Womansight: News for North Texas Women, Volume 2, Number 1, June 1981 Page: 8
6 p. : ill. ; 39 x 30 cm.View a full description of this newspaper.
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8
Celebrating
Texas
Telephone operators in the Dallas Main Office, 1919. The switchboard was considered a “respec-
table” place for women to work at the turn of the century when larger numbers of women began
entering the paid workforce.
“If we rest, we rust"
Waco Women’s Club motto
(continued from page 5)
of Women's Clubs in 1897, their goal was to
establish a free library in every Texas county.
By 1907 they had started 65 free libraries, and
by 1950, 85 percent of Texas libraries were the
work of women's clubs.
The Women's Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU) and other organizations fought a 20
year battle with the Texas Legislature to estab-
lish the state supported Girls Industrial College
(now Texas Women's University in Denton).
When the doors opened in 1903, women attended
classes in nursing, professional child care and
home economics, controversial courses for the
times.
In the 1920's, the “Petticoat Lobby," a coali-
tion of six women's organizations, pressured the
Texas Legislature into enacting many public
interest laws.
But, Texas women also survived alone. Mary
Ann Goodnight often braved the Panhandle
frontier on her own, camping on the huge JA
Ranch near Palo Duro Canyon. In 1877, a cow-
boy rode into Goodnight's camp. He brought
with him three chickens in a sack. Instead of
cooking the chickens, Goodnight kept them as
pets. “No one can ever know...," she said,
“how much company they were."
Whether alone or together, Texas women
survived and triumphed through ingenuity,
creativity and sheer determination. By bringing
together the history of Texas women, the exhibit
not only celebrates their triumphs, but also sym-
bolizes our survival.
Clara Driscoll, daughter of a millionaire South
Texas rancher, wrote the $25,000 check that
saved the Alamo from commercial exploitation
in 1903. She later became a prominent politi-
cian and businesswoman. Time Magazine
wrote, “Politicians learned to respect her. She
could drink, battle, cuss and connive with the
best of them and outspend practically all of
them.” \
Girls Industiral College basketball team, 1913. In addition to basketball, the young women studied
nursing, professional child care and home economics. The college opened in 1903, and later
became Texas Women’s University.
WOMAN8IGHT JUNE 1981
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Womansight, Incorporated. Womansight: News for North Texas Women, Volume 2, Number 1, June 1981, newspaper, June 1981; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1484048/m1/9/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.