smithsonian affiliate. welcome back, friends of the museum and our friends from c-span who are taping today. today we have sheri caplan, author of petticoats and pinstripes. portraits of women in wall street history. while this is her first book, she is no stranger to writing. you can find her a contributor to forbes and bloomberg law and other media outlets. during her research, she used some of the resources here including a finding in our collection for the image on the cover. she has a wall street background. she was a vice president and assistant general counsel at gold man sacks and also on securities arbitration roster of finra, financial industry regulatory authority. her undergraduate work was at yale, her jd at the university of virginia. she got her law degree.

and if you go to sheri caplan.com, you'll see that inspiration for her writing often comes from a nice cup of tea that is by her side or a piece of chocolate. so to provide inspiration today, we present her from the museum shop a hershey's bar and we look forward to your speech. welcome, sheri. [ applause ] >> thank you all for coming on this beautiful day and thank you to the museum for hosting this event. i put together a power point on the topic and we're going to start with that and then afterwards, i'd be happy to take any questions. so here we go. in a word, wall street is not the place for a lady to find fortune or character. that's what noted american banker henry clug had to say about the idea of women on wall

street. any thoughts about that? well, what are we talking about when we talk about the subject of women and wall street? and why does it matter? i wrote this book because i wanted to read it. and it did not exist. when i first wanted to know more about this topic several years ago, i looked for a book about it on the library shelves. i found books on wall street history that i had already read. they were excellent histories, but they contained very few references to the women's experience. i found a book on the african american experience, jewish american experience and found a book that interviewed women who worked on wall street in the 1980s and 1990s, but could not find anything on the broader topic, the evolution of women's roles in american finance. so after being unable to find someone else's account, i went

searching for the answers myself and i found myself asking these questions. what is wall street? where are the women? and why do we care? so let's backtrack a bit and get a quick review of wall street's development. 1792 marks the formal beginnings of what would later become the new york stock exchange. in 1792, 24 men stood beneath a tree in lower manhattan and they signed an agreement that established a new market for a more orderly system of selling and buying securities. later, the invention of the telegraph in 1844, the rise of industrialization, and civil war spending lavished riches on wall street. and gave way to the gilded age. the term wall street had

now become symbolic of the nation's securities market. by 1918, world war 1 had catapulted wall street into the epicenter of global finance. in the 20th century then witnessed great market runs and bubbles. both financial, innovation and regulation took hold. investor base expanded as did the array of new products. wall street does not connote just an address in lower manhattan, but the vast world interconnected through technology and geographic bounds no longer matter. so where were the women? they were not beneath the buttonwood tree. most people here tend to think that muriel seibert was the first to take up the path on wall street when she purchased a seat on the new york stock exchange in 1967. but she was hardly the first to make her mark in american finance.

two other names that most frequently surface are those of victoria woodhall and heddy green. woodall and her sister had made the acquaintance of vanderbilt. the sisters were looking to get rich. and woodhall wanted to fund her political aspirations. they wanted to get rich and opened the first female owned brokerage in 1870. the firm lasted only a few years, and they were largely dismissed as a joke. to be sure, they were more keen on courting publicity than on analyzing earnings. but they were certainly savvy marketers and they courted publicity so well that one can liken them to many of their modern day cohorts in the brokerage industry. heddy green is usually dismissed as a miserly eccentric and dubbed the witch of wall street

and her fashion choice do nothing to help her shed that image. she was wealthy and vastly increased her fort tune through shrewd investments. her unfortunate nickname overlooks her keen financial mind and her participation in key events of the times. from a broader perspective, the business dealings of these women help not only draw the attention of other women to finance, but to raise the public scrutiny of whether a woman belonged on wall street at all. another woman of that same era goes for the most part little noticed. does anyone recognize this person? that is maggie walker of richmond, virginia. she recognized the importance of financial literacy and empowerment particularly for black women and she founded the st. luke penny savings bank in 1903.

er hegly her legacy endured to a greater known extent than her counterparts. the entity that she founded lasted into the 21st century as the country's longest continually owned and operated african-american bank. there are also women who ventured into the financial matters even before the gilded age leaders. some of these women were well-known. abigail adams and sarah livingston jay come to mind. they both actively invested in government securities and bank shares. and there are scores of others who also invested and remain unnamed and unknown for the most part. for instance, between 1759 and 1760, 61% of the investigators investors in the pennsylvania indian commission loan were

women. and between 1792 and 1799, 11% of stockholders of the insurance company of north america were female. so women may not have stood beneath the buttonwood tree, but some were participating in the formation of the capital structure of the emerging country. and they had been taking part in the colonial economy before then. despite legal restrictions, i am women who were single or widowed engaged in commerce as she merchants. women helped raise funds for the continental army and took care of the family farms and businesses while their husbands were fighting in the war. it raised confidence, broadened their abilities and gave them a

sense of empowerment. even if short lived. for the woman's place was still seen as being at home. world war i provided the watershed moment by which more women were introduced to finance. again personal necessity and patriotic duty coincided to make this happen. in this case, it was the women who powered the liberty bond sales during world war i who deserved the credit. they galvanized public attention on the skills and prowess of women and they broadened the financial vocabulary of the volunteers and public at large. soon many of the women who had once powered the bond drives were among the first to enter the expanding commercial banking workforce. and we tend to think of networking as a modern day development.

but in fact the first professional organizations for women in finance originated in 1921 with the beginnings of the association of bank women and the formation of the women's bond club. according to rumor, a woman even sought membership on the new york stock exchange in 1927, 40 years before it actually became reality. women made inroads particularly in commercial banking during the inter-war years. isabel benam became the first female railroad analyst in 1934 and embarked on a successful career that spanned six decades. mary robling became the first woman president of trenton trust in 1937. when world war ii came, again a

familiar story. women answered the country's call to duty and even filled empty posts on wall street. but they were booted out when peace time prevailed and the men came home. but in the coming decade, is both a booming economy and broadening acceptance of women's roles helped power further progress. from the 1950s through the 1970s, both wall street and american women staked their positions amid a changing landscape. a few intrepid leaders broke new ground at the crossroads. of particular note, mary robling became the first woman governor of the american stock exchange in 1956. and in 1965, julia montgomery walsh and phyllis peterson became the first women members there. the field of securities analysis

and so to did mutual fund aassets. the individual investor was attaining greater significant. the investor base became increasingly democratized. and by the late 1960s, the walsh preserve of wall street itself began to fade. many firsts were achieved by women in finance during these years. they pursued their careers against a backdrop of the women's liberation movement and other calls for societal change. by the 1980s, women had come a long way in finance. but obstacles remained. they were not going to go further on wall street if the financial sector could not cure its own ills. wall street was plagued by problems caused by playing technological catchup in the late 1970s and emerging from

stagflation. not helping was a bit of anti-feminist backlash and a sense of complacency as the equal rights amendment was defeated in 1982 and the wage gap also increased. once the economy boomed again, wall street gained a pop culture fascination. and for the first time, women numbered among its stars. elaine garsarelli who predicted the 1987 market crash and abby joseph cohen became household names. other women, however, faced inhospitable workplaces. beginning in 1996, the first gender based class action lawsuits were brought against major wall street firms. at present, we see more and more women successfully forging

strong identities within high profile careers. but women remain among the first to go both at general and higher levels. today overtly hostile workplaces no longer survive. both men and women are speaking out about the need to create a flourishing pipeline of women coming into and succeeding in finance. calls for greater workplace flexibility and financial education are also important for both genders. the book delves into these themes and a broad array of three centuries of social and financial history like a survey and is meant to be easily readable for both those familiar with wall street and those less so. the book celebrates overlooked

legacies of female accomplishments in finance and sets them in the context of their times. two appendices provide a handy tools for quick reference for significant women and chronology of milestones. so back to the question of whether the presence of women on wall street matters. remember this guy? wonder what he would think about what christine lagarde, the first female head of the international monetary fund, would have to say on the topic of women and wall street, approximately 100 years later. that 2012 interview, she quipped that the degree of tragedy stemming from the twet financial crisis might not have happened

had layman brothers been a bit more lehman sisters and brothers. what do you think? that ends my formal presentation. and i'd now like to throw the floor up to any questions and a microphone can be passed around or if anyone has broader topics on this topic of women this wall street and how they fit in and can survive. [ inaudible ] >> -- and her involvement in the panic of 1907? >> yes. heddy green is a fascinating character. and i would love to have lunch with her, but if that happened, she probably wouldn't have offered me any food of her own, although she was so wealthy. in 1907, the financial world was in crisis mode. and jpmorgan gathered a group of leading businessmen into the

office late at night and although she didn't acknowledge it formally, green was thought to have been spotted and there's a "new york times" article that describes her appearance coming down from the steps from that meeting that night. so it's basically agreed that she was involved in this meeting that helped stave off the 1907 financial panic. they were trying to think of ways to keep the liquidity going while they sorted things out and more banks did not fail. heddy green was very engaged in the corporate matters of the day that involved railroad mergers and transactions and she did not quiver and shake and try to hide the fact that she was actively investing. she was a woman. she was doing it and giving out her opinions while doing so. [ inaudible ]

>> -- shift in women as traitors -- traders since open outcry auctions have faded and electronic trading has replaced it. >> i think that's a great question. and i would think, yes, because certainly in the physical arena, trading of females diminutive stature in general is not going to serve her well in an open pit, open outcry kind of system. so i do think that the rise of electronic trading and platforms levels the platform more for women to participate more fully. but that's not the only obstacle. you have to make sure women want to get into that kind of role and that once there, they do have people who support their careers, as well. >> could you talk a bit about brooksley bourne and the changes

she wanted to have and the reforms going through now and would they have made -- what difference might they have made in 2008? >> i will say, and this goes outside the scope of my book, that more talks about the history of women on wall street leading up to 2000. i do note that in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, many of the leading regulators, federal regulators were female. and they were very proactive and born before then always involved in federal regulation of the markets. something to note that i don't think was ever largely spread around in the general press was as part of the wall street reform act, there is a provision

that calls for more recognition of diversity of wall street in the financial sector and how they engage with the marketplace and offices and regulations that were provided for in the regulation to try to talk about and raise the level of diversity in wall street including for women. as far as i know, we have yet to see how they're really put into practice and what will come of that. >> who's the woman on the cover of your book? >> i think the museum can answer that better than i can. it's an old tobacco advertising ad. that's why i love her. she represents just a woman as opposed to a woman that you might know. here she is looking to read the

stock teicker. but i don't know her name. i love that. as i said, there were well who were participating in finance during all the eras of our financial history. there's one. >> on the robeling lady, is she related to the robeling family of the brooklyn bridge? >> yes. and her husband was of that family. and they had created the trenton trust, and her husband died prematurely. and all of a sudden she was thrust into the leadership. she could have backed away and said no, thank you, i just want to do the country club thing. but her relatives said she could

do it, and she did it, sort of in a 1950s context. she was known for always looking very lady-like. and she liked the social aspects. but she was the head of a leading bank and became the first leading woman of the american stock exchange of i found her as a paradigm of that era. 1950, like the brooklyn bridge, the context of a woman being at home versus coming changes and getting more involved in the corporate world. okay. that's about it. i thank everybody. and i'll be available if anyone has anything else they'd like to bring out. thank you. [ applause ]

with the war in europe turning hot, when the blitzkrieg took place, the u.s. was totally unprepared. and george marshal came to president roosevelt and said we can't do things we've done in the past. we have to act now. we have to act precisely, and you have to do it today. so roosevelt went to congress the next week and said the u.s. must build 50,000 airplanes to protect itself. and all the auto companies were given projects to build engines and airplane parts. ford was given the project of the bomber. they wanted to mass-produce this airplane. so ford said i'm not going to build just parts. i'll build complete airplanes. they took what had been done as individual pieces and they took

the engineering drawings and designed it and a press would knock out these pieces and unskilled assembly workers with a little bit of training could assemble these airplanes. 35% of the four engine bombers built in the united states were delivered. and that was one of 11 factories building the b-24 bomber. saving a little piece of this plant was so important to that story. it's beyond words. i cannot describe the feeling we will all have and the big smiles once we pull this off. we did something here in detroit that was not done anywhere else in the world. and it literally saved the world from the axis powers. so we did that right here. >> michigan's