The congresses were open to women, who appeared on the same programmes with men, were paid the compliment of as large audiences, were listened to with interest, and their opinions in discussions answered with freedom. This occurred also in the various associations, where men and women work side by side.
In the work of the superior jury, where for the first time the right of membership was given to a representative of women, the application of deliberation and judgment was made to the work of men and women alike. Courtesy and the hand of fellowship were extended to all. Exhibits were not specially investigated, unless appeals from former jury awards were sent in. In such case most careful and detailed investigation was made by the special boards, to which were assigned certain departments. There was no distinction of sex mentioned in the jury room; and the time has evidently arrived when no less will be expected from women—no more from men—than the quality of work merits.
FINAL REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF AWARDS.
The chairman of the committee of awards of the board of lady managers begs leave to present the story and the report of that committee to your honorable board.
We will not begin by saying "once upon a time," for this is no fairy story, but we will hark back to that time when we, as a board, were not, that we may refer to the vital words of the act of Congress of March 3, 1901, which act provided for the creation of a board of lady managers, gave the excuse for its existence, and named specifically one duty it would be called upon to perform, to wit: "To appoint one member of all committees authorized to award prizes for such exhibits as shall have been produced in whole or in part by female labor."
This phase of woman's work at the World's Fair formed the principal topic of talk at the informal conference held in New York, December 5, 1901, between the National Commission and the members of the board of lady managers that had been appointed up to that time.
The committee of awards was one of the last of the standing committees to be appointed, but was the first committee appointed by Mrs. Daniel Manning after her election to the presidency of the board of lady managers in December, 1903, and was as follows: Mrs. Frederick Hanger, chairman, Little Rock, Ark.; Mrs. Richard W. Knott, Louisville, Ky.; Miss Lavinia H. Egan, Shreveport, La.; Mrs. Fannie Lowry Porter, Atlanta, Ga.; Mrs. Helen Boice-Hunsicker, Hoboken, N.J.
From the organization of the board its influence had been sought and besought by women wishing positions connected with the exposition work. The appointing of the committee of awards acted like a wireless-telegraphy message throughout the country and brought applications from "would be" jurors or recommendations from friends of "would be" jurors until the files of the board room were filled to the limit, and the colored postman of the free-delivery postal service in the southern home of the chairman thought he had relapsed into a "previous condition of servitude."
The rules regulating the system of awards, enacted by the Exposition Company, stated that the nomination for jurors must be in the hands of the director of exhibits thirty days before the opening of the exposition, for the approval of the Exposition Company and the National Commission.
The division of exhibits had issued a list of all exhibits that could be entered at the exposition, dividing them into 144 groups.