THE   PURPOSES
OF THE
BOARD   OF   LADY   MANAGERS
OF THE
WORLD’S   COLUMBIAN   COMMISSION.

The Board of Lady Managers of the World’s Columbian Commission, having been created and authorized by the concurrent action of Congress and the Columbian Commission, to take entire charge of the interests of women at the coming Exposition, desires to develop to the fullest extent the grand possibilities which have been placed within its reach.

The Board wishes to mark the first participation of women in an important national enterprise, by preparing an object lesson to show the progress made by women in every country of the world, during the century in which educational and other privileges have been granted her, and to show the increased usefulness that has resulted from the enlargement of her opportunities.

The Board of Lady Managers invites the women of all countries to participate in this great exhibit of woman’s work, to the end that it may be made not only national, but universal, and that all may profit by a free comparison of methods, agencies, and results.

It is of the first importance that such a representative collection be secured from every country as will give an adequate idea of the extent and value of what is being done by women in the arts, sciences, and industries.{3}

We will aim to show to the breadwinners, who are fighting unaided the battle of life, the new avenues of employment that are constantly being opened to women, and in which of these their work will be of the most distinct value by reason of their natural adaptability, sensitive and artistic temperaments, and individual tastes; what education will best enable them to enjoy the wider opportunities awaiting them and make their work of the greatest worth, not only to themselves but to the world.

The Board has decided that at the coming Exposition it will not attempt to separate the exhibit of woman’s work from that of men, for the reason that as women are working side by side with men in all the factories of the world, it would be practically impossible, in most cases, to divide the finished result of their combined work; nor would women be satisfied with prizes unless they were awarded without distinction as to sex, and as the result of fair competition with the best work shown. They are striving for excellence, and desire recognition only for demonstrated merit. In order, however, that the enormous amount of work being done by women may be appreciated a tabulated statement will be procured and shown with every exhibit, stating the proportion of woman’s work that enters into it. The application blanks now being sent out to manufacturers contain this inquiry.

The Board of Lady Managers has been granted by Act of Congress the great and unusual privilege of appointing members of each jury to award prizes for articles into which woman’s work enters. The number of women on each jury will be proportionate to the amount of work done by women in the corresponding department of classification. The statement as to the amount of their work will therefore be of double significance, for in addition to the impressive showing of how large a proportion of the heavy labor of the world is being performed by the weaker sex, it will also determine the amount of jury representation to which the Board is entitled.{4}

Beside the extensive exhibit in the general Exposition buildings, women will have another opportunity of displaying work of superior excellence in a very advantageous way in the Woman’s Building, over which the Board of Lady Managers will exercise complete control. In its central gallery it is intended to have grouped the most brilliant achievements of women from every country and in every line of work. Exhibits will be admitted only by invitation, which will be considered the equivalent of a prize. No sentimental sympathy for women will cause the admission of second-rate objects, for the highest standard of excellence is to be there strictly maintained. Commissions of women organized in all countries, as auxiliaries to the Board of Lady Managers, will be asked to recommend objects of supreme excellence produced by women, and producers of such successful work will be invited to place specimens in the gallery of the Woman’s Building.

Not only has woman become an immense, although generally unrecognized factor in the industrial world, but hers being essentially the arts of peace and progress, her best work is shown in the numberless charitable, reformatory, educational, and other beneficent institutions which she has had the courage and the ideality to establish for the alleviation of suffering, for the correction of many forms of social injustice and neglect, and for the reformation of long-established wrongs. These institutions exert a strong and steady influence for good, an influence which tends to decrease vice, to make useful citizens of the helpless or depraved, to elevate the standard of morality, and to increase the sum of human happiness; thus most effectively supplementing the best efforts and furthering the highest aims of all government.

All organizations of women must be impressed with the necessity of making an effective showing of the noble work which each is carrying on. We especially desire to have represented, in the rooms reserved for that purpose,{5} the educational work originated or carried on by women, from the Kindergarten organizations up to the highest branches of education, including all schools of applied science and art, such as training-schools for nurses, manual training, industrial art and cooking schools, domestic economy, sanitation, etc. When not practically exhibited, the work of all such organizations should be shown by maps, charts, photographs, relief models, etc.; but it is earnestly hoped that one, at least, the most representative institution in each of these branches, will be shown from every country, in order that a comparison may be made of methods and results.

Bertha M. H. Palmer.