ILLUMINATING WOMEN’S HISTORY
New-York Historical Society’s Center for Women’s History sheds light on city’s unsung women
You can find the Tiffany Girls and other bright women at the Center for Women’s History. Housed within the New-York Historical Society, the CWH offers exhibitions, education and events spotlighting women who “have shaped and continue to shape the American experience.”
Opened in 2017, it’s the first-ever space dedicated to women’s history housed within a major museum. Historians unearth rarely-told stories using the New York Historical Society’s archives, donations, and collections.
“A huge part of the process is looking through our own collections to find stories, often of the women who originally donated pieces. This tells us so much about women in the past,” said Anna Danziger Halperin, associate director of the Center for Women’s History. “We present their stories in ways that challenge the ways we look at history.”
The study of women’s history started in the 1960s during the women’s liberation movement, when it became clear that traditional history books often overlooked women’s contributions. The CWH builds on this foundation to present a more balanced view of history.
“We are the first institution using decades of women’s history scholarship. Historians are uncovering the ways women contribute to history, the critical role women play, and why it’s important to look at women’s lives,” Danziger Halperin said.
One of the unsung women whose contributions the Historical Society uncovered was Tiffany designer Clara Driscoll. Her story, and that of the self-styled Tiffany Girls, is the centerpiece of the CWH. The permanent Tiffany Lamp Gallery includes 100 illuminated Tiffany lamps showcasing the designs and creations, as well as the hidden history of these unsung women artisans.
From 1892-1909 Driscoll was the head of the Women’s Glass Cutting Department and managed 35 women. While Louis C.
Tiffany was the studio’s visionary, Driscoll and the other women contributed substantially. Driscoll is credit- e d with creating leaded glass shades and the famous Dragonfly and Wisteria designs. While the Tiffany Girls’ contributions were not acknowledged publicly, they were well compensated. Driscoll received the same salary as the male designers, $35 a week.
While the Tiffany Gallery is the anchor of WHC, there are other programs to participate in and exhibitions to explore. The multimedia interactive digital installation “Women’s Voices” tells the story of activists, scientists, performers, athletes, writers and educators who left their mark on New York and the nation.
The just-opened Kara Walker exhibition features 15 of her signature silhouettes and exaggerated caricatures to tell the painful story of women and African Americans during the Civil War, groups omitted from the traditional narrative.
“We Rise” is a 17-minute film, narrated by Meryl Streep and including the song “We Are Here,” written and composed by Alicia Keys, that profiles women who have enacted change in New York and the nation.
“Billie Jean King: Tennis Court to Capitol Hill’’ includes King’s personal photos and artifacts. On March 5, the WHC will host their annual Women’s History Salon and this year’s topic is “Keeping the Faith: Gender, Sex and Religion.”
“This is a way of taking on the fact that only 13% of textbooks include women. The curriculum includes life stories, primary sources that teachers can access, and corrects the frequent omissions of women in history,” Danziger Halperin said.
The New-York Historical Society is located at 170 Central Park West, and information can be found at nyhistory.org. Admission is pay-as-you-wish from 6—8 p.m. on Fridays.