Exhibit honors Georgia women

Many people know Dalton often is called the Carpet Capital of the World, but the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society wants to make sure people know the industry got its start with a woman.

“Catherine Evans Whitener cq is credited for taking the first step in what became a major industry,” said Jean Manly, a volunteer with the historical society. “It started as tufted bedspreads, then evolved from handmade spreads to machine made to carpet.”

Ms. Whitener is among 20 women included in the society’s Georgia Women of Achievement exhibit, a display that highlights the accomplishments of women who lived in Georgia and excelled in business, literature and education.

The exhibit has been traveling among different schools in Georgia and will continue throughout March, which is Women’s History Month, said Erik Gallman, president of the Whitfield-Murray County Historical Society.

“It recognizes women who have overcome obstacles and made significant contributions to the community where they live and to the whole state,” he said.

The exhibit will be at Bagley Middle School in Dalton this week, officials said.

Mrs. Whitener didn’t make the first bedspread, but she is credited with making bedspreads attractive yet simple enough to mass produce, Ms. Manly said. And from her method of sewing and clipping threads, then washing and shrinking the fabric to lock in the stitches, came the formula to make tufted bedspreads and, eventually, carpet.

“If anybody doubts how important women are, they just need to see the Georgia Women of Achievement exhibit because it’s a lot of women from all parts of Georgia,” Ms. Manly said. “Some black, some white, from all different parts of life with all different endeavors.”

The exhibit also includes women such as Dicksie Bradley Bandy, who also had a bedspread business and used her money to help establish the regional library system and the Salvation Army. She was inducted into the Georgia Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993.

Another exhibit honoree, Corra Harris, was an author and writer for the Saturday Evening Post. She is best known for her book, “A Circuit Rider’s Wife,” about the life of a woman married to a minister who preaches from church to church.

The exhibit also includes Martha Berry of Rome, Ga., who started Berry College, and Juliette Gordon Low, who started the Girl Scouts of America, Mr. Gallman said.

“We hope it encourages other female students to go out and not be held back by being a woman,” he said. “We want them to realize that they can really can contribute and make their mark on the community.”