ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE:28 REMARKABLE WOMEN...AND ONE SCOUNDREL

Those featured in the exhibition included political activist Frances Perkins, who upon witnessing the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, took on an influential role in the workers-rights advocacy movement, which led her to eventually become President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor--the first ever woman cabinet member; suffragette and activist Mabel Ping-Hua Lee who campaigned for women’s rights to vote and was the first Chinese woman in the United States to earn her doctorate; and public healthcare worker Elizabeth Tyler, who was the first Black nurse hired at Henry Street Settlement, and went on later to establish the Stillman House Settlement on Manhattan's West Side, which provided health care and social services to the Black community in San Juan Hill. 

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The show was accompanied by an illustrated catalog created by Adrienne Ottenberg, which provides short biographical information about each of the women portrayed. It can be downloaded here.

In an audio guide through Bloomberg Connects, 29 people–Eldridge docents, staffers, colleagues, the artist, and descendants of the historic women–speak the parts of those portrayed in the show. Click this link to access the audio guide.

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​Adrienne Ottenberg lives and works in New York City. Her work combines traditional drawing and painting with digital media. After many years doing editorial and book illustration, she found herself creating maps, and subsequently earned an MA in geography at CUNY to learn computer mapping. She has illustrated more than a dozen books, created frontispiece maps and endpapers, and created illustrated maps for gallery shows. She is inspired by historical maps and how we each create and bring meaning to the map of our own lives.

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On the Lower East Side: 28 Remarkable Women…and One Scoundrel and related programs at the Museum at Eldridge Street are made possible, in part, by the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.