‘Remarkable Women’ Celebrated in Women’s History Month Exhibit

The most fascinating aspect of the “Remarkable Women in and Around Ossining” exhibit at the Bethany Arts Community is that every woman featured in the show is connected to a place in or near Ossining.

The exhibit opened last week with more than 60 people attending, including several local officials who learned of an eye-opening and little-known chapter of local history.

To her credit, curator Caroline Curvan offers the viewer not just detailed biographical items for each of the 16 featured women, but taps into a time when they lived and worked in Ossining. The geographical connection makes these women come alive.

Curvan, who is also the Ossining town historian and a professional researcher, started working on the project about a year ago. She discovered the rich lives and backgrounds of these women when researching Ossining history for her blog OssiningHistoryontheRun.com.

Most of the subjects in the exhibition lived and worked in Ossining town and village, while a few were from neighboring communities. While some are well-known and instantly recognizable, others are known because they’ve had streets, schools or parks named after them. These women shaped their community, leaving their imprint for generations to see and experience.

The Sally Swope Sitting Park off Hawkes Avenue on the outskirts of town is named after Sarah “Sally” Swope (1912-1999) a known local philanthropist who raised funds for the Ossining Children’s Center, Westchester Community College, the Clearview School and Teatown Lake Reservation, all of which thrive today.

The Anne M. Dorner Middle School was named after Dorner (1902-1962), who was born in Ossining and worked for 40 years for the Ossining School District.

Also attending the exhibit’s opening last Friday were descendants of Edith Smith (1917-2007) who grew up on Hunter Street. Smith was a pilot who ran the Warhawk Aviation Service at Westchester County Airport in the 1960s, then considered the best flight school in the country. Smith’s grandson, Westchester County Legislator Colin Smith (D-Peekskill), was there with his father, David Smith, one of Edith Smith’s three sons.

A framed news article quotes Edith Smith saying required flight school classes were cost prohibitive to Negros, explaining why her school’s instruction cost a reasonable $15 to $27 an hour.

Familiar women in the exhibit are American abolitionist Sojourner Truth, who worked in the village of Sing Sing (now Ossining), famed political activist Emma Goldman, who lived part-time in a farmhouse off Allapartus Road, and Vera Newmann (1907-1993), known for the famous Vera textile designs.

Newmann set up her Printex factory in the former Smith-Robinson Georgian mansion on State Street, which still exists today. The expansive, real-life setting for Newmann’s studio was created by Ketti North, a former New York City fashion designer living in Croton-on-Hudson.

Along with photos were detailed bios, newspaper articles and stage-like settings replete with artifacts from the time each woman lived. The stories also told how Ossining shaped their lives.

One part of the exhibit was dedicated to Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965), the famous black playwright and civil rights activist known for writing “A Raisin in the Sun” when she was 26. She lived part-time in Croton-on-Hudson where she was frequently visited by Langston Hughes, Alex Haley and Ruby Dee.

Hansberry worked for Paul Robeson’s Black radical newspaper Freedom and wrote “The Freedom Negro History Festival,” a play that would feature Paul Robeson, Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier. Personalizing Hansberry was a small desk with an old manual Royal typewriter, a rotary phone, an ashtray full of cigarette butts and a wastepaper basket full of crumpled paper.

Mother Mary Joseph (1882-1955), who founded Maryknoll Sisters, is featured with photos and a bio aptly placed next to a small religious stain glass window. She died in what was then called the Bethany Rest House, which later became the Bethany Arts Community.

The exhibit also includes Harriet Agate Carmichael (1817-1871) an artist who lived on Liberty Street, and Dr. Ruth Murray Underhill (1883-1984) an anthropologist known for her work with Native Americans. Underhill was born on Ossining’s Linden Avenue in a Victorian home that is still standing. Underhill’s family goes back to Capt. John Underhill who arrived in the New World in 1632.

Others highlighted in the exhibit are Carrie Chapman Catte, Kathryn Lawes, Mary Feeney, Jennie Fiorito, Minnie Nabors and Marge Griesmer.

“Remarkable Women in and Around Ossining” will be shown through Apr. 5. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bethany Arts Community is located at 40 Somerstown Rd. in Ossining. For more information, call 914-944-4278 or visit www.bethanyarts.org.