Laying Out Exhibition Cases

Reference Librarian Linda August and Curator of Prints and Photographs Sarah Weatherwax are collaborating on a small exhibition to accompany Jennifer Levonian’s animated video. Women not only fought as men in the Civil War, they also concealed their gender to fight alongside men during the American Revolution and in other military conflicts. Women went to sea as male sailors, played theatrical roles written for male characters, and in one instance an African-American woman escaped from slavery disguised as a white man. The mannish woman, as well as the feminine man, was satirized in caricatures throughout the 19th century. Using material from both the book and graphic collections of the Library Company of Philadelphia, the exhibition will explore cross dressing and gender identity during the 18th and 19th centuries.