New exhibit at Byron Museum

BYRON – The Byron Museum will begin hosting “Bar None: 125 Years of Women Lawyers in Illinois,” an exhibit about the first 100 women lawyers in Illinois, compiled by the Chicago Bar Association Alliance for Women, on April 3. The exhibit will be on display at the museum until June 26.

Among the women recognized in the exhibit are Myra Colby Bradwell, who in 1869, was the first woman to apply for admission to the practice of law in Illinois; Rockford resident Alta Hulett, who was critical in the passing of the first anti-sex-discrimination law in the country in March 1872, and who became Illinois’ first female lawyer at the age of 19 in 1873; Ida Platt, the first African-American woman admitted to the bar in Illinois; Florence Kelley, who became secretary of the National Consumers League in 1900; and Mary Barteime, first female elected judge in Illinois.

The museum is at 110 N. Union St., and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.