A Museum of Their Own: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1987-2007

An inspiring memoir relating how Wilhelmina Cole Holladay\nsucceeded in founding and establishing the best-known museum\ndevoted to women in the arts.

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Over the centuries, until quite recently, the work of great\nwomen artists had been ignored, forgotten, or denied; they had been\nlargely left out of museums and histories of art. Along came\nWilhelmina Cole Holliday, who boldly decided it was time to rectify\nthis oversight by founding a museum in 1987 in a landmark building\nnear the White House. A critic for the Washington Post wrote,\n“Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, the museum’s founding president, has\naccomplished something radical. No player in the art scene here has\na deeper understanding of power and money and of how our system\nworks. Despite her white-glove graciousness, hard-working Billie\nHolladay is a warrior and a winner….” This thrilling story of the\nbirth and early years of the NMWA is a lively, anecdotal,\nbehind-the-scenes, eyewitness glimpse of the efforts of dedicated\nindividuals who shared Mrs. Holladay’s vision and, under her\nleadership, helped her expand the permanent collection, organize\noutstanding exhibitions, renovate the Museum, and fund a robust\nendowment. Moreover, NMWA now boasts a growing membership—among the\ntop ten museums in the world—with active, vocal committees all\nacross the nation and in many countries. Illustrating the text are\n130 color pictures, which include works from the collection and\nfrom exhibitions, as well as 40 archival photographs of landmark\nevents that led to the Museum’s impressive growth.

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