Ashley Gardner, executive director of the Women’s Museum of California, led a private tour of the museum on Oct. 5 and spoke passionately of the museum’s past, present and future.
Gardner, who discovered the museum in 2002 during the inaugural Women’s Hall of Fame Awards, pointed to a wall display listing past inductees. “Some names everyone has heard of, and others not many will recognize, but that is the point,” Gardner said, “to recognize women that may have been forgotten, ones that were just quietly doing what they were doing to make a difference.” Nominations for the March Women’s Hall of Fame Awards are due from the community by Oct. 31.
During a tour of the museum’s gift shop, Gardner said, “We support local women artists through the sale of their work. The revenue helps sustain them and the museum.” She added that, beyond supporting local artists and lifting up history’s forgotten women, the museum is dedicated to lifting up women around the world by selling their products. Widows from India, indigenous women of the Amazon and local homeless women are equally represented.
Gardner said that museum founder Mary Maschal, born in 1924, “was told she couldn’t be a preacher like her father because she was a girl. At 55, Mary moved here from Indiana, where she met women from the country’s first women’s studies program (at San Diego State University, circa 1970). From them, she learned about Victoria Woodhull, Alice Park and other women trailblazers.”
This inspired Maschal to gather evidence of women in history. Her home in Golden Hill (now a historic landmark) was overflowing with historic artifacts before her death in 1998. Her final wish to keep her mission alive after she died was honored by friends and family, who moved her collection to a nearby storefront shortly before her death.
The museum moved into its current Liberty Station home in August of 2012 after five years seeking an empty space in Balboa Park. “It’s hard to know the reason why it didn’t happen,” Gardner said, “but we hope that someday a museum focused on women’s history can be represented in our city park. After all, it was a woman who made it possible. Kate Sessions was one of those early women who helped to build San Diego.”
Annually, the museum welcomes 10,000 visitors. Approximately 250 members and 300 volunteers help keep the museum running every year along with donors and a dedicated board of directors.
“Large endowments are ultimately necessary for the museum’s future,” said Gardner. “We haven’t achieved our full potential in reaching schools. We are working on funding for that now. We would like to have all of our exhibits installed at different schools accompanied by a speaker, films and conversation.”
Gardner is dedicated to honoring the founder’s dying wish of growing the museum into the best women’s museum in the world.
For more information, see womensmuseumca.org