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Anne Hutchinson State House, Front of West Wing Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) was banished from Boston in the first decade of settlement because her religious views were different from those of the ruling ministers. Believing that both men and women could receive grace only from God, she accused the ministers of preaching that "good works" signified holiness. Hutchinson attracted women to prayer meetings she held in her home in part because her beliefs put women's souls on an equal footing with men's souls. She was a respected midwife and wife of an established merchant, but was banished in 1638 for heresy (see also D17). A statue, erected in 1922 as a gift of the Anne Hutchinson Memorial Association and the State Federation of Women's Clubs, was sculpted by Cyrus E. Dallin.
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D2: Mary Dyer State House, Front of West Wing  Mary
Dyer (died 1660) was a Quaker whose doctrine of Inner Light was similar to Hutchinson's
salvation by grace received directly from God. At the time, practice of the
Quaker religion was not allowed in Massachusetts. She witnessed for religious
freedom in Boston three times. Twice she was banished, but the third time she
was hanged on Boston Common. Dyer was a friend of Anne Hutchinson and walked
out of church beside her following Hutchinson's excommunication. This statue,
erected in 1959 from a descendant's bequest, was sculpted by Sylvia Shaw Judson.
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D3: Nurses Hall and Gallery State House, Second Floor The statue of a Civil War nurse administering aid to a wounded soldier was a gift of the Massachusetts Daughters of Veterans in 1914. They called the nurses "Angels of Mercy and Life Amid Scenes of Conflict and Death." Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), author of Little Women, served as a Civil War nurse in Georgetown, D.C., until she contracted typhoid fever. She wrote about her experiences in Hospital Sketches (see also B6). On the facing balcony wall is a painting honoring mothers of war by Boston artist Edward Brodney. His mother, Sarah Brodney, was the model for the central figure. In 1996, the Massachusetts legislature recognized that the State House art collection included only a handful of images of women. They recommended that a new work of art be created to honor the contributions of women to public life in Massachusetts. When permanently installed on a large wall just outside Doric Hall, the work will depict six women selected by an advisory committee. Dorothea L. Dix (1802-1887) (see D4), Florence Hope Luscomb (1887-1985) (see B17); Sarah Parker Remond (1826-1894) (see D13); Mary Kenney O'Sullivan (1864-1843) (see C9); Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842-1924) (see B13); and Lucy Stone (1818-1893) (see D6) were chosen to represent all the women who dedicated themselves to improving life in the Commonwealth. The two-toned marble panels designed by artists Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and Susan Sellers will include words written by the women etched on the stone and bronze busts cast from period photographs. Historical sources will be used to reveal the personal and political challenges these women faced in their struggles to bring about social change. |
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