Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Part 82

The coffee exhibits employing women, and the flours--Pillsbury, Washburne, and Crosby, the banana flours, North Dakota flour exhibitors, Sanitas Nut Company, breakfast foods--were all in the charge of women, all of whom deserve special mention for their unfailing courtesies to sightseers.

It warms my heart yet just to think of the dear old Palace of Agriculture, and the many delightful hours spent there in our work. I desire to specially commend the kindness received by those in charge of the Brazilian Pavilion and Machin Brothers'

French bakery.

Group 90, Miss Carolyn Hempstead (now Mrs. C.M.F. Riley), Little Rock, Ark, Juror.

Under the group heading "Sugar and confectionery--Condiments and relishes," the eight cla.s.ses into which it was divided represented: Sugar. Glucose. Confectionery. Chocolate. Brandied fruits, preserves, jellies. Coffee, tea, subst.i.tutes for coffee--mate, chicory and sweet acorns. Vinegar. Table salt.

Spices and extracts; pepper, cinnamon, allspice, etc.; flavoring extracts. Mixed condiments and relishes; mustard, curries, sauces, etc.

Mrs. Riley reports as follows:

Department of Agriculture, group 90. In this group there were not as many women exhibitors as seemingly might have been expected, as women have always been the exponents of this domestic science, and have been called the "ministering angels"

to man's needs; have feasted his eyes and fed his stomach from times immemorial with their sweetmeats. Eve, even, perhaps made Adam happy with sun-dried figs. Who knows?

All told, there were not over thirty women exhibitors, and the exhibits consisted of preserves, jellies, jams, marmalades, pickles, relishes, candied fruits, crystallized flowers--excellent in their quality and most beautifully put up and hygienically sealed. In this, the science of our grandmothers, much of their wisdom and practice clings to the art of producing and effecting the good result which were displayed before us; but if the exhibitors did have recourse to the old cookery books, the manner of showing the exhibits, the attractive booths, the managing ability, the business methods were the attributes of the women of to-day--the advancing, the fa.r.s.eeing business woman.

There were no foreigners in this cla.s.s. The exhibitors of the guava jellies and foreign preserves were men. Man in all countries has been p.r.o.ne to reach out and gather in the best that women have had to give, and in this branch of trade has so enlarged and sometimes, may I add, adulterated the old recipes, and with his money and his army of employees has established great pickling and preserving plants designed to feed the world's ma.s.ses.

In most cases the pureness, the sweetest, the old touch of "homemade" is gone, and only until the domestic woman, by dint of hard pressure, has been driven out into the world to gain her own livelihood, has this pure homemade article been put upon the market. "Pin-money" pickles are now a household word--made by a woman in Virginia, who started by making for her friends and neighbors, but whose industry has grown now to immense proportions.

In the exhibits by women at the St. Louis exposition two exhibits were worthy of unusual merit--one a fruit cake containing 41 varieties of preserved fruits, and weighing 81 pounds, made by Mrs. Rose A. Bailey, of California. Mrs. Bailey preserved these fruits in sugar only. Her collection of jellies, etc., received the warmest praise, and so much has been said that she is now contemplating the forwarding of a "Home-prepared fruit agency" to be handled by women only.

The other exhibit was the crystallized rose leaves and violets, by another California woman--so made that the sugar could be peeled off, leaving the rose leaf or violet intact and perfect in its coloring and form.

These were the odd and new exhibits. A long line of clear jellies and good pickles and toothsome relishes was most willingly judged and more willingly tasted. A most attractive exhibit of these were in the booth of Mrs. Nathalie Claibourne Buchanan, representing an old Virginia kitchen, its open fireplace with the fire logs in the background, the high mantel with its rows of preserves and pickles, and a dear old black "mammy" in kerchief and bandana as a most fitting setting to the scene.

No woman received the highest award, the grand prix, but some were given the gold medal.

In the exhibits of the large manufacturers there was no way to tell what part of the labor had been performed by women; but on the printed forms the proportion of women laborers was quite often given, but it is a known fact that two-thirds of the work of these large factories is done by women and girls.

This should be a wide avenue for women to enter the marts of life, but on the small scale it is so underpaid in proportion to the labor expended that but few are bold enough to enter.

Department J, horticulture, Mr. Frederic W. Taylor, chief, comprised 7 groups and 27 cla.s.ses, the board of lady managers being represented in but one group.

Group 107, Mrs. M.B.R. Day, Frankfort, Ky., Juror.

Under the group heading "Pomology," the six cla.s.ses into which it was divided represented: Pomaceous and stone fruits--apples, pears, quinces, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, etc. Citrus fruits--oranges, lemons, limes, shaddocks, pomelos, etc. Tropical and subtropical fruits--pineapples, bananas, guavas, mangos, tamarinds, figs, olives, sepodillas, etc. Small fruits--strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, gooseberries, currants, etc. Nuts--almonds, chestnuts, filberts, pecans, hickorynuts, walnuts, etc. Casts and models of fruits in wax, plaster, etc.

Mrs. Day says, in substance, in her replies to the questions: That she can not give an approximate number of women who exhibited in this group, but that the nature of the exhibits shown were fruits--grapes, apples, etc.--and flowers, the most striking exhibits being by florists and fruit culturists, and that women have entered many more branches of this work in recent years; that she believes their work shown at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition would prove helpful and suggestive by reason of the great care taken in the exhibits. Mrs. Day does not think any difference was shown in appreciation of the exhibits of women when placed by the side of men, and hardly thinks the result would have been better had the work of women been separately exhibited. This seems to be almost the only department where exhibits were shown in such manner as to indicate whether they were the work of men or women, as all exhibits were marked distinctly with the name of the owner of fruit, farm, or florist, the exhibits of New Mexico and Oklahoma being each in charge of very intelligent women. Some of the finest fruit farms sending exhibits were owned by women, and women also made some of the best displays of fruits and, flowers.

Department N, anthropology, Prof. W J McGee, chief, comprised 4 groups and 5 cla.s.ses, the board of lady managers being accorded representation upon each.

Group 126, Miss Alice C. Fletcher, Washington, D.C., Juror.

Under the group heading "Somatology," the two cla.s.ses into which it was divided represented: Physical characteristics of man; the comparative and special anatomy of races and peoples; specimens, casts, measurements, charts, and photographs representing typical and comparative characteristics. Anthropometry; measurements, charts, diagrams, etc., showing the methods and results of comparative studies on the physical structure of living races; instruments and appliances used in anthropometric investigations.

Miss Fletcher reports:

In the Department of Anthropology there were no distinctive exhibits by women that I can recall, for the work of women in that field was represented in the general student body of the science.

In archaeology, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall's investigations in Mexico were represented in the publications of the Peabody Museum of Harvard University and the University of California. Miss Boyd's remarkable excavations at Gournia, Crete, were in connection with the Archaeological Inst.i.tute of America, and the University of Pennsylvania. The contributions of these two and of Miss Breton, an English woman, who has made copies in color of the disappearing mural decorations in Central America, rank among the recent notable archaeological researches.

In somatology, the exhibit of Bryn Mawr College showed so marked a comprehension of the value of this line of study and its observations and the results in this branch of science, were so clearly and well presented as to receive a special award.

In ethnology, the work of women in this branch was included in the publications of scientific bodies and universities. In the collections exhibited the articles obtained by women were indiscriminately arranged with those gathered by men so as to make the exhibits of value and of interest.

In reply to the questions as to whether woman's work was as well appreciated when placed side by side with that of men, as when separately exhibited, I would say, that the trend of opinion at the present time is to judge of work by its character and quality rather than by the s.e.x of the worker. Every woman student desires only such judgment to be pa.s.sed on her work and is grateful that the day has come when she can be so dealt with.

Again, as to a comparison between the exhibits of woman's work at previous expositions and at the one held in St. Louis; as I have visited nearly all since that of the Centennial, I think that no one could fail to note the fairer estimate put on woman's work at the, recent exposition than was ever before granted. From the days of the childhood of the race to the present time it has always been impossible to draw a hard and fast line between the labors of men and those of women, their work has continually interchanged and overlapped. What has been woman's work in one age has become man's in another. The history of textile industries is a well known case in point. Such being the fact, it is in keeping with the truth of the past and the present time, not to attempt to exhibit separately that which has always been interwoven.

In anthropology the number of women students is small, but the work accomplished by these few has been creditable, and has received its due recognition.

The Indian school exhibit came under the Department of Anthropology, and several women received awards for special accomplishments.

Looking over the field of woman's work as presented at the St.

Louis Exposition, one is convinced of the growth of a healthful recognition of her labors in the upbuilding of social life, both in the ideal and the practical, and can not fail to note the uses to which she is putting the widening opportunities for her higher education.

Group 127, Mrs. Alice Palmer Henderson, of Tacoma, Wash., Juror.

Under the group heading "Ethnology" there was but one cla.s.s, representing ill.u.s.tration of the growth of culture; the origin and development of arts and industries; ceremonies, religious rites, and games; social and domestic manners and customs; languages and origin of writing.

Mrs. Henderson says:

In the Department of Anthropology in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition there were but few individual exhibits, those being princ.i.p.ally in the section of history. Women have always been the chief heralds of family and conservators of family records and relics. The Daughters of the Revolution have stimulated research, restoration, and preservation along historical lines.

For the first time in exposition management a department of history had its own commissioner and that commissioner was a woman. Miss Hayward justified this decidedly new step by her services. I think I am right in a.s.serting that she was the first woman commissioner on the board of any international exposition.[A] The section of history was part of the Department of Anthropology.

[Footnote A: Mrs. Potter Palmer and Mrs. Daniel Manning were appointed by President McKinley to serve as commissioners at the Paris Exposition, 1900.]

New, too, was representation on the jury of anthropology of workers in Indian affairs, as represented in the model Indian school, containing, as it did, so large a proportion of women's work in exhibits from different tribes and sections of the country, and of the suggested work of the white woman teachers.

Of these latter was the juror, Miss Peters, of the domestic science department. Advancement along these lines since the Columbian Exposition is undoubted, except in the matter of such Indian arts as basketry and rug making. If there be any reason for the existence of a raffia basket in hideous aniline hues it doth not yet appear. I think this b.a.s.t.a.r.d has usurped the place of the Indians' beautiful art of long descent, and it is distressing. White teachers who presume to instruct the Indians in basket making, or who subst.i.tute hairpin lace and the like, have much to answer for.

I noted no particular advance in anthropology among women since the Columbian Exposition, when I served upon the same jury in the same distinguished company--Mrs. Zelia Nuttall and Miss Alice Fletcher. In other more tangible departments, so to speak, and at other expositions, I have noted a steady advance in woman's work and in the spread of her domain. The time has long past when it should be segregated, as kindergarten efforts are from regular school work.

I recall no anthropological exhibit by foreign women at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. In fact, American women undoubtedly lead in such study, investigation, exploration, and publication. In their own country the opportunity is great, especially in ethnology, because of the thousands of barbarous people among us and savages upon our borders. Tribes still in the stone age are our actual contemporaries. Women, quick to grasp, able to ingratiate themselves, are peculiarly fitted to gather the folklore of the Indians, their songs and myths and ceremonials--weird, rich, beautiful as those of the ancient Greeks. Miss Fletcher, who at St. Louis served upon the section of psychometry, has done much for both ethnology and the coming school of American music in rescuing and preserving the Indian songs.

What has been accomplished in archaeology by women was best exhibited in the attainments, translations, and publications of another member of the jury of anthropology, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, as well known in Europe as in this country. Woman's acknowledged intuition, patience, and enthusiasm are factors of great value in the problem of reducing to one common denominator the life and works of bygone man from his archeological remains.

It seems to me of great importance to emphasize the work of women at such expositions. What woman has done, woman can do, is an invaluable suggestion borne in upon many minds of latent possibilities which, developed, might greatly benefit humanity.

The most important exhibits at any great exposition are never seen, only felt.

Miss Cora Peters, Department of the Interior, United States Indian Service, Chilocco, Okla., as mentioned by Mrs. Henderson, also served in this Department, and briefly says: