Before a time when many women could vote, own property or earn a living on their own, Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist and the Christian Science Monitor, played a significant role in challenging the limitations placed on women in the late 1800s.
In conjunction with Women’s History Month, celebrated every March, the University is hosting a multimedia exhibit in honor of Eddy. The exhibit is in Knight Library’s periodical room and runs until April 29.
In addition to the exhibit, two Thursday workshops will be held to discuss Eddy’s book and teachings. The first is at 7 p.m. April 17 at the University Bookstore and the second will be at 7 p.m. April 24 at Border’s Books and Music, located at 5 Oakway Center.
The Eddy exhibit has traveled all over the country and is a replica of the original exhibit, which has a permanent home at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, N.Y.
“The exhibit is great because it’s really interactive,” said Cara List, the exhibit’s campus coordinator and an AAA reference librarian. “It’s interesting and informational.”
According to Joan Pedersen, the exhibit’s national program manager, the exhibit was created in 1998 in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women’s rights gathering. Park coordinators wanted to feature exhibits about women in history who have not received much recognition.
“The exhibit really resonates with young people because (Eddy) was an overachiever,” said Pedersen. “She was an author, a religious leader and a healer.”
After recovering from an accident in 1866, Eddy was inspired by the biblical teaching surrounding healing and medicine. According to Sally Ulrich, the exhibit’s coordinator, Eddy discovered a correlation with spiritual thought and prayer and healing, and spent the next 44 years sharing her experience with others.
“Though teachings about metaphysical healing may seem like commonplace today,” Ulrich said. “(They weren’t) really accepted in the 19th century.”
In 1875, Eddy published “Science and Health,” later named “Science and Health with Key to Scriptures,” one of the first major publications about metaphysical healing, Pedersen said. The book has sold more than nine million copies.
In addition to authoring her pioneering book, Eddy also established the Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879. The church, which accepts members of any faith, has grown internationally and focuses on a prayer-based system of healing, Pedersen said. Eddy also established the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in 1881. The college still convenes every three years as a symposium for teachers of metaphysical healing.
At the age of 87, Eddy established the Christian Science Monitor in response to yellow journalism — what she considered irresponsible reporting that many large newspapers practiced to dig up dirt on people and businesses. The Monitor is still published today and is considered one of the top seven news publications in America. The paper has also won seven Pulitzer Prizes, Pedersen said.