Crazy man makes crazy plan
Image from progressivemajoritywisconsin.org.
The Zink Womanless Library is just what it sounds like — a library named after a guy named Zink where women are not allowed. Furthermore, the Zink Womanless Library does not allow books, magazines or any other type of publication written by a woman.
Luckily, the Zink Womanless Library is only an idea dreamed up in a crazy man’s will, and it does not actually exist. T.M. Zink’s will also stipulated that there should be signs over the door that said “No Women Allowed.” Wow, how very Little Rascals of him.
Zink wanted to pay for womanless library
I have read several different figures regarding how much money Zink left in his will for building the Zink Womanless Library, but the general idea is that in 1930 when he died, Zink left all of the money he had (which is rumored to have been either $35,000 or $50,000) in a trust and instructions to let the trust gather interest fro 75 years and then use the money to build the Zink Womanless Library.
Back in a day when there were no internet loans, $35,000 was worth a lot more, and the trust, when it matured in 2005, was worth a lot more than that. However, his daughter successfully challenged the terms of his will, thus the Zink Womanless Library will never come to be.
Wait, this dude’s got a daughter?
By way of explaining his request, Zink wrote this in his will:
“My intense hatred of women is not of recent origin or development nor based upon any personal differences I ever had with them but is the result of my experiences with women, observations of them and study of all literatures and philosophical works.”
When I said before that he left his entire fortune for the library that wasn’t totally true. He left his daughter $5. More surprising than the fact that this guy had a daughter is the fact that this guy had a wife. Yeah, the Master Misogynist was married. His wife got nothing in his will.
More about the Zink Womanless Library
Among the other bizarre stipulations Zink had planned for the Zink Womanless Library, he specified that there were to be no “feminine” decorations or artwork that had images of women in it. It’s estimated that the fortune would have been worth $3 million in 2005 if the family had let it sit and go toward its intended cause.
Though I have found several articles that detail Zink’s requests, I can’t find anything regarding when the daughter won the case against it or where the money went. I do imagine that was an easy case to win, and I hope the daughter ended up with the money and used it to publish books by female authors.
Iowa dodged the bullet
T.M. Zink was from Iowa, and though he didn’t specify in his will where the Zink Womanless Library should be, I am assuming he’d want it as close to where he lived as possible.
Imagine how T.M. Zink would feel if he knew that not only will there never be a Zink Womanless Library in his home state, but in Iowa now women are allowed to marry women!
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/appose
While "appose" is a word, it is not grammatically correct here. It means to place near to. I believe the intended word here is "opposed." However, instead of playing grammar police, we should just grasp the message in Franrose's post, as "opposed" to nit-picking over it.
Erm, actually "appose" is a word, you chop.
“appose” isn’t a word. NICE TRY, HOUSEWIFE.
Women in the 1920′s have always had lesser rights and privileges as appose to men. They were considered the weaker sex, therefore, was not encouraged to take part in the corporate world. There were only a few types of profession a woman was permitted to take part of. She was either a house wife/ mother, or she could earn a living herself by becoming a seamstress or keeping boarding houses. However, as time changed, women realized they too could earn the privilege and honor that men enjoyed. In the 1930′s, 24.3 percent of all women in the country were lucratively employed. Three out of every 10 women employed during this time frame were in domestic or personal service. According to a 1940 census, out of every ten women workers, three were in clerical or sales work, two were in factories, two in domestic service, one was a professional, and one was a service worker. This Zink guy was obviously alive during the rise of working women, and witnessed firsthand the greater potential of women in general. I say, the man was a bit intimidated by this.