Women's Culture

Download or read book Women's Culture written by Kathleen D. McCarthy and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1993-02-15 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kathleen McCarthy here presents the first book-length treatment of the vital role middle- and upper-class women played in the development of American museums in the century after 1830. By promoting undervalued areas of artistic endeavor, from folk art to the avant-garde, such prominent individuals as Isabella Stewart Gardner, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller were able to launch national feminist reform movements, forge extensive nonprofit marketing systems, and "feminize" new occupations.