The World's Congress of Representative Women was a week-long convention for the voicing of women's concerns, held within the World's Congress Auxiliary Building in conjunction with the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, May 1893).[1] At 81 meetings, organized by women from each of the United States, 150,000 people came to the World's Congress Auxiliary Building and listened to speeches given by almost 500 women from 27 countries.[2]
The World's Congress of Representative Women was arranged, sponsored and promoted by the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Congress Auxiliary, under the guidance of President Bertha Palmer, the wife of prominent Chicagoan Potter Palmer. The men of the Auxiliary formed seventeen departments and held more than 100 congresses with a variety of political, social and technical agendas;[3] the women's branch held just one congress. Of all the congresses at the World's Columbian Exposition, the World's Congress of Representative Women was the most highly attended.[4]
The inception of the World's Congress of Representative Women may be traced back to February, 1891, when the National Council of Women of the United States, then in session in Washington, D.C., decided to recommend to the officers of the International Council of Women that the first quinquennial session of the International Council should be held in Chicago in the summer of 1893 instead of in London as originally intended. This decision was reinforced by the very cordial invitation of Mrs. Palmer, who attended the sessions of the National Council as the delegate of the Board of Lady Managers, and as president of the Woman's Branch of the World's Congress Auxiliary. This invitation was supplemented by a similar one from Ellen Martin Henrotin (Mrs. Charles Henrotin), vice-president of the Woman's Branch of the World's Congress Auxiliary, who also was in attendance at the Council sessions.[5]
In pursuance of the plan thus initiated, the U.S. officers of the International Council obtained the consent of the foreign officers to the proposed change from London to Chicago. The Executive Committee of the National Council of Women of the United States pledged the National Council to entertain free of expense all foreign delegates while in attendance upon the proposed meeting of the International Council.[5]
The call for the meeting of the International Council in Chicago was promptly issued, accompanied by the pledge of entertainment above referred to, and both call and pledge were given wide publicity through the home and foreign press, and through private and official correspondence, in the early summer of 1891, the documents bearing date May 31, 1891.[5]
In due time, as the plan of the World's Congress Auxiliary developed, the officers of the National Council of Women of the United States entered into correspondence with the Hon. Charles C. Bonney, president of the World's Congress Auxiliary, requesting that the quinquennial meeting of the International Council of Women, announced for the summer of 1893, should be adopted as one of the series of congresses organized by the Auxiliary, with the understanding that its scope should be enlarged to the greatest possible extent; that it should take the name of “The World's Congress of Representative Women;" and that it should be subject to the same rules and enjoy the same privileges as the other congresses in the series.[5]
This formal application from the officers of the National Council of Women of the United States was made by its president, May Wright Sewall, of Indianapolis, under date of May 29, 1892. The executive committee of the National Council of Women, at a meeting held in Chicago on May 9 and 10, had authorized the president of the council, Mrs. May Wright Sewall, to represent the interests of the council in Europe during the summer of 1892, with a view to increase foreign interest in the proposed meeting of the International Council of Women in Chicago in May 1893.[5]
Preparations
After this proposed meeting of the International Council of Women had been merged into the greater project of a World's Congress of Representative Women under the auspices of the World's Congress Auxiliary, Sewall naturally devoted herself, during the three months spent in Germany, Belgium, and France, in the ensuing summer, to awakening among the prominent women with whom she came in contact an interest in the proposed World's Congress of Representative Women. While invested with no official authority to represent the Auxiliary, Sewall was greatly aided in her efforts by her position as chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, and by her connection with the National and International Councils of Women, the essential features of which were already well known abroad, and served to divest the idea of a World's Congress of Women of much of the strangeness it would otherwise have assumed in the minds of foreign women.[5]
The main objects to be accomplished in this foreign work were as follows: First, to make clear the distinction between the World's Columbian Exposition, the Board of Lady Managers, the World's Congress Auxiliary, with its Woman's Branch, and the National and International Councils of Women, these bodies being naturally confounded continually, and almost hopelessly, by those who heard of them only through the vague paragraphs of the foreign press; second, to impart a clear understanding of the magnitude of the proposed congress, both as a whole and in its infinite details and subdivisions; third, to show the exact nature of the papers and reports desired from European delegates, and the character of the subjects to be treated; fourth, to stimulate the foreign women to appoint delegates from organizations already existing, and to form new organizations to be represented in like manner; fifth, to encourage individuals to come to Chicago whether connected with organized bodies or not; sixth, to endeavor to reach the general European public through reports, interviews, and articles published in the European press; and, seventh, to combat unceasingly not only the general apathy in regard to a project so remote in time and place, but also the specific objections everywhere encountered, based upon the date chosen for the congress, which did not fall within the foreign vacation period, upon the length, hazard, and cost of the journey, and upon the grossly exaggerated reports of the expense of living in Chicago, and the heat of Chicago summers.[5]
Sewall supplemented her work in Berlin by a visit to Hamburg, where she was granted an extended interview with the Empress Frederick, who showed herself deeply interested in the plan of the proposed congress, and declared herself ready to aid by every means in her power in securing an adequate representation of German women in its deliberations. In Brussels, Sewall addressed the Ligue belge du droit des femmes ("Belgian Woman's Rights League"), an influential organization, whose leaders were Marie Popelin and Louis Frank. Popelin and Frank advanced the cause of women in Belgium. In Paris, Sewall spoke in the Hall of the Mairie St. Sulpice to a large audience, and devoted the following fourteen days to conferences with the leaders among the women of Paris, singly and in groups. In addition to the interest aroused in these influential groups of German, Belgian, and French women by the visit and personal solicitations of the chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, wide publicity was given to her addresses by the press of France, Russia, Belgium, England, and Italy, and thus the scope of the great congress was made known to many thousands of European women of influence in their respective localities.[5]
Sewall returned to the U.S. early in September. Meanwhile, Rachel Foster Avery, in her office at Somerton, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was planning and carrying out a voluminous and searching correspondence with prominent individuals in the U.S. and other countries, and especially with the executive officers of every national body of women at home and abroad, preparing the way for the selection and appointment of prominent women from every nation on the Advisory Councils, for the selection of persons to prepare papers for the General Congress and reports for the Report Congresses, and for the formal enrollment of all national organizations of women as members of the World's Congress of Representative Women, entitled to send delegates thereto and to hold department congresses in connection therewith. The responses to the appeals thus made by the secretary were so prompt and so generally sympathetic that it became immediately evident that a wide-spread interest was aroused, and that the success of the congress was assured. Every precaution was taken to place the movement on the broadest possible plane, and thus to allay any apprehensions of unfair treatment that might arise on the part of weaker or younger organizations.[5]
After the simple facts regarding the inception of the plan had been stated, all organizations were placed upon exactly the same level, and all official documents issued reiterated in appropriate terms the assurance that all organizations, whether large or small in membership and influence, stood upon an equal footing in the opportunities granted to each by the committee charged with the preparations for the programme of the great congress. The spirit of fairness was so manifest in all the preliminary work of the committee that organization after organization gave in its formal adhesion to the congress, until scarcely a national woman's organization in the United States or in Europe stood aloof.[5]
The most important document was the Preliminary Address, issued in September, 1892. It was distributed in French and in English versions by tens of thousands--not at random, but to carefully selected addresses in every country. It was reprinted from time to time substantially without change, either alone or as a part of more comprehensive statements, as the needs of the work required, the last edition bearing date April 12, 1893, about four weeks before the convening of the congress.[5]
Administration
The series of World's Congresses which convened in Chicago during the World's Columbian Exposition under the auspices of the World's Congress Auxiliary were opened by a "Congress of the Representative Women of all Lands". This Congress was, without doubt, the largest and most representative gathering of women ever convened in the U.S. or any other country. It assembled in the Woman's Building on Monday morning, May 15, 1893, immediately after the general opening of the World's Congress series, and adjourned Sunday evening, May 21, 1893. There were 76 sessions and over 600 participants. The greatest interest was manifested by participants from all parts of the world, and the aggregate attendance for the week was over 150,000.[5]
While the officers of the World's Congress Auxiliary provided for the liberal participation of women in other departments of thought, like Education, Science, Music, Religion, Moral and Social Reform, Government, they also decided to give a full week to a Woman's Congress for the purpose of presenting to the people of the world the wonderful progress of women throughout the world in the many departments of intellectual activity.[5]
This Congress, which represented the "Department of Woman's Progress" in the general programme of the World's Congress Auxiliary, was under the direct supervision of the Woman's Branch of the Auxiliary, of which Bertha Palmer was president and Ellen Martin Henrotin, vice-president. The work of organization was committed, under the supervision of those officers, to a general committee composed of the following women: May Wright Sewall, chair; Rachel Foster Avery, secretary; Frances Willard, Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson, Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, Lydia Avery Coonley, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, and Mary Spalding Brown.[5]
Program
Education
The Kindergarten as an Educational Agency and the Relation of the Kindergarten to Manual Training – Sarah Brown Ingersoll Cooper
The Kindergarten and the Primary School — Miss N. Cropsey
The Value of the Eastern Star as a Factor in Giving Women a Better Understanding of Business Affairs, and Especially those Relating to Legislative Matters – Mary A. Flint
The Relation of Woman to Our Present Political Problems - Abbie A. C. Peaslie
Women's National Indian Association - Mrs. William E. Burke
The Women's Liberal Federation of Scotland - The Countess of Aberdeen
Finsk Qvinnoforening, the Finnish Women's Association - Alexandra Gripenberg, Baroness Gripenberg
The Association for Married Women's Property Rights - Thorborg Rappe, Baroness Thorborg-Rappe
Women at the World's Congress achieved the goals they sought. They had come from each state in the Union to staff and run offices, gather and spend resources, pay their workers, sign contracts; all without going into debt as had many of the men's subcommittees.[4]
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity." It plays an influential role in the temperance movement. Originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement, the organization supported the 18th Amendment and was also influential in social reform issues that came to prominence in the progressive era.
Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard was an American educator, temperance reformer, and women's suffragist. Willard became the national president of Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1879 and remained president until her death in 1898. Her influence continued in the next decades, as the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution were adopted. Willard developed the slogan "Do Everything" for the WCTU and encouraged members to engage in a broad array of social reforms by lobbying, petitioning, preaching, publishing, and education. During her lifetime, Willard succeeded in raising the age of consent in many states as well as passing labor reforms including the eight-hour work day. Her vision also encompassed prison reform, scientific temperance instruction, Christian socialism, and the global expansion of women's rights.
Lillian M. N. Stevens (1843–1914) was an American temperance worker and social reformer, born at Dover, Maine. She helped launch the Maine chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), served as its president, and was elected president of the National W.C.T.U. after the death of Frances Willard. Stevens also served as Editor-in-chief of the W.C.T.U.'s organ, The Union Signal.
Margaret Windeyer was an Australian librarian and feminist.
May Wright Sewall was an American reformer, who was known for her service to the causes of education, women's rights, and world peace. She was born in Greenfield, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Sewall served as chairman of the National Woman Suffrage Association's executive committee from 1882 to 1890, and was the organization's first recording secretary. She also served as president of the National Council of Women of the United States from 1897 to 1899, and president of the International Council of Women from 1899 to 1904. In addition, she helped organize the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and served as its first vice-president. Sewall was also an organizer of the World's Congress of Representative Women, which was held in conjunction with the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. U.S. President William McKinley appointed her as a U.S. representative of women to the Exposition Universelle (1900) in Paris.
The Illinois Woman's Press Association (IWPA) is an Illinois-based organization of professional women and men pursuing careers across the communications spectrum. It was founded in 1885 by a group of 47 women who saw a need for communication and support between women writers. The organization was incorporated on June 26, 1907.
The Jewish Women's Congress was held at Chicago, Illinois, on 4–7 September 1893 as part of the World's Parliament of Religions at the World's Columbian Exposition. Chaired by Hannah G. Solomon, it the first gathering of Jewish women who came together for the consideration of something other than charity or mutual aid. During the conference, there was conceived an idea which developed into the National Council of Jewish Women, a permanent organization to unite Jewish women in the United States.
Ellen Martin Henrotin was a wealthy American society matron, labor reform activist, club leader and social reformer affiliated with social welfare and suffrage movements.
National Household Economic Association (1893-1903) was a 19th-century American women's organization which promoted the new field of home economics.
Hanna K. Korany (1871–1898), also seen as Hanna Kurani, was a Syrian writer. From 1893 to 1895 she toured the United States, speaking on women's lives in Syria.
Mary Onahan Gallery was an American writer, critic and editor. She primarily wrote articles for newspapers and magazines. Gallery was also the mother of three rear admirals in the U.S. Navy.
Clara Cleghorn Hoffman was an American educator and temperance reformer. She became identified with the white-ribbon movement in Kansas City, Missouri, giving up her position as principal of a school to enter the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She served as President of the Missouri WCTU for 25 years. Within the National WCTU, she lectured across the U.S, was chosen Assistant Recording Secretary, and Recording Secretary, succeeding Lillian M. N. Stevens.
Mary Kavanaugh Eagle was an American community leader, clubwoman, book editor, and activist in Protestant missionary work. She served as president of the Woman's Central Committee on Missions since 1882, and was the first president of the Woman's Mission Union, of Arkansas. As a member of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Commission, and as chair of the Committee on Congresses, she was selected as editor of the papers read. Eagle served as First Lady of Arkansas during her husband's two terms as the state's 16th Governor.
Mary Blatchley Briggs was an American writer and women's organizer of the long nineteenth century. She served for eleven years as assistant secretary, superintendent, and reporter for the press, and manager of county, state and inter-state fairs. In addition to publishing a volume of poems, she served as secretary of the Western Art Association of Omaha, Nebraska, retiring on January 1, 1891. Briggs was active in organizing woman's work, and also a writer of descriptive matter of the expositions and like areas in which she was interested. Her best known exposition work was for the world's fair at Chicago, where she was one of the two Nebraskans on the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition and did much toward organizing the Nebraska women for their work for the state and children's building. She managed getting up the representation for her state at New Orleans.
The First Woman's National Temperance Convention was a founding event in the establishment of the American Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).
Octavia Williams Bates was an American suffragist, clubwoman, and author of the long nineteenth century. She was involved with women's movements associated with higher education and political enfranchisement. Bates was probably officially connected with more societies looking to these ends than any other woman of her time in Michigan, if not in the U.S. She traveled in various parts of the U.S. and Canada, and was specially interested in the woman suffrage movement. In 1899, after attending a conference in Baltimore, Maryland, Bates was so attracted to the city that she made it her permanent home.
Ella B. Ensor Wilson was an American social reformer and writer of the long nineteenth century associated with the women's suffrage and temperance movements. She was a strong advocate of "equal rights" and although her birthplace was in Maryland, a slave State, and having been reared and educated under that influence, she was always opposed to slavery. Wilson supported women's causes with her influence and money. A year and a half before her death, she was declared insane.
Mary Emma Holmes was an American reformer, suffragist, and educator. She was the president of the Equal Suffrage Association of Illinois, and she represented the National American Suffrage Association in the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. Holmes was a member of the Chicago Woman's Club, and was the chair of the Chicago YWCA's travelers' aid department, which had for its object the protection of girls at the region's depots.
International Kindergarten Union (I.K.U.) was an American organization established at Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1892, in the interests of concerted action among the supporters of the kindergarten cause. in 1924, the organization was reorganized as Childhood Education International.
The Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition was organized November 19, 1890. It oversaw the construction of The Woman's Building in Chicago and organized the exposition's World's Congress of Representative Women (1893). A cookbook with autographed recipes of board members was also issued.
↑ ChestOfBooks.com. Manual of Useful Information, by J. C. Thomas. World's Congress Auxiliary. Retrieved on May 13, 2009. "A series of world's congresses in all departments of thought are a feature during the Exposition season. This work is divided into seventeen great [men's] departments, as follows: Agriculture, Art, Commerce and Finance, Education, Engineering, Government, Literature, Labor, Medicine, Moral and Social Reform, Music, Public Press, Religion, Science and Philosophy, Temperance, Sunday Rest, and a General Department, embracing congresses not otherwise assigned. These general departments have been divided into more than one hundred divisions, in each of which a congress is to be held. [...] Representative men from all parts of the world take part in these gatherings."
↑ Hairston, Eric Ashley (2013). The Ebony Column. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. p.121. ISBN978-1-57233-984-2.
↑ Hairston, Eric Ashley (2013). The Ebony Column. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press. p.121. ISBN978-1-57233-984-2.
↑ Howe, Julia Ward; Graves, Mary Hannah (1904). "Barbara Galpin". Representative Women of New England (Public domained.). New England Historical Publishing Company.
↑ The Eastern Star (1893). The Eastern Star. The Eastern Star. p.184. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
Maddux, Kristy, author. Practicing Citizenship: Women’s Rhetoric at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. University Park: Penn State University Press, 2019. ISBN978-0-271-08350-6
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