[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ESTABLISHING A COMMISSION TO STUDY THE POTENTIAL CREATION OF A NATIONAL
WOMEN'S HISTORY MUSEUM
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE
ADMINISTRATION
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
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Held in Washington, DC, December 11, 2013
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Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration
Available on the Internet
www.fdsys.gov
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION
CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan,
Chairman
ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania, Ranking Minority Membersissippi
ZOE LOFGREN, California PHIL GINGREY, M.D., Georgia
JUAN VARGAS, California AARON SCHOCK, Illinois
TODD ROKITA, Indiana
RICHARD B. NUGENT, Florida
Professional Staff
Kelly Craven, Staff Director
Kyle Anderson, Minority Staff
Director
ESTABLISHING A COMMISSION TO STUDY THE POTENTIAL CREATION OF A NATIONAL
WOMEN'S HISTORY MUSEUM
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013
House of Representatives,
Committee on House Administration,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:39 a.m., in room
1310, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Candice S. Miller
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Miller, Harper and Lofgren.
Staff Present: Kelly Craven, Staff Director; Peter
Schalestock, Deputy General Counsel; Yael Barash, Legislative
Clerk; Salley Wood, Communications Director and Deputy Staff
Director; Bob Sensenbrenner, Senior Counsel; Mary Sue Englund,
Director of Administration; Kyle Anderson, Minority Staff
Director; Matt Pinkus, Minority Senior Policy Advisor; Matt
Defreitas, Minority Professional Staff; Khalil Abboud, Minority
Deputy Counsel; Thomas Hicks, Minority Senior Counsel; Mike
Harrison, Minority Chief Counsel; Greg Abbott, Minority
Professional Staff; and Eddie Flaherty, Minority Chief Clerk.
The Chairman. Good morning, everyone. I call to order the
Committee on House Administration for today's hearing on
establishing a commission to study the potential creation of a
National Women's History Museum. And first of all, the hearing
record will remain open for 5 legislative days so that Members
might be able to submit any materials that they wish to be
included as well.
And we do have a quorum present, so we may proceed.
First of all, I want to thank our witnesses for taking the
time to testify before the committee today. We have one witness
here, and our other witness is on her way, hopefully coming
down the hallway here. And we will proceed as we can here this
morning, but we certainly want to thank them for their
continued dedication and persistence in this very important
and, I think, frankly, long overdue acknowledgement of women's
contributions throughout the history of our great Nation.
Both of my distinguished colleagues, Mrs. Blackburn, who
again I say will be here shortly, and Mrs. Maloney as well,
have joined many of our colleagues from both Chambers in the
House and in the Senate in leading this initiative to create a
museum here in the Nation's Capital to recognize the
accomplishments of great American women. And each day certainly
as we walk through the halls of Congress, we see some of the
different sculptures that are in the halls of American pioneers
like Susan B. Anthony or Rosa Parks, Helen Keller. We certainly
are reminded of the great contributions that women have played
in our very rich history, often despite of, quite frankly, or
because of the great adversity that they have overcome.
Jeannette Rankin, whose statue adorns Emancipation Hall in
the Capitol Visitors Center, was not only the first woman
elected to the House of Representatives, she was a Republican
from Montana, but she was actually elected in 1916, which was 4
years before women were even guaranteed the right to vote in
our Constitution, which I think is a remarkable thing to note.
And women's contributions are certainly not just social or
political, but more and more each day, they are economic as
well. And with over 65 million women in the workforce today,
women are quickly transforming corporate America.
The contribution of women in our Nation's history is huge,
really, very immense. They have aided and served alongside our
patriots during the Revolutionary War; women like Clara Barton,
who aided and nursed our soldiers in the field in the Civil
War; in my home State of Michigan, certainly Rosie the Riveter.
My grandmother was one of the Rosies helping to build our arms,
all of our armaments. We were the arsenal of democracy, which
built the armaments that literally led the entire world to
peace, quite frankly, helped our troops achieve victory.
And today they work in every facet of our economy, up to
and including CEO's of Fortune 500 companies. And again, as a
point of personal privilege, I have to mention, coming from
Michigan, that just this week Mary Barra was announced as the
new CEO of General Motors, which is the first time a woman has
ever headed one of our domestic auto companies, ever. That is
really breaking the glass ceiling, so to speak; a good car gal.
But women have stepped to the forefront of innovation,
business, politics, you name it, whether within their own
communities, their State, or certainly across the entire
Nation, and their stories are important to share, as their
accomplishments make up the very fabric of our Nation. It is
our responsibility to keep this history alive for today's
generation and certainly for generations who will come after us
all, and that is why we are here today, to examine the
establishment of a National Women's History Museum.
Since the 105th Congress, various bills have been
introduced to advance the creation of a women's museum. One
bill even passed the House, two in the Senate. Our first
witness--witnesses today, both Mrs. Maloney and Mrs. Blackburn,
authored and cosponsored H.R. 863 this Congress, which would
establish the commission to study the creation of a museum.
So we are also going to hear today on our second panel from
Ms. Joan Wages, who is the president and CEO of the nonprofit
National Women's History Museum, which has been pursuing a
national museum since 1996.
I certainly join our witnesses in their enthusiasm for this
initiative and welcome others, but I also realize, I think we
all do, as they very well know, that there are compelling
concerns and certain obstacles that require us to approach the
establishment of this museum with very careful thought and
consideration, similar to that which every American woman puts
into action every day.
Museums are very expensive propositions, and certainly
given our current restrictions in our fiscal environment,
Federal funds will be extremely scarce, and the fully private
funding model championed by the National Women's History
Museum, I think, is an excellent approach given the budget
constraints that we live with.
Then there is the matter of governance. Recent museum
commissions have recommended that new facilities be part of the
Smithsonian, and this is a decision that cannot be taken
lightly as it has major repercussions for the museum structure,
for collections management and financial support as well,
especially when we prefer to see this built and maintained,
again, as we say, with private funds.
Over the last decade, the Smithsonian has added two major
facilities to its collection, and a third one, the National
Museum of African American History and Culture, should open in
late 2015, bringing the total number of Smithsonian museums to
19. There is also pending legislation to create a National
Museum of the American Latino, which I am very hopeful this
committee will have a hearing on next year, as I believe that
it, too, is very worthy, a worthy initiative that deserves our
attention. And, of course, there is only so much space
available on the National Mall, and concerns have been raised
about the museum's location.
These issues warrant thorough review and reflection.
Establishing a commission may be a step in the right direction
to really fully flesh out how such a museum would integrate
with our existing national, regional and local cultural
institutions, what it will cost, how can we fund it, and where
would we put it.
Notwithstanding these issues, the concept of a National
Women's History Museum to serve as a repository for the
profound social, intellectual and cultural contributions of
fully half of our society is certainly deserving of our
attention.
Demographics also demonstrate a significant potential level
of public interest. Women represent more than half of our
population today, as we say, and currently outnumber men
actually in college enrollment. These are really recent
developments, significant developments, of which I am sure that
our foremothers would be very proud, and I am certain that
every American man and woman would find value in investigating
this history that has allowed us to get to this point. So,
again, we will look forward to hearing from our witnesses. We
appreciate their attendance here today.
And at this time I would like to recognize my colleague
Congresswoman Lofgren for the purpose of providing an opening
statement.
Ms. Lofgren. Thank you very much, Chairman Miller. And I am
also pleased to welcome the witnesses today to this hearing
about the establishment of a National Women's History Museum
right here in Washington. Now, Chairman Miller and I are of
different parties, and we don't agree on every issue, but I
think we do share a deep commitment to ensuring that the
contributions of women here in America are recognized.
As has been mentioned, the Committee on House
Administration has jurisdiction over museums or potential
museums if they are or might become part of the Smithsonian,
and, of course, in recent times we have authorized within the
Smithsonian the National Museum of the American Indian and the
National Museum of African American History and Culture now
under construction. As the chair has mentioned, we also have
received a report authorized by Congress and completed in 2011
from the Commission to study the potential creation of a
National Museum of the American Latino, and I am so pleased to
hear from the chairwoman that we will perhaps have a hearing on
that early next year. I look forward to that.
Now, this bill has significant bipartisan support.
Congresswoman Maloney has been tireless in pursuing this over
many, many years, and I am hopeful that we can move forward on
this. We have issues, of course: where the museum would be
located, how it would we paid for, exhibits, structure and the
like; but to me the question is not whether, but how. And I
think that that is a great advance.
I mentioned to Congresswoman Maloney one of the things I am
interested in pursuing is something called a Treasury-Postal,
which is a great way to raise funds, because it is completely
within discretion of postal patrons whether or not they would
like to buy a stamp that has a small surcharge that would go to
a wonderful cause such as this. If you don't want to pay that
surcharge, then you don't buy the stamp; but if you would like,
it is a way to raise a lot of money with small contributions
across the United States. So I am hopeful that we might be able
to incorporate something like that funding stream into this
down the line.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses. And, Madam
Chairwoman, I am so pleased to be here with you today and to
participate in this important hearing. And I yield back.
The Chairman. Thank the gentlelady for her comments.
Does any other Member wish to be recognized for purposes of
an opening statement?
If not, first of all, we were going to start with
Representative Blackburn, but I know she is literally running
across from the other building, because we were just watching
her on the monitor finishing up her questions at another
hearing, so she is on her way.
Mrs. Maloney. I hate to start without her, because this is
truly a bipartisan effort.
The Chairman. Yeah. That is right.
Mrs. Maloney. Exactly where is she? Maybe she can get here
in time.
The Chairman. She is coming. She is coming, but I am going
to start by introducing you, Carolyn, and we will let you begin
as well.
First elected to Congress in 1992, Carolyn Maloney is
recognized as a national leader with extensive accomplishments
on financial services, national security, the economy, and
women's issues. Representative Maloney is the first woman to
represent New York's 12th Congressional District and was the
first woman to chair the Joint Economic Committee. As a former
cochair of the Women's Caucus, Representative Maloney is
nationally recognized as an advocate for women and families
issues with special emphasis on funding for women's health
needs. And she is a member of the U.S. delegations to the
fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, she attended
there, and also to the International Conference on Population
and Development.
And I will hold my intro of Marsha until she comes, but at
this time the chair would like to recognize Representative
Carolyn Maloney for her testimony.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Mrs. Maloney. First of all, thank you so much, Chairlady
Miller and Ranking Member Brady, represented so ably by my good
friend Zoe Lofgren, for the honor of testifying before Congress
on what I truly believe is a historic and incredibly important
goal, a commission to study the creation of a National Women's
History Museum. I truly believe that the best legislation is
always bipartisan, and I am thrilled to be working with my good
friend, colleague and partner in this, Marsha Blackburn. I
thank her for working so hard on the legislation, getting
cosponsors and arranging this hearing. I am deeply grateful to
the Republican leadership for moving forward with reviewing
this and holding this hearing.
And I am also honored to be here with my good friend Joan
Wages. She has been a partner in this effort since 1994. She is
the president of the National Women's History Museum, a
nonprofit that has already begun raising money for this
project, compiling and sharing information, and created a Web
site for women's history.
For many of us here today, this isn't a hearing, it is a
chance to take a historic step forward. In researching for this
museum, I could not find any museum in America dedicated to the
achievements of half of our population. I not only could not
find one in America, I can't find one in the entire world.
There are specific museums for First Ladies, for artists and
other areas, but not to the achievements of women.
This is, to me, a very personal and important goal, and it
came really from my two daughters, who used to say to me at
night, ``Mommy, why aren't any books written about girls?'' All
the books that I read them at night, they were always written
about boys and boys' achievements. And so we have a historic
opportunity to rectify this, and we are testifying today on the
importance of this legislation before this important committee,
H.R. 863, which would establish a congressional commission to
report recommendations to the President and Congress concerning
a National Women's History Museum in Washington, DC, on or near
the Mall.
The commission for the museum would be privately funded,
totally funded by taxpayers' money. Women are used to doing
everything on our own, and we will build this museum on our own
with like-minded men. This is a not-for-profit national history
museum, and they are already raising money for this.
We have 44 cosponsors, bipartisan cosponsors, and Senators
Susan Collins and Barbara Mikulski have introduced a companion
bill in the Senate. I ask for total permission to place in the
record the 44 cosponsors, the legislation and the
organizations, well over 40 organizations, that have come out
and endorsed this important legislation.
The Chairman. Without objection, that will be entered into
the record.
[The information follows:]
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Mrs. Maloney. Women's historical contributions are largely
missing from textbooks, memorials, museum exhibits and many
other venues. In contrast, thousands of years of history have
focused upon the achievement of men. Of the 210 statues in the
United States Capitol, only 13 are of female leaders. Fewer
than 5 percent of the 2,400 national historic landmarks
chronicle women's achievements, and a recent survey of 18
history textbooks found that only 10 percent of the individuals
identified in the textbooks were women.
The National Women's History Museum would change that by
telling the fascinating, yet mostly untold stories of important
women in American history and their contributions, like Agent
355, the mysterious woman who sent vital information to General
Washington during the Revolutionary War; or Hedy Lamarr, the
Hollywood star who invented a radio-guided torpedo that
contained the technology that gave rise to cell phones, Wi-Fi,
and GPS; and many, many other important women.
Here in our Nation's Capital, museums have traditionally
been a way for our country to proclaim our history, to
demonstrate and honor what we value, to educate our children,
and to shape our culture. A short walk from where we sit, there
are museums dedicated to the Nation's founding, to science, to
the arts, to flight, to postage stamps, law enforcement and
news, and many other important areas of special interest, yet
none is dedicated to half the population. Every scientist,
every creator of a postage stamp had a mother, and they did
many, many important contributions to our country. Where are
their stories told?
But women and their achievements are almost nowhere to be
found among these buildings that are supposed to hold the
stories of our Nation's journey. This bill seeks to change
that. When it opens, the museum will help ensure that future
generations will understand the many contributions of women.
It was only recently that in a bipartisan effort with
Connie Morella we were able to move the great statue of the
great women revolutionary leaders that led to women having the
right to vote. Incidentally, they were all Republicans. Susan
B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were
active Republican leaders in the abolitionist movement, as was
Alice Paul, who continued this fight in enacting the 21st
Amendment that gave the historic right, an incredible
achievement, that half our population had the right to vote.
She, incidentally, was also a Republican, and her uncle was a
Republican legislator from Pennsylvania.
But this story, I think, tells the problem of how hard it
is. Connie Morella and I worked on this moving the statue for 5
years. Can you believe it? Five years to move a statue, to move
our revolutionary leaders out of the basement and into the
living room of the Capitol with our other great revolutionary
leaders, Lincoln and Jefferson and Jackson and Martin Luther
King, but it was so difficult that we started a newsletter
called ``All the Excuses Fit to Print.'' One of them said that
the Capitol Rotunda could not hold the statue. They forgot that
it had sat there for 3 days before it was sent to the basement.
So we had to go out and raise $85,000 to fund an engineer's
report to determine whether the floor would hold it.
There were so many excuses. They said, we are not having
any new statues in the Capitol; meanwhile, they moved in
disgraced people, and many, many statues came in. And then
finally they said that we had to pay to move it, and it was
hundreds of thousands of dollars. We had to move the statue
from the basement into the Rotunda to honor the three
revolutionary, great leaders that gave half our population the
right to vote.
I tell this story because it shows you how hard it is to
get anything done relating to women. And I want to publicly
thank my colleague Marsha Blackburn for getting this hearing,
for getting the cosponsors, for helping to author the
legislation, and all of her effort that has brought us to where
we are today.
And this statue shows the importance of these women, but
there are many other women that have contributed to the success
of our great country, and their stories need to be told to
inspire our daughters and our sons. And I respectfully suggest
that Congress can now at this moment play an important and
historic role in seeing to it that half of the population of
these United States is actually represented when the history of
our great Nation is told, from pioneering women like
abolitionist Harriet Tubman to astronaut Sally Ride; from
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to the new leader for
General Motors. This is a real historic step forward.
These remarkable women helped make this country what it is
today. They deserve a place for their stories to be told and
preserved to inspire future generations. But we aren't doing
this just to recognize those women who came before us; we are
also doing it so that our daughters and our sons and their
children have the chance to learn the story, the full story, of
how this amazing country came to be.
I want to thank you for the honor and opportunity of
testifying before you today, and I hope that this committee
will see fit to move this bill forward. And I look forward to
working with all of you on this very, very, I believe,
historic, and important, and, again, not only an American
first, but a national and international first of dedicating,
hopefully, after the commission's report, a museum that is
dedicated to the achievements of half this great country.
I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you.
The Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman very much for her
testimony. Excellent, excellent testimony.
[The statement of Mrs. Maloney follows:]
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The Chairman. And as we all know, women are multitaskers,
and Representative Blackburn certainly has been doing that
already this morning. We appreciate her attendance here today
and all her work in getting this hearing put together.
As a formal intro, she represents the Seventh District of
Tennessee. She was first elected to represent the Seventh
Congressional District in Tennessee in 2002, quickly becoming a
leader in Congress and a leading voice advocating for small,
efficient Federal Government that is accountable to its
citizens.
As a small businesswoman, an author, a mother, a
grandmother, and a Member of Congress, Marsha Blackburn has
dedicated her service to the sacred obligations all citizens
have to their communities, and that is making Tennessee and
certainly America a better and more prosperous place where all
of our children can achieve the American dream.
In April of 2013 at the Women Run the World half marathon
in New York City, More Magazine recognized Representative
Blackburn for her service in government by honoring her as 1 of
10 women who are making a difference in the world.
She is a founding member of the Republicans Women's Policy
Committee and is also a member the Smithsonian Library's
Advisory Board. So we welcome her attendance here today, and at
this time the chair would recognize Representative Blackburn
for her testimony.
STATEMENT OF THE HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE
Mrs. Blackburn. Thank you, Chairman Miller. And I apologize
to you, to the committee, to the staff and everyone in the
room. We were a bit delayed, and I could not leave until I had
finished my obligation at our hearing. So I do apologize.
I do appreciate also the effort that has gone into making
the hearing possible today. We thank you for this. And thank
you for the attention to how we go about with the creation of a
privately funded museum to honor the Nation's influential
women. And it is my hope that today we will have a well-
informed discussion about how we move forward.
I have been pleased to work with Mrs. Maloney on H.R. 863,
which would create a commission to study the feasibility of
building a women's history museum. As Mrs. Maloney said, she
and Senator Collins have worked for many Congresses to secure
this effort, and while it would pass in the House or pass in
the Senate, we have never been able to line these up and make
it happen in the same Congress with each Chamber.
The fact that we are here discussing it today is symbolic,
because it is an important time for women in our Nation. Now
more than ever, women are starting and running their own
companies; they are moving into positions of leadership not
only in our Nation, but around the globe; and they are seeking
to look at history and the past and role models that have paved
the way. Of course, our Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that
women now hold 51 percent of all management, professional and
related occupations. That number continues to rise, and many
women say, how did we get here? On whose shoulders do we stand?
But let us not forget about the women that have persevered
and have changed the course of history. Mrs. Maloney mentioned
a few. I think we can look at what happened with visionaries
like Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man so that
she could fight alongside men in the Revolutionary War. We have
mentioned Susan B. Anthony, who fought for women's right to
vote; Clara Barton, who founded the Red Cross. Or let us not
forget Jeannette Rankin, the first woman ever elected to
Congress in 1916.
There are countless other women who sacrificed so much to
fight for what they believed in spite of very challenging
circumstances. Today their legacies live on as women continue
to break many historical barriers in our country. In the 113th
Congress, we have a record high number of 98 women Members in
both the House and the Senate.
All women have their own personal history that they bring
to the table. My colleague Mrs. Maloney was the first woman
ever elected in her district in New York and has continued to
be a trailblazer on so many issues that are very important to
her constituency.
While she and I may disagree on some political issues, that
is not the case here today. Today we come to lift up women and
to help to preserve and share the legacies of women who paved
the way before us and have helped to shape the freedom that we
in this Nation hold so dear. And in doing so, these stories
will inspire future generations by illustration of how that
bravery, that patriotism and that perseverance did indeed make
a difference. We would not have the freedom and the
opportunities that we have today without the sacrifices of
those who have gone before us.
This proposed women's history museum would be financed
privately and not a dime of taxpayer money. The women's museum
project has already had generous support from private donors,
and they are willing to move forward to make it happen. The
hearing is a good step. It lays out how this bill would have a
commission of eight members chosen equally by the leadership in
both parties of the House and the Senate who have demonstrated
their commitment to study and teaching of women's history. They
will examine possible locations, devise fundraising strategies,
and analyze overall logistics of building the museum, and
assess the feasibility of the total project.
As we discuss the bill and the steps forward, I look
forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions and working to
make this a reality.
Again, I apologize for my tardiness, I thank you all for
the courtesy of the hearing, and I yield back the balance of my
time.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
[The statement of Mrs. Blackburn follows:]
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The Chairman. And I want to thank both our witnesses in the
first panel for appearing here before the committee today, and
I certainly again want to thank both of you for pushing,
pushing us all along here. And certainly having this hearing
today, I think, is a tremendous first step, and in our next
panel we will be really outlining some more specifics about how
we might proceed with this.
But I tell you in this age of sometimes people think we
can't work together, we know as women that we can work together
certainly, and I think this is a great example of a bipartisan
effort to move forward, and I just appreciate that very much.
Any other Members have question or comment?
Mr. Harper. Being the father of a now 22-year-old daughter,
I certainly know how important it is to have great role models.
And my daughter, when she was 17, had the privilege of sitting
down with Marsha Blackburn and being inspired by her, following
her in her footsteps to Mississippi State University, where she
graduated in 3 years. And so I thank you, Congresswoman
Blackburn, for your input and influence with my daughter. Thank
you.
The Chairman. Yes.
Ms. Lofgren. I would just--it is the committee practice not
to ask questions of Members who testify. I know that we will
adhere to that, but I just want to thank both Representatives
for their leadership on this issue. I am so enthused that we
can move forward on this with your strong support, so thank you
for your work.
The Chairman. Thank you both very much. Merry Christmas.
Mrs. Maloney. Merry Christmas.
The Chairman. We appreciate you coming.
Mrs. Maloney. Thank you.
The Chairman. At this time, we will excuse our first panel,
and we will ask that our second panelist be seated.
Before I introduce our panelist, I would ask unanimous
consent for the committee to enter into the record two items:
first of all, a statement from the American Association of
University Women establishing a commission to study the
potential creation of a National Women's History Museum. And
without objection, that will be entered into the record as
well.
[The information follows:]
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The Chairman. At this time I would like to introduce our
second panelist, our next witness. Joan Bradley Wages is the
president and CEO of the National Women's History Museum. She
has been working to make this museum a reality for at least 15
years, if not longer. She began as one of the founding board
members that ultimately led to her serving as the champion for
this museum. And throughout her career, she has focused on
women's issues on Capitol Hill, which culminated when she
served as the founding board member of the National Women's
History Museum. And while we cannot assume a potential
commission would tap the nonprofit National Women's History
Museum as the appropriate entity to become the national museum,
Ms. Wages has been at the forefront certainly of promoting this
issue, developing a concept for such a museum, seeking support,
and tackling organizational and fundraising issues, and
certainly those experiences can certainly help inform our
deliberations today. So we certainly appreciate your attendance
here today, and your passion and commitment and dedication to
this issue.
And at this time the chair would recognize Ms. Wages for
her testimony.
STATEMENT OF JOAN BRADLEY WAGES, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NATIONAL
WOMEN'S HISTORY MUSEUM
Ms. Wages. Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank
you, Representatives Lofgren and Harper. We so appreciate this
opportunity to make a presentation to your committee and to----
The Chairman. Is your microphone on? Excuse me. I just--
thank you.
Ms. Wages. There we go. Okay.
Madam Chair, Representatives Lofgren and Harper, thank you
so much for scheduling this hearing and for allowing the
National Women's History Museum an opportunity to appear in
support of establishing a commission to investigate the
feasibility and need for a museum to honor contributions of
women to our Nation. We are so appreciative to Representatives
Blackburn and Maloney for their tireless efforts to move this
forward.
My name is Joan Wages, and I am president and CEO at the
National Women's History Museum. I ask that my entire statement
be entered into the record, and I will give you a summary.
The Chairman. Without objection.
Ms. Wages. As mentioned, legislation is pending in the
House and Senate that would create a congressional commission
to study the potential creation of a federally authorized
museum to recognize and honor women.
History is empowering. It shapes who we are and provides
role models to guide us, yet women stand on historical
quicksand. With each step forward, the one behind disappears.
By all evidence, at least half of our population has lived a
life only to become in large part invisible.
The mission of the National Women's History Museum is to
bring women's history into our mainstream culture so that the
general public is aware of such historic figures as Sybil
Luddington, who, like Paul Revere, rode all night on horseback
during the Revolutionary War to alert the militia that the
British were coming.
Women's history also includes recognition of the collective
efforts of women to enrich society. It was women who lobbied
for the pasteurization of milk, vaccinations for our children,
and sewage systems for our communities. Women have succeeded in
shaping our Nation in important and in lasting ways. Women have
woven the very fabric of this Nation, whether through the
essential role of motherhood or in the fields of education,
health care, business, technology, entertainment. No matter
what the field of endeavor, women have been there.
I have personally dedicated my work on establishing this
museum to the memory of my mother, whose love and caring is
with me today. Abraham Lincoln said it best: Everything I am or
ever hope to be, I owe to my mother. It is far beyond time for
the women of our Nation to be recognized.
By way of background, the National Women's History Museum,
as it exists today, was incorporated in Washington, DC, in 1996
as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization, and its
first project was to lobby Congress and raise the funds to
relocate the Portrait Monument of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan
B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott. We succeeded, and the statue was
moved from the crypt into the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on
Mother's Day of 1997, where it still stands today. Now millions
of visitors to the Capitol have an opportunity to see our
foremothers standing alongside our Nation's forefathers.
Since its inception the National Women's History Museum has
raised over $12 million. We have developed an extensive Web
site with 24 online exhibits and over 300 biographies on women.
We have placed $1 million in reserve to potentially underwrite
the commission, or as a deposit toward the design and
development of the museum so that no taxpayers' dollars will be
used for this endeavor. We have celebrity ambassadors and
supporters like Alfre Woodard, Meryl Streep, Kate Walsh and
Geena Davis; women's history scholars; and more than 50,000
charter members. We have partnered with the George Washington
University on a lecture series. We have produced a public
service announcement that was directed by acclaimed filmmaker
Catherine Hardewick. And we have widespread bipartisan support.
The National Women's History Museum now embraces the
project of advancing a permanent museum in our Nation's Capital
recognizing and honoring half of our Nation's history, women's
history.
In conclusion, I give you one astonishing fact. There is no
world-class women's history museum in any nation's capital in
the world. A museum established by this commission would be the
first in any nation to show the full scope of the history of
its women, thereby serving as a beacon to people everywhere. It
is vital that America, a Nation that has done so much to
advance equality, houses the National Women's History Museum to
celebrate the deep and lasting impact women have made.
Thank you again for this opportunity to testify. I would be
happy to answer any questions.
The Chairman. Thank you very much. We certainly appreciate
your opening remarks there.
[The statement of Ms. Wages follows:]
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The Chairman. As has been mentioned, and certainly with our
first panel as well and my opening statement, Ms. Lofgren as
well, I think we all have concerns about the budget constraints
and the money, where is the money coming from. And, you know,
in this town everything--every conversation really ratchets off
that. So I think certainly it is certainly refreshing to hear
that the women's history museum could be solely funded by
private contributions.
I guess I would like to just explore that a bit more with
you, because that is probably the biggest stumbling block, I
think, that we--well, we have got a couple, but certainly that,
a marquis issue as we go forward. So could you talk a little
bit about how confident you are in assessment for not only the
construction of it, but the maintenance of it?
And then as we look at legislation, certainly one of the
things is you don't want something to go off infinitum; you
would like to have a start and a conclusion, a timeframe, et
cetera, for it, or even thinking about the possibility of
putting a sunset provision in there or some sort of constraints
to make sure that there is a matrix, an accountability matrix,
to make sure the project is moving along. What are some of your
thoughts on that?
Ms. Wages. We have studied, talked to, worked with various
consultants and experts in the field of building museums, so we
would hope to be able to build a museum between 400- and $500
million. I think that that is kind of the going price. And that
would include the exhibits, the interior, as well as the
construction of the museum. It appears that annual operating
will be around 15- to $20 million a year.
Again, we have talked to many experts. We believe that
representing over half of the Nation's population and then the
other half who love their mother are going to come in and
contribute to the building of this museum.
So we believe that the resources are there. We have worked
to put together--we have a fundraising plan that if you pass
this bill today, we could start working tomorrow. We would
celebrate tonight, but we would start working tomorrow.
The Chairman. First celebrate, then work, right?
Ms. Wages. Celebrate then work, yes.
The Chairman. That is right.
Ms. Wages. And so we feel quite confident that--we have
raised more money to this point than any other museum has at
this stage in their development. And we get--again, we have
50,000 charter members. We get thousands of letters from women
saying, I worked my entire career, and I didn't get the respect
or I didn't get the opportunity that I could have and should
have had. And so those women are now towards the point of
retirement and looking at where they want to leave bequests and
those types of things.
So there is a tremendous opportunity here, and we believe
that we can make this happen.
The Chairman. You know, the other issue as well, as we
said, the money certainly, but then the location. And obviously
the Mall, everybody wants to be on the Mall, and that has
always been--we have obviously a very limited amount of space
there. And I know you have had some experience on your journey
here all of these years of looking at other sites rather than
the Mall, but maybe in the Capital City here, maybe even in
some other location that has some significant event, a women's
event or something. Maybe you could speak a little bit to what
your thoughts are of the location of such a museum.
Ms. Wages. We have looked at more than 40 locations,
private and government owned, and it comes down to where will
the most people visit the museum; where would we locate the
museum in order to have the greatest impact. I mean, after
working on it for this long, we certainly want to make sure
that it is a success, and that millions of people are coming to
this museum, so that narrows it down pretty quickly to
something that is on or very, very close to the National Mall.
And as you said, there is limited space on the Mall, but we
even have a historical justification for why we should be
there--the African American Museum is now under construction,
African American men were the next to the last to be granted
the vote, and women were the last to be granted the vote, and
so that last spot is just being saved for us.
The Chairman. Very good.
Ms. Wages. Yeah. Thank you.
The Chairman. Very good answer.
With that, the chair recognizes the gentlelady from
California for her questions.
Ms. Lofgren. Thank you, Madam Chair.
And before asking anything, let me just express my thanks
to you for your years of work for this on behalf of the people
of our wonderful country; not only this, but your efforts in
the portrait monument. You know, it is all very meaningful, and
we are grateful to you.
You know, thinking about location, I do agree that a spot
on or near the Mall would be ideal. What I am wondering is we
have got a moving target in some ways. I mean, for example, the
FBI is going to be vacating its spot. We had a hearing--I was
unable to go because of a conflict with the Judiciary
Committee--and I don't think we are ready to move yet on the
printing office, but certainly the requirement for space is
very different in the digital world than it has been in the
past. So I am just suggesting that there are some publicly
owned facilities that we need to think about as we think about
what to do with our museum needs. Obviously we are going to
have to need a space for the American Latino project as well,
and we certainly want to do everything.
So have you looked at those outlying efforts for facilities
that could become available?
Ms. Wages. We have. We keep our fingers on the pulse
through our advisors and consultants, and so we are aware of
the FBI building coming down. Also a little bit further out is
the 10th Street corridor, that may be renovated. And so we are
not opposed to talking about any of these locations.
Ms. Lofgren. The other question I have has to do with
governance. Now, the Smithsonian has a specific governance
structure which it follows in its museums. There is a board of
regents, the secretary, museum advisory board, museum director.
Is that something that you are envisioning for this museum?
Ms. Wages. We envisioned that we would definitely have an
advisory board and a board, depending on what the ultimate
structure is. So we have looked at Smithsonian's structure. I
mean, they largely have that structure because they are a
quasi-government entity, and we have been looking at being a
private entity, but if an opportunity opened to become part of
the Smithsonian family, we would certainly welcome the
opportunity to discuss it.
Our largest concern around that are the funds that Congress
needs to allocate to Smithsonian entities, so if there is a way
that we could have the best of all worlds, a quasi-Smithsonian
privately funded, we would, you know, be thrilled to discuss
that.
Ms. Lofgren. Well, that could be difficult, but as far as
we are concerned, nothing is impossible. So I do think, you
know, it is important that, as with the most of the museums,
that this be available on a free basis to the public, if at all
possible. And one of the great things about visitors coming to
Washington, and you can contrast it to going to other world
capitals where you have to pay a lot of money, here you can see
the children coming in, it is available to the American public,
which is something we want to preserve, and I know you wish to
as well. So as we move forward, I think we are going to have to
be creative about how we do a blended approach, and I know that
your commitment and creativity will be key to that.
So I don't have further questions except just to say thank
you for all you have done, but, even more, thank you for what
you are continuing to do.
I yield back.
The Chairman. The chair certainly thanks the gentlelady for
her questions and comments, and we certainly want to thank you
as well. And just a couple of not questions really, but follow-
on comments about the two biggest stumbling blocks you have
here.
And as Ms. Lofgren was mentioning about the Government
Printing Office, we actually had a hearing here just last week
about that and their spot, which is an excellent location, as
you know, right next to the Senate there. I think they were
saying they have 75,000 square foot of space almost immediately
available for lease. I am just saying, picking up on some of
the areas that are in the immediate vicinity here, that keeping
an open mind of where, that is something I think this committee
would be very looking forward to working with you on,
identifying various locations.
And then I think also, and certainly in regards to the
funding, the funding level, and as you mentioned, in a perfect
world what would be optimal really where you had a sort of
partnership, a really public-private partnership----
Ms. Wages. Right.
The Chairman [continuing]. If you will. I tell you, that
really is the wave of the future in so many things that
government does. I also sit on the Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee, and as we are looking at a 5-year
reauthorization of how we rebuild this Nation's infrastructure
with roads and bridges and everything else, you see that there
are so many areas where government just doesn't have the
funding for everything. We need to enter into public-private
agreements for all kinds of different areas. This may be,
again, women being on the leading edge of all of these things.
Ms. Wages. Trendsetters.
The Chairman. We are trendsetters, right?
So just another area, I think, where it is great you have a
really open mind on how some of these things could possibly
happen, because where there is a will, there certainly is a
way, there is a way forward, and that is really the impetus of
this hearing. And so I think it has been an excellent hearing.
We got a lot of ideas out on the table, and I look forward to
this committee continuing to work on this issue. Thank you so
very much.
Ms. Wages. Thank you.
The Chairman. And without objection, I would say all
Members will have 5 legislative days to submit to the chair
additional written questions for the witnesses, which we will
forward and ask the witnesses to respond to as promptly as they
can so that their answers can be made part of the record if
there are any further questions.
And with that, the hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:30 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]
[Written questions and answers for the record follow:]
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