University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses 5-20-2011 An Enlarging Influence: omenW of New Orleans, Julia Ward Howe, and the Woman's Department at the Cotton Centennial Exposition, 1884-1885 Miki Pfeffer University of New Orleans Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Recommended Citation Pfeffer, Miki, "An Enlarging Influence: omenW of New Orleans, Julia Ward Howe, and the Woman's Department at the Cotton Centennial Exposition, 1884-1885" (2011). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1339. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1339 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. An „Enlarging Influence‟: Women of New Orleans, Julia Ward Howe, and the Woman‟s Department at the Cotton Centennial Exposition, 1884-1885 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies Urban History by Miki Pfeffer B. A. University of New Orleans, 1969 B. A. Nicholls State University, 1973 M. A. University of New Orleans, 2006 May 2011 Acknowledgments I thank Dr. Madelon Powers, the alpha and omega of this project. I first encountered Dr. Powers in 2004 in a seminar she offered on “Gender and the City.” I end with her as advisor, mentor, and comrade. Despite all the academic demands on her as head of the History Department, she remained committed to this project, always with good cheer and wise tips. I also thank the three other members on the dissertation committee who served enthusiastically: Drs. Anne Boyd Rioux, Martha Ward, and Connie Atkinson. This force of smart women freed me to “tell the story” of the remarkable characters herein. No research is accomplished without the assistance of informed librarians, archivists, and staffs. I want especially to thank Dr. Wilbur E. “Bill” Meneray, now retired from Tulane Special Collections, who set me on this path by putting Julia Ward Howe‟s Report and Catalogue in my hands. Susan Tucker at Newcomb College Research Center for Women sought out every connection to Catharine Cole and the origins of the college. John Magill at the Williams Research Center of The Historic New Orleans Collection remembered an artists‟ file I might not have discovered, and Sally Stassi guided me expertly through photos, correspondence, and unexpected tidbits about the subjects in this research. Archivists everywhere are savvy conductors, and I thank those at Harvard, Radcliffe, and Brown Universities, and at the New York Public Library for steering me through those unfamiliar territories. I am also grateful to Nancy Whipple Grinnell for hospitality in Newport and for making sure I had access to Maud Howe‟s papers and other Howe family archives. ii Special thanks to others in Louisiana libraries. The staff at the Hill Libraries at Louisiana State University pointed me in the direction of collections there, especially to the lively correspondence of Grace King. Librarians at the University of New Orleans were always welcoming and helpful; I mention, in particular, Greg Spano in the Multimedia Room, where I became a long-term microfilm mole. Also, my thanks to Anke Tonn at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux for bringing in every interlibrary source she could attain. Historians always thank archivists for their knowledge and assistance; I want also to thank them for their heroism. When waters engulfed libraries in the days after Hurricane Katrina and most evacuees were fleeing or settling elsewhere, archivists drove back into the fray. They lifted boxes to safety, sent collections off for protection, worked short-staffed, and saw to it that treasures were dried out, reclaimed, and re-catalogued. They saved the rich resources of New Orleans, upon which this dissertation so heavily relies. I also thank descendants of the principals in this story. Toni Bacon, Martha Field‟s (Catharine Cole‟s) great-granddaughter, shared some family matters she learned from her grandmother, Flo. Kate Stickley, Julia Ward Howe‟s great-great-great-great-granddaughter, sent me a thousand pages of family transcripts of Howe‟s journals and became my friend. Together, we have jauntily traced Howe‟s many haunts in Boston and peered into the door of her Beacon Street home. I am grateful that Kate and her husband, Richie Lasansky, welcomed me into their New York places and kept me informed of special events honoring Howe. Not least, I thank my husband Ron and daughter Gretchen for tolerance and encouragement as I single-mindedly pursued the women set down here, and friends I neglected for patience. iii Table of Contents List of Illustrations ...............................................................................................................v Abstract ............................................................................................................................. vii Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1—Backstory: The Women, The City.............................................................33 Chapter 2—Arrivals: Stops and Starts ..........................................................................75 Chapter 3—Bowers, Balmy Days, and Bailouts .........................................................119 Chapter 4—Special Days, Powerful Visitors..............................................................149 Chapter 5—A Hot Spring: Testing Howe‟s Authority (Again) ..................................188 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................245 Works Cited .....................................................................................................................259 Vita ...................................................................................................................................267 iv List of Illustrations “The Promenade,” Century Magazine ...............................................................................30 The Government Building .................................................................................................32 “Grabbing for the Prize,” Mascot cartoon .........................................................................33 Julia Ward Howe................................................................................................................40 Caroline Merrick ................................................................................................................46 Caroline Gratia Walmsley..................................................................................................49 Mary Ashley Townsend .....................................................................................................51 Catharine Cole ...................................................................................................................54 Eliza Poitevent Holbrook Nicholson .................................................................................57 Grace King .........................................................................................................................60 “World‟s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition” ...................................................74 “What the Ladies Are Saying,” Picayune ..........................................................................81 “Opening the New Orleans Exposition” ............................................................................90 “Creoles,” Century Magazine ............................................................................................91 The Ground Plan ................................................................................................................94 Women‟s Work in the Colored Department ....................................................................101 WCTU Pavilion, Woman‟s Department ..........................................................................110 Julia Ward Howe..............................................................................................................115 Ohio Section, Woman‟s Department ...............................................................................119 Burke Explains Finances, Mascot cartoon “ ....................................................................138 WCTU Pavilion, Woman‟s Department ..........................................................................149 The World Pays Respect to Miss New Orleans” .............................................................154 Dr. Julia Holmes Smith ....................................................................................................156 Frances E. Willard. ..........................................................................................................160