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"Thoroughly Modern Millies: Women and the Twenties"
A Women's History Month Celebration
A two-day celebration of women in our history will be held March 8 &
9, 2002 at the American Heritage Center. Also, a display of books
on women in the 1920s will be on view in the American Heritage Center
Toppan Library. All events are free and open to the public:
- Friday, March 8
- Saturday, March 9
- View Images
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Friday, March 8
1:00 p.m. -- "Caroline
Lockhart: Anti-Prohibition in the Suffrage State"
Presenter: Melanie Francis
The "Roaring Twenties" in Wyoming were hallmarked
by a dramatic, frontier battle between "Wet Wyoming" (those
who believed in their Constitutional right to consume and sell alcohol
legally) and "Dry Wyoming" (those who supported temperance,
prohibition, and severe punishment of offenders).
Caroline Lockhart traveled to Cody, Wyoming in 1904 as a
journalist for a Philadelphia newspaper to interview Buffalo Bill
Cody. After the interview, Lockhart was smitten by Wyoming and the
West, and from then on she made Cody her home.
This presentation will analyze Caroline Lockhart's frontier
feminism in post-Victorian Wyoming--her life as a writer and a journalist,
political tactics during the days of Wyoming Prohibition, and her
poison pen. The talk will include a close look at Lockhart’s evocative,
often “racey”, vintage photographs; her letters, journals, scrapbooks;
her publications in books, magazines, and newspapers; and other
personal artifacts.
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Caroline
Lockhart, bartending. American Heritage Center collections.
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2:15 p.m. -- "Nellie
Tayloe Ross: America's First Woman Governor"
Presenter: Rick Ewig
Nellie Tayloe
Ross was the first woman governor in the United States.
Born in St. Joseph, MO, she married William Bradford
Ross in 1902 and they lived in Cheyenne, WY.
William B. Ross, a Democrat, was elected Governor of
Wyoming in 1922. Three
weeks before election day in 1924, William B. Ross died and
Nellie Tayloe Ross was elected to complete his term.
Nellie Ross lost her bid for re-election in 1926.
Rick Ewig will examine the 1924 election, the major
issues during her two years in office, and why she lost her
bid for re-election.
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Nellie Tayloe
Ross in her office while Director of the U.S. Mint. American Heritage
Center collections. |
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| 3:15 p.m. -- Break for refreshments |
| 3:30 p.m. -- "The
Girls of a Golden Era: Female Rodeo Contestants of the 1920s"
Presenter: Shirley Flynn
Numbering less
than a dozen during any one year, female rodeo contestants added
a dash of energy and a splash of color to the increasingly popular
sport of rodeo. Coming
from varied backgrounds, they all loved animals and competed with
passion. Then, suddenly
in the last years of the decade, prize money disappeared, and
their allure did too. This
is a magnificent story of prize winning women.
Shirley Flynn, a long time resident of Cheyenne, is a retired
director and one of the original founders of the Cheyenne Frontier
Days Old West Museum. A
published historian, Shirley has written several books including
Let’s Go! Let’s Show! Let’s Rodeo: The History of Cheyenne
Frontier Days.
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A female
rodeo contestant. American Heritage Center collections. |
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| 4:15 p.m. -- "Women
and the Automobile"
Presenter: Kent Jaehnig
In 1928, Grace
Robinson and her sister, Ester Robinson, took a memorable motor
trip from New York City to Los Angeles.
In this presentation, Kent Jaehnig discusses the sisters’
trip. He will also
discuss the effect of the automobile upon women in 1920’s America.
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A 1920's
movie star posing by a Packard automobile. American Heritage
Center collections. |
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| 6:30 p.m. -- "Women
and Cinema" -- Silent Film Festival
Introduction: Kim Winters
Presenter: Annie Guzzo
Enjoy cinematic spectaculars from the American Heritage
Center's silent movie collections, including selections from actress
Jean "Babe" London's collection, and the 1925 dinosaur
epic, The Lost World. Musical accompaniment is drawn
from the AHC's silent movie music collections, and will be performed
by talented Russian pianist, Ekaterina Chernaya. |
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The Lost
World, a 1925 motion picture. American Heritage Center
collections. |
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Saturday, March 9 |
| 1:00 p.m. -- "New
Roles, New Movement: Women and Dance in the Roaring Twenties"
Presenter: Shannon Bowen
Women began to
enjoy new status and new roles in the first part of the twentieth
century in the United States.
These roles were reflected in the emergence of modern dance
and other popular dance forms.
In "New Roles, New Movement", this presentation
will focus on how dance influenced and was influenced by women’s
increasing freedom.
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A "modern"
dancer. American Heritage Center collections. |
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| 2:00 p.m. -- "1920's
Dance Workshop: Learn To Do the Charleston"
Instructors: Shannon Bowen and Annie Guzzo
Shannon Bowen
has been a lifelong student of dance.
She began her training in classical ballet at the age of
eight. Ms. Bowen’s
modern dance study began at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, where
she was trained primarily in the Martha Graham and José Limon
techniques. She resumed
her dance education in 1998 when she entered the University of
Wyoming, studying with Margaret Stalder and Annie Sailer.
During this period she danced in numerous choreographed
and improvisational performances.
She is currently an archivist at the American Heritage
Center.
Annie Guzzo, composer, clarinetist, and music historian,
spent three years studying American dance styles from the
1920s-1950s with San Francisco Bay Area teachers, Sharon
Ashe and Paul Overton.
Guzzo has attended the Mendocino Swing Dance Camp,
taken various workshops and lessons in the Bay Area, and
danced in several California Festivals.
She has also taught the Charleston and swing dance
styles to numerous groups.
She is currently an archivist at the American Heritage
Center, specializing in sheet music and audio-visual collections.
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Slapstick Charleston scene from one of many 1920s Christie Comedies.
Al Christie Collection, American Heritage Center.
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| 3:00 p.m. -- "Afternoon
Tea"
Musical
Accompaniment: Wind and Roses
Alice Freeman
(harp) and Carol Lea McFadden (violin)
Come enjoy a delicious tea served in the American
Heritage Center Loggia while listening to the music of Wind and
Roses. They will be performing music of the 1920's, including
compositions by women from the American Heritage Center sheet music
collections, as well as other salon and folk tunes from the jazz
age. All refreshments are made from recipes in the American
Heritage Center collections. |
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1920s dancers. American Heritage Center collections.
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| 4:00 p.m. -- "Mrs.
Grant's Girls and Gams Orchestra"--Performing popular music
of the 1920s
Enjoy the syncopated sounds of an all-girl band, led
by Annie Guzzo, featuring Katrina Zook, vocals. This is a
chance to try out your new Charleston moves! |
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Why Do
They Call 'Em Wild Women, sheet music from the American Heritage
Center music collections. |
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