Founded in 1881 to help women in need, the Christian Woman's Exchange has been a vital part of New Orleans throughout its history. Its raison d'etre, then and now, has been to serve the community. Later, the women changed their mission to reflect education and historic preservation. In the 1960s they transformed the Hermann-Grima House from a boarding house into a museum dedicated to illustrating life in the Golden Age of New Orleans. In 1996, the organization acquired the home of famed architect James Gallier, Jr. The driving force in organizing the Christian Woman's Exchange was founder and first president Margaret W. Bartlett, who placed several notices in the New Orleans Times-Picayune in the spring of 1881, noting great desire among many of our best people's to have an efficient organization of ladies, ready and willing to do whatever their hearts and hands may find to do for the encouragement, improvement, and reclamation of their own sex. About forty ladies answered the call on April 1, 1881, and adopted the organization's platform, which, according to Mrs. Bartlett, could be indicated by the words encouragement, improvement, and reclamation and set annual dues of five dollars. In 1885, they published Creole Cookery , whose object was to provide funds for the purchase or erection of a building to meet the demands of their constantly increasing business. Today, the organization is still active, and several current members are descendants of the original founders.
