ABSTRACT
The museum is an institution of recognition and identity par excellence. Beginning with early female collectors and patrons, philanthropists and founders, volunteers, curators, and the first directors, we all stand on the shoulders of someone. In the world of museums, history tells us it is frequently a woman. Anyone who wants to understand women's role in a twenty-first-century museum or historical society should be familiar with their stories. Men in museums were directors; women kept order as registrars, educators, and secretaries. Among the surveys completed in the last decade, many report on only history museums or only art museums, making any discussion about the field as a whole very difficult. Women in the museum field provide us with a legacy of successful preservation efforts, a commitment to public engagement, an early embrace of modernism, the creation of the first children's museums, and breaking the color barrier.
