The Women's Museum at Fair Park in Dallas Texas

   Photo (c) Edward Cardona

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Voices, vision, and stories

In 2000 a unique institution opened in Fair Park, Dallas Texas. It focused less on artifacts (although there are surely fascinating objects and relics) and more on stories and lives. The stories of women who fought to change the world, break barriers, or simply pursued their dreams, wherever those dreams might lead. Not all are household names, although some surely are, but all have stories to tell.

The 70,000 square foot building with its soaring interior spaces, and galleries that is the home of The Women's Museum was originally constructed in 1909 as a coliseum with the odd combination of livestock shows during the day, and opera in the evening. Over the years the building was remodeled and repurposed, including being turned into an Art Deco showpiece for the 1936 Centennial Exhibition complete with 15 foot tall statue of a young woman rising from a cactus. That gorgeous sculpture still graces the building.

But in 1996 the building began its final phase as the building for The Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future.

“People sometimes come here at noon when we open and stay until we close,” said the woman at the desk with obvious pride, when I told her how much I enjoyed my visit. I wasn’t surprised. The museum is chocked with fascinating stories of remarkable women.

I was entranced (and sometimes horrified) by the Icons of Womanhood with its pop culture depiction of women. Mae West, advertising campaigns, and a piece of music called My Little Bimbo: down on the bamboo isle. We’ve come a long way.

The wall devoted to Milestones in Women's History highlights history with a timeline. Highlights for me included 1849 - Harriet Tubman, the Moses of her people, was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and Civil War spy. In 1914, read about Margaret Sanger who advocated for legalized contraceptives. The year 1971 brought the first battered women’s shelter in Urbana, Illinois. And, in 1998, Commander Maureen Farren became the first woman at the helm of a Navy combat ship – the USS Mount Vernon.

Vignettes about Unforgettable Women filled rows of display cases. Think you know about computers? Only if you know of Grace Murray Hopper who, in addition to her accomplishments as a computer pioneer, coined the term “computer bug” when, in 1956, she literally removed a moth that had jammed her system. There are several self-made millionaires from the beauty and cosmetics industries, but how about Maggie Lena Walker who became the first woman bank president on her own merit. After the 1929 crash her bank absorbed many of the areas banks, forming the Richmond Consolidated Bank & Trust Company.

More? Learn about rancher Henrietta King, sports legend Babe Didrickson Zaharias and so many others. And explore the other exhibits through the three floors.

End your visit with Funny Women. A wonderful retrospective of comedy bits by Totie Fields, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Wendy Liebman and so many other truly laugh-producing and thought-challenging women.

Find the museum in Fair Park and follow their map, or use these coordinates with your GPS system:
N 32degrees 46.949'
W 096degrees 45.912'