Review of Museum Exhibit

Title: Ambitious but Practical Women

Location: MASC

The objectives of this exhibit seem to be to showcase the life of real women in the 19^th century who traveled along the 'Oregon trail' and experienced the wild 'West', as well as the more specific aspects of the life of a missionary woman. The objectives of the exhibit seem to be to show the difficulties a woman had to face in order to become a missionary, for instance, the woman on whose life the exhibit is showcasing, Mary Walker, was rejected initially from becoming a missionary for her unmarried status. So in order to become a missionary, she married another missionary hopeful named Elkanah Walker, to improve both their chances of being accepted as missionaries. More specifically I think, the one of the objectives of this exhibit is to bring about understanding of the various difficulties faced by women when pioneering their way West, and the how the dangers and difficulties increased if one was a missionary or a missionary's wife. The materials in the exhibit included Mary Richardson Walker's diary, as well as various letters she sent as applications for missionary status as well as her rejection letter. She possessed an enormous library by the standards of her day, and many of the books are represented in exhibit cases. Mary Walker's autograph album is also present for display. Almost an entire display case is dedicated to the letters between Walker and Narcissa Whitman of the infamous massacre of missionaries in the West. Also included on display is a coverlet from her marriage bed, several bonnets, the trunk in which her things would be packed for travel, a worn writing desk, quill pen, ink, her fan, mitts, baby's clothing, thimbles, basic everyday items used by women at the time. The various domestic items, and several replications of everyday house dresses, are meant to display the everyday lives and concerns of missionary's wives and frontier women. There is also several pictures of plants, and the medicinal or poisonous purpose and uses from the knowledge available then. Along with the plants are several items that pioneer or missionary women might collect from the local Indian population like woven baskets, moccasins and carry sacks. I would think these are trying to show the interactions between the encroaching white pioneers and native tribes might not be always hostile as we have the exciting imagery of fighting cowboys and Indians. The exhibit also has photographs of Mary Walker and her family throughout their lives, providing a base for the imagination when viewing the physical objects within the exhibit. Also included are Walker's drawings, a hobby of hers to sketch the things she saw throughout her travels, which survived the various hardships they were put through. Overall I'd probably give this collection an 8 ½ out of ten, because the sheer number of items that survived to be included from a single person is quite astonishing, and certainly add to the appeal of the exhibit. The organization of the collection is the reason for it not getting a 9 or 10 out 10, because it is a rather small area in which they have to display this, and the organization of things is rather confusing. I was not always sure which display case was next, and it made the storyline rather choppy at places, rather than a smooth continuum. But the individual items within their cases were organized nicely, each piece complimenting each other, and adding to the case's mini-story, instead of random items being put together all willy-nilly like. So overall the mini-museum had very nice appeal, both aesthetically and enticingly. Each object was well taken care of, though the age and importance of an item was showcased to its full potential and only added to the appeal, as opposed if they were not cared for before put on display, which would have been obvious and detract from the overall aesthetics, which was not the case here. As most historians know, finding primary source material about women or other minorities before a recent era is very difficult, so the enticing appeal of this exhibit collection was strong, in that it displayed a person, a group, half of the population, which is not normally talked about. The organization of the whole detracts from the effectiveness of the exhibit, but that is only with a small part of the display. Overall this was a very effective exhibit for me, one I'd recommend people to experience.