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HISTORY SLEUTH: THE IMPORTANCE OF UNCOVERING WOMEN’S HIDDEN STORIES by Kelly Hayes McAlonie, FAIA
H
ave you ever spent time looking at the statues, monuments, and other dedicated spaces that we place in our public realm? Have you ever noticed that these statues, monuments, or named areas are usually dedicated to men? You would be correct in assuming that most dedicated spaces in the public realm in the United States— and indeed the world—are devoted to men. At present, just 8 percent of our monuments in the United States honor women, and in my hometown of Buffalo, only two percent do so. Additionally, only two percent of our national parks (or 9 of 411) are dedicated to women and women’s stories. In our collective histories, this lack of acknowledgment of women’s roles and those of other underrepresented minority groups has been coined a hidden history. According to historian Anne Lawrence the term ‘Hidden History’ is used when “the history of a neglected group begins to appear: it also has an explicit message that these groups have lacked a history because society has been unwilling to see them as a separate group with particular rights. Groups hidden from history are hidden because of prejudices against the group in the past, because of modern prejudices; and because of the absence of records.”[1] It is incumbent on all of us to uncover our collective hidden histories to better understand the world in which we live, and the contexts from where we came. Our museums and libraries provide the forum to engage with our stories, research, and work. They are the vessels for the collections of our histories, including our “hidden histories.” And equally important, monuments provide validation of our histories in the public realm. PAGE 26 | MARCH ‘22
Indeed, the people and events we choose to celebrate in public spaces reflect our values as a society. For centuries, the contributions of women had gone unacknowledged, resulting in very few monuments to women compared to those of men in our built environment. However, in the past twenty years, countries worldwide have been realizing the importance of memorializing the significant contributions made by women to their societies. The Boston Women’s Memorial, https://www.boston.gov/departments/ womens-advancement/boston-womens-memorial, dedicated in 2003, honors the contributions of three unique New Englanders; Abigail Adams, Lucy Stone, and Phillis Wheatley. The Famous Five, http://www.heroines.ca/celebrate/statuepersonscal.html, a monument dedicated to the women who advocated for women to be recognized as “persons” in 19281929 to the Supreme Court of Canada were honored in both Calgary and Ottawa. In 2005, the UK dedicated a memorial to the seven million women who bravely fought at the home front during World War II https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/ item/memorial/51288. And in 2020, the Monumental Women’s project unveiled their statue honoring women’s rights leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth https://monumentalwomen.org. Encouraged by programs such as the Mellon Foundation Monuments Program https://mellon. org/initiatives/monuments/, communities are reevaluating the monuments in their public realm and seeking to honor the lives and contributions of women. The Trailblazing Women of Western New York Monument Project was initiated in 2016 by the Erie County Commission on the
