PHOTO COURTESY HEINZ HISTORY CENTER

Nellie Bly, the famous Pittsburgh-born muckraker, is often seen in historical photographs with a small handbag. In fact, she carried the bag on her record-breaking trip around the world in 1889.

That bag is currently on view at the Heinz History Center.

NELLIE BLY’S HANDBAG | PHOTO COURTESY HEINZ HISTORY CENTER

It’s part of the exhibition “A Woman’s Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh,” on view through Oct. 6, which features trailblazing women who entered fields they traditionally couldn’t, from journalism to film to politics. Also on display is the inauguration dress worn by Pittsburgh’s only female mayor Sophie Masloff, costumes from the National Negro Opera Company, which originated in Pittsburgh, and original sketches from Pittsburgher Peggy Owens Skillen, who helped to create the modern version of “Sesame Street.”

“Through more than 250 artifacts, immersive experiences and prominent archival images, A Woman’s Place will reveal how women have made Pittsburgh and the world a better place,” reads a press release for the exhibition.

PHOTO COURTESY HEINZ HISTORY CENTER

The exhibit highlights numerous contributions women made to social justice movements, from slavery to voting rights. A clipping from The Pittsburgh Gazette, dated Jan. 2, 1838, advertises the second-anniversary meeting of the “Pittsburgh and Allegheny Female Anti-Slavery Society,” the first female anti-slavery society in Pittsburgh. Speakers at the anniversary meeting, however, were male.

Other journalists featured include Jane Grey Swisshelm, an abolitionist who lived from 1815-1884 and started the local newspaper “The Pittsburgh Sunday Visiter [sic]” in 1847. In 1850, while working for the New York Tribune, she was the first woman to enter the press gallery of the U.S. Senate.

While working in Minnesota in the 1860s, she published editorials advocating for the violent removal of the Dakota people from their homeland during clashes with settlers. “Swisshelm accomplished a lot of good, but she was not immune to the prejudice of her day,” a placard reads.

A writer for the Pittsburgh Courier in the mid-20th century, Evelyn Cunningham was nicknamed the Courier’s “Lynching Editor,” because she wrote so tirelessly about the atrocities of lynching in the South. She attended college and started writing for the Pittsburgh Courier in 1940. “She served as a reporter and editor for 22 years, covering hard news when it was unusual for women to do so,” a placard reads.

The role of motherhood is highlighted as well. A quote from Ginny Thornburgh, wife of Pittsburgh-born Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh, on the wall reads: “As a mother, as a parent, as an advocate, you never rest, you never rest.” Radio singer Marilyn McCabe Honeywill is identified as a “Performer and Parent” on a placard, which describes how her career shifted from a KDKA radio star to founding Pittsburgh Parent magazine in 1988.

“… as a busy mom of six children, Honeywill eventually grew frustrated by a lack of parenting resources in the region,” the placard reads.

Another 20th-century performer, Lois Weber, is described as a “Movie Mogul.” Born in Allegheny City, Weber was a concert pianist — and the country’s first woman film director, writing, directing and performing in more than 200 films between 1908 and 1934.

“Though little remembered today, in the 1910s Weber was as highly regarded as her contemporaries D.W. Griffith and C.B. DeMille,” a placard reads. “She represents the gender parity that existed in early Hollywood when women held vital positions in the film industry. … Weber’s contributions to film making history have only recently been acknowledged.”

And what’s an exhibition on women’s contributions to history without a tribute to Pittsburgh’s connections to Rosie the Riveter?

The famous “We Can Do It” poster originated at Westinghouse Electric Company during World War II, created by J. Howard Miller as part of a series designed for Westinghouse’s War Production Co-Ordinating Committee to boost company productivity. Rosie the Riveter was a character in a song, and the character and poster eventually became linked in the public’s imagination.

“Real Westinghouse women were more likely to be welders, assembly line workers, or munitions inspectors,” the placard reads. “But over time, Miller’s figure captured Rosie’s ‘can-do’ appeal.”