Many people recognize the name of Jane Addams from high school history textbooks, but few know much else about this incomparable woman of 19th-century Illinois history. And she was hardly the only one.
Few opportunities awaited Illinois women in that era. In 1900, only 16.3 percent of all Illinois women were employed, with the exception of housekeepers. They were clustered in a handful of occupations, including teaching; 74 percent of all teachers were female.
Still, women made a noticeable impact. Social clubs to promote reading, art and education were common, while the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, headquartered in Evanston, called for limits on alcohol. Monmouth is believed to have been home to the earliest women's political club in the nation. The Illinois Federation of Women’s Clubs, established in 1894, called for free access to reading for all citizens, and created small traveling libraries in storage trunks that were shipped to communities without public library service.
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