Museum Labeling Project
Please take a few minutes to participate in our civic engagement and reflection project. Choose one of three labels that you think best describes the portrait of Mary Rozet Smith.
A). Mary Rozet Smith was Jane Addams's companion for decades and one of the top financial supporters of Hull-House. Alice Kellogg Tyler's relationship with the Hull-House began in 1890. She taught, lectured and exhibited here until her early death in 1900. A teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago, Kellogg Tyler received many honors for her work. This painting was commissioned at the same time as the portrait of Jane Addams that hangs in the next room.
B). Mary Rozet Smith was Jane Addams's life partner and one of the top financial supporters of Hull-House. Given the emotional intimacy that is expressed in their letters to one another, it is hypothesized that they were lesbians. It is, however, difficult to determine this for sure, particularly considering the differences in sexual attitudes of the Victorian era in which she lived and Jane Addams's own complex reflections on the ideals of platonic love.
C). Mary Rozet Smith was Jane Addams's partner and one of the top financial supporters of Hull-House. They shared a deep emotional attachment and affection for one another. Only about one half of the first generation of college women ever married men. Many formed emotional, romantic and practical attachments to other women. In letters, Addams refers to herself and Rozet Smith as 'married' to each other. Hull-House women redefined domesticity in a variety of ways. Addams writes in another letter to Rozet Smith, "Dearest you have been so heavenly good to me all these weeks. I feel as if we had come into a healing domesticity which we never had before, as if it were the first affection had offered us." Jane Addams burned many of her letters from Mary Rozet Smith.
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3 Comments:
Is the purpose of this caption only to explain the relationship or to provide more information about Hull House? I think the third caption offers the most information about the context of the women's relationship but I'm not sure any of the captions tell us who Smith was and what she did outside of her relationship with Addams. Just as many spouses of notable men lose their identity to the more historically significant male in their lives it almost seems like you need to give Smith a fuller biography of her own. [I don't understand number 1 (who is Alice Kellogg Tyler in relation to Mary Rozet Smith).]
Option A succinctly visitors informs about the material presented (the portrait) but will likely confuse the visitor because it interjects too much information about the artist. Is the purpose of this object and its caption to information about the artist’s relation to Hull House or about the subject of the painting? The bibliographic information (the citation) need not be repeated in the caption (label) if it will be presented with the object, as illustrated on the website.
Option B hypothesizes about a personal relationship, using the portrait to create an opportunity to introduce aspects of the women’s personal lives. If the exhibit aims to create authoritative discourse about the sexuality of these women, the presentation would be much stronger if it included a letter (or reproduction) instead of or in addition to the portrait of Smith. Retention of the last sentence is essential as it provides visitors with historical context necessary to reach their own conclusions.
Option C is poorly written and attempts to convey too many ideas in one caption. Its only redeeming component is the last sentence (I'm presuming the museum is prepared to respond to visitors’ inquiries of "how do you know that" and "why.").
Combine the last sentence of C with B, add documentation to B, and brace yourself for “civic engagement.”
Yes, they were companions but I think they were something more. I would say B would answer the debate best. C is also true; proven by research. From the research you could get, one may conclude it to be selection B.
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