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Worth Seeing This Weekend: Women and the White Mountains

Harriet Freeman, Edith Hull, Emma Cummings, Vyron Lowe (guide). Photograph by Frank Freeman, 1902. Courtesy of Gordon Alan Lowe, Jr.

Plan to head north this weekend? Take a side trip to Plymouth and check out the current exhibit at the Museum of the White Mountains at Plymouth State University. 

Taking the Lead: Women and the White Mountains is a multi-faceted examination of women as pioneers in the wilderness, travelers on the trails, artists inspired by the landscape, and leaders in trail building, botany, and the Progressive Movement.  Co-Curated by Acting Director Marcia Schmidt Blaine and Associate Director Cynthia Robinson, the exhibit runs until October 7th and is free and open to the public.  

Miriam O’Brien (Underhill) ascends a chimney up a cliff near Boston in 1929. Photograph by Robert Underhill Courtesy of the Underhill family collection

Especially interesting is a discussion of women’s clothing and how it was initially an impediment (whalebone undergarments!) and a danger (long skirts and slippery leather soles!) and later, a scandal (trousers barely concealed under loose skirts!). 

If you can’t make it to the museum before October 7th, don't fret. The online exhibit is especially rich, including rich photographs of recently donated paintings and sixteen interviews of women associated with the White Mountains.

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