The Western Illinois Museum presents Connectedness: A History of Women’s Clubs on view through August 15, 2011.
One unexpected outcome of the Civil War was that women found themselves outside of the domestic sphere. Here they tackled new responsibilities and built new skills: leadership, community building, and participating in civic discourse. These circumstances are the roots of women’s clubs that formed to tackle social change, spiritual growth, philanthropy, intellectual engagement and friendship.
This exhibition examines how this trend was manifested in the museum’s region, featuring clubs from Macomb, Colchester, Bushnell and Hire Township, some that have been active for over one hundred years. The history of these clubs portrays a landscape of women’s lives in the region.
The mission of the Western Illinois Museum in operating its museum, library and archives is to collect, preserve, study, interpret and exhibit significant materials relating to the region of Western Illinois and to provide related educational services for the purpose of increasing and enriching public knowledge of Western Illinois.
www.westernillinoismuseum.org