Women at Work in the Clubs

Women seated in the parlor of the Pillsbury Home, 819 Second Avenue South, Minneapolis
Photographer: Lee Brothers
Photograph Collection ca. 1915

1. What are these women doing?
2. Look at their surroundings - what does it say about the women?
3. This is a professional photograph.  Why do you think the photographer posed them in this way?
4. Which woman is the central focus?  How do you know?
5. What happened in the late 19th century to allow these women the time and access to converse in this way? 
6. Is the photographer emphasizing a different lifestyle from the photographer in the first photograph?

Woman telling story to group of children at Margaret Barry Settlement House, Minneapolis.
Photographer: Lee Brothers
Photograph Collection ca. 1925

1. What is this woman doing?
2. Who are these children?  How do you know?
3. What does this photograph tell you about the work women's clubs performed?
4. Look up Jane Addams and Settlement House.  Would these reforms have happened without women?
5. When did women gain the right to vote according to the consitution?
6. Were women doing important work before they had the right to vote?