Publicizing Domestic Piety: The Cultural Work of Religious Texts in the Woman's Building Library

The Woman's Building Library at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 included many texts that could be classified as "religious." In bringing a large body of women's publications together in one place, the Woman's Building's organizers called attention to women's past achievements in order to carve out a larger space for women's public participation. Yet the project of expanding women's sphere coincided imperfectly with the domestic model of piety that most religious publications embodied. This essay explores tensions between the Woman's Building's goals of advancing women's power to shape the public sphere and the library's religious contents.