Our latest exhibit, Targeting Women, examines the historical role of women in American firearms culture, with particular attention to how the firearms industry marketed guns to females during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Rather than treating women’s participation in firearms ownership and usage as a modern development, the exhibit connects female firearm ownership and usage within a longer historical tradition encompassing self-defense, sport, livelihood, and symbolic association. As mass advertising expanded in the late 1800s, firearms manufacturers increasingly recognized women as consumers and adapted their marketing strategies accordingly.
The exhibit explores recurring female archetypes found in period advertising, including the vigilant homemaker, the capable sportswoman, and the fashionable figure whose marksmanship carried social appeal. These images reflected prevailing cultural assumptions about gender and safety while shaping public perceptions of women and firearms.
A central feature of the exhibit is the industry’s development of gender-specific products, such as Smith & Wesson’s 1902 Ladysmith revolver. Marketing materials emphasized both practicality and refinement, presenting firearms as tools for protection while reinforcing contemporary ideals of femininity.
Featuring ten historical advertisements, Targeting Women invites viewers to engage critically with the material as artifacts of consumer culture and gendered discourse. While some imagery may be uncouth by modern standards, these sources provide valuable insight into how women were positioned within the evolving narrative of firearms in American history.