A pin presented in 1996 to Rev. Lynne Holden, interim pastor of the Harbor Church, has served as a springboard for the somewhat-surprising discovery that one of the first ideas for a statue to stand atop the Statehouse in Providence was that of a woman called Hope.
Holden’s pin depicts a female figure clad in a helmet and a knee-length tunic; she is holding a spear in her right hand and touches an anchor with her left. Holden says that she understood the pin represented a figure referred to as Rhode Island’s “independent woman.”
The small gold pin was given to her by Virginia O’Shan, a member of the Rhode Island Commission on Women (RICW), which celebrates Rhode Island women for their work in the arts, business, economic development, education, health and politics.
Lucille Casali, who began working for the RICW in 1979, says, “The pin started out as just something awarded to the Woman of the Year. Later, if you attended a RICW function, you got a pin.” As O’Shan explains, there was a Trail Blazers’ Dinner in 1996 at which 60 outstanding women were honored, including the late state Supreme Court Justice Florence K. Murray. It was shortly after that that O’Shan gave a pin to Holden, whom she admired.
While qualifying her remarks as being anecdotal, RICW Director Shanna Wells says the pin, specifically designed for the group, was somehow related to the “independent woman” — a designation associated with the original sketches of a sculpture planned for the state capitol dome.
According to Wells, as the Statehouse was being designed in the late 19th century by New York architects McKim, Mead and White, “multiple design ideas were being submitted for the figure to stand on top of the new Statehouse including one for a woman.” However, Wells observes, “It’s obvious they were determined to have an independent man instead.”
A ‘modestly dressed’ woman
Wells’ conjecture coincides with historical accounts, one of which notes that the architectural firm submitted drawings of an 11-foot bronze statue to be placed on the dome. The figure created by Charles McKim, chief architect for the Statehouse, was called Hope, because the architects agreed she “represented Rhode Island’s 200-year-old motto with dignity.” She was described as “a sculpted, classic modestly dressed woman.”
In the 1890s, what has come to be characterized as “the great debate” among members of the Rhode Island General Assembly, determined that the drawing was not to be “a woman representing Hope,” nor would it be Roger Williams, whom members of the Rhode Island Historical Society originally preferred.
In fact, as the Providence Journal reported in October 1899, the notion of a statue of Williams, who had been referred to as an “independent man,” had been rejected for “a figure depicting freedom and sovereignty.” McKim was said to have suggested that a sculpture of Williams set 235 feet above street level would only be “a voluntary association of pantaloons, jacket and hat.”
It was thought that McKim rejected the Williams idea because he considered it inappropriate for a figure in colonial dress to adorn a Renaissance style building. In fact, as an alternative to Williams, he conceived the idea of a feminine statue representing freedom and hope.
The statue ultimately chosen was created by George Brewster, who taught at Rhode Island School of Design and worked in collaboration with the Gorham Foundry, a prominent silver manufacturer in Providence. Together they produced the figure that currently stands over the city of Providence and has come to be called the “independent man.” The architectural firm came to support Brewster’s rendering.
However, the idea of a female figure representing hope and independence clearly ignited the imaginations of members of Rhode Island Commission on Women, and when they sought to design a pin reflecting their vision of honoring women’s achievements, there seemed to be a natural link.
‘Something to be placed atop the dome’
Ken Carlson, reference archivist at the Statehouse Library, points out in some of the earliest discussions in 1890-1892 on devising “something to be placed atop the dome, they originally thought of doing a glorified flagpole and had original plans drawn in the shape of a woman, more an outline, with no face details filled in.”
Interestingly, the figure on Holden’s pin bears very little resemblance to the one thought to be drawn by McKim. Holden points out her little gold woman takes up a very militant stance, whereas the drawings provided by Carlson depict a woman (without facial features), who is draped in a long toga and holding the anchor of hope in one hand and an olive branch in another.
Beverly Dwyer, who was the executive director of the RICW when the pins were developed, puts a positive spin on the fact of woman’s equality having been eventually achieved in the state, in spite of the rejection of a woman for the capitol dome. By offering the pins and “by wearing them,” Dwyer says, “we were demonstrating the equality of women, which obviously did not change state history, but continuously demonstrates themes of women’s equality.”
Once the 500-pound statue of the Independent Man was cast and finally placed on the cupola of the Statehouse on December 18, 1899, it was said to represent both the strength of the state’s founder and the independence inherent in the character of the Rhode Islander.
Sources consulted for this article include rhody.com, the Tourist Promotion Division of the Rhode Island Development Council, the Rhode Island Office of Secretary of State and the reference archivist of the Statehouse Library.