Chapter 55

Expositions are a natural and useful factor to women in that by their means new avenues of employment that are constantly being opened to them may be collectively demonstrated, and it can be shown in which of these they may share and excel or be most successful, and statistics may be compiled showing the proportion of wages that women receive for their share of labor performed equivalent to that of men, and other helpful information and facts procured which are not easily ascertained by other means.

The Departments of Machinery, Electricity, Transportation Exhibits, Forestry, Mines and Metallurgy, Fish and Game, and Physical Culture were not given representation by the Exposition Company on the group juries appointed by the board of lady managers, and while it is undoubtedly true that all of these fields have been invaded by women as assistant workers, yet evolution and progress in these lines are necessarily slow where their opportunities have not been commensurate with those of men and more congenial employment is undoubtedly afforded in education, art, liberal arts, manufactures, agriculture, horticulture, anthropology, and social economy.

The "Special Rules and Regulations providing for an International Jury and Governing the System of Making Awards," as applicable to the board of lady managers, read as follows:

The total number of jurors in the international jury of awards shall be approximately 2 per cent of the total number of exhibitors, but not in excess of that number, and each nation having fifty exhibitors or more shall be entitled to representation on the jury. The number of jurors for each art or industry, and for each nationality represented, shall, as far as practicable, be proportional to the number of exhibitors and the importance of the exhibits.

Of this selected body of international jurors, three graded juries will be constituted: One, the general organization of group juries; two, department juries; three, a superior jury.

Each group jury shall be composed of jurors and alternates.

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company shall certify to the board of lady managers the numbers of groups in which the exhibits have been produced in whole, or in part, by female labor; to each of the groups so certified the board of lady managers may appoint one juror and one alternate to that juror; such appointees, when confirmed, shall have the privileges and be amenable to the regulations for other jurors and alternates.

Nominations made by chiefs of departments, and by the board of lady managers, shall be submitted to the director of exhibits, and when approved he shall submit them to the president of the Exposition Company.

The nomination of group jurors and alternates, when approved by the president of the exposition, shall be transmitted to the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission for the approval of that body.

The work of the group juries shall begin September 1, 1904, and shall be completed not later than twenty days thereafter.

Examinations or other work not completed in the time specified herein will be transferred to the department jury.

Each group shall carefully examine all exhibits pertaining to the group to which it has been assigned. It shall also consider and pass upon the merits of the collaborators whose work may be conspicuous in the design, development, or construction of the exhibits.

The jury shall prepare separate lists, presenting the names of such exhibitors as are out of competition; awards recommended to exhibitors in order of merit; awards recommended to collaborators in order of merit; a report giving an account of the most important objects exhibited, and a general account of the group as a whole.

Each department jury shall be composed of the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the group juries of the respective departments, with one member of the directory of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, to be named by the president of the company, and one person appointed by the board of lady managers.

Each department jury shall complete its organization and begin its work on September 20, 1904.

The duties of these juries shall be to consider carefully and review the reports of the group juries; to harmonize any differences that may exist between the recommendations of the several group juries as to awards, and to adjust all awards recommended so that they will be consistent with the rules and regulations.

No more than ten days may be devoted to this work, and when the awards recommended by the group juries have been adjusted the department juries shall, through the chiefs of their respective departments, submit their findings to the director of exhibits, who shall, within five days after the receipt thereof, certify the same to the superior jury, including such work as may have been left incomplete by the department jury.

The officers and members of the superior jury shall be as follows: President, the president of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company; first vice-president, the director of exhibits; second vice-president, a citizen of the United States to be named by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission. The members of the jury shall further consist of the commissioners-general of the nine foreign countries occupying with exhibits the largest amount of space in the exhibit palaces, the chairmen and first vice-chairmen of the department juries, the chiefs of the exhibit departments, and one person appointed by the board of lady managers.

The superior jury shall determine finally and fully the awards to be made to exhibitors and collaborators in all cases that are formally presented for its consideration.

For the purpose of installation and review of exhibits and the conduct of the system of awards a classification was adopted which was divided into fifteen departments, which were divided into 144 groups, which in turn were subdivided into 807 classes. They will show that while many of the groups and classes are not suited to the requirements of woman's work, yet all products of female labor can be properly classed in these departments, and that there are extremely few occupations in which man is engaged in which woman can not and does not also work.

The list of appointments of group and department jurors appointed by the board of lady managers is given in the final report of the chairman of the committee on awards.

At a meeting held on May 9, 1904, the committee to present nominations for superior jury announced the names of Mrs. Eliza Eads How, Mrs. Philip N. Moore, Mrs. Thomas N. Neidringhaus, and Miss Mary E. Perry. On ballot the result was the election of Mrs. Philip N. Moore, of St. Louis, with Mrs. Eliza Eads How, of the same city, as alternate.

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. Garesché, 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 façade, and for this unique work a gold medal was awarded to Miss Garesché.

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 lycées 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 repoussé 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.