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