Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Part 87

No report.

Department N, Anthropology, Dr. W.J. McGee, Chief; Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, Cambridge, Ma.s.s., Department Juror.

This department comprised 4 groups and 5 cla.s.ses, under the group headings: Literature; Somatology; Ethnology; Ethnography.

Mrs. Nuttall reports, as group juror, this department.

(Report not on file.)

Department O, Social Economy, Dr. Howard J. Rogers, Chief; Miss Jane Addams, Chicago, Ill., Department Juror.

This department comprised 13 groups and 58 cla.s.ses, the group headings being: Study and investigation of social and economic conditions; Economic resources and organization; State regulation of industry and labor; Organization of industrial workers; Methods of industrial remuneration; Cooperative inst.i.tutions; Provident inst.i.tutions; Housing of the working cla.s.ses; The liquor question; General betterment movements; Charities and correction; Public health; Munic.i.p.al improvement.

Miss Addams says in her report as department juror of the above:

The general advance in social betterment has been very marked in the eleven years intervening since the Columbian Exposition, at Chicago, and women have not only shared that advance, but have undoubtedly contributed more than their proportionate share, if tested by the proportionate value of their exhibits at Chicago and at St. Louis. This is also true if tested by the social economy exhibits made in Paris in 1900, where I was a juror in the department of social economy. No separate exhibit was there made of the work of women save that implied in the exhibition of women's philanthropic societies. At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition their separate exhibits were not only larger, but more definite and coherent. The work of women was as much appreciated when placed by the side of men as if it had been installed by itself, and the results would have been no better if separately exhibited. Certainly nothing in the entire department at St. Louis was more successfully installed and attracted more favorable attention than the Twin City Museum, which occupied an entire building upon the Model street and was under the direction of Mrs. Conde Hamlin, of St. Paul, who had also planned it from the beginning and was made commissioner. It was certainly a notable achievement to have one such exhibit as that standing absolutely upon its merits and dealing with the civic and general social conditions as they are constantly developing in our large and growing cities. It had suggestions of activities along a dozen lines which make for amelioration of urban conditions as they bear hardest upon the people of the most crowded quarters. To quote from the report of another on this subject: "It is now a well-established fact that women most effectively supplement the best interests and the furthering of the highest aims of all government by their numberless charitable, reformatory, educational, and other beneficent inst.i.tutions which she has had the courage and the ideality to establish for the alleviation of suffering, for the correction of many forms of social injustice and neglect, and these inst.i.tutions exert a strong and steady influence for good, an influence which tends to decrease vice, to make useful citizens of the helpless or depraved, to elevate the standard of morality, and to increase the sum of human happiness."

Department P, Physical Culture, J.E. Sullivan, Chief; Miss Clara h.e.l.lwig, Plainfield, N.J., Department Juror.

This department comprised 3 groups and 6 cla.s.ses, the group headings being: Training of the child and adult-theory and practice; Games and sports for children and adults; Equipment for games and sports.

Unfortunately Miss h.e.l.lwig was abroad and did not receive notification in time to reach St. Louis for the jury work.

Superior Jury.

Mrs. Philip N. Moore, of St. Louis, Mo., was appointed to represent the board of lady managers on the superior jury, and in a general resume of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Mrs. Moore says:

If the organization of a world's exposition begins years before its doors open, if public opinion changes in a decade, it may be well, before summing up the work of women at St. Louis, to look first at the record of achievement from Chicago in 1893 through Atlanta, Nashville, Omaha, Paris, and Buffalo, all of which led gradually to the high plane upon which we now stand.

Segregation of the s.e.xes was the limited understanding of most of those in charge of former expositions. Not for a moment would I imply by this statement that there was a desire to give the work of women a lower grade than that of men; rather was it the mistaken idea of drawing attention to it, as something better and apart. By this very means there was often a serious and hurtful comparison, since many women with undoubted ability would not thus place their exhibits. It implied that in the special group, where exhibit was made, woman's mind differed from that of man's to the extent that there was also a difference in the result.

We owe sincere thanks to the progressive men in charge of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, that they listened with intelligent appreciation to the plea from women for equal representation, wherever their work was found worthy.

There is no mistaking the dignified effect of this edict, and only the best in various lines gained admission to the exhibit palaces.

In most exhibits the larger proportion was presented by men; and in similar proportion the awards were a.s.signed. There was, however, no distinction made as to s.e.x; and the members of the various juries, including women, paid as careful attention to the one exhibit as to the other, without reference to name, often the only indication of s.e.x.

There were some art, educational, and economic exhibits, placed entirely by women, showing marvelous adaptability to the limitations of environment, and also skill in artistic and practical setting. Looking closely at the work in the several departments, my opinion is that, while woman has not gained greatly in inventive or constructive arts, she has gained breadth in the applied arts and has grown immeasurably in freedom of execution. This has been obtained partly by the contact with man's work, extending through many centuries in advance, and partly by the very fact that she must now stand only on her own merits.

Women from foreign lands entered into compet.i.tion in the departments of art, education, and liberal arts to a very slight extent, with some investigation in science, but in all a very small proportion. This was natural, on account of the great distance, and may be applied equally to the number of exhibitors from across the water, whether men or women.

American women were found in nearly every field open to compet.i.tion, though it was the apparently proud statement of the director of Mines and Metallurgy that there were no women on his juries, which meant, of course, no exhibit. (NOTE.--Mrs. M.G.

Scrutchin was evidently appointed after this statement.)

The congresses were open to women, who appeared on the same programmes with men, were paid the compliment of as large audiences, were listened to with interest, and their opinions in discussions answered with freedom. This occurred also in the various a.s.sociations, where men and women work side by side.

In the work of the superior jury, where for the first time the right of members.h.i.+p was given to a representative of women, the application of deliberation and judgment was made to the work of men and women alike. Courtesy and the hand of fellows.h.i.+p were extended to all. Exhibits were not specially investigated, unless appeals from former jury awards were sent in. In such case most careful and detailed investigation was made by the special boards, to which were a.s.signed certain departments.

There was no distinction of s.e.x mentioned in the jury room; and the time has evidently arrived when no less will be expected from women--no more from men--than the quality of work merits.

FINAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF AWARDS.

The chairman of the committee of awards of the board of lady managers begs leave to present the story and the report of that committee to your honorable board.

We will not begin by saying "once upon a time," for this is no fairy story, but we will hark back to that time when we, as a board, were not, that we may refer to the vital words of the act of Congress of March 3, 1901, which act provided for the creation of a board of lady managers, gave the excuse for its existence, and named specifically one duty it would be called upon to perform, to wit: "To appoint one member of all committees authorized to award prizes for such exhibits as shall have been produced in whole or in part by female labor."

This phase of woman's work at the World's Fair formed the princ.i.p.al topic of talk at the informal conference held in New York, December 5, 1901, between the National Commission and the members of the board of lady managers that had been appointed up to that time.

The committee of awards was one of the last of the standing committees to be appointed, but was the first committee appointed by Mrs. Daniel Manning after her election to the presidency of the board of lady managers in December, 1903, and was as follows: Mrs. Frederick Hanger, chairman, Little Rock, Ark.; Mrs. Richard W. Knott, Louisville, Ky.; Miss Lavinia H.

Egan, Shreveport, La.; Mrs. Fannie Lowry Porter, Atlanta, Ga.; Mrs. Helen Boice-Hunsicker, Hoboken, N.J.

From the organization of the board its influence had been sought and besought by women wis.h.i.+ng positions connected with the exposition work. The appointing of the committee of awards acted like a wireless-telegraphy message throughout the country and brought applications from "would be" jurors or recommendations from friends of "would be" jurors until the files of the board room were filled to the limit, and the colored postman of the free-delivery postal service in the southern home of the chairman thought he had relapsed into a "previous condition of servitude."

The rules regulating the system of awards, enacted by the Exposition Company, stated that the nomination for jurors must be in the hands of the director of exhibits thirty days before the opening of the exposition, for the approval of the Exposition Company and the National Commission.

The division of exhibits had issued a list of all exhibits that could be entered at the exposition, dividing them into 144 groups.

As woman's work is never done, and as she has worked her way into almost every industrial avenue, to find out the "woman" in the work of exhibits required more light than the act of Congress or the rules of the Exposition Company gave on the subject.

The chairman of the committee of awards made a special journey to St. Louis, a month after the committee was appointed, and in company with Miss Egan, a member of the committee, waited upon the director of exhibits and asked that the World's Fair light, for femininity, might be thrown on the 144 groups of exhibits, that woman's work, "in whole or in part," might have a juror appointed by the board of lady managers to judge of its merits.

The director of exhibits, with much genial graciousness, threw up his official hands and said he was helpless, that not until the exhibits were placed could the groups that would admit of women jurors be determined, and that there would be women jurors appointed by the Exposition Company as well as by the board of lady managers. He suggested that we look carefully through the 144 groups and use our "judgment" as to which groups would call for women jurors.

We asked the advisability of conferring with the heads of the different departments, and were told that the information must come through the director of exhibits. We were told to remember that the list of women jurors must be limited to keep down the expense of the jury work.

From this time until the 25th of July the board waited for the cla.s.sified list.

By correspondence among the members of the committee of awards, by meeting of the same, and by suggestions from the entire board, a long list of names of women eminent for intellectual, artistic, material, and practical achievements was obtained from which to choose women jurors. It seemed impossible for the committee to make a report to present to the board for acceptance until information in regard to the cla.s.sified list had been obtained.

Partial tentative reports were read at the March meeting, to report progress and secure suggestions.

At a meeting of the board held April 29 a list of 83 names for women jurors and their alternates was submitted by the committee and accepted by the board. A motion carried to the effect that power to act was left with the committee, as the cla.s.sified list had not been received from the Exposition Company and the committee's use of "judgment" might be tempered with the blue pencil of the Exposition Company.

The confirmation of names for jurors was made very comprehensive, as the board at that time did not expect to meet until after the jurors had served.

The president of the board was untiring in her efforts in behalf of the jury work of the board. The chairman of the committee was called to St. Louis twice on the special work of the jury list, and the members of the board and committee by consultation with members of the National Commission, officials of the Exposition Company, and heads of departments, held out for what they considered the full rights of the nominating power of the board, with the hope of bringing American womanhood in touch, as near as possible, with the work of the exposition.

The following communications indicate the progress made: