‘Women of Valor’ exhibit on display at JCC

What’s a hat doing on display at the Jewish Community Center gallery through the end of this month?

The Bella Abzug-like hat is there to give a third dimension to the “Women of Valor” posters, created by the Jewish Women’s Archive, that are on display there.

“Women of Valor” is comprised of posters spotlighting the achievements of 17 notable Jewish women in various fields. They were created as part of the educational program of the New York-based Jewish Women’s Archive. Its mission is to bring to life stories from Jewish women’s history.

The posters on display at the Center were acquired by Sybil Kahn, patron of the arts and a founder of the Kansas City Jewish Museum initiative. Noticing that the Center gallery had been dark for some time, she offered to mount the exhibition with help from Marcus Cain, curator of the Kansas City Jewish Museum at the Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom.

“The Center was pleased to have collaboration from other museums,” Kahn said.

Besides Congresswoman Abzug, those featured on posters include educator/philanthropist Rebecca Gratz, poet Emma Lazarus, actress Molly Picon, dancer Anna Sokolow, National Council of Jewish Women founder Hannah G. Solomon, Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold, nurse/social worker Lillian Wald and suffragist Gertrude Weil. They span the years 1647 to 2000.

According to the JWA Web site, each of the women “had the courage and conviction to overcome social, cultural and religious barriers to achieve their goals. Each has left a meaningful contribution that has improved our world.”

Each poster offers a timeline of the subject’s life and accomplishments, a brief description of her, some quotes and photos.

Besides the hat, the handful of other three-dimensional items on display in two cases includes dolls made by the Alexander Doll Co., founded in 1923 by poster subject Beatrice Alexander.

Kahn said she is working with Hadassah President Shari Sokol on an extended version of the exhibition that will add “outstanding Kansas City women” to the mix and “have a very contemporary look.”

Kahn hopes the exhibit is inspirational.

“Nothing in the world just happens; it takes people who have imagination,” she said. “These are great stories about how it takes someone willing to do hard work, who have energy, women being knocked down, then picking themselves up again.”

The exhibit will be on display through July 31 during Center hours. The “Women of Valor” posters are also for sale through the Jewish Women’s Archive Web site, http://jwa.org/shop/posters/entireseries.html.

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