Links to Internet Sites about Women’s History
General Topics
American Women’s History: A Research Guide
A good place to begin. This site will help you find a suitable topic for your research. It also provides useful links for primary sources. This is the site of Middle Tennessee State University’s Women’s History library and Internet sources. Has links to Women’s History multimedia exhibits and a link to other women’s history sites.
Searching American Memory for Women’s History Material
This is a good place to start your search when looking through the Library of Congress for materials concerning Women’s History. There is a guide to help you find relevant materials in the different collections.
Civil War Women
Developed by Duke University. On-line archival collections featuring scanned pages and texts of the writings of women during the American Civil War. Currently includes the 1864 diary of Alice Williamson, a 16 year old girl from Gallatin, Tennessee; the papers of Rose O’Neal Greenhow, a renowned Confederate spy; and the papers of Sarah E. Thompson, a spy for the Union. Links will take you to other primary resources including diaries, letters and photographs. You might also look at The Diary of a Civil War Nurse which is a digital collection from the American History Museum and allows you to use an interactive map that allows you to experience the places Amanda Akin encountered as a nurse. Civil War Women: Primary Sources on the Internet. Many links. Developed by The Special Collections Library, Duke University.
National Women’s History Project
Founded in 1980 as a nonprofit educational organization to promote gender equity through education about women’s diverse lives and accomplishments. The organization initiated National Women’s History Month, observed each March. Some of site’s features: “Ideas to Use,” “National Women’s History Month,” “Exemplary Programs,” “Important History Links,” “Test Your Women’s History Knowledge,” and “Women’s History Network.”
H-WOMEN
Part of the H-NET Humanities & Social Sciences OnLine initiative. H-WOMEN encourages scholarly discussion to communicate current research and teaching interests, to discuss new approaches, methods and tools of analysis, to test new ideas and to share comments on current historiography in the field of women’s history. Has information on bibliographies, course syllabi and dissertations, exhibition announcements and manuscripts and archives, as well as links to internet sites of interest to H-WOMEN subscribers. There are also scholarly reviews of books and monographs central to the field and a search engine to help one find material on specific subjects.You might also look at the Status of Women in the States. This site of the Institute of Women’s Policy Research think tank which analyzes the impact of public policy on women in a number of different fields.
Feminist Majority
Sponsored by the Feminist Majority Foundation. Links to feminist journals, current events, breast cancer information, history and education links, and career information.
Women’s History Matters
The Montana Historical Society created this site in 2014 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in Montana. There are at least 130 articles published in Montana The Magazine of Western History, plus oral histories, bibliographies, biographies and educator resources.
Women’s History in America
Presented by Women’s International Center. There are biographies, birth dates, and “words of wisdom”
Women’s History
Presented by History.net. Short biographies of many women leaders throughout the world and additional links concerning them. There is a Today in History link which includes birthdays of notable women plus quotations by more than 250 different women, a collection of primary documents, and information about Women’s History Month.
National Museum of Women’s History
The National Museum of Women’s History in Washington, DC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit educational institution dedicated to preserving and celebrating the historic contributions and the rich, diverse heritage of women, and restoring this heritage to mainstream culture. NMWH will focus on the history of women in the Americas in the context of world history. It is still in the organizational stage. At the site, one will find an online exhibit, “Motherhood, Social Service, and Political Reform: Political Culture and Imagery of American Woman Suffrage.” There is also an interesting exhibit on women spies.
Specialized Topics
Women in America, 1820-1842
“‘It is considered very indelicate for ladies and gentlemen to sit down together on the grass,’ was the response given to Frances Trollope in Cincinnati in 1829 when she proposed a picnic party to a female friend. This is just one example of the experience of women in the new republic as recorded by eighteen European travelers to the United States during the first half of the nineteenth century, now brought together by the American Studies Group of the University of Virginia. These combined travelogues “form a more complete and varied picture of the life of American women than can be gleaned from the text of [Alexis de Tocqueville’s] Democracy in America alone.” In addition to Trollope, excerpts from the works of Harriet Martineau, Charles Dickens, and Gottfried Duden are among those gathered here. The writings are organized both chronologically and topically, allowing readers to compare the writing of several authors on a given subject. In addition, a brief introduction to each author gives some background for their travels to the United States.” — Scout Report, February 14, 1997. This is part of a larger site on Tocqueville.
Clara Barton Pages
This extensive collection of Clara Barton’s papers, diaries, journals, official papers and more is held in the Library of Congress. Most of the papers deal with her life between 1861 to 1912.
Echoes and Evidence: Nursing Histroy and Health Policy Blog
The Barbara Gates Center for the Study of History of Nursing is part of the Universtiy of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing. The Bates Center has the world’s largest nursing history archives. Tbhis blog has an interdisciplinary group of contributors who provide insights as to how studying the history of nursing affects modern health care policy.
Diatima: Materials for the Study of Women and Gender in the Ancient World
Resource for persons interested in patterns of gender around the ancient Mediterranean Sea. Includes course materials, the beginnings of a systematic and searchable bibliography (with an emphasis on recent work), and links to many on-line articles, book reviews, databases, and images.
Women Veterans–A History of Their Past; Information for the Present
Articles on participation of women in the wars of American history, from the Revolution to the present. Non-scholarly in approach.
The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service
A somewhat scholarly historical study by Judith A. Bellafaire. Illustrated. Sponsored by the Center for Military History of the U.S. Army. No footnotes, but does include a brief bibliography.
Civil War Women: Primary Sources on the Internet
Many links. From Duke University. On-line archival collections featuring scanned pages and texts of the writings of women during the American Civil War. Currently includes the 1864 diary of Alice Williamson, a 16 year old girl from Gallatin, Tennessee, the papers of Rose O’Neal Greenhow, a renowned Confederate spy, and the papers of Sarah E. Thompson, a spy for the Union.
International Women’s Air & Space Museum Site
Includes an introductory article, “Women Who Made History, and individual biographies of women who have made important achievements in air and space.
“Votes for Women”: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1848-1921
Part of the Library of Congress’ American Memory collections. Consists of the texts of 167 books, pamphlets, and other artifacts documenting the suffrage campaign. Includes writings by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Lulia Ward Howe, etc. The following site is a companion to this one.“Votes for Women” Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920 Selection of thirty-eight pictures from the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. Includes portraits of individuals, photos of suffrage parades, picketing suffragists, and an anti-suffrage display, as well as cartoons commenting on the movement. A pictorial accompaniment for the text documents in “‘Votes for Women’: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Collection, 1848-1920.”Also useful is the History of U.S. Woman’s Suffrage: Crusade for the Vote. This is a valuable collection of primary documents, videos, essays with an interactive timeline.
Margaret Sanger Papers Project
Developed by the History Department at NYU, this site has biographical information and links to primary and secondary sources concerning Sanger and reproductive rights.
African-American Women
On-line archival collections featuring scanned pages and texts of the writings of African-American women. Currently includes the memoirs of Elizabeth Johnson Harris (1867-1942), an 1857 letter from Vilet Lester, a slave on a North Carolina plantation, and several letters from Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson, slaves on the estate of David Campbell, a governor of Virginia.
The International Archive of Women in Architecture
The IAWA was established in 1985 as a joint program of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the University Libraries at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Purpose: to document the history of women’s involvement in architecture by collecting, preserving, storing, and making available to researchers the professional papers of women architects, landscape architects, designers, architectural historians and critics, and urban planners, and the records of women’s architectural organizations, from around the world. Focuses primarily on collecting the papers of those who practiced at a time when there were few women in the field (before the 1950s). The IAWA collects this information to fill serious gaps in the availability of primary research materials for architectural, women’s, and social history research.
Biographies of Women Mathematicians
Agnes Scott College’s Department of Mathematics offers access through the World-Wide Web to “Biographies of Women Mathematicians,” a data base that contains more than 100 profiles that can be viewed in alphabetical or chronological order. One can also follow links to other resources on female mathematicians and scientists available on line.
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (1943-1954) Home Page
The league was the brainchild and social experiment of Philip K. Wrigley, the chewing-gum mogul who had inherited the Chicago Cubs major league baseball franchise from his father. In 1943 American men were serving in the armed forces during the Second World War, and it was then Wrigley developed the idea of women playing professional baseball which eventually grew into the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Godey’s Lady’s Book
From the site: “Housed at the University of Vermont, this version of the Book seeks to add depth and scholarly content to the World Wide Web by bringing the richness, variety, and wonder of Godey’s Lady’s Book to the global audience. While the color fashion plates are the most widely recognizable portions of this 19th century magazine, it also included a wealth of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, as well as practical advice articles. With this site I hope to serve the growing interest in this literature and introduce Godey’s to those who have not had the pleasure of examining it before.”You will find a slowly growing collection of texts and images from all portions of the book. Selected authors will be highlighted and fashion will not be neglected. Along with selections from the magazine itself you will also find articles about various aspects of the Book as well as commentary on related scholarly works.”
Emory Women Writers Research Project
A collection of edited and unedited texts by women writing in English from the seventeenth century through the nineteenth century. Several deal with slavery.
Women and Social Movements (1600 – 2000)
A project of the Center for the Historical Study of Women and Gender at the State University of New York at Binghamton. The site includes 45 “mini-monographs” that interpret some of the 1050 documents that can be found on this site. There are also more than 400 images and links to other websites.
Women, Enterprise & Society
This collection maintained by the Baker Library of Harvard Business School documents women in American business and culture from the 18th through 20th century. While not comprehensive, this site does include a number of primary sources concerning women’s roles in American business.
Pocahontas Archive
Lehigh University maintains this very interesting site. The annotated bibliography is probably the most useful part of this site, but the images, essays and other links are also valuable.
Women in the Military
The purpose of the Women’s Memorial Web site is to recognize the achievements of women who have served in the military from the American Revolution to the present.
Mississippi State University History Archive
The Mississippi State University American History Archive is a great place to start for pointers to women’s history sites. The site is divided into 3 sections: articles, e-books and links. Each section has a great diversity of information and the site makes for interesting browsing.
History of Fashion
Hour long podcasts about different aspects of history of fashion. you might also be interested in Fashion2Fiber. This site is maintained at Ohio State and is a “scholarly and artistic resource of apparel and textile material culture.” A Fashion History Timeline might also be of interest.