Rose Holz, associate director of the Women's and Gender Studies program, was interviewed by author Stephanie Gorton about her research on the “1939 Dickinson-Belskie Birth Series Sculptures” for Smithsonian Magazine.
The sculpture collection depicts human development in the womb and was a popular exhibition at the 1939-1940 World's Fair in New York City.
“The collection was intended to educate people about the process of pregnancy,” Holz said. “The organization that commissioned them (the Maternity Center Association) wanted to encourage women to get medical supervision as soon as they learned they were pregnant — and not wait until the moment the baby arrived, which was actually quite common back then. For most people, these sculptures were truly amazing because they offered a window into prenatal development, which was normally hidden inside a woman’s body.”
- Watch her October 2022 presentation on the sculptures at Columbia University Medical Center
- Read "Precious and rare: Research unearths sculptures long forgotten" by Deann Gayman in Nebraska Today
