The Women of the Phelps Mansion – A special tour
Please join us for a special tour dedicated to the history of the many women who ran the Phelps Mansion. This tour will cover the women who originally lived and worked in the house from 1871-1882 — including women of the house Sarah Ireland Phelps and Hattie S. Phelps, Irish servants like Cora Leal and Margaret Jordan, and the cook and freedwoman Etta Davis — as well as the early members of the Monday Afternoon Club who later purchased the home in 1904. The tour will conclude with a discussion about the current digitization of Monday Afternoon Club records happening in partnership with Binghamton University. Guests will get an opportunity to explore these primary documents and learn about the process of preserving them for future generations. This tour will include all floors of the mansion. Please note the basement and third floor are only accessible by way of the servants’ staircases. These stairs are narrow and harder to navigate.
About your guide for this program:
Chelsea Gibson has a PhD in US history and specializes in the late 19th century and women’s history. She regularly oversees student internships at the Phelps, where some of this research originated. You can also see her at the monthly HistoryForge transcriptions, also held at the Phelps Mansion.