscience aroused.
The attention of societies and clubs has been turned to vital
civic questions. Result: Energies given practical value.
Many private individuals have been encouraged to undertake local
efforts of great value from which they reluctantly shrank for
lack of knowledge and experience. Result: Individuals and
communities have been both beautified.
Theodore Roosevelt said: "This institute is fitted to render a
great and peculiar service, not merely to the country but to all
countries. The possibilities of usefulness for the institute are
well nigh boundless. It will hasten the progress of civilization
and the uplifting of humanity."
The exhibits of the Philadelphia Commercial Museum of the
World's Commerce and American Industries by means of 88
graphically illustrated charts also deserve mention. These
charts illustrate the progress and present conditions of the
commerce of the world, of the manufacturing industries of the
United States, and of the British and American shipping
industries.
This graphic method shows more clearly than statistics alone
would do what proportion of the world's trade belongs to each of
the principal nations, and the relative importance, from a
manufacturing standpoint, of the leading cities of the United
States.
The Philadelphia Museum was organized in 1884 by ordinance of
the city councils, and is governed by a board of trustees. The
board maintains the Commercial Museum and a Commercial Library,
and is accumulating material for a group of city museums devoted
to public education, ethnology, economics, economic botany, and
general science.
The Commercial Museum comprises collections illustrating the
production and commerce of all nations. A bureau of information
collates all available data regarding the subject of foreign
trade, and distributes, upon application, reports tending to the
extension of American trade abroad.
The Commercial Library is free to the public and contains books
bearing particularly on the subjects of international trade,
productions, transportation, banking, economics, and municipal
affairs. It also contains more important books, pamphlets,
periodicals, and foreign reports of recent date relating to
foreign trade and commerce than any other commercial library in
the world.
This valuable collection of trade literature includes
statistical reports of all foreign governments issuing such
documents, and foreign governments' gazettes, reports of board
of trade bodies, regulations of customs tariffs, yearbooks
descriptive of many foreign countries, colonies, and
settlements, the consular reports from all countries, special
work regarding trade, commerce, agriculture, mining, and general
conditions in foreign countries. It also has periodicals, city
directories, and trade directories from all countries.
The museums are maintained by an annual appropriation from the
city of Philadelphia, and the bureau of information by
contributions from business firms and individuals desiring
special service.
The Commercial Museum has accomplished much along the
educational lines. The growing feeling that an increased export
trade is necessary to the prosperity of the country is forcing
upon schools and colleges the necessity of courses in commercial
geography and commerce.
The Commercial Museum, with its wealth of products collected
from every part of the world, is in the position to supply the
necessary demand for the material on which such schools must
depend. It has distributed over 225 collections of such
products, with photographs arranged for the study of commercial
geography, and so is intended to eventually include within its
scope schools, colleges, and universities.
_Salvation Army_.--It is impossible to describe in a few words
the great work and the good being accomplished by the Salvation
Army. Many photographs were exhibited illustrating the work
being done by this noble army.
On Christmas, 1878, in London, this army of Christian workers
was christened "The Salvation Army," consisting then of about 20
workers and about as many posts, with a few hundred members, and
some 3,000 souls seeking salvation during the year. To-day there
are scattered through 47 countries and colonies as follows:
Fifteen thousand separated workers, entirely supported from its
funds; 40,000 unpaid local officers, who support themselves and
give their spare time; 16,000 brass bandsmen (unpaid); 50,000
other musicians, composing thousands of hymns and hundreds of
new tunes annually; 250,000 penitents profess salvation publicly
in the course of a single year; 6,000 centers have been
established, where an average of fourteen to twenty meetings are
held weekly, half in open air, half in buildings; 84,000
meetings weekly; 10,000,000 weekly listeners; 520,000,000
listeners in a year. To the poor the gospel is being preached
everywhere.
In 1880 the first Salvation Army officers landed in New York.
The Salvation Army struck root in its new soil from the outset.
The work has gone on steadily forward, and it is noted
throughout the world for the wonderful spirit of humility and
devotion among its workers, who came to be increasingly widely
recognized. They made rapid strides in America. They founded
homes for the homeless; work for the workless; establishments
for labor bureaus and social-relief institutions; establishment
of industrial homes; workingmen's hotels; working women's homes
and hotels; the establishment of the beautiful Floral Home, Los
Angeles; Benedict Hotel for Young Women, Boston, and a number of
cheaper-class hotels for women in New York, Chicago, and Boston;
these all supply a clean, comfortable bed, with good moral
surroundings, kindly sympathy, and religious services. In New
York and other large cities day nurseries have been opened in
connection with some slum posts; here mothers bring their
children to be cared for during the day, while they are out at
work earning the wages upon which the family depend for
existence. There are more than 100 rescue homes located in
leading cities of the world, and more than 7,000 fallen women
were taken care of during the last year.
Farm colonies have also been established, and fresh-air camps
are organized for summer outings. In the summer ice is furnished
to the needy of the tenements; in winter, coal.
Who can estimate the good done by this noble army? How their
efforts help to cast gleams of sunshine into the desolate hearts
and homes of the needy. In civilization, religious and
sociological reforms the Salvation Army is doing a magnificent
work.
_Philippine Island exhibit_.--The insular exhibit of the
Philippine Islands at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was one
of the great features of the fair and deserves especial mention,
although it does not come under group 129.
No other one exhibit was so widely commented upon in the press
and by the public as the insular exhibit. Everybody who went to
the exposition visited the Philippine village and went away full
of wonder and with new ideas regarding our island possessions
and our governmental policy in regard to the Filipinos and the
islands.
In the Philippine village or grounds there were erected a number
of typical Philippine buildings. The native villages presented
the life of the Negritos, Igorrotes, and other tribes. A number
of buildings displayed the native woods, and some were devoted
to commerce, agricultural products, and others to educational
matters.
The educational exhibits attracted unusual attention. The main
school building was constructed after a Manila cathedral. The
main feature of the educational exhibit was a model school,
taught by Mr. Hager and Miss Zamora of the Philippine Normal
School. The Filipino pupils were objects of great interest and
curiosity.
No doubt many visitors were interested in the Igorrotes or in
some other one slight feature which left no deep impression of
the actual condition of the islands. But everyone who went
attentively through the Philippine village knows just what kind
of people the Filipinos are, and learned much of their customs
and their industries, and also acquired a fair knowledge of the
resources of the islands and the many problems confronting our
Government. The Philippine exhibit was one of the greatest
features of the fair.
_Humane Education Society._--The pamphlets issued by the Humane
Education Society during the progress of the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition are far-reaching as an important factor in true
education, and can not but result in good. Children through
their influence will be trained in habits of kindness to the
dependent lower creatures, become gentler to each other, more
amenable to authority, and better in their conduct. Through the
efforts of this society Bands of Mercy have been organized in
the various schools and churches throughout the country, and as
a result children become more humane.
Pamphlets of instruction of methods of forming humane education
societies were given out with other literature on humane
treatment of animals which could not fail in arousing interest.
A grand and noble work is being done throughout the world by the
humane societies. Too much can not be said in praise of the work
being accomplished by the little children as members of Bands of
Mercy.
This is a report of a few important exhibits. It was impossible
for me to give an accurate report of all the important exhibits
viewed by jury group 129. There were several things I consider
of vital importance to humanity exhibited under other groups;
you will no doubt receive reports concerning them. One was the
"Model Nursery," which no doubt appeals to all womankind.
Another, the school exhibits in manual training, drawing, nature
study, and kindergarten exhibits. Most of this work is developed
through the training of the powers of the child by our great
army of noble women teachers.
Group 135, Miss Margaret Wade, Washington, D.C., Juror.
Under the group heading "Provident institutions," the six
classes into which it was divided represented: Savings banks,
life insurance, accident insurance, sickness insurance, old age
and invalidity insurance, fire, marine, and other insurance of
property.
Miss Wade expressed a somewhat pessimistic view of the work of
women in this special department, as she said "the part taken by
women as shown by their exhibits showed no high degree of
excellence, the only exhibit in group 135 being not up to the
standard, and therefore, in her opinion, it would have been no
advantage to women to have had their work exhibited separately."
This would be a somewhat difficult class, no doubt, for women to
endeavor to make an exhibit, because, while thousands of them are
employed in the offices of insurance companies and as solicitors, it is
probably not a field in which they will assume the risks involved for
many years to come.
Group 136, Miss Jane Addams, Hull House, Chicago, Ill, Juror.
Under the group heading "Housing of the working classes" the
five classes into which it was divided represented: Building and
sanitary regulations, erection of improved dwellings by
employers, erection of improved dwellings by private efforts,
erection of improved dwellings by public authorities, general
efforts for betterment of housing conditions.
Miss Addams says in her report as group juror of the above:
From the nature of the exhibits in this department it is
difficult to divide the work of women from that of men, for,
although the erection of dwellings by public authorities, as in
London, was naturally done through men who were members of the
London County Council, and while the model dwellings erected by
large employers, such as those built by Mr. Cadbury, at Port
Sunlight, England, or by the Krupp Company, in Germany, were
naturally carried through altogether by men, the earliest
efforts for amelioration in housing conditions, and in many
cases the initiatory measures for improved dwellings, have been
undertaken by women.
The activities of Octavia Hill, in London, preceded by many
years the governmental action, and there is no doubt that the
creditable showing she was able to make on the financial as well
as on the social and educational side had much to do with making
the movement for better housing popular in London. The efforts
of Fraulein Krupp in connection with the model housing at Essen
are also well known, although, of course, this was not indicated
in the Krupp exhibit.
Of the five grand prix which were given for general achievements
disconnected with exhibits, only one was awarded to a woman,
that to Miss Octavia Hill, although a silver medal was also
awarded to Frau Rossbach, of Leipzig, Germany. Two gold medals
were given to American enterprises in model housing which were
carried on almost exclusively by women--one to the Boston
Cooperative Society, which was founded and largely directed by
Mrs. Alice Lincoln, and one to the Octavia Hill Association, of
Philadelphia.
On the whole, the special work of women in connection with
housing showed most satisfactory results in "rent collecting,"
which has become a dignified profession for many English ladies
who conscientiously use it as a means of moral and educational
uplift to those most in need of sustained and continuous help.
Improvements in housing conditions are so closely connected with
the rate of mortality among little children, with the chances
for decency and right living among young girls, with the higher
standards and opportunities for housewives, that it has
naturally attracted the help of women from the beginning of the
crowded tenement conditions which unhappily prevail in every
modern city.
Group 139, Miss Mary E. Perry, St. Louis, Mo. Juror.
Under the group heading "Charities and correction" the seven
classes into which it was divided represented: Destitute,
neglected, and delinquent children; institutional care of
destitute adults; care and relief of needy families in their
homes; hospitals, dispensaries, and nursing; the insane,
feeble-minded, and epileptic; treatment of criminals;
identification of criminals; supervisory and educational
movements.
Miss Perry reports:
_Department O, Group 139._--(1) Class 784: Vacation Playground,
Mrs. E.A. De Wolfe; Philadelphia Night College for Girls, Mrs.
Wilson; Missouri Industrial School for Girls, Mrs. De Bolt;
Illinois Industrial School for Girls, Mrs. Ameigh; Industrial
School for Girls, Washington, D.C., Amy J. Rule. Class 785:
Door of Hope, Mrs. Moeise. Class 786: Committee on tuberculosis
of the Charity Organization Society of the City of New York,
Miss Brandt. Class 787: Johns Hopkins School for Nurses, Miss
Ross; anatomical and pathological exhibit, Mrs. Corrine B.
Eckley. Class 788: Seguin School for Backward Children, Mrs.
Seguin; Compton School for Nervous Children, Fanny A. Compton;
Chicago Hospital School, Mary R. Campbell. Class 789: Police
supplies and detective exhibit, Mrs. M.E. Holland. Class 790:
Missouri State board of charities, Miss Mary E. Perry; New
Hampshire State board of charities, Mrs. Lilian Streator;
Massachusetts charity and correctional exhibit; Jewish
Charitable and Educational Union, by committee of ladies; the
Catholic University of America made an exhibit of all the
Catholic institutions relating to charities and correction,
which was collected and installed by the union, but put in
charge of the "Queen's Daughters," Miss Mary Hoxsey.
(2) Class 784, 35 per cent; class 785, 30 per cent; class 786,
20 per cent; class 787, 40 per cent; class 788, 30 per cent;
class 789, 15 per cent; class 790, 40 per cent; total, 30 per
cent (average).
(3) Missouri State board of charities, Massachusetts exhibit in
charities and correction, Johns Hopkins School for Nurses,
committee on tuberculosis of the Charity Organization Society of
the City of New York.
(4) It is a very noticeable fact that women are taking the place
of men in charitable institutions. This fact, however, is more
clearly demonstrated in the general educational exhibit. The
exhibits relating to dispensaries and nurses were mostly
prepared by women; in fact, they seem to have a monopoly on this
particular line of work.
A part of the anatomical and pathological exhibit was in charge
of Mrs. Eckley, anatomist, from the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, Chicago, Ill.
The number of women entering this field was shown to be steadily
on the increase, and the exhibit relating to medical schools
also showed a great increase in the number of students.
Nearly all of the reformatory schools for girls and prisons and
reformatories for women are under the charge of women, and a
great many of the State board of charities are practically under
their control.
Women are taking the place of men in the distribution of
charities in the larger cities, and Mrs. M.E. Holland, who
installed the exhibit on police supplies, and who is also the
editor of the Detective, was, at the same time, in charge of the
Chicago police exhibit. This is one of the cases where a woman
has entered the profession of detective.
(5) No foreign exhibits were installed by women, although about
15 per cent of the foreign exhibits were prepared by women.
(6) The most noticeable work given to women at the fair was
along the lines demanding executive ability, as is required in
organizing exhibits, where tact and business capacity were
essential to success. (See answer 4.)
(7) Their work differed from the work at other expositions in
the fact that scientific material was presented in an attractive
and comprehensive way, so as to be easily understood and
appreciated by the general visitor.
(8) Yes. Their work could easily be compared to that of men. It
was of the same grade, and there seemed to be no question or
suggestion of inferiority.
(9) Yes; the work of women was as well appreciated when placed
by the side of that of men as when separately exhibited.
(10) The results would not have been better if separately
exhibited. Exhibits must be scientifically classified in order
to be appreciated by the general visitor. If the exhibits
prepared by women had been separated, it would have left a great
gap in the scientific arrangement required in a collective
exhibit, as in group 139. The exhibits in this line prepared by
women would not and could not have covered the subject
completely.
(11) See answer to No. 7.
There were no manufacturers in group No. 139 except
manufacturers of prison cells, and no women are employed in such
factories.
Thirty per cent of the work of organizing, collecting, and
installing exhibits in group 139 was performed by women, and
about 40 per cent of the actual work was prepared under the
direction of women, such as teachers in reformatory
institutions, etc.
All women preparing and organizing exhibits in this group
received awards. The exact proportion can not be determined
until the jury make their final report.
Naturally, there were no inventions by women in this group, but
the exhibits made, or nearly all of them, were improvements on
such work at former expositions, and a great deal of originality
was displayed presenting scientific material and installment of
exhibits.
The artistic genius and method of displaying scientific material
made this group very interesting to the general public, and the
subjects could be comprehended with but little effort by the
passing visitor. At former expositions such subjects received
little attention and were of no interest except to scientific
investigators.
This exhibit as a whole showed that women have taken possession
of several lines of work such as teaching and nursing, and that
men have been practically forced out of these occupations. It
also showed that they are entering many new fields, such as the
medical profession and even becoming detectives, which
demonstrates the fact that they are not inferior to men, but are
more specially adapted to certain lines of work.
Group 141, Mrs. E.P. Turner, Dallas, Tex., Juror.
Owing to illness, Mrs. Turner served but two days on this jury, and was
succeeded by Mrs. Conde Hamlin, who had been named by the board of lady
managers as Mrs. Turner's alternate.
Under the group heading "Municipal government," the five classes
into which it was divided represented: City organization.
Protection of life and property. Public-service industries.
Streets and sewers. Parks, baths, recreation, city
beautification, etc.
Mrs. Hamlin became secretary of this jury, and reports as follows:
In the department in which I was a juror, namely, municipal
government, a good deal of the work was inspired by women, and
some of it prepared by women. Women's work in civic improvement
is well to the front. The work in the vacation schools, which
was shown, in playgrounds, for clean streets, for smoke
abatement, for better disposition of garbage, has in many cities
been largely inspired by women. In fact, I know of no department
where the women of the leisure class are more actively
interested and more efficient than in civic improvement work,
and the results reached through the activities of the municipal
leagues, through officials, have been most marked. The Twin City
municipal exhibit I myself designed and largely prepared and
administered, and was the resident member of the municipal
commission.
The nature of the exhibits in this department were charts and
photographs, literature on civic improvement work for and by
children in playgrounds, school gardens, etc. Civic work of
women's clubs. The civic improvement movement may be said to
have had its inception and development since the Chicago Fair;
hence the display at St. Louis showed a decided and marked
advance over the work of a similar nature shown at Chicago, but,
naturally, there were no exhibits from foreign women, municipal
betterment work being new for both men and women, in the present
understanding of the term. The work shown, of course, relating
as it does to the social life of cities, would prove helpful to
those interested in the advancement and success of women's work,
but I saw no difference in appreciation shown in comparing the
work of men and women, and the very nature of the work would not
permit of its being separately exhibited, and it was not in all
cases shown which had been performed or accomplished by women,
which by men, although much of the work had been stimulated by
women, but just how much they actually performed I can not say,
and only two or three awards were given to women.
The board of lady managers was given recognition on each of the
department juries, fifteen in number, namely, Education, Art, Liberal
Arts, Manufactures, Machinery, Electricity, Transportation Exhibits,
Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Mines and Metallurgy, Fish and
Game, Anthropology, Social Economy, Physical Culture.
The department jurors report as follows:
Department A, Education, Dr. Howard J. Rogers, Chief; Mrs. W.E. Fischel,
St. Louis, Mo., Department Juror.
This department comprised 5 groups and 26 classes, the group
headings being Elementary education, Secondary education, Higher
education, Special education in fine arts, Special education in
agriculture, Special education in commerce and industry,
Education of defectives, and Special forms of
education--text-books--School furniture, and School appliances.
Mrs. Fischel writes:
The queries relative to woman's work at the exposition were duly
received. I have given very careful consideration to the request
of the accompanying letter and have deferred my answer so as to
deliberate most intelligently. Reading the questions over, I
found myself unable to form any opinion of woman's work as
woman's work. Indeed, I have held very strongly to the opinion
that the one great thing accomplished for women in this
Louisiana Purchase Exposition was the exhibition of work as work
without distinction as to sex. In the jury room, when I served,
no consideration of award was given to any sex characteristic,
and not having viewed the exhibits with any idea of specializing
this feature I find myself now at a loss to particularize and
say there was such a per cent of woman's work.
Department B, Art, Prof. Halsey C. Ives, Chief.
This department comprised 6 groups and 18 classes, the group
headings being Paintings and drawings, Engravings and
lithographs, Sculpture, Architecture, Loan collection, and
Original objects of art workmanship.
The board was most unfortunate in not being able to obtain the services
of the prominent artists named for this position, all being abroad at
the time notice of their appointment was sent, and having engagements
upon their return that rendered it impossible for them to reach St.
Louis in time to serve.
Department C, Liberal Arts, Col. John A. Ocherson, Chief.
This department comprised 13 groups and 116 classes, the group
headings being Typography--Various printing processes;
Photography; Books and publications--Bookbinding; Maps and
apparatus for geography, cosmography, topography; Instruments of
precision; Philosophical apparatus, etc.--Coins and medals;
Medicine and surgery; Musical instruments; Theatrical appliances
and equipment; Chemical and pharmaceutical arts; Manufacture of
paper; Civil and military engineering; Models, plans, and
designs for public works; Architectural engineering.
Mrs. H.A. Langford, of Chicago, Ill., was appointed as juror in this
department, but unfortunately did not receive notice in time to serve.
Department D, Manufactures, Milan H. Hulbert, Chief; Miss Thekla M.
Bernays, of St. Louis, Mo., Department Juror.
This department comprised 24 groups and 231 classes, the group
headings being Stationery; Cutlery; Silversmiths' and
goldsmiths' ware; Jewelry; Clock and watch making; Productions
in marble, bronze, cast iron and wrought iron; Brushes, fine
leather articles, fancy articles, and basket work; Articles for
traveling and for camping; India-rubber and gutta-percha
industries; Toys; Decoration and fixed furniture of buildings
and dwellings; Office and household furniture; Stained glass;
Mortuary monuments and undertakers' furnishings; Hardware; Paper
hanging; Carpets, tapestries, and fabrics for upholstery;
Upholsterers' decorations; Ceramics; Plumbing and sanitary
materials; Glass and crystal; Apparatus and processes for
heating and ventilation; Apparatus and methods, not electrical,
for lighting; Textiles; Equipment and processes used in the
manufacture of textile fabrics; Equipment and processes used in
bleaching, dyeing, printing, and finishing textiles in their
various stages; Equipment and processes used in sewing and
making wearing apparel; Threads and fabrics of cotton; Threads
and fabrics of flax, hemp, etc.; Cordage; Yarns and fabrics of
wool; Silk and fabrics of silk; Laces, embroidery, and
trimmings; Industries producing wearing apparel for men, women,
and children; Leather, boots and shoes, furs and skins, fur
clothing; Various industries connected with clothing.
Miss Bernays reports as follows:
In order to arrive at an accurate idea of the value of women's
work as compared with men's, it would have been necessary to
study the St. Louis Exposition from the time of its opening to
the close, with a view to collecting data and statistics on this
question. Furthermore, to get definite results regarding the
progress of women since the Columbian Exposition one would have
had to have access to the researches and statistics of former
expositions on this subject, if such there exist. I visited both
the Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Paris Exposition of
1900, but I have only impressions of the work by women as
exhibited there. Nor can I furnish figures, percentages, or even
accurate estimates of women's work at the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition. The observations subjoined have value only in so far
as the interest in women's work lies always in the under-current
of my thought. Even under the terrific stress of the enormous
amount of work pressed into the few short days of jury duty I
was vividly impressed with the dignity of the work accomplished
in arts and crafts by the women of Germany, where it was
exhibited together with that of men. In the one instance where
women secluded themselves it was shown with appalling force that
the result was tawdry and inharmonious.
I was appointed by the board of lady managers to serve upon the
department jury in the same classification of which I had served
as group juror, for "Kunstgewerbe" (Arts and Crafts). Finding my
group divided into four classes--Fixed inner decoration,
Furniture, Stained glass, and Mortuary monuments--with
numberless exhibits m various buildings all over the grounds, I
elected to serve in the class for "Fixed inner decoration." I
was aware that I had been appointed for Germany because of the
great interest I had taken in the movement for harmony in
household art inaugurated in Germany about ten years ago. This
movement admits of no division into "fixed inner decoration" and
"furniture," etc., but regards the arrangement and decoration of
spaces with a view to the effect of the "ensemble." Following
the lead of our distinguished chairman, Doctor Wuthesius, we
adhered to this idea in spite of the barbarous separation
ordered by the official instructions. Thus I was enabled to gain
an insight into what women were accomplishing in industrial art,
which would have been impossible had I permitted myself to look
only upon "fixed inner decoration."
The exhibits made by our own country in household art were
meager compared to those of several foreign countries, notably
Germany and Austria. Nor was it possible to gain information
from our exhibitors as full and as accurate as from some of the
foreigners. Here again the Germans were to the front with a
complete, reliable, and artistically finished catalogue, which
they freely distributed among the jurors. Only the Japanese were
as perfectly equipped in the matter of literature on their
exhibits and as lavish of information to the jurors as the
Germans.
I have no doubt that American women are as extensively employed
in industrial art as the women of Europe, but, excepting in
pottery, their forward stride was not made to appear pronounced
at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Woman's work as a maker of
laces was not so exhibited as to make it readily distinguishable
from men's, although it must have entered largely into the
exhibits made, which, however, as I have just said, did not
adequately represent the United States, many of the best and
most renowned eastern firms having chosen to absent themselves.
Nor were foreign women, always the Germans and Austrians
excepted, frequent or prominent in the showing made. In the two
countries mentioned women have been undoubtedly taken up as
factors which hereafter are to count in the arts and crafts. We
found German women in a perceptible number exhibiting side by
side with men, holding their own fairly well in decorative
painting, as designers of rooms, of carpets and wall coverings,
workers in iron and other metals, while in tapestry, weaving
embroidery, and lace work their advance is nothing short of
astonishing.
Wherever in the Varied Industries Building, in the German House,
in the Austrian Pavilion, and elsewhere the work of German women
was incorporated into the general scheme of the decorations and
furnishings, wherever women, together with men, designed and
planned, or wherever they carried out the designs of men,
harmony was the result. Women's work was found to blend
perfectly with men's when both worked on a common plan to a
common end. Of course women in German art, as elsewhere, are
numerically immensely in the minority, nor do they as yet often
attempt the grand, the monumental, the complex. But many of them
are honest and efficient helpers, whose eyes and hands show
excellent training. They are, besides, enthusiastic supporters
and intelligent abettors of the new movement which aims to
achieve homogeneousness in the arts of living.
Again and again in the German exhibits one was constrained to
note that the female members of an artist's family were
frequently represented by work of their own. One encountered
Bruno and Fra Wille, joint designers of rooms, carpets, wall
coverings; Professor Behrens's wife plans a variety of things
from costumes to book covering. There are feminine Hubers,
Spindlers, Laengers in the catalogue, showing that the Germans
who have been so long reckoned as addicted to the cult of the
"Hausfrau" only, are beginning to accord the woman artist due
recognition.
It was all the more amazing to find that Germany, the very
Germany who, by general verdict, had given the most complete
exhibit of household art ever shown at any exposition, who, as I
have just pointed out had brought forward its craftswomen in no
contemptible role, should all unconsciously furnish the
striking, the classical example of the folly of separating the
sexes at an exposition. The "Verein Berliner Kunstlevinnen" made
an exhibit of exclusively feminine work, which was as pointedly
painful, as conspicuously lacking in force and originality, as
confused as to arrangement as have been all the previous
displays, where the accentuated feminine was relegated to
separate little buildings or separate little corners in
buildings. I saw more than one German artist hustle his American
friends past that part of the Varied Industries Building, where
abominations of his misguided countrywomen were on view. And
more than one told me that it was a slander on what German women
could do. This only goes to prove that the action of the
authorities in charge of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition
believed to be the fact: That the exhibition of woman's work,
apart from men's, runs to the tawdry, the insignificant, and the
unnecessary. Therefore, separation of the sexes in the display
at expositions should not be tolerated.
Department E, Machinery, Mr. Thomas M. Moore, Chief; Miss Edith J.
Griswold, New York City, Department Juror.
This department comprised 5 groups and 35 classes, the group
headings being: Steam engines; Various motors; General
machinery; Machine tools; Arsenal tools.
Miss Griswold says:
After considerable consideration I almost feel that the least
said about women exhibitors in the Machinery Department at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition the better. The fact is, there
were no women exhibitors. However, in this department the
exhibitors were mostly old firms or very large manufacturers,
and while women are undoubtedly making their way into mechanics
they have not been in the field long enough to have reached a
point where their work of a nature to form exposition exhibits
can compete with man's work. The chief of the Machinery
Department and one other member of the jury mentioned a Miss
Gleason, who is connected with one of the firms that exhibited,
and spoke of her ability in the mechanical line and her
knowledge of mechanics in the highest of terms. Women are
employed in various capacities in nearly every line of work that
was exhibited in this department, and Miss Gleason probably
stands as an example of the real but unostentatious work of many
women who understand the intricacies of machinery fully as well
as men with the same degree of training.
That women are making a place for themselves in this department of
industry is shown by the Patent Office statistics. The first patents for
inventions were granted to men in 1790, but no patent was issued to a
woman until May 5, 1809, and the number of inventions granted to them in
any one year did not exceed 6 until the year 1862, when 14 were issued.
This number was lowered but once, and that was in 1865, when naturally
women had responsibilities of a nature that precluded outside interests,
but the direction of which is shown in the fact that two of the 13
applications in that year were--one for "Improved table for hospitals,"
the other for "Improvement in drinking cups for the sick." In 1863 an
application was made for "Improvement in ambulances."
It is a significant fact that from the time General Spinner appointed
the first woman to be employed under the Government in 1864, her
advancement was shown in invention, as well as in all other phases of
her existence. At the beginning of the year 1864, fifty-five years after
the first patent had been granted to her, she had received but 103
patents. During the next fifteen years, 1,046 patents were granted;
during the next ten, 1,428, and during the next five years (from 1889 to
1894), 1,309 patents were issued to women, the number in five years
exceeding that granted during the first seventy years. It is to be
regretted that the Patent Office records do not show a classification of
her work during the past ten years, their list practically ceasing March
1, 1895.
The inventions cover a wide and ambitious range, and include, even among
their earliest attempts, "Improved war vessel, the parts applying to
other structures for defense;" "Improvement in locomotive wheels;" in
"Engraving copper;" "Steam whistles;" "Mechanism for driving sewing
machines;" "Improved material for packing journals and bearings;"
"Improvement in the mode of preventing the heating of axles and
journals;" in "Pyrotechnic night signals;" in "Paper-bag machines;" in
"Railway car safety apparatus;" "Conveyors of smoke and cinders for
locomotives;" "Sewing machines;" in "Alloys for hardening iron;" in
"Alloys to resemble silver;" in "Devices for removing snow from
railways;" "Car coupling;" "Attachment for unloading box cars;"
"Railroad car," etc.
Department F, Electricity, Prof. W.E. Goldsboro, Chief, Miss Hope
Fairfax Loughborough, Department Juror.
This department comprised 5 groups and 24 classes, the group
headings being: Machines for generating and using electricity;
Electrochemistry; Electric lighting; Telegraphy and telephony;
Various applications of electricity.
Miss Loughborough's report is as follows:
The field of electricity has been so long and so peculiarly a
man's field that it is not surprising to find that in the 5
groups and 24 classes which the Department of Electricity at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition comprised, only 2 exhibits were
made by women, both of whom were Americans.
One of these exhibits was made by Mrs. Alexander Baumgard, of
New York City, and showed an automatic advertising figure
actuated by an electric motor. The figure was that of a woman
standing before a rack on which were a number of signs. The
figure stooped, picked up one of the signs, raised it, turned a
quarter way around in order to display it to the best advantage,
and replaced the sign. The next movement took up the next sign,
and so on. The mechanism was actuated by an electric motor,
which, by means of a series of cams and gears, caused it to go
through the various movements. The value of the device was
considered very small, as there are other more effective means
of advertising of this kind, and no award was given Mrs.
Baumgard.
The other exhibit by a woman was made by Mrs. Blodgett, and
consisted of ornamental shades for electric lights, painted by
hand. These shades were quite artistic in themselves, and were
well installed, so the exhibit was awarded a bronze medal.
In neither of these exhibits was there any invention or process
which was original.
In the electrical industry there is practically no machine or
apparatus made without the assistance of women or girls, as they
are employed in every electrical factory for insulating and
winding coils, etc. In the manufacture of these the percentage
of women's work is from 3 to 10 per cent. But aside from this
purely mechanical work women have contributed little or nothing
to the advancement of the application of electricity, either
before the Chicago Exposition or during the past eleven years.
Department G, Transportation Exhibits, Mr. W.A. Smith, Chief; Miss Rose
Weld, Newport News, Va., Department Juror.
Miss Weld is a graduate of the Boston School of Technology and now in
the employ of the Newport News Shipbuilding Company.
This department comprised 6 groups and 33 classes, the group
headings being: Carriages and wheelwrights' work; Automobiles
and cycles; Saddlery and harness; Railways, yards, stations,
freight houses, terminal facilities of all kinds; Material and
equipment used in the mercantile marine; Material and equipment
of naval services, naval warfare; Aerial navigation.
Miss Weld briefly reports:
As a department juror I saw the papers of every exhibitor, and
there were no exhibits by women in this department in any of the
33 classes, but not coming in contact with any of the exhibitors
I can give no exact information about the work done by women in
the manufacture or construction of the exhibits.
Department H, Agriculture, Mr. Frederic W. Taylor, Chief; Mrs. Richard
P. Bland, Lebanon, Mo., Department Juror.
This department comprised 27 groups and 137 classes, the group
headings being: Farm equipment--methods of improving lands;
Agricultural implements and farm machinery; Fertilizers;
Tobacco; Appliances and methods used in agricultural industries;
Theory of agriculture--agricultural statistics; Vegetable food
products--agricultural seeds; Animal food products; Equipment
and methods employed in the preparation of foods; Farinaceous
products and their derivatives; Bread and pastry; Preserved
meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit; Sugar and
confectionery--condiments and relishes; Waters; Wines and
brandies; Sirups and liqueurs--distilled spirits commercial
alcohol; Fermented beverages; Inedible agricultural products;
Insects and their products--plant diseases; Live stock--horses
and mules, cattle, sheep, goats, etc.; Swine; Dogs; Cats;
Ferrets, etc.; Poultry and birds.
Mrs. Bland reports as a department juror in this department:
Our jury passed upon machinery for making drinks, refrigerators,
refrigerating, Sunny Brook Distillery, ice-making plant, beer
packers, and packages, etc., bottle washing and cleaning. Bake
ovens, candy and chocolate machines also came within our
jurisdiction. One special machine of French make was for making
ice for families and on the farm; these were small machines and
would make from 10 to 300 pounds, and were comparatively cheap
and within the reach of many.
There was an interesting and unique exhibit from Germany showing
canned stews and other edibles to be used in camp and on hunting
and fishing trips. The can had an interlining of tin, and
between the two walls of the can was unslacked lime; by making a
hole in each end of the can and placing first one end and then
the other in cold water for five minutes the stew was warmed and
cooked.
Mrs. Bland conducts a large farm, and in a letter states that she was
awarded a bronze medal at this exposition for her exhibit of timothy hay
and Grimes golden apples.
Mrs. Bland also served on the jury of awards in the women's department
of the Charleston Exposition, and it was her opinion that there is a
great opening for women in house furnishings, designing wall paper, and
photography.
Department J, Horticulture, Mr. Frederic W. Taylor, Chief; Mrs. Ida L.
Turner, Fort Worth, Tex., Department Juror.
This department comprised 7 groups and 31 classes, the group
headings being: Appliances and methods of pomology, viticulture,
floriculture, and arboriculture; Appliances and methods of
viticulture; Pomology; Trees, shrubs, ornamental plants and
flowers; Plants of the conservatory; Seeds and plants for garden
and nurseries; Arboriculture and fruit culture.
Mrs. Turner says:
In reply to your questions in regard to the work of the women
jurors at the St. Louis Exposition, will say that I arrived very
late at the exposition, after the jury had about finished their
duties in the Department of Horticulture, in which I was to
serve. For this reason my duties were limited, and I had little
opportunity to examine and give an intelligent estimate of the
part taken by women in this department.
Department K, Forestry, Mr. Tarleton H. Bean, Chief; Mrs. J.M. Glenn,
Baltimore, Md., Department Juror.
This department comprised 3 groups and 14 classes, under the
group headings: Appliances and processes used in forestry;
Products of the cultivation of forests and of forest industries;
Appliances for gathering wild crops and products obtained.
No report.
Department L, Mines and Metallurgy, Mr. J.A. Homes, Chief; Mrs. M.G.
Scrutchin, Atlanta, Ga., Department Juror.
This department comprised 5 groups and 43 classes, under the
group headings: Working of mines, ore beds, and stone quarries;
Minerals and stones, and their utilization; Mine models, maps,
photographs; Metallurgy; Literature of mining, metallurgy, etc.
Mrs. Scrutchin reports as follows:
In all our fairy stories, dwarfs and elves live below the earth
and deal with mines and their dark belongings; the fairies live
above. So none of us are surprised to find few women in this
line of exhibitors. My work as a member of the department jury
confined me to one room, and to an inspection of lists submitted
by the group jurors. So I really had no opportunity for specific
examination of the various groups and classes, except where some
doubt was expressed as to the validity of an award, when I made
it a point to examine that subject with more or less care. Many
women placed specimens of clay and ore in their State
collections. Several Georgia women, I know, did this--some,
though owning and operating mines, and active in submitting
specimens, took shelter under the husband's name. This fact also
came under my own observation.
Nearly all these exhibits were in group 116, class 682. One
collection of clays and pottery produced in the interest of
artistic handicraft came from the Sophie Newcombe Memorial
College for the higher education of girls, of New Orleans, La.,
and was in the same group, but class 690. Many like collections
were seen in the Educational Building, but this is the only one
given space in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy.
The Woman's Club of Pipestone, Minn., showed specimens of
pipestone and jasper belonging to group 116, class 682. In the
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