On Feb. 2, 2019, Sally Bennett, adjunct professor of English, curated an exhibit titled “Women and Material Culture of the Early American Republic” and a display for Women’s History Month at Fort Osage National Historic Site in Sibley, MO. The exhibit and display are devised from her own personal collections. Textbooks in the exhibit included an original blue back Speller by Noah Webster from 1806 and other grammar and writing texts for females. In addition to books, the exhibit also included a writing desk, midwifery, period china for taking tea, and textiles, including original clothing and a grass “straw” bonnet possibly attributed to Mary Kies, the first American woman to obtain a patent for a way to braid straw using threads. The exhibit will be on display from now until early May.
Furthermore, Bennett also has two presentations coming up in the spring:
- “Roast Beef: Feeding the U. States Army — 1790s through the War of 1812” on the weekend of March 23-24, at the Annual War of 1812 in the West History Symposium in Arrow Rock, MO.
- “Women of the Company,” which focuses on clothing and the labor of women who were attached to the U. of States Army during the 1819-1821 period, on April 5, at the Fort Atkinson State Historic Site in Fort Calhoun, NE.