Remembrance and The American Revolution: Women and the 1876 Centennial Exhibition

Abstract

The United States Centennial was a pivotal event to celebrate the founding of the American nation. People came together to show the unity and progress of the United States, specifically after the division of the Civil War. As the industrial revolution took off in earnest, Americans were keen to show the world that they were united and taking the lead in industrial change. Further, to show that the United States was a force in the world, other nations were invited to participate by displaying their culture at the event. The Women’s Centennial Executive Committee (WCEC) became part of the effort to raise funds early on in the process. A group of thirteen women joined together with Benjamin Franklin’s great-granddaughter selected as their president and they set forth to raise funds and gain publicity for a “Woman’s Section” in the main building. When that prospect was denied them, the women then began to again raise monies, but this time for their own Women’s Pavilion. Determined not to be cut out of the exhibition, the women labored tirelessly to make their ideas reality. To raise funds and to draw attention to women’s contributions to society, the women drew upon the females of the founding generation to gain legitimacy in their efforts as women active in the civic sector. Harkening back to the American Revolution, the WCEC inserted women as active participants in the founding of the nation and they used images of Martha Washington and Sarah Franklin Bache to raise funds and bolster their cause. Women, who had sacrificed as men had for the birth of the nation, were noble members of the republic; in presenting women’s labors and inventions in 1876, the WCEC was making the point that women’s lives and contributions in nineteenth century America were as vital and necessary as they had been in the eighteenth century. The rewriting of the narrative of the American Revolution enabled the WCEC to celebrate women’s accomplishments in the most public manner and to herald their achievement in both domestic production as well as in terms of education and employment. The women of 1876 formed a continuous line backwards to the Revolution, and they showed the world that American women had always been a vital part of the country and that, if afforded their rights, they would continue to do so into the future.