![Officers of Board of Lady Managers (3409426143)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Officers_of_Board_of_Lady_Managers_%283409426143%29.jpg)
The Board of Lady Managers of the
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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was organized November 19, 1890. It oversaw the construction of
The Woman's Building in
Chicago
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and organized the exposition's
World's Congress of Representative Women
The World's Congress of Representative Women was a week-long convention for the voicing of women's concerns, held within The Woman's Building (Chicago), The Woman's Building of the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, May 1893). At 81 meetings, ...
(1893). A cookbook with autographed recipes of board members was also issued.
The Board of Lady Managers was created by the
U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
to see that women were placed upon the Juries of Award, which were to pass upon work done wholly or in part by women, and to perform such other duties as might be assigned by the Exposition's National Commission. It was subsequently given by the Commission full management and control of the building known as the Woman's Building, together with the general charge and management of the interests of women in all of the Exposition buildings. It was made the official channel of communication through which all women or organizations of women were to be brought into relation with the Exposition, and through which applications for space for women or their exhibits should be received. The members of the Board succeeded in securing for women the fullest possible representation in the department buildings, and modified their original plans in order to increase the amount of space to be put at their disposal in the Woman's Building.
Origins
Beginning in 1889, activist women in Chicago lobbied to make their city the site of the
world's fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
of 1892. They also petitioned for an official place for women in the planning and exhibitions at the fair. Led by
Emma Gilson Wallace, they suggested forming a "Women's Department for the Fair".
These activists came from various women's organizations involved in philanthropy, education, and suffrage.
The Quatro-Centennial Committee of the Senate (i.e. commemorating the 400th anniversary of
Columbus's first voyage
Between 1492 and 1504, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus led four Spanish transatlantic maritime expeditions of discovery to the Americas. These voyages led to the widespread knowledge of the New World. This breakthrough inaugurated the per ...
to the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...
) approved the Fair Bill naming Chicago as the site. When the bill was sent to the House of Representatives,
William McKendree Springer
William McKendree Springer (May 30, 1836 – December 4, 1903) was a United States Representative from Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan ...
attached an amendment to create a Board of Lady Managers. The House accepted the bill and in 1890 President
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...
signed the bill into law.
The Board appointments, made by the National Commission, numbered 117, including two Lady Managers from each state, territory and the District of Columbia, as well as members-at-large.
Among their duties related to the Fair, the Lady Managers were in charge of the plans for the Women's Hall.
Administration
![Bertha Honore Palmer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Bertha_Honore_Palmer.jpg)
There were five convenings of the Board:
* First Session, November 19–26, 1890
* Second Session, September 2–9, 1891
* Third Session, October 1892
* Fourth Session, April 1893
* Fifth Session, July 1893
The by-laws of the Board of Lady Managers, as amended, included provisions for an official title, quorum, powers of alternate managers, officers of the board, an Executive Committee, duties of the board president, duties of the board vice-presidents, duties of the board secretary, vice-chair of the Executive Committee, and amendments.
The Woman's Building
Bertha Honoré Palmer
Bertha Matilde Palmer (; May 22, 1849 – May 5, 1918) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.
Early life
Born as Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré. Known wit ...
served as the president of the 117-woman strong Board of Lady Managers, the organization which dealt with women's business at the World's Columbian Exposition.
[ The Board constructed The Woman's Building, designed by 21-year-old Sophia Hayden, as the showplace for women's art. The building itself was decorated by women artists, featuring architectural ornament sculpted by ]Enid Yandell
Enid Yandell (October 6, 1869 – June 12, 1934) was an American sculptor from Louisville, Kentucky who studied with Auguste Rodin in Paris, Philip Martiny in New York City, and Frederick William MacMonnies.
Yandell specialized in portrait bus ...
and Alice Rideout
Alice Louise Rideout (c. October 1871-April 18, 1953) was an American sculptor born in Marysville, California who is primarily known for her work on The Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Biography
Alice Ride ...
, both 19, and a large painting by Mary Cassatt
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...
, ''Modern Woman'', one of two extensive murals in the Woman's Building,[ the other one, ''Primitive Woman'' being by Mary MacMonnies. Interior art was curated by Candace Wheeler and Sara Hallowell.][ The Board also built a Children's Building, a child-care center required to support fair-goers and convention-goers who brought children. As well, the Board built a women's dormitory near the fairgrounds, to house women traveling alone or with small children.][Smith 2000, p. 354.]
Legacy
Carrie V. Shuman compiled a cookbook, ''Favorite Dishes: A Columbian Autograph Souvenir Cookery Book. Over three hundred autograph recipes, and twenty-three portraits, contributed specially by the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbia Exposition'' (Chicago, 1893) with illustrations by May Root-Kern, Mellie Ingels Julian, Louis Braunhold, and George Wharton Edwards.
After the exposition, the Woman's Building was torn down, and the mural by Mary Cassatt
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...
was misplaced and lost. Bertha Palmer
Bertha Matilde Palmer (; May 22, 1849 – May 5, 1918) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.
Early life
Born as Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré. Known wi ...
was appointed United States Commissioner at the Paris Exposition of 1900
The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate developmen ...
by President William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
, the only woman so distinguished by any government.[Anthony 1902, p. 608.]
Notable people
Officers
Prominent officials:
* Mrs. Bertha Palmer – President
*Mrs. Susan G. Cook – Secretary
* Phoebe Couzins
Phoebe Wilson Couzins (September 8, 1842 – December 6, 1913) was one of the first female lawyers in the United States. She was the second woman to serve as a licensed attorney in Missouri and the third or fourth to be a licensed attorney in t ...
, Secretary
* Mrs. V.C. Meredith – Vice Chairman Executive Committee
*Mrs. Russell B. Harrington – Vice-President at Large
* Mrs. John A. Logan – Vice-Chairman Committee on Ceremonies
Vice-Presidents:
*Mrs. Ralph Trautman – First Vice-President
*Mrs. Edwin C. Burleigh – Second Vice-President
*Mrs. Charles Price – Third Vice-President
*Miss K.L. Minor – Fourth Vice-President
*Mrs. Beriah Wilkins – Fifth Vice-President
*Mrs. Susan R. Ashley – Sixth Vice-President
*Mrs. Flora Beall Ginty – Seventh Vice-President
*Mrs. Margaret Blaine Salisbury – Eighth Vice-President
Committee on Congresses
* Susan R. Ashley
* Frances Elizabeth Newbury Bagley, Vice-Chair
* Helen Morton Barker
Helen Morton Barker (, Morton; December 7, 1834 – May 6, 1910) was an American social reformer active in the temperance movement. For twelve years, she served as treasurer of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
Early life a ...
* Laurette Lovell
* Mary Kavanaugh Eagle
Mary Kavanaugh Eagle (, Oldham; February 4, 1854 – February 15, 1903) was an American community leader, clubwoman, book editor, and activist in Protestant missionary work. She served as president of the Woman's Central Committee on Missions sin ...
, Chair
* Eliza M. Russell
* Julia Ball Reed Shattuck
* Lillian M. N. Stevens
Lillian M. N. Stevens (1843–1914) was an American temperance worker and social reformer, born at Dover, Maine. She helped launch the Maine chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), served as its president, and was elect ...
Members
* Mary A. Cochran, Texas
* Ellen M. Chandler, Vermont
* Mrs. John Sergeant Wise, Virginia
* Mrs. K. S. G. Paul, Virginia
* Melissa D. Owings, Washington
* Alice Houghton, Washington
* Mrs. W. Newton Linch, West Virginia
* Lily Irene Jackson, West Virginia
* Flora Beall Ginty, Wisconsin
* Mrs. William P. Lynde, Wisconsin
* Mrs. F. H. Harrison, Wyoming
* Frances E. Hale, Wyoming
Resident members
* Helen Morton Barker[ ]
* Mrs. Matilda B. Carse
*Dr. Frances Dickenson
*Mrs. James R. Doolittle, Jr.
*Mrs. James A. Mulligan
*Mrs. Potter Palmer
*Mrs. Leander Stone
*Mrs. L. Brace Shattuck
*Mrs. Solomon Thacher, Jr.
* Mrs. M.R.M. Wallace
References
Attribution
* Anthony, Susan B.; Harper, Ida Husted, editors
''History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV''
(1883–1900), published 1902, at Internet Archive
*
*
*
Bibliography
* Smith, Karen Manners, author; Cott, Nancy F., editor
''New Paths to Power'', 1890–1920
Chapter 7 of ''No Small Courage'', Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 353–357.
External links
''Appropriations for Board of Lady Managers World's Columbian Exposition: Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, Transmitting, an Estimate of Appropriation, Submitted by the President of the World's Columbian Exposition, for Expenses of the Board of Lady Managers for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 1893''
(U.S. Government Printing Office, 1892)
{{authority control
World's Columbian Exposition
Women's organizations based in the United States
1890 establishments in the United States