History has always looked to the great and powerful for examples to follow, whether that means rulers, generals, or captains of industry. Back in our ancestors’ day, few women made it into those ranks.
“From the time that our nation’s first settlers landed on these shores and befriended American Indian families, both men and women have worked hand-in-hand to build it,” wrote President Jimmy Carter when proclaiming National Women’s History Week on March 8th 1980 (now celebrated throughout March). Too often women went unrecognized or had their contributions unacknowledgingd.”
Genealogists are increasingly intrigued by women’s everyday contributions in families – housework, cooking, child-rearing and calling on neighbors – which helped families survive and thrive. Learning these details allows us to celebrate the contributions of female ancestors; four archival collections hosted by universities provide an insightful glimpse of women’s history both ordinary and extraordinary.
Sophia Smith Collection
Established by Smith College for women in Northampton, Mass. in 1942 and begun by women writers’ works, this compilation began to accrue manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and primary sources covering middle-class family life in 19th and 20th-century New England as well as women in arts, professions (notably journalism and social work), suffrage movement history as well as more.
Highlights of the Medical Collection: This archive includes student applications and other administrative records of the New England Hospital for Women and Children from its opening in 1862 through 1969; also an 1897 to 1907 journal by Margaret Long, an author and physician who studied at Johns Hopkins and interned at New York Women’s Infirmary.
What can be found online: At http://smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/digitalcoll.html, you can browse samples from collections focusing on the YWCA; papers belonging to Garrison Dunham Bodman Hale families in New England; and Voices of Feminism Oral Histories Project.
Iowa Women’s Archive Housed by the University of Iowa Libraries, this collection of 1,100+ letters, photos, diaries, employment records, oral histories, speeches and newspaper articles documents Iowan women from 19th century through today. Under Resources click Collections for an alphabetized holdings list by topic such as teachers, rural/farm women nurses suffragette’s clubs womens clubs as well as Latina immigrants arriving as early as 1880s plus special projects on Latina immigration to Iowa as well as their role in their communities in Iowa suffrage movement projects! Special projects cover Latina immigrants arriving as early as 1880s along with coverage on Latina immigrants arriving as early as 1880s arrival as well as coverage on Latina immigrants that began arriving as early as 1880s arrival and special projects related to Latina/farmer women in Iowa as well as their participation in both communities during their time here as well as their lives throughout their time here!
Highlights: Rosalie Braverman is a Polish immigrant to Iowa City who discusses being Jewish there in an oral history interview. Additionally, more than two linear feet of diaries, letters, family history records and memorabilia from Lucy Van Voorhis White (1866 – 1932) a schoolteacher and farm wife in Dallas County Iowa dates from her time of life from 1866 – 1932.
What’s online: The Iowa Women’s Archives Digital Collection contains thousands of photographs, diaries, scrapbooks and oral histories that date back centuries. Simply click “Browse” to begin.
HEARTH: Home Economics Archive Are you curious to discover what life was like for your female ancestors when they were wives and mothers? Cornell’s collection of books and journals published between 1850 and 1925 (books from 1950 are in development) will answer this question for you, offering practical how-to guides as well as philosophical treatises about their roles within family units.
Highlights: Retrace history by exploring The Young Woman’s Guide to Excellence written in 1852 by William A. Alcott (second cousin once removed to Louisa May) and Christine Frederick’s 1915 cookbook Meals that Cook Themselves and Reduce Costs published two centuries later.
What’s Online: All 1,174 books and 13 journals (in 401 volumes) are now online, offering full text search or titles browsing options, time period or title browsing and bibliographies and essays related to home economics history.
Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University Special Collections Library contains both published and unpublished materials on women in the work force, women during the Civil War, African-American women, literature for girls (think Ruth Fielding or Nancy Drew!) as well as resources available to conduct further research. Their website offers descriptions, finding aids, and further resources available for research.
Highlights of Lois Wright Richardson Davis Papers from 1851 to 1881 are letters written from Lowell, Massachusetts sisters who moved with their Southern husbands (members of Confederate militia) to Mobile, Alabama. Widow Mary G. Franklin of Cherokee County Georgia kept an 1847-1855 account book of her mining, sawmill, and farm businesses which contains entries detailing work performed by hired hands as well as slaves.
What’s Online: Not much has been digitized here; however, if you visit library.duke.edu/digitalcollections and select Women’s History under Digital Collections heading, a handful of items such as 1864 Alice Williamson diary; Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson slave letters dating between 1837-1838 and Rose O’Neal Greenhow Civil War papers may be found there.
The National Women’s History Museum has existed since 1996, but you cannot open its doors and walk inside its exhibits. They exist online only; since 1996, however, its leaders have advocated for physical locations within Washington DC to showcase them.
This museum would explore both famous and ordinary women, from Colonial times through 1900, with exhibits about education from Colonial to 1900; industries like textiles and canneries; women’s suffrage; as well as exhibits about women in public service roles and women suffrage movements.
Congress representatives have proposed multiple bills regarding museum locations. HR 1700, approved by a Senate committee in April 2010, would allow the federal government to sell off an area near 12th Street and Independence Avenue SW as the future site of an institution costing $250-350 million in construction cost. Private money would pay for both land purchase and development of this museum project.
Discover what’s being done to construct The National Women’s History Museum by visiting helpusbuildit.org.
A version of this article appeared in Family Tree Magazine’s March 2011 edition.
