Meryl Streep to Raise Money for Embattled National Women's History Museum
Annie Groer
Correspondent
Posted:
09/15/10
Actress Meryl Streep -- who has played such strong females as culinary pioneer Julia Child and nuclear plant whistleblower Karen Silkwood -- will headline a Sept. 21 benefit in Washington for the National Museum of Women's History.
Although no taxpayer money will be spent on the museum that organizers hope to build near the Smithsonian-dominated National Mall, its congressional champions have spent 12 years vainly trying to pass a bill allowing museum officials to buy federal land for the project. Two earlier Washington sites -- the Post Office Pavilion and the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, fell through. The current contender is a tract across Independence Avenue from the Air and Space Museum,
That bill passed the House last October, but stalled in the Senate after one male member put an anonymous hold on it, said Ann E.W. Stone, senior vice president of what exists today only as a virtual museum. "We really hope to get the hold removed. If we can't, we will come out swinging," she told Politics Daily.
The time is long past for an institution focusing on women achievements over the ages, said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), an original sponsor of the bill. "We have museums for stamps, for space, for spies. Why not a museum for half the population?"
Some members of Congress think the Smithsonian should create a separate building for women's history, to complement its museums of American History, the American Indian and African Americans (not yet built).
But Joan Wages, president and CEO of the Women's History Museum, said it would be impractical, if not impossible: "The Smithsonian has $2.5 billion in repairs they have to do. I am a lobbyist by profession and I know Congress is not going to put this $2.5 billion aside and say, 'Now let's take hundreds of millions of dollars to dedicate part of the Smithsonian to women.' We would have had to get into a queue, and it would be 2025 before we even got on their radar. We talked to women who worked at American History and they told us women's history loses the fight to whatever the primary issue of the day is according to the Smithsonian hierarchy."
Founded 15 years ago by Karen Staser, the museum was conceived to help end global poverty and violence against women by celebrating their numerous contributions to society in all fields. With an emphasis on educational programs and research, there will be a greater push to borrow rare items and collections than acquire them. The museum will partner with the Smithsonian and organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, which already maintains a fine Colonial-era collection in its Washington headquarters.
"What we do know is that the museum of American History has tens of thousands of items of women's history that have never seen the light of day. We would love to exhibit the original, signed 19th Amendment to the Constitution that gave women the right to vote. We think that's in the National Archives. I really don't know where the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments from the women's rights convention in Seneca Falls is, but I'd love to have that, too."
Wages estimated the 250,000-square-foot Women's History Museum will cost $300 million to build, and that serious fundraising would begin as soon as the land is acquired. The group has already raised $6 million. She hopes the Streep gala will clear another $200,000 and bring attention to the project.
"The legislation gives us five years to break ground and it will take two or three years more to construct," she said. Women architects are intensely interested in the project.
Until then, the curious can check out the museum's cyber-exhibits, which include women in: Jamestown, World War II, the Olympics, early films, espionage, presidential campaigns and state legislatures.
"The organizers want to be able to tell their own story," said Maloney. "Like everything women do, we are going to have to work harder and do it ourselves."
Although no taxpayer money will be spent on the museum that organizers hope to build near the Smithsonian-dominated National Mall, its congressional champions have spent 12 years vainly trying to pass a bill allowing museum officials to buy federal land for the project. Two earlier Washington sites -- the Post Office Pavilion and the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, fell through. The current contender is a tract across Independence Avenue from the Air and Space Museum,
That bill passed the House last October, but stalled in the Senate after one male member put an anonymous hold on it, said Ann E.W. Stone, senior vice president of what exists today only as a virtual museum. "We really hope to get the hold removed. If we can't, we will come out swinging," she told Politics Daily.
The time is long past for an institution focusing on women achievements over the ages, said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), an original sponsor of the bill. "We have museums for stamps, for space, for spies. Why not a museum for half the population?" Some members of Congress think the Smithsonian should create a separate building for women's history, to complement its museums of American History, the American Indian and African Americans (not yet built).
But Joan Wages, president and CEO of the Women's History Museum, said it would be impractical, if not impossible: "The Smithsonian has $2.5 billion in repairs they have to do. I am a lobbyist by profession and I know Congress is not going to put this $2.5 billion aside and say, 'Now let's take hundreds of millions of dollars to dedicate part of the Smithsonian to women.' We would have had to get into a queue, and it would be 2025 before we even got on their radar. We talked to women who worked at American History and they told us women's history loses the fight to whatever the primary issue of the day is according to the Smithsonian hierarchy."
Founded 15 years ago by Karen Staser, the museum was conceived to help end global poverty and violence against women by celebrating their numerous contributions to society in all fields. With an emphasis on educational programs and research, there will be a greater push to borrow rare items and collections than acquire them. The museum will partner with the Smithsonian and organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, which already maintains a fine Colonial-era collection in its Washington headquarters.
"What we do know is that the museum of American History has tens of thousands of items of women's history that have never seen the light of day. We would love to exhibit the original, signed 19th Amendment to the Constitution that gave women the right to vote. We think that's in the National Archives. I really don't know where the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments from the women's rights convention in Seneca Falls is, but I'd love to have that, too."
Wages estimated the 250,000-square-foot Women's History Museum will cost $300 million to build, and that serious fundraising would begin as soon as the land is acquired. The group has already raised $6 million. She hopes the Streep gala will clear another $200,000 and bring attention to the project.
"The legislation gives us five years to break ground and it will take two or three years more to construct," she said. Women architects are intensely interested in the project.
Until then, the curious can check out the museum's cyber-exhibits, which include women in: Jamestown, World War II, the Olympics, early films, espionage, presidential campaigns and state legislatures.
"The organizers want to be able to tell their own story," said Maloney. "Like everything women do, we are going to have to work harder and do it ourselves."