In July 1864, as the Civil War raged, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a bill for the creation of the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, the nation’s first statue collection. The collection displays two statues from each state in the union, honoring notable native sons and daughters from across the country. Unlike previous artistic projects in the
Capitol, Statuary Hall would afford the states, rather than the federal government, the opportunity to contribute to a national collection of art. The states, however, have favored their sons, and as of today, there are only nine statues of women out of one hundred, or less than one-tenth of all the figures it contains.