This is more than an exhibit. It’s an entire floor examining the role of women in American history, transforming our lives from the right to vote to designing famous things their male bosses got credit for, such as Tiffany lamps.
The new women’s history floor opens today at the New York Historical Society. It’s the first of its kind in a major US museum, telling the American story through the lens of women and New York, like the Suffragette movement, which began in New York State.
We got a preview earlier this week.
There are untold stories, such as the Tiffany Girls, who designed and created legendary Tiffany lamps, and the untold story of the wife of Frederick Douglass, a freed slave who helped him escape the South, along with the better-known story of how Dolley Madison saved the White House during the war of 1812 and the lesser-known story of how her dinner parties helped enact her husband’s policies.
In between, there are stories of the women of the Suffragettes who marched with Susan B. Anthony, the women of the Civil Rights movement who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the women politicians and activists their protects gave birth to, such as New Yorkers Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug.
The new women’s history floor is the New-York Historical Society’s transformed Henry Luce III Center on the fourth floor.
As a journalist, I love that Luce was the founder of the Time-Life publishing empire. As a woman, I love that he had an equally influental wife, diplomat Claire Boothe Luce, who helped shape American foreign policy in the 1950s.
- SEE below for special opening weekend events.
The official name of the new fourth floor is the Center for Women’s History, and its centerpiece is the museum’s fabulous collection of Tiffany glass lamps, which inspired the entire project.
The museum had accidentally discovered the unknown story of Clara Driscoll and the “Tiffany Girls,” who designed and created iconic Tiffany lamps at the turn of the 20th century, many of which are in the collection.
The installation includes examples in several color combinations of the Dragonfly shade, a unique Dogwood floor lamp, a Wisteria table lamp, and a rare, elaborate Cobweb shade on a Narcissus mosaic base, among many others.
Kiosks share personal stories of the individual Tiffany Girls, including dramatic readings from Clara Driscoll’s letters as well as sources of their design inspiration and details on the manufacturing process.
While Louis Comfort Tiffany gave full credit in his lifetime to his working women, their stories and the importance of their work somehow got lost. Until now. BTW – Tiffany is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn – but that’s another story.
There are many interactive exhibits, including the chance to design your own Tiffany Dragonfly lamp. My favorite is the touchscreen wall of virtual women. Click on her photo, and you learn her story. Or, click on the title tags her story represents and see how she connects to other women.
So, today’s superstar ballet dancer Misty Copeland connects across the generations with Susan B. Anthony and tennis legend Billie Jean King as “pioneer”.
There also are displays of items donated recently by the tennis superstar, including a tennis dress, racquets, and materials that illustrate her historic fight for women’s rights and equal pay.
Interactive elements in the Tiffany gallery include a hands-on “Design-a-Lamp” experience on the John L. and Sue Ann Weinberg Mezzanine and a diorama that illustrates the rise of electrification. Kiosks share personal stories of the individual Tiffany Girls, including dramatic readings from Clara Driscoll’s letters as well as sources of their design inspiration and details on the manufacturing process.
“New York women have led the nation when it comes to furthering women’s rights, so it is fitting that the new Center for Women’s History right here in Manhattan will provide a space to tell women’s stories, for our benefit and that of future generations,” said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, Chair of the New York Women’s Suffrage Commission.
“As we celebrate the centennial of the Women’s Suffrage movement in New York State, we must ask ourselves: 100 years from now, what will be our legacy? The new center should inspire every woman and girl to take an active part in building that legacy. I encourage everyone to visit and learn about the impact women have made on history.”
Special Opening weekend events
- On opening weekend (Saturday/Sunday, April 29/30, families can interact with Living Historians in the galleries. “New Yorkers of the Past” will be stationed throughout the fourth floor to chat with visitors about their historical eras and explain some of the Museum’s most treasured artifacts and artworks.
- Downstairs, the 3rd New Jersey Regiment’s Jersey Greys, a reenacting troop, will demonstrate military drills and share a behind-the-scenes look at a Continental soldier’s accessories.
- Also on Saturday, April 29 from 10 am – 4 pm, the NY History Store will present a curated marketplace of products by women makers, designers and entrepreneurs, with a unique range of jewelry, boutique toys, textiles, accessories, food and quality crafts.
The New York Historical Society is at Central Park West and 77th St., across the street from the American Museum of Natural History.