The La Salle Public Library will virtually host at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 23, the tourism company A Tour of Her Own and public historian Meghan Hanson for a virtual presentation of “Department Stores: A Feminine Oasis.”
“All women love shopping,” is a cliché that has haunted half the population. Like many stereotypes, it oversimplifies a misunderstood truth. Shopping was a place for women to find a modicum of freedom from the male-dominated world. This nexus of classes and commerce allowed women to casually socialize in chance meetings and exercise the power of economics often unavailable to them in regimented day-to-day lives. In the nation’s capital, many of the largest department stores were situated between the White House and the Capitol.
In this virtual tour, Hanson will explore the streets of Washington D.C., that is strewn with the ghosts and skeletons of these iconic buildings, and discuss how a simple trip to the store was, in fact, so much more.
A Tour Of Her Own was founded in 2018 by licensed tour guide Kaitlin Calogera, as the first tourism company in Washington to focus exclusively on women’s history, after seeing a lack of women’s representation in history and public spaces. Calogera mobilized a team who collectively turned this vision into a sustainable venture.
This unique program is free and open to the public. Register at https://bit.ly/3VLHhK8. For more information, contact the La Salle Public Library at 815-223-2341.
