Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Part 86

Department F, Electricity, Prof. W.E. Goldsboro, Chief, Miss Hope Fairfax Loughborough, Department Juror.

This department comprised 5 groups and 24 cla.s.ses, the group headings being: Machines for generating and using electricity; Electrochemistry; Electric lighting; Telegraphy and telephony; Various applications of electricity.

Miss Loughborough's report is as follows:

The field of electricity has been so long and so peculiarly a man's field that it is not surprising to find that in the 5 groups and 24 cla.s.ses which the Department of Electricity at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition comprised, only 2 exhibits were made by women, both of whom were Americans.

One of these exhibits was made by Mrs. Alexander Baumgard, of New York City, and showed an automatic advertising figure actuated by an electric motor. The figure was that of a woman standing before a rack on which were a number of signs. The figure stooped, picked up one of the signs, raised it, turned a quarter way around in order to display it to the best advantage, and replaced the sign. The next movement took up the next sign, and so on. The mechanism was actuated by an electric motor, which, by means of a series of cams and gears, caused it to go through the various movements. The value of the device was considered very small, as there are other more effective means of advertising of this kind, and no award was given Mrs.

Baumgard.

The other exhibit by a woman was made by Mrs. Blodgett, and consisted of ornamental shades for electric lights, painted by hand. These shades were quite artistic in themselves, and were well installed, so the exhibit was awarded a bronze medal.

In neither of these exhibits was there any invention or process which was original.

In the electrical industry there is practically no machine or apparatus made without the a.s.sistance of women or girls, as they are employed in every electrical factory for insulating and winding coils, etc. In the manufacture of these the percentage of women's work is from 3 to 10 per cent. But aside from this purely mechanical work women have contributed little or nothing to the advancement of the application of electricity, either before the Chicago Exposition or during the past eleven years.

Department G, Transportation Exhibits, Mr. W.A. Smith, Chief; Miss Rose Weld, Newport News, Va., Department Juror.

Miss Weld is a graduate of the Boston School of Technology and now in the employ of the Newport News s.h.i.+pbuilding Company.

This department comprised 6 groups and 33 cla.s.ses, the group headings being: Carriages and wheelwrights' work; Automobiles and cycles; Saddlery and harness; Railways, yards, stations, freight houses, terminal facilities of all kinds; Material and equipment used in the mercantile marine; Material and equipment of naval services, naval warfare; Aerial navigation.

Miss Weld briefly reports:

As a department juror I saw the papers of every exhibitor, and there were no exhibits by women in this department in any of the 33 cla.s.ses, but not coming in contact with any of the exhibitors I can give no exact information about the work done by women in the manufacture or construction of the exhibits.

Department H, Agriculture, Mr. Frederic W. Taylor, Chief; Mrs. Richard P. Bland, Lebanon, Mo., Department Juror.

This department comprised 27 groups and 137 cla.s.ses, the group headings being: Farm equipment--methods of improving lands; Agricultural implements and farm machinery; Fertilizers; Tobacco; Appliances and methods used in agricultural industries; Theory of agriculture--agricultural statistics; Vegetable food products--agricultural seeds; Animal food products; Equipment and methods employed in the preparation of foods; Farinaceous products and their derivatives; Bread and pastry; Preserved meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit; Sugar and confectionery--condiments and relishes; Waters; Wines and brandies; Sirups and liqueurs--distilled spirits commercial alcohol; Fermented beverages; Inedible agricultural products; Insects and their products--plant diseases; Live stock--horses and mules, cattle, sheep, goats, etc.; Swine; Dogs; Cats; Ferrets, etc.; Poultry and birds.

Mrs. Bland reports as a department juror in this department:

Our jury pa.s.sed upon machinery for making drinks, refrigerators, refrigerating, Sunny Brook Distillery, ice-making plant, beer packers, and packages, etc., bottle was.h.i.+ng and cleaning. Bake ovens, candy and chocolate machines also came within our jurisdiction. One special machine of French make was for making ice for families and on the farm; these were small machines and would make from 10 to 300 pounds, and were comparatively cheap and within the reach of many.

There was an interesting and unique exhibit from Germany showing canned stews and other edibles to be used in camp and on hunting and fis.h.i.+ng trips. The can had an interlining of tin, and between the two walls of the can was unslacked lime; by making a hole in each end of the can and placing first one end and then the other in cold water for five minutes the stew was warmed and cooked.

Mrs. Bland conducts a large farm, and in a letter states that she was awarded a bronze medal at this exposition for her exhibit of timothy hay and Grimes golden apples.

Mrs. Bland also served on the jury of awards in the women's department of the Charleston Exposition, and it was her opinion that there is a great opening for women in house furnis.h.i.+ngs, designing wall paper, and photography.

Department J, Horticulture, Mr. Frederic W. Taylor, Chief; Mrs. Ida L.

Turner, Fort Worth, Tex., Department Juror.

This department comprised 7 groups and 31 cla.s.ses, the group headings being: Appliances and methods of pomology, viticulture, floriculture, and arboriculture; Appliances and methods of viticulture; Pomology; Trees, shrubs, ornamental plants and flowers; Plants of the conservatory; Seeds and plants for garden and nurseries; Arboriculture and fruit culture.

Mrs. Turner says:

In reply to your questions in regard to the work of the women jurors at the St. Louis Exposition, will say that I arrived very late at the exposition, after the jury had about finished their duties in the Department of Horticulture, in which I was to serve. For this reason my duties were limited, and I had little opportunity to examine and give an intelligent estimate of the part taken by women in this department.

Department K, Forestry, Mr. Tarleton H. Bean, Chief; Mrs. J.M. Glenn, Baltimore, Md., Department Juror.

This department comprised 3 groups and 14 cla.s.ses, under the group headings: Appliances and processes used in forestry; Products of the cultivation of forests and of forest industries; Appliances for gathering wild crops and products obtained.

No report.

Department L, Mines and Metallurgy, Mr. J.A. Homes, Chief; Mrs. M.G.

Scrutchin, Atlanta, Ga., Department Juror.

This department comprised 5 groups and 43 cla.s.ses, under the group headings: Working of mines, ore beds, and stone quarries; Minerals and stones, and their utilization; Mine models, maps, photographs; Metallurgy; Literature of mining, metallurgy, etc.

Mrs. Scrutchin reports as follows:

In all our fairy stories, dwarfs and elves live below the earth and deal with mines and their dark belongings; the fairies live above. So none of us are surprised to find few women in this line of exhibitors. My work as a member of the department jury confined me to one room, and to an inspection of lists submitted by the group jurors. So I really had no opportunity for specific examination of the various groups and cla.s.ses, except where some doubt was expressed as to the validity of an award, when I made it a point to examine that subject with more or less care. Many women placed specimens of clay and ore in their State collections. Several Georgia women, I know, did this--some, though owning and operating mines, and active in submitting specimens, took shelter under the husband's name. This fact also came under my own observation.

Nearly all these exhibits were in group 116, cla.s.s 682. One collection of clays and pottery produced in the interest of artistic handicraft came from the Sophie Newcombe Memorial College for the higher education of girls, of New Orleans, La., and was in the same group, but cla.s.s 690. Many like collections were seen in the Educational Building, but this is the only one given s.p.a.ce in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy.

The Woman's Club of Pipestone, Minn., showed specimens of pipestone and jasper belonging to group 116, cla.s.s 682. In the whole list I find only two foreigners--one from Toronto, Canada, and the other from Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico, both such near neighbors to our own country as hardly to seem foreign. The one making exhibition from Mexico, Esther Lopez, is a.s.sociated with a man, Hernano, brother or husband, I presume. Group 118 devoted to metallurgy, had only one woman exhibitor, Mrs. Abbie Krebs, San Francisco, Cal., who submitted redwood tanks for an award.

I do not recall any award made to a woman in the Department of Mines and Metallurgy. Many mercantile houses and large corporations were compet.i.tors, and, as I said before, many women sent their specimens to their respective State exhibits, and so increased the chances of the State to an award.

The fine Alaskan exhibition in the Alaska Building was collated, I understand, by a woman. I did not see it and did not learn the woman's name, though I made an effort to do so.

From my observation, I think the work of the women would have been better appreciated and the effect more p.r.o.nounced had they been placed in a separate building. In this Department of Mines, for instance, every woman would have sent to the Woman's Building instead of to the State exhibit, and a greater number would have been on record as exhibitors.

The only two exhibitions, or expositions rather, at all approaching the one in St. Louis that I have attended were the Centennial at Philadelphia, in 1876, and the International Cotton Exposition at Atlanta, in 1895. At the first I do not recall any emphasis on what women had done, except in the lines in which she had always worked--art, needlework, and dairy products. In Atlanta, as at Chicago, there was a Woman's Building, and here were found her work in all lines, and many visitors enjoyed the exhibition.

The recognition of woman as evidenced by her appointment on the juries of the different departments, both group and department, was the most striking development of the recent great expositions.

The list submitted below contains the names of all women whose names appear in the official catalogue of exhibits in the Department of Mines and Metallurgy:

Sophie Newcombe Memorial College for the Higher Education of Girls, of New Orleans, La. Clays and pottery produced in the interest of artistic handicraft. Group 116, cla.s.s 690. Mrs.

Abbie Krebs, San Francisco, Cal. Redwood tanks. Group 118, cla.s.s 702. Mrs. George Rupp, Bessemer, Mich. Collection of iron ores, needle, grape, kidney, and blackberry ore. Group 116, cla.s.s 682.

Woman's Club, Pipestone, Minn. Pipestone and jasper. Group 116, cla.s.s 682. Mrs. Helen M. Schneider, Eureka, Nev. Collection of minerals. Group 116, cla.s.s 682. Mrs. George W. Pritchard, White Oaks, N. Mex., Lincoln County. Ores. Group 116, cla.s.s 682. Mrs.

D.D. Menges, Allentown, Pa. Iron ores. Group 116, cla.s.s 682.

Mrs. C. Robinson, Spokane, S. Dak. a.r.s.enopyrite ore. Group 116, cla.s.s 682. Mrs. Haliburton, Bridgewood, Bridgewood Company, Ontario, Canada. Minerals. Group 116, cla.s.s 682. Esther y Hernano Lopez, Taxco, province of Guerrero, Mexico. Silver ores.

Group 116, cla.s.s 682.

Department M, Fish and Game, Mr. Tarleton H. Bean, Chief; Mrs. Mary Stuart Armstrong, Chicago, Ill., Department Juror.

This department comprised 5 groups and 19 cla.s.ses, the group headings being: Hunting equipment; Products of hunting; Fis.h.i.+ng; equipment and products; Products of fisheries; Fish culture.