American Women Inventors Go Public: The Centennial Exhibition of 1876
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman - Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Design General Engineering, Engineering Science |
| Special Topic(s): |
History of Technology Women Inventors |
| Learning Resource Type: | Reference - Article/Document |
| Media Type: | WWW |
| Author(s): | Lemelson-MIT Program |
| Description: | "Women have invented since the dawn of civilization. In fact, many anthropologists believe that women made civilization possible, by inventing the basics of clothing, housekeeping, and agriculture. In the modern era, women have had more difficulty gaining credit for their inventions than they have had inventing. The classic example is Catherine Littlefield Greene of Georgia (1755-1814). She is unknown to the general public, but experts on invention agree that Eli Whitney could not have developed the cotton gin---the quintessential American invention---without Greene's advice. In fact, some believe that Whitney stole the credit for what was essentially Greene's invention. As the U.S. approached its Centennial celebration, scheduled for Philadelphia in 1876, women suffragists and women inventors pooled their efforts to counteract the obscurity of women's abilities and achievements. Under the direction of Elizabeth Gillespie, the granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin, an exclusive "Woman's Pavilion" was included in the Centennial celebration. The Woman's Pavilion exhibits proved to the nation the many and various contributions of women to American labor and creativity." |
| Rating: |
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| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | gender equity |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: | "The Woman's Pavilion exhibition at the Centennial provided the first national boost in pride, encouragement and solidarity among women inventors of the U.S. . For more information on the Centennial Exhibition, see Chapter 4 of Feminine Ingenuity, by Anne L. Macdonald. For Catherine Greene and the cotton gin, see the Introduction to the same book, or Appendix A-2 of Mothers and Daughters of Invention, by Autumn Stanley. " |
| Difficulty: | Easy |
| Interactivity Level: | Medium |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | 2008 |
| Platform/Format: | WWW |
| Cost: | Free |
| Download URL: | http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/whm1.html |
| Metadata: | IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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