If preserving our history was as simple as preserving fruit, we might be onto something

Uncovering women’s history has often been challenging because of the scarcity of written records about women’s lives.  But another challenge is the lack of funding for preserving women’s historical sites.  Some sites are in better condition than others, which can be influenced by several factors.

Take Seneca Falls, for example.  The Wesleyan Chapel where the first women’s rights convention was held has not always been designated as a historical site, nor has it been home to a women’s history museum.  In the years following 1848, the Wesleyan Chapel was sold several times.  In its lifetime, the Wesleyan Chapel has been an opera house, a laundry mat, and a car dealership.  Today, the chapel is stripped of all its furniture.  However, the Visitors’ Center next door has an amazing tribute to the women’s movement in the US.

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s homes are two other examples.  Although the homes are being preserved, there were many decades where the homes served as private residences, rather than museums.  Stanton’s home is preserved by the National Park System, but Anthony’s home is being preserved by a private foundation.  When I visited Stanton’s home last fall, it had been stripped of everything inside in order for the park service to do structural repairs.  When I asked the tour guide when the home would be restored, he said he did not know – it depended on funding streams.  The Anthony home has been slowly repaired over the years, but there are a few sections of the house that are not safe to enter.  Again, this is an issue of funding.  When you compare the state of these homes to the historical sites that honor men, it’s a little heartbreaking to think that women’s history has no monetary value in the US.  And that’s why we women need to keep demanding to have our history preserved.  [Read more...]