Women and Literature

November 10, 1986–September 12, 1987

Attendees: 29,789

In 1986, Lola Szladits curated an exhibition of women authors represented in the Berg Collection from the 18th to the 20th century. Intending to represent women's work broadly, she selected the authors—including feminists, teachers, nurses, children’s book writers, magazine editors, journalists, diarists, and poets—based on their range rather than their “excellence” or success; yet she only selected white, Western authors. Women and Literature was Lola’s most highly attended exhibition. 

From the catalog:

“Ever since the seventh century B.C., when Sappho wrote her passionate odes, women wielded pens for better or for worse. . . . Some kept house and raised children, and all were keen on improving their minds by writing. The complexity of women’s lives comes across clearly in the writings of some. Certain books written by women, like Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, changed history and others, like Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, changed national consciousness. The political strain of the 1960s and 70s, which resulted in legislation regarding the equality of women, made it clear that woman’s place was not only in the kitchen, but also in bookshops . . . While some of them are widely recognized as geniuses, others await discovery. ‘Most women do whatever they can,’ wrote Louisa May Alcott, and in that spirit: ‘Let us now praise famous women.’”