Exhibit honors array of women's accomplishments
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 03/27/2008
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Purdue women have been breaking gender barriers since 1878 and continue to do so today.
A new exhibit honoring Women's History Month is open to the public. The exhibit is located in room 279, the Archives and Special Collections office, of Stewart Center.
The office has recently created an additional section, the Women's Archives. The Women's Archives, the first of its kind at Purdue, was founded with a $1 million donation from Susan Bulkeley Butler, a Purdue 1965 alumna and trustee, in 2006.
"This exhibit is a sort of kick-off celebration for Susan Bulkeley Butler's Women's Archives," said Stephanie Schmitz, special projects archivist.
The exhibit contains many photographs, artifacts and documents regarding prestigious Purdue women, in addition to an Amelia Earhart collection.
The Earhart collection includes personal items like her compact, Abercrombie and Fitch jacket and helmet. On-the-job items like a water light and an ice pick Earhart used to open cans provide insight into her flights.
Although Earhart is widely recognized as an aviation pioneer, the collection aims to prove her main job was as a pioneering women's leader at Purdue.
"Men's accomplishments pop up in alumni magazines... but there hasn't been a lot collected for women," Schmitz said.
Liz Erlewine, graduate assistant in the Archives and Special Collections, said, "This collection is paramount in acknowledging the significant roles women have played in the University's history."
The collection features women like Eulora Miller, the first woman to graduate from Purdue, and the "Queen of American Agriculture," Virginia Claypool Meredith. Viewers can see Miller's 1878 diploma and the four-leaf clover dropped at the ground breaking of the Memorial Union in 1922 by Meredith, chairwoman of the event.
While the majority of those recognized are past leaders of the campus, current leaders are not forgotten. Purdue's first woman president, France Córdova, is included, in addition to Emily Mobley, the first black dean of the libraries.
"Gender aside," said Erlewine, "what we're talking about is portraying an accurate and meaningful picture of the University and its history. In order to do this, we cannot continue to overlook the contributions of the remarkable women, as well as the many women who continue to shape Purdue University."
This Women's History Month exhibit is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until its final day on April 29. The Amelia Earhart collection is a permanent display.