Woman's Place on Exhibit: Women at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, 1897

Abstract

My thesis examines the Woman's Building at the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897. It analyzes the creation of the building, the exhibits, and the meetings held there to determine what the planners believed of womanhood and woman's work in the nineteenth century. These women spoke of one united womanhood, but the reality seen in their exhibits and speeches was much more complicated. These women were part of a growing movement of women who worked beyond the doors of the home, still convincing those around them they were the highest examples of grace and refinement.