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The Use of Heritage Trails to Connect Women's History with Historic Sites

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The Use of Heritage Trails to Connect Women's History with Historic Sites University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 2010 Commemoration and Protest: The Use of Heritage Trails to Connect Women's History with Historic Sites Marissa J. Moshier University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons, and the Women's History Commons Moshier, Marissa J., "Commemoration and Protest: The Use of Heritage Trails to Connect Women's History with Historic Sites" (2010). Theses (Historic Preservation). 149. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/149 Suggested Citation: Moshier, Marissa J. (2010). "Commemoration and Protest: The Use of Heritage Trails to Connect Women's History with Historic Sites." (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/149 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Commemoration and Protest: The Use of Heritage Trails to Connect Women's History with Historic Sites Abstract Women's heritage trails employ the theme of women’s history to link historic sites across cities or entire states. As shifts in preservation practice have begun to promote greater diversity in the interpretation of historic sites, these trails serve as educational tools and initiatives for heritage tourism that create networks of women’s history sites. The trails also serve as public commemorations of women’s roles in American history and as protests against the absence of women in the interpretation at historic sites. Through case studies in Boston, New Jersey, Maryland, and upstate New York, this thesis considers the motives and goals of women’s heritage trails within a broader movement to include the histories of diverse populations at heritage sites. Keywords Historic Preservation; Women's History: Heritage Trails Disciplines Architecture | Historic Preservation and Conservation | Women's History Comments Suggested Citation: Moshier, Marissa J. (2010). "Commemoration and Protest: The Use of Heritage Trails to Connect Women's History with Historic Sites." (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/149 COMMEMORATION AND PROTEST: THE USE OF HERITAGE TRAILS TO CONNECT WOMEN’S HISTORY WITH HISTORIC SITES Marissa J. Moshier A THESIS in Historic Preservation Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfi llment of the Requirements of the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION 2010 Advisor Gail Caskey Winkler Lecturer in Historic Preservation Program Chair Randall F. Mason Associate Professor To my family, who taught me the joy of a good road trip. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to the Board of Directors for the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail, and especially to Mary Howland Smoyer, who provided me with a detailed history of the organization and offered her insight into the programs and projects which have sustained the trail over more than twenty years. Linda Shevitz, Project Director of the Maryland Women’s Heritage Trail, helped me with several leads for additional women’s history interpretation programs. From the heritage resources consulting fi rm, Preservation Partners, Deborah Kelly and Ellen Schultz generously explained their work surveying and researching sites for the New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail. Dorothy Guzzo, former Deputy State Historic Preservation Offi cer for New Jersey, also offered her perspective on the SHPO’s involvement in the creation of the New Jersey trail. Finally, thank you to my advisor, Gail Caskey Winkler, whose thoughtful comments and gentle prodding shaped the scope and research of this thesis. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations ............................................................................... v List of Tables ........................................................................................ vi CHAPTER I: Introduction ................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II: History of Women’s Heritage Trails ............................ 6 CHAPTER III: Boston Women’s Heritage Trail.................................. 15 CHAPTER IV: New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail........................... 25 CHAPTER V: Maryland Women’s Heritage Trail ............................... 32 CHAPTER VI: National Votes for Women History Trail .................... 38 CHAPTER VII: Conclusion .................................................................. 47 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................... 56 APPENDIX A: Boston Women’s Heritage Trail ................................. 59 APPENDIX B: New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail .......................... 82 APPENDIX C: Maryland Women’s Heritage Trail ............................. 99 APPENDIX D: National Votes for Women Heritage Trail .................. 117 INDEX ................................................................................................. 125 iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure A.1: Sample page from the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail guidebook, Chinatown walk ............................................................ 60 Figure A.2: Map of Back Bay East Walk from the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail guidebook, 2006 ................................... 61 Figure A.3: Map of the South End Walk from the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail guidebook, 2006 .............................................................. 61 Figure B.1: Sample page from the New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail, 2001 ................................................................................ 83 Figure B.2: Sample map from the New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail guidebook, 2001 .............................................................. 83 Figure C.1: Sample page from the Maryland Women’s Heritage Trail guidebook, 2003 .............................................................................. 117 Figure D.1: Map of site distribution for survey of women’s rights history properties, 2001 ........................................................... 125 v LIST OF TABLES Table A.1: Sites on the seven walking tours of the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail ................................................................... 62 Table B.1: List of sites on the New Jersey Women’s Heritage Trail, arranged by historical theme .......................................... 84 Table C.1: List of sites on the Maryland Women’s Heritage Trail .......................................................................................... 100 vi CHAPTER I: Introduction This thesis considers the development of women’s heritage trails as an interpretive strategy to connect women’s history with historic sites. Founded over the past twenty years, these trails employ the theme of women’s history to link historic sites across cities or entire states. As shifts in preservation practice have begun to promote greater diversity in the interpretation of historic sites, these heritage trails serve as educational tools and initiatives for heritage tourism that create networks of women’s history sites. Using four case studies, this thesis studies the motives and goals of women’s heritage trails within the broader movement to improve the inclusion of diverse populations at historic sites. The case studies in Boston, New Jersey, Maryland, and upstate New York are representative examples of established administrative structures, such as non-profi ts, governmental offi ces, or partnerships between several agencies, that have founded, fi nanced, and maintained interpretive materials for the trails. Over the past 40 years, professionals in the preservation and public history fi elds have begun working toward greater inclusion and representation at historic sites in the United States. This trend mirrors similar changes in topics of scholarly historical research, which have increasingly shifted to studies of broader social histories focused on the roles and experiences of women and minorities. This increased inclusion has also spread to the fi eld of historic preservation in the United States. Numerous examples now highlight women’s involvement in the preservation of historic sites in 1 the 19th century.1 Thanks to increased academic interest in the history of American preservation movements, the early rescue efforts of historic sites by upper- and middle-class women, such as Ann Pamela Cunningham and the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, are now part of the canon of preservation history. In Domesticating History: The Political Origins of America’s House Museums, Patricia West details the 19th-century origins of house museums serving as educational tools. Upper- and middle-class women assumed lead roles in teaching American history through public connections with artifacts and sites. As extensions of a domestic sphere of infl uence, 19th-century house museums combined public and private spaces and served as arenas where women worked to transmit educational, frequently patriotic, messages through historic sites. According to Mary Ryan, “The private home became a site of domestic feminism; women’s sphere was a domain of women’s power; organizations with an exclusively female membership were invested with public signifi cance.” Whereas in the 19th century, women spearheaded preservation movements, in the early 20th century, women turned to subordinate
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