The Clayton House museum in Fort Smith has announced its spring series of Clayton Conversations, beginning today with "Don't Discuss Your Bloomers: A Look Back at Restrictions on Women in the 1800s" at 2 p.m. today.
Fort Smith resident Sheryl Flanagin, a women's rights historian and current-day advocate, will present a slideshow in honor of Women's History Month, this year themed "Celebrating Women of Character, Courage and Commitment."
Go & Do
Clayton Conversations
When: 2 p.m. today
Where: Clayton House, 514 N. Sixth St. in Fort Smith’s Belle Grove Historic District
Cost: A donation of $5 is suggested
Reservations: (479) 783-3000.
Fast Facts
Clayton House
Schedule
April 12 — Themed Tea: “Pressing into the Future: Fort Smith’s Victorian Letterpress Entrepreneur” with Sarah Ridgley, owner of Pheasant Press, and Jade Espina on piano, 2 p.m. $10. Reservations required.
May 18 — Clayton Conversations: “History of the Fort Smith Symphony” with John Jeter, music director, 2 p.m. $5. Reservations suggested.
June 14 — Themed Tea: “Virtue and Vice: Two Prosecutors’ Thoughts” with Daniel Shue, Sebastian Country prosecuting attorney, and William H. H. Clayton, through a letter, 2 p.m. $10. Reservations required.
Adding local historic flair to the presentation will be Sue Robison of Van Buren, who portrays Mrs. Isaac C. (Mary) Parker for local historic events. Robison will share details of the federal judge's wife's experience when her husband died in 1896, regarding the handling of his will.
The Clayton House, a historic house museum, will feature special information in its March tours about the daily lives of women in the 1880s, as well as a focus on three women who played major roles in the museum: Florence Clayton, who lived in the home from 1882 to 1897; Julia Yadon, who stopped the home's demolition in 1969 and led an authentic restoration, opening the home as a museum in 1977; and Agnes Oglesby, a Fort Smith resident who was acquainted with the Clayton family in the 1890s. Oglesby donated her estate of Victorian furniture to the museum before she died in 1979 at 105 years of age.
NAN Profiles on 03/23/2014