NWHP Blog: Events and Articles posted by people like YOU

NWHP Blog Twitter

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:58:24 +0000

NWHP Blog will now be posting updates, events, book reviews, articles and more on Twitter.

Women’s History & The Depression Era Resource

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:38:14 +0000

This is a new webpage, free, updated daily, and easily accessible, which will eventually be linked as the first guest artist page of the official Horton Foote website.

Mr. Foote was the Pulitzer Prize winning screenplay writer of such films as To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies.

The new webpage is an unfolding epic story of a time and a place in American history that has received too little attention nationally. The work is by a new writer, whose grandparents were cotton farmers. It is the epic story of Riah McKenna, a young farm woman who, along with her family, is struggling to survive the Dust Bowl. Uniquely, each day the author will put up a new “mini-episode” of this ongoing story of family, friends, and hard times.

This webpage offers an opportunity to students and scholars to reflect on the issues raised by those difficult Dust Bowl years. Moreover, it offers an opportunity to interact with the author as the story unfolds, because she will be visiting the blog frequently as it starts up.

It is a proud part of our history that the people of that era created their personal identities at a time of such anguish. Their determination, their marriages and friendships, and even their sense of humor deserve to be known to a wider audience.

At present the only place to access this new work is:
http://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.com

To hear an interview with the author, you can click on www.barnmedia.net and scroll down to the Dust Bowl story.

Book Review: The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:28:24 +0000

The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World

Author: Shelley Emling

In this age of technology and virtually unlimited access to information, it is continually surprising to see how many unsung female heroes still wait in the shadows of history to be recognized. A well-written book is one of the most effective, and enjoyable, ways to become acquainted with the women who made such gains in history, but have yet to be fully recognized for their significant contributions.

Shelley Emling has written such a book. The Fossil Hunter combines much needed information about Mary Anning’s professional accomplishments with the very personal tale of the events of her family and life. The result is an informative, well-crafted, and warm story of a woman at the vanguard of paleontology.

Editorial Reviews:

“Released just weeks after Tracy Chevalier’s fictional account of Anning’s life, Emling’s account pays tribute to Anning in an original and gripping historical biography.” –Financial Times

“Dinosaurs are astonishing today — and we’ve had several hundred years of biology to help us absorb the shock. Imagine the shock caused by these monster creatures discovered and presented by a poor, twelve-year old girl, in the early 19th century. This is the remarkable story that Emling tells so well, evoking a world far from ours that in just a few years took a destitute pre-teen scavenging the crumbling cliffs of Lyme Regis to the pages of the leading scientific journals of her time.” – Peter Galison, author of Einstein’s Clock’s and Poincare’s Maps and Joseph Pellegrino University Professor, Harvard University

“Shelley Emling vividly brings to life the fascinating story of Mary Anning, the greatest fossil hunter of the early nineteenth century. Anning single-handedly recovered an extraordinary collection of fossils of marine and flying reptiles that helped shape the way we now see the incredibly long history of life on Earth. With this enjoyable book, Emling gives Anning her deserved place in history.” –Hans Sues, Associate Director of Research and Collections, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

“The Fossil Hunter at long last brings to life one of the central figures in the early golden age of paleontological discovery — a woman of great diligence, and passion, and with a keen eye for fossil bone in the rock. As a young child, I was greatly inspired by Mary Anning. As an adult, working paleontologist, I remain so, a conviction doubtless reinforced by Shelley Emling’s fascinating book.” –Michael Novacek, Provost, American Museum of Natural History

The Fossil Hunter is widely available from fine woman-owned resources such as Women & Children First, A Room of One’s Own, and bookstores in your community.

JWA joins Flickr Commons

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:26:09 +0000

by Leah Berkenwald | Oct 19 2009

16th General Hospital Nurses, Jan 1944

Last week JWA became the 29th organization to join Flickr Commons, a project to increase access to public photo collections and to provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge to the historical record.

Many of the “Jewish American Women and WWII” images come from the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford’s digital collection. The others were contributed online by individuals responding to the Jewish Women’s Archive call in 2008 for oral histories, letters, photographs, and other objects that document American Jewish women’s experiences during WWII. If you want to add an image to the ones you see on Flickr Commons, conduct an interview with a woman who remembers WW II, or share a scanned photo or other document or a digital audio or video recording, we’d like to hear from you.

WAVES off duty in Bethesda, MD

The significance of JWA’s WWII project and the greater significance of Flickr Commons hits me on two levels. First, it reminds us that “living history” is more than just a catch-phrase. This is such an exciting use of technology to capitalize on public knowledge. This kind of collaboration is transforming the way we collect, share, and interact with history.

This project also touches me on a personal level. After having lost my paternal grandmother in 2007 and my maternal grandmother this year, I feel as though I missed many opportunities to hear their stories in their own words. The unfortunate reality is that with each passing year, more first-hand accounts and stories from the “Greatest Generation” are lost.

Rebecca Wolinsky

It is so important to capture these stories in the words of the women who lived them. It is also important to recognize their mementos as artifacts — to collect and identify them, and add them to the historical record.

Flickr Commons has created a collective shoebox for the world’s photos and documents. As we sift through them individually and recognize people and places, we can each contribute our knowledge — just like my grandmother did when she wrote notes on the back of her photos in calligraphy pen.

Head over to Flickr Commons and take a few mintues to look through our shoebox. If you recognize any locations, people, or stories, we invite you to contribute your knowledge by adding a tag or comment. If you would like to document and share your own family’s stories and artifacts, visit jwa.org for tools and guidance.

Projects like Flickr Commons provide a truly unique way to create a collective, inclusive history. No longer will history be, as journalist/personality Jim Goad so eloquently puts it, “like the missionary position … an act executed from the top looking down.” With tools like Flickr Commons and the ones available at jwa.org, we have the tools and the power to produce and share our own, inclusive history.

Jewish Women’s Archives website www.jwa.org

Call For Submissions: Poetry

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:14:06 +0000

Jennifer Kennedy is a senior at Saint Mary’s College of California. Through her social justice and hip hop class, she has started a blog about sexism and hip hop. She encourages you to check it out, comment, and suggest topics or start your own topic on the discussion board.

Also, if you are a poet, you can submit your poetry about sexism to hiphopjenn@gmail.com and it will be posted. The link to the blog is: http://www.interculturalencounters.com/jenn_s_outlook.html.

Enjoy!

NWHP Online Auction

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:43:48 +0000

Come Join Us!

Beginning on October 28, 2009, National Women’s History Project will be holding an online auction to raise much needed funds.

We need your support!

We’re asking you to participate in one of the following ways…

How You Can Help:

Donate.
We need Auction items to add to our catalog. If you have valuable merchandise, rare collectibles, business or personal services or access to unique events, time shares, or other treasures. We need your contribution today. Click here to Donate.

Be a Sponsor.
Contact us at NWHP@cmarket.org or 707-636-2888 to take advantage of promotional opportunities for your business or to pledge your individual support.

Tell Your Friends.
Do you know someone who would be interested in supporting our cause? Please share the news of the online auction with your friends so they can be part of the excitement. Refer a Friend to our auction so they can get involved.

Thank you in advance for your continued support! We look forward to your item donation and online bids!

Donate an item

Guest Book

Refer Friends

National Women’s History Project

3440 Airway Drive Suite F Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Ph: 707-636-2888
http://www.nwhp.org

Call For Proposals: Joint Women’s Studies & LGBTQ Conference

admin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:20:34 +0000

April 16-17, 2010

James R. Connor University

Center, UW-Whitewater“Leadership and Collaboration in

Shaping the Future:

The Intersections of Gender, Race,

Ethnicity and Sexuality”

Proposals are due by the October 30, 2009 deadline. The Conference Planning Committee will be evaluating proposals immediately following the deadline and decisions will be communicated in early January 2010.

On April 16-17, 2010, the UW-Whitewater Women’s Studies Program will be hosting the 34th annual Wisconsin Women’s Studies and 5th annual UW System LGBTQ Conference, bringing together academics, teachers, students, community leaders, activists, and others. The gathering is being co-sponsored by three UW System offices: the Women’s Studies Consortium; the Institute on Race and Ethnicity; and the Inclusivity Initiative.

The conference organizers seek proposals addressing research, scholarship, program development, pedagogy, curriculum, and/or community activism in the fields of Women’s, Racial/Ethnic, and LGBTQ Studies. A general focus on intersecting diversity issues and identities, as well as emerging and effective educational and organizational practices/processes, is encouraged. Best practices and case studies suitable for replication (or to be avoided) are especially welcome, especially as they relate to the educational advancement of our students and to the fields of Women’s, Racial/Ethnic, and LGBTQ Studies. We particularly encourage panels that represent approaches to topics which are collaborative, cooperative, diverse, interdisciplinary, and intergenerational.

Please use the on-line submission form below if possible. If you are not able to use the on-line form, you may download this proposal form as a Word document (Proposal Form) and return it as an e-mail attachment to wscoffice@uwsa.edu.

http://www.uww.edu/conteduc/camps/wsc/form.php

2009 Bioneers Conference Highlight

admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:10:44 +0000

Matilda Joslyn Gage came to life for 23,000 people at the 2009 Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, Calif., Oct. 13. The audience of 3,000 at the Marin Convention Center were joined by another 20,000 people watching the webcast in satellite conferences around the country as Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, the Executive Director of the Gage Foundation, spoke Gage’s words of peace and social justice in character. This a must see for anyone interested in women’s history.

Sally Roesch Wagner at Bioneers Oct 16 09

National Equality March, Oct. 10-11, Washington D.C.

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:38:50 +0000

October 1, 2009
12:00 pm

From the National Organization For Women:

“No woman will have full equality until all women have full equality, and we must seize every opportunity to ensure equal rights under the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The National Organization for Women has proudly endorsed the National Equality March taking place in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 11, 2009.”

Read the official statement from NOW President Terry O’Neill here.

Women’s Rights National Historical Park

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:43:03 +0000

America’s Best Idea: National Park Getaway

SENECA FALLS, NY – Come to this town on the Erie Canal and look straight-on
at a revolutionary. You’ll see a firm jaw; a face intelligent and lined;
eyes that reveal passion; and a ruffled collar and a flowered bonnet tied
with a bow.

Martha Coffin Wright and the four other women who arranged the First
Woman’s Rights Convention in 1848, along with some of their male
supporters, stand in the visitor center of Women’s Rights National
Historical Park. The group of bronze figures by sculptor Lloyd Lily
includes Elizabeth Cady Stanton, one of the authors of the Declaration of
Sentiments. The writers and signers of this document affirmed the position
of Thomas Jefferson “that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good
thing.” Their declaration amended the one that he had penned roughly
three-quarters of a century earlier. The 19th-century reformers and rebels
“[held] these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created
equal” (emphasis added).

In addition to the bronze statues, see the exhibits and the park’s film.
Explore the Stanton House, a white farmhouse where Stanton, her husband,
and her children lived. Park rangers offer guided tours that focus on
Stanton herself. With a movement that parallels the transformation of the
First Woman’s Rights Convention from an idea nurtured by Stanton and others
to an actual gathering on July 19-20, 1848, visitors can head from
Stanton’s home to the Wesleyan Chapel, where the convention took place.
Although the chapel is undergoing preservation and rehabilitation until
spring 2010, ranger-led tours at this historic building put the convention
in context.

Park Superintendent Tina Orcutt says, “Women’s Rights NHP is a rare gem of
the National Park System, where a social movement that challenged the
definitions of freedom and equality was ignited. Visitors learn about the
women who launched the 72-year struggle for women’s suffrage. Having this
park featured as a getaway during the peak of the autumn season is a great
invitation to experience the richness of our nation’s history in full
color.”

You can also take in the park with your cell phone as a guide. An audio
tour called Dial and Discover features five park locations where you will
meet dedicated, courageous individuals who rose up against their inferior
status and improved the lives of millions of people.

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Each week, National Park Getaways help people find new places to reconnect
with nature, history, family, and friends. To see previous getaways visit
www.nps.gov/getaways.