Important information about tourism in Costa Rica - Florida

Sculpture of Columbus by Mary Lawrence

Sculptor Lorado Taft needed assistants to help him carry out the decorations for the Horticulture building at Chicago's Columbian Exposition in 1893.

Horticulture building at the Columbia Exposition

Unfortunately all the qualified male sculptors were already occupied with other work. The deadline was approaching and he needed to complete the project in time.

Taft realized he had plenty of talented women among his students at the Chicago Art Institute.

Lorado Taft and his students at work, 1899

He asked Daniel Burnham, director of public works, if he could hire women to help him on the official project, a practice virtually unheard of at the time.



Burnham told Taft he could "hire anyone, even white rabbits, if they can get the work done." (Link to video)



The team of women promptly dubbed themselves "The White Rabbits," and successfully completed the work. They became some of the leading women sculptors in America, including Julia Bracken (1871–1942), Carol Brooks (1871–1944), Ellen Rankin Copp (1853-1901), Helen Farnsworth (1867–1916), Margaret Gerow, Mary Lawrence (1868–1945), Bessie Potter (1872–1954), Janet Scudder (1869–1940), Enid Yandell (1870–1934), and Zulime Taft.
----
White Rabbits on Wikipedia
Online article on the White Rabbits