A vintage portrait of a woman wearing an ornate hat with large floral decorations. She has a fluffy scarf around her neck and is dressed in period attire, gazing directly at the camera. The photograph is enclosed in an oval frame.

Martha Gasquet [Westfeldt]; June 13, 1901; gelatin silver print HNOC, bequest of Mettha Westfeldt Eshleman, 2001-52-L.6

Voices of Progress

Twenty Women Who Changed New Orleans

A celebration of the women who fought for the welfare and rights of their fellow citizens and the preservation of New Orleans’ rich heritage.

Voices of Progress

Twenty Women Who Changed New Orleans

A celebration of the women who fought for the welfare and rights of their fellow citizens and the preservation of New Orleans’ rich heritage.

March 13 to September 11, 2016

533 Royal Street

Since the founding of New Orleans, women have played an active role in shaping the city. The approaching tricentennial in 2018 provides an ideal opportunity for reflecting on the many women who fought for the welfare and rights of their fellow citizens and the preservation of the city’s rich heritage. The exhibition Voices of Progress: Twenty Women Who Changed New Orleans presents the stories of twenty remarkable women whose contributions range from the nineteenth-century campaign for child welfare, through the early twentieth-century suffrage movement, to the mid-twentieth-century fight for civil rights and equality. Through letters, objects, photographs, film, and more, Voices of Progress spotlights the achievements of these extraordinary women in New Orleans history.

Martha Gilmore Robinson, between 1945 and 1958, by Charles Whitfield Richards. HNOC, bequest of Martha G. Robinson, 1982.241.29

Martha Gasquet [Westfeldt], 1901. HNOC, bequest of Mettha Westfeldt Eshleman, 2001-52-L.6

Leila Williams, between 1950 and 1966, photoprint by F. H. Methe. HNOC, the L. Kemper and Leila Moore Williams Founders Collection, 79-79-L

Sophie Wright, ca. 1904. HNOC, gift of Mrs. James Craig Roth, 1981.307.11

Margaret Haughery brooch, ca. 1885, photoprint and braided hair in metal frame. HNOC, gift of Mrs. William Francis Scheyd, 1988.50.2

Eliza Jane Poitevent ("Pearl Rivers"), between 1869 and 1874, albumen print by S. Anderson’s Photographic Gallery. HNOC, gift of Mrs. Ashton Fischer and Mrs. Carl Corbin, 1981.369.42