Gallery N – The Gage Parlor

This is a re-creation of the parlor from the Fayetteville,NY home of  Matilda Joslyn Gage, a well-known suffragist of the 19th century. Matilda Gage was the mother of T.C. Gage, one of the early pioneers of Aberdeen. She was also mother-in-law of L. Frank Baum, author of “The Wizard of Oz.” Many of Matilda Gage’s Fayetteville neighbors, including all four of her children, were early settlers of Brown County. They and many Central New York residents were lured to the Dakotas by the Dakota Land Boom of the 1880s.

“Let Women Vote!”
Celebrates 90th Anniversary at Museum

August 26, 2010 marks the 90th anniversary of U.S. women winning the right to vote. The call for women’s right to vote initially captured public attention at the 1st Women’s Rights Convention in 1848. The ratification of the 19th Constitutional Amendment was not won until 1920, making it legal for all U.S. citizens to cast a vote. This 72 year non-violent campaign was waged by tens of thousands of grandmothers, mothers, and daughters and their supporters.

The Dacotah Prairie Museum is proud to sponsor a new exhibit in conjunction with the League of Women Voters called: “Let Women Vote!” It is located at the entrance of the Museum, on the first floor landing and in the Gage Parlor on 2nd floor and will remain on display until November 7th, 2010. 

Greeting visitors as they enter the museum is a window diorama depicting a Brown County woman casting her vote for the first time. She is dressed in her best, accompanied by her daughter who is waving an American flag in jubilation and her baby in a wicker stroller. She is just ready to cast her choice into a vintage Brown County ballot box at her voting location, where a 48 star flag of the day is on display.

Following the route around the corner to the landing of 1st floor visitors will see another vintage ballot box originally from the Brown County Clerk of courts, and a display paying tribute to all women who have served in public office in the county. 

Also on the 1st floor landing, are artifacts and information about the League of Women Voters, an organization formed the same year the 19th Amendment was passed, to encourage other women (and men) to learn more about government and its functions, understand political issues and make informed voting decisions.

The Gage Parlor Exhibit, located on the 2nd floor of the museum, has been modified as if in preparation for a meeting, complete with demonstration signs and sashes, suggesting the women may be getting ready for a suffrage march.  Matilda Joslyn Gage was a prominent suffragist, speaker and writer, who teamed with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to pen the History of Woman Suffrage, an account of the people, events and places important to the women’s suffrage movement.  The parlor itself is a permanent exhibit at the museum.  The room, set in the mid-1800’s, is a re-creation of the family home parlor in Fayetteville, New York and is furnished with several pieces that once belonged to Ms. Gage.  The Gage family has ties to the area because several of Matilda Joslyn Gage’s children settled in Aberdeen, Dakota Territory, including for a time, her daughter Maud and husband L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The Museum is pleased to include this important historical anniversary in its fall schedule and hopes that many visitors will be reminded of the effort and price paid for the right to vote for all US citizens. Enjoy “Let Women Vote” until November 7, 2010.

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