Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Part 79

There were two very large relief maps of New Orleans and the levee system of the Mississippi River, which were the work of Miss Jennie Wilde, of New Orleans, and, while they rank low in the final prize award, attracted a great deal of attention and admiration. Comparatively speaking, I think this work much more ambitious than that heretofore undertaken by a woman along this line, and should prove a stimulus to woman in a new field. I could not see that results would have been better if their work had been separately exhibited.

So far as I know, manufacturers were not then asked to state the percentage of woman's work which entered into their special exhibits; nor were they, as a rule, shown in such manner as to indicate in any way which part was performed by woman and which by man. The grand prize work, I am informed by the Rand, McNally Company, was nearly half performed by women; certainly 45 per cent of it. In this the skill and ingenuity displayed and the originality was not separable from that of her colaborers.

Group 18, which consisted of geographical work in general, was hardly a fair test of woman's skill, surveying and engineering having been considered out of her line. Therefore I consider the one exhibit by woman a step forward along a new line, a willingness to compa.s.s great things, an evidence of woman's ambition and desire to succeed, but with her past education and opportunities inadequate for equal compet.i.tion.

If I may suggest, it will be greatly to our interest that women should have their work so catalogued that they may have credit for what labor they perform. No doubt much work is done in map making by women, but no mention of it is catalogued or credit for its excellence asked by them.

It seems to me that a committee to investigate these questions at the beginning of each great exposition, or at the time of the placing of the exhibits, would be of very great statistical value in determining the amount of labor and the degree of skill exercised by woman in these departments.

The art of embroidery has been supposed always to be one peculiarly belonging to women, but that the men at least occasionally invade the field of her occupations is shown by the fact that the large j.a.panese and Chinese maps exhibited in the Transportation Building were both done by men, and showed exquisite workmans.h.i.+p, particularly the embroidered one.

The letter Miss Wilde herself has written in regard to the work on her relief map of the levee system may be of interest, as this certainly represents a new field of labor for women. It counted one more gold medal in the awards.

All of the work on my relief maps was done by "woman," my sister a.s.sisting me greatly. On account of the limited time I had to finish the maps in, I was unable to finish them entirely myself, so had to employ a.s.sistants, but in each case it was the hand of woman. I received a gold medal for my work, or rather my work received a gold medal, it being an order from the State of Louisiana, and forming a part of their exhibit the medal had to become the property of the State.

Surveying and engineering I have never studied, except in the making of these maps, when every a.s.sistance in regard to data, etc., was given to me by the most noted State and city engineers, they coming from time to time to supervise the work, and laughingly saying, when I had completed the same, that they would have to give me a diploma for proficiency in the profession. Of course I had to read up and learn a great deal in regard to surveying and engineering in making the maps, as everything is done correctly to a scale.

Department D, manufactures, Mr. Milan H. Hulbert, chief, comprised 24 groups and 231 cla.s.ses, the board of lady managers being represented in but 7 groups.

This would seem to be one of the departments where women should have been accorded fuller recognition. s.p.a.ce does not permit an examination of the number of groups into which their work largely enters, but in the group of "clock and watch making," for instance, it would seem scarcely just not to grant them their full measure of praise for work well done.

In one factory alone in Ma.s.sachusetts, where more than 3,000 persons are employed, hundreds of them are women and girls, employed not only in a.s.sembling the parts, but attending various machines. Under the group "Toys," also "Dolls, playthings," it is self-evident women must have much to do with their manufacture and preparation for the market, and their inventions of toys and playthings for children would seem to preeminently ent.i.tle them to the place in this group which was denied them.

Group 37, Mrs. R.A. Edgerton, Milwaukee, Wis., Juror.

Under the heading "Decoration and fixed furniture of buildings and dwellings," the nine cla.s.ses into which it was divided represented: Permanent decoration of public buildings and of dwellings. Plans, drawings, and models of permanent decoration.

Carpentry; models of framework, roof work, vaults, domes, wooden part.i.tions, etc. Ornamental joiner work; doors, windows, panels, inlaid floors, organ cases, choir stalls, etc. Permanent decorations in marble, stone, plaster, papier-mache, carton pierre, etc. Ornamental carvings and pyrographics. Ironwork and locksmiths' work applied to decoration; grill work and doors in cast or wrought iron; doors and bal.u.s.trades in bronze, roof decoration in lead, copper, zinc, dormers, spires, finials, vanes; crest and ridge work. Decorative paintings on stone, wood, metal, canvas, or other surfaces. Signs of all varieties.

Mosaic decorations in stone or marble for flooring; enameled mosaic for walls and vaulted surfaces. Various applications of ceramics to the permanent decoration of public buildings and dwellings.

As much time was consumed in endeavoring to communicate with the princ.i.p.al of this group, Mrs. Edgerton as alternate did not arrive in St. Louis until the work of the jury was far advanced, and therefore could make no report.

Group 45, Mrs. Isaac Boyd, Atlanta, Ga., Juror.

Under the group heading "Ceramics," the 13 cla.s.ses into which it was divided represented: (Raw materials, equipment, processes, and products.) Raw materials, particularly chemical products used in ceramic industrials. Equipment and methods used in the manufacture of earthenware; machines for turning, pressing, and molding earthenware; machines for making brick, roofing tile, drain tile, and pottery for building purposes; furnaces, kilns, m.u.f.fles, and baking apparatus; appliances for preparing and grinding enamels. Various porcelains. Biscuit of porcelain and of earthenware. Earthenware of white or colored body, with transparent or tin glazes. Faience. Earthenware and terra cotta for agricultural purposes; paving tiles, enameled lava.

Stoneware, plain and decorated. Tiles, plain, encaustic, and decorated; mosaics, bricks, paving bricks, pipes. Fireproof materials. Statuettes, groups and ornaments in terra cotta.

Enamels applied to ceramics. Mosaics of clay or of enamel. Mural designs; borders for fireplaces and mantels.

No report.

Group 53 (later combined with Group 61), Mrs. F.K. Bowes, Chicago, Ill., Juror.

Under the group heading of "Equipment and processes used in sewing and making wearing apparel," the nine cla.s.ses into which it was divided represented: Common implements used in needlework. Machines for cutting clothes, skins, and leathers.

Machines for sewing, st.i.tching, hemming, embroidering, etc.

Machines for making b.u.t.tonholes; for sewing gloves, leather, boots and shoes, etc.; plaiting straw for hats. Tailors' geese and flatirons. Busts and figures for trying on garments.

Machines for preparing separate parts of boots and shoes (stamping, molding, etc.). Machines for lasting, pegging, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g, nailing. Machines for making hats of straw, felt, etc.

Mrs. Bowes writes as follows:

AMALGAMATION OF GROUPS 53 AND 61.

Chairman, Daniel C. Nugent, St. Louis; honorary vice-president, Jean Mouilbeau, Paris, France; first vice-president, John Sheville Capper, Chicago; second vice-president, J.E. Wilson, Elmwood, Ill.; secretaries, Charles W. Farmer, New York City, and Ella E. Lane Bowes, Chicago (elected by the jury to fill the place of Secretary Charles Farmer, owing to his being called to New York City). Group 53: Chairman, J.E. Wilson, Elmwood, Ill.; vice-chairman, Charles E. Moore, Brockton, Ma.s.s.; secretary, Ella E. Lane Bowes, Chicago, Ill.; Mary G. Harrow, Ottumwa, Iowa; Mathilda Ripberger, Dresden, Germany. Group 61: Chairman, John Sheville Capper, Chicago, Ill.; secretary, M. Blum, Paris, France; M. Mouilbeau, Paris, France; Eugene Leonard, Paris, France; Fred L. Rossback, Chicago, Ill.; W.E. McClelland, New York City; M. Magai, j.a.pan; Nellie Saxton, Brazil; Celia Nelson, Philadelphia, Pa.; Ella E. Lane Bowes, Chicago, Ill.

_Group 53_.--Group 53 was composed of two men and two women jurors, viz, the chairman and vice-chairman, men; the secretary, the writer, an American, and a German woman.

Group 53 was composed of equipments, processes, etc. Cla.s.s 326, common implements used in needlework. Cla.s.s 327, machines for cutting clothes, skirts, and leathers. Cla.s.s 328, machines for sewing, st.i.tching, hemming, embroidering. Cla.s.s 329, machines for making b.u.t.tonholes; for sewing gloves, leather, boots and shoes, etc.; plaiting straw for hats. Cla.s.s 330, tailors' geese and flatirons. Cla.s.s 331, busts and figures for trying on garments. Cla.s.s 332, machines for preparing separate parts of boots and shoes (stamping, molding, etc). Cla.s.s 333, machines for lasting, pegging, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g, nailing. Cla.s.s 334, machines for making hats of straw, felt, etc.

In this group of nine cla.s.ses there was no distinctive exhibits by women, but the outcome of their skillful labor on the wonderful machines was purely their own and well displayed.

The most practical exhibit of woman's work was the finished product of sewing machines in the United States and Great Britain sections.

The Singer sewing machine exhibit furnished the best display in the group. The work was very fine in detail, done by skilled artisans.

Among the work in the homely arts were shoes, corsets, underwear, and skillful darning. The manufacture of these useful articles proved interesting.

In the beauty arts was displayed embroideries and fancy monograms, a skilled workman demonstrating a machine that would produce twelve monograms at one time in elaborate embroidery; in fact, the machines seemed as human as the workers themselves; although they were not talkers, they were "Singers."

Among the notable exhibits in this group was the attractive display of paper patterns. The b.u.t.terick Pattern Company exhibited on life-size wax figures the evolution of dress during the past one hundred years, true to the fas.h.i.+ons of each decade in style, color of dress, and bonnet.

The McCall Company's exhibit consisted of life-size wax figures attired in paper patterns, up to date in all the idiosyncracies demanded by fas.h.i.+on, an educational feature in this line of work.

As a work of art the large and handsome display of paper costumes has never been equaled. No such display of costumes, representing lace, velvet, linen, silk, cloth, etc., all made in paper, has ever been seen anywhere in the world prior to this exhibit; and this work of art was the handicraft of women.

In the Homer Young Company's sewing machine the demand and supply for women's comfort was again called out in the combined dressing table and sewing machine, a good invention for flats, the fad of the day, that was designed for convenience.

The electric flatirons were certainly an advance in the right direction.

A great time saver was the "Universal b.u.t.ton fastener,"

"guaranteed not to come off."

In some departments of manufacture exhibits the percentage of woman's labor was said to be 10 per cent; the wax-figure department, 75 per cent; in operating sewing machines for the manufacture of wearing apparel, etc., the percentage is about 90. Operation of sewing machines and kindred industries have reached about as high a state of perfection as possible. The same holds good in regard to the Singer sewing machines of Great Britain. Their output is larger for machines for the manufacture of embroideries, lace, saddlery, leather, top-boots, sewings, and upholstery. A specialty of machine work was their fine hemst.i.tching. Perhaps the attractiveness of the Singer sewing machine exhibits was owing largely to the fact that they were shown in motion.

Germany's sewing-machine product showed great skill in workmans.h.i.+p. Lintz & Eckardt, Berlin, displayed the output of eight styles of embroidery machines, ribbon plaiting, and a three-needle machine with band apparatus, which turned out wonderful work of bead and silk embroideries on silk and other fabrics.

The many dress cutting and ladies' tailoring systems, again the inventions of man, are perhaps among the most useful in women's work to-day in teaching dress cutting from a perfect system, and greatly a.s.sisting in the work of drafting garments from actual measurements. They are time savers, and are so constructed as to follow the changes in fas.h.i.+on, and women can, by their use, become expert workmen and display artistic skill. A great advancement has been made along this line of work during the past ten years, or since the last exposition; not only from a practical standpoint, but as an educational feature, especially in rural districts, for through their schools, conducted through correspondence, they have enabled women throughout the country to learn dressmaking and to keep in close touch with the styles of the world. The McDowell system, for manufacturing purposes, is superior, and under a skilled workman is most correct. The Edward Curran drafting machines are useful for the novice--good on account of their simplicity, being more portable on account of folding into a small compa.s.s. The same can be said of the Valentine system.

In this group there was no installation by foreign women.

In group 53 there was nothing unusual displayed that would lead one to think that women were more capable of executing more advanced work than they accomplished eleven years ago.

In the Louisiana Purchase Exposition woman's work was installed in such a manner and not being specified, one could not tell where their work began and where it left off. As to the appreciation of woman's work, it was taken as a whole and was judged as a work of mankind. Women's work and men's work of to-day would be hard to separate. Perhaps if women's work could be brought out more prominently it would be better for them. No work was displayed in such a manner as to enable one to distinguish between the two. In the manufacture of personal effects, the larger proportion was women's work. No woman received an award in group 53 to my knowledge.

As has been said before, the operation of machines is especially women's work. Women were not the inventors, but they displayed ingenuity and skill in the operation--application. Although they are not the original inventors, it is a well-known fact that many improvements are women's suggestions. Their working at the machines and the ingenuity and taste displayed in the choice of work was of marked value as an exposition attraction.