Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site [VA]

Description

The Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site consists of the 1883 home in which Walker resided between 1904 and 1934. The furnishings are original to the family, and the home is located in the community of Jackson Ward, the center point of African American business and social life in Richmond, Virginia circa 1900. Born just 2 years after the Civil War, she overcame the ethnic and gender limitations of society to become the first woman in the United States to charter a bank. Despite the low social status afforded to her as an African American during her time, Walker additionally ran a newspaper, greatly enhanced the scope of the Order of St. Luke, and eventually served as a bank president.

The site offers exhibits, hands-on activities and traveling trunks tailored to educational standards, guided tours, and Junior Ranger activities. Reservations are required for tours involving 10 or more people. The website offers a gallery of more than 100 historic photographs.

Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site [NY]

Description

Eleanor Roosevelt chose Val-Kill for her retreat, her office, her home, and her "laboratory" for social change during the prominent and influential period of her life from 1924 until her death in 1962. During that time she formulated and carried out her social and political beliefs. This is the place most closely associated with one of the most prominent women of 20th-century America.

The site offers tours, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational programs.

Newspaper Titan: Cissy Patterson

Description

According to the Library of Congress Webcasts site:

"Amanda Smith discussed her Patterson biography, Newspaper Titan: The Infamous Life and Monumental Times of Cissy Patterson. She was called the most powerful woman in America, surpassing first ladies Eleanor Roosevelt and Bess Truman. Cissy Patterson was from a publishing family. Her grandfather was Joseph Medill—firebrand abolitionist, mayor of Chicago, editor-in-chief and principal owner of the Chicago Tribune, and one of the founders of the Republican Party, who delivered the crucial Ohio delegation to Abraham Lincoln at the convention of 1860. Cissy Patterson's brother, Joe Medill Patterson, started the New York Daily News. Her pedigree notwithstanding, Patterson did not come to publishing until shortly before her 49th birthday, in 1930, with almost no practical journalistic or editorial experience and a life out of the pages of Edith Wharton."

Daughters of the Union: Northern Women Fight the Civil War Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/04/2008 - 14:03
Description

Professor Nina Silber traces the emergence of a new sense of self and citizenship among the women left behind by Union soldiers during the Civil War. Silber argues that women found themselves at a disadvantage, with their husbands away, in a male-dominated society; but also found new, active roles for themselves in politics and support.

Caroline Healey Dall: Daughter of Boston Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/04/2008 - 14:03
Description

Boston Historical Society editor Helen R. Deese discusses the 45-volume diary of Boston Transcendentalist, feminist, writer, and reformer Caroline Healey Dall (1822-1912). Deese focuses on the thorough, extensive picture of the life of a 19th-century woman that the diaries represent.

Edmund Wilson: A Life in Literature

Description

Professor Lewis Dabney traces the life of Edmund Wilson (1895-1972), major literary critic of the 20th century. Dabney discusses Wilson's three classics of literary and intellectual history—Axel's Castle, To the Finland Station, and Patriotic Gore—and the many women with whom Wilson had rocky relationships.

Audio and video options are available.

Subscribe to Women