Ida Lewis operated the Lime Rock Lighthouse in Newport, R.I., saving 18 people over 39 years. She became a celebrity, and President Ulysses S. Grant went to meet her. Several women became known as riverboat pilots along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers during the late 19th century. Callie French and her husband, Captain A. B. French, ran floating theaters. As early as 1811, women served as nurses in the U.S. Navy.
Women also are in the merchant marine and navies throughout the world.
The exhibition helps to educate that women have always been there. Their story just hasn't been told.