The St. Louis Woman's Exchange: 130 Years of the Gentle Art of Survival

The St. Louis Woman's Exchange: 130 Years of the Gentle Art of Survival
ISBN-10
1614233586
ISBN-13
9781614233589
Category
Social Science
Pages
160
Language
English
Published
2012-02-29
Publisher
Arcadia Publishing
Author
Jeannette Batz Cooperman

Description

On the surface, the Woman's Exchange of St. Louis is an exquisite gift shop with an adjacent tearoom--beloved, always packed, the chatter light and feminine, the salads and pies perfect. But the volunteers who run the Woman's Exchange have had enough grit to keep the place going through two world wars, a Great Depression, several recessions, the end of fine craftsmanship and the start of a new DIY movement. The "decayed gentlewomen" they set out to help in 1883 are now refugees from Afghanistan, battered wives and mothers of sons paralyzed in Iraq. Sample the radical changes they have made over the years, as well as the institutions they wisely left alone, like the iconic cherry dress that has charmed generations of women and mothers, including Jacqueline Kennedy and Gwyneth Paltrow.

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