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March is Women's History Month
March is Women's History Month, a time to reflect on and celebrate the contributions of women, who through the course of time have been underrepresented. The library has put together this guide to showcase just a few of the many resources available in the library and online.
Events and Studies in U.S. Women's History
Biographies, Autobiographies, Memoirs
Fiction, Poetry and Folktales
Arts, Sports, and Entertainment
Children's Books
Music
Playlists from Naxos Music Library
A great selection of classical, opera, and more by women composers. Use the buttons in the player to start and control the music.
You may be prompted to sign in with your R-MC credentials depending on your location and network connection.
Contemporary Women Composers - Naxos Music Library. Over three hours of music!
Historical Women Composers - Naxos Music Library. Over three hours of music!
Spotify Playlist for Women's History Month
Databases
- Newsbank's Women's History A Special ReportNewsbank's special report on the history of women provides current and historical articles, images, and background information.
- Discovering American Women's History Online This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to digital collections of primary sources (photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc.) that document the history of women in the United States. These diverse collections range from Ancestral Pueblo pottery to interviews with women engineers from the 1970s.
- Women's Studies International This link opens in a new windowIndexes over 2,000 sources with relevant materials in women's and gender studies.
Women's History - Media
The Ascent of Woman: A 10,000 Year Story
"In this four-part series, Dr. Amanda Foreman traverses countries and continents to uncover and interrogate key stories of the strong, radical and revolutionary women that have made and changed the course of human history from 10,000 BC to the present day. The Ascent of Woman argues that the history of women isn’t a straight line from Eve’s apple to Margaret Sanger’s Pill. Instead, over the past ten thousand years it has veered wildly between extremes of freedom and oppression, inclusion and exclusion. The reason is that the status of women is a barometer of a society’s tolerance, fairness and openness. A poor record on women’s rights goes hand-in-hand with low economic output and high levels of violence. For the next economic cycle to be the age of full participation, there has to be a woman-led revolution that unleashes the potential of all individuals. At stake are the goals of autonomy, authority, and agency for all women."
- Great Speeches: Today's Women
This seven-part series, Great Speeches: Today's Women, offers important yet often impossible-to-find speeches by contemporary and historically influential women: from Barbara Jordan to Elizabeth Edwards; Margaret Thatcher to Michelle Obama; Sarah Weddington to Lilly Ledbetter; and Condoleezza Rice to Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Virginia Women in History Digital Trails
Click a location on the map and then the clio.com link in the description.
"You can visit (virtually or in-person) sites associated with history-making women across the state through our Virginia Women in History Digital Trails" -- Library of Virginia, and the American Evolution, Virginia’s 2019 Commemoration.
Links
- Women's History - NARA
"Learn about the history of women in the United States by exploring their stories through letters, photographs, film, and other primary sources." - Because of Her Story - Smithsonian Institution
"To create a more equitable and just American society, the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative will create, disseminate, and amplify the historical record of the accomplishments of American women." - Women's History Month
"The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history." - Women's Hall of FameLink to "the Inductees of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Select any of the women to discover their stories and learn how they have influenced other women and this country."
- Women Inventors - SmithsonianThroughout history, women have contributed to the quality of many aspects of life, from every day to unique, with their inventions. Learn more about them here!
Participate
Contribute!
Take part in helping to preserve women's history resources by transcribing documents from the past.
- Smithsonian Institution RecordsProject Phaedra - At Harvard College Observatory (now the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), women computers studied glass plate photographs of the night sky. Here they catalogued stars, identifying variables, interpreting stellar spectra, counting galaxies, and measuring the vast distances in space.
- Clara Barton - Library of Congress"Many of Barton's papers have never been transcribed and you may be the first person in over a century to read some of these pages in full. These papers document her roles as the “Angel of the Battlefield” and founder of the American Red Cross, which she led for 23 years, organizing relief aid for the most devastating natural disasters of the late nineteenth-century."