New Dallas museum honors women who made a difference

Dallas' new $30 million Women's Museum opened Friday in a refurbished building on the Texas State Fairgrounds

DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- Cathy Bonner was searching for a good place to hold an exhibition three years ago when she came across an old building at the Texas State Fairgrounds.

In front, there's an art deco statue of a woman rising from a cactus, grasping its thorny branches.

"It represents all women's struggle for recognition," she said of the sculpture, which became the inspiration for Dallas' new Women's Museum.

"There are 8,000 museums in the United States, and most of them tell history from a male perspective, so in the 21st century, it's time to tell the other side of the story," said Bonner, the museum's founder.

The $30 million museum, which opened Friday in an old livestock arena, is built around hundreds of artifacts borrowed from the Smithsonian Institution.

From suffragettes to playmates, women's struggles are chronicled in sports and space, in health, business and religion.

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's war-time Red Cross uniform is displayed in the museum

Female firsts

First lady Eleanor Roosevelt's war-time Red Cross uniform is housed there, along with a flight suit worn by aviator Amelia Earhart. On a more obscure front, museum-goers learn that actress Heddy Lamar patented a World War II scrambling device that's the basis for today's wireless communications.

"And for years no one knew it, because Hollywood thought it would disrupt her glamorous image," Bonner said.

Also honored there is Helen Thomas, the White House correspondent who left UPI after covering eight presidents and battling gender bias all the way. Now a columnist, she was the first woman to end a presidential news conference in the 1960s, with the traditional "Thank you, Mr. President."

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas is honored for her outstanding accomplishments and battle against gender bias in journalism

"What I like to feel is that I helped to break down some of the barriers against women journalists in this country," she said.

A key display in the museum is a 30-foot-tall "electronic quilt" featuring patches of text and images.

"Quilting is a fundamental way to tell stories," said David Lackey, who helped design the exhibits. "It seemed to be a nice way to span the past with the future."

Five other women's museums are being planned around the United States, and founders hope they will collectively encourage young girls to reach for their dreams.

"American history has not told these really important, inspiring and courageous stories before," Bonner said, "and never again will there be a generation that doesn't know these stories."

CNN Correspondent Charles Zewe and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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February 10, 2000

Women's Museum
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Women in the Arts

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