Notable Women of New Rochelle at the Lumen Winter Gallery

The New Rochelle Public Library and the New Rochelle Council on the Arts will present an exhibit, Notable Women of New Rochelle: An Historical Perspective, during the month of March, 2020. A fitting tribute for Women’s History Month and the 100^th anniversary of the ratification of the 19^th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, the exhibit will reveal the lives of nationally-recognized women and their distinct ties to New Rochelle.

One of the oldest communities in Westchester County, New Rochelle was also one of America’s premier suburban communities, beginning in the late 1880s. Due to its proximity to the world’s financial and cultural hub of Manhattan, the community’s fine schools, attractive planned neighborhoods, and sweeping waterfront, New Rochelle drew and nurtured significant numbers of notable individuals.

In 1986 the New Rochelle Council on the Arts presented a groundbreaking exhibition and corresponding booklet written by June Schetterer, “A Celebration of Women in New Rochelle’s History”. The project was heralded as an important first step in recognizing the role of women in New Rochelle’s unique heritage.  In 2009, another exhibit, New Rochelle Women of the Arts, was launched by NRPL and NRCA. The exhibit celebrated artists – actresses, dancers, musicians, writers and entertainers who had distinct ties to New Rochelle. Actress Lillian Gish, modern dance pioneer and anthropologist Pearl Primus, and “Queen of Film Noir” star Claire Trevor are among the women whose lives will again be presented through archival photographs and vintage memorabilia.

The 2020 exhibition, Notable Women of New Rochelle: An Historical Perspective, will also include additional women who were prominent in a variety of fields. Among them, three of the country’s leading suffragists: Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Chapman Catt; the first American woman to be canonized a saint, Elizabeth Seton, and a local legend, Ann Jones Bernard, the first African American woman to be admitted into the New York Bar Association.

The exhibit will be on display in the library’s Lumen Winter Gallery from Sunday, March 1 – Friday, March 27, during library hours.

On March 8^th, NRCA’s Annual Members Show Variety Showcase will take place at the Ossie Davis Theater at 3:30 pm, followed by a reception. A free public Exhibition Reception will follow, from 5:15 pm – 6:30 pm, in the library’s lobby.

The exhibit is made possible by funds from the Friends of the New Rochelle Public Library and the New Rochelle Council on the Arts.