188 New York at the Woeld's Columbian Exposition. 



herself in enthusiastic terms of appreciation and offered to do what she 

 could to interest other factory women in the women's department. 

 Mrs. Palmer referred the letter to the State board and Mrs. Ives was 

 authorized to follow up the matter. When Miss Conlon was seen, she 

 suggested that the women in the knitting mills should make a united 

 exhibit. She advised that an invitation to take part should be extended 

 to the women in the factories at Amsterdam, Cohoes and Little Falls, 

 and volunteered to bring the matter before the workers in Amsterdam. 

 It was necessary to obtain the co-operation of the manufacturers, and 

 Mrs. Ives visited all three of the towns for this purpose. The princi- 

 pal millowners promised their aid, and later gave permission to their 

 employees to make special garments for exhibition. A showcase was 

 provided by the Board of Women Managers, almost the only expense 

 the exhibit occasioned, and about two dozen articles were shown. The 

 display was made in a corner of the room in which the Afro- American 

 showcases were placed. It was the least artistic of all the exhibits, but 

 there was satisfaction to the board in having undertaken it, if for no 

 other reason than that the women represented were exceedingly 

 gratified. 



Committee on the Installation and Closing of Exhibits. 



As the work of the women's board progressed toward the final col- 

 lection of exhibits in Chicago, the fact became apparent that a commit- 

 tee would be needed to see that articles were properly installed at the 

 beginning, and repacked and sent to their owners at the close of the 

 exposition. At an executive meeting, held on the 15th of March, 

 1893, Mrs. Wadsworth was proposed as chairman of an installation com- 

 mittee. She at first declined the chairmanship, but finally accepted at 

 the urgent request of the executive committee. The three members of 

 the installation committee were each allowed their expenses for eight 

 weeks in Chicago, to attend to their duties. Mrs. Wadsworth had the 

 power to send for the members whenever she deemed it expedient, and 

 also to call the chairmen of committees having special exhibits, as they 

 had responsibilities that others could not always assume. Mrs. Wads- 

 worth and the other members of the installation committee met in 

 Chicago soon after the middle of April, and the work was at once sys- 

 tematized as fully as possible ; but all exposition work was behindhand, 

 and it was soon found that even with the most herculean efforts it 

 would be impossible to install the exhibits by the first of May. Many 

 matters of business connected with the work which had heretofore been 

 brought before the executive committee were necessarily decided in 

 Chicago, and for this reason frequent meetings of the installation com- 

 mittee were held. Deskroom was given the committee in the Woman's 

 Building, that being the most convenient place for headquarters, and at 

 the first meeting of tha committee Miss Tomes was made secretary. 



Details connected with the Afro-American exhibit, the sale of the 

 books in the Woman's Building, the assignment of space for a portion 

 of the colonial exhibit in the State building, and the matter of the 

 insurance on the loan collection, all required and received the attention 

 of the installation committee. The exhibit of the bureau of applied 



