Library Company of Philadelphia
We are excited to present a new Interactive Chart, the newest addition to our Portraits of American Women project. #WomensHistoryWednesday
With funding from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Heritage Philadelphia Program, the Library Company began a collaborative project with artist Jennifer Levonian in 2010. The culmination of that collaborative process was the creation of an animated video, Rebellious Bird, inspired by Levonian’s interactions with the Library Company’s Civil War collection. The animation explores the topic of women who disguised themselves as men and fought as soldiers in the Civil War.
Complementing Rebellious Bird was a small exhibition, In Disguise: Cross Dressing and Gender Identity, expanding this topic beyond the Civil War. Women not only fought as men in the Civil War, they also concealed their gender to fight alongside men during the American Revolution and in other military conflicts. Women went to sea as male sailors, played theatrical roles written for male characters, and in one instance an African-American woman escaped from slavery disguised as a white man. Using material from both the book and graphic collections of the Library Company, the exhibition explores cross dressing and gender identity during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Watch the short animation, Rebellious Bird, here:
and view the online exhibition, In Disguise, here:
This month, Masterman High School senior Diana Myers has undertaken the study of this combination photograph from 1884, titled “Eminent Women”, for her brief internship at the Library Company. According to Diana:
“Eminent Women,” a combination photograph of twelve notable American women, was composed in Notman’s Montreal studio in 1884 by a talented assistant, Eugene L’Africain. It was originally made as a cabinet card (similar in size to a postcard), which were common collector’s items, for advertising Travelers Insurance Company in Hartford, Connecticut. The twelve women never got together as a group, and may not have known each other. All the women were photographed separately in Notman’s Boston studio at some point in their lives. Notman and L’Africain likely pulled the photographic negatives held on file for each woman and combined them without asking for permission.
Check out Diana’s blog post to learn more about her project.
#WomensHistoryWednesday
Officers of the Emergency Aid on Parade, ca. 1918. Gelatin silver photograph.
The Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania was one of numerous relief organizations founded by women to assist the war effort. Philadelphia’s branch included women from some of the city’s most prominent families. This organization raised money for the relief of America’s European allies. Once America entered the war, the organization sent medical supplies, clothing, tobacco, candy, and other treats overseas to the troops, sold war bonds, and supported local wartime industries. Here members of the Emergency Aid march in a parade along the north side of Philadelphia’s City Hall.
Located
in Germantown, “Little Wakefield” served as a demonstration center for the
National League for Woman’s Service teaching women “if you cannot be a fighting
soldier, be a farming soldieress.” They held classes in home economics and
canning and preserving, grew fruits and vegetables, and cultivated bees. They
produced peas, beans, corn, cabbage, peaches, and raspberries on four acres.
Today it is a part of La Salle University as the St. Mutien’s Christian
Brothers’ residence.
This Day in History!
On Wednesday, January 11, 1882, noted women’s rights advocate Kate Field (1838-1896) held a luncheon for Oscar Wilde when he was first in New York, at the beginning of his lecture tour on aestheticism. A couple of weeks later, this cartoon – characterizing the members of Field’s Co-operative Dress Association as “languishing maidens and sterile old girls” – appeared in an illustrated newspaper. Not only are Wilde and the women members of Field’s organization mocked, but the two women at the lower right in the cartoon may represent Kate Field and her partner Lilian Whiting (1847-1942). Field was a celebrity lecturer, who – like Oscar Wilde – provoked her own share of criticism.
Illustration in the Illustrated Police News (January 28, 1882). Gift of S. Marguerite Brenner.
This hand-colored portrait of Hayne Hudjini, a Native American of the Oto Tribe, is one of hundreds of portraits highlighting American women at the Library Company. #WomensHistoryWednesday
You can find out more about our Program in Women’s History through our site: http://www.librarycompany.org/womensprogram/