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Exhibits and Collections

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Becoming Visible, Bringing Women’s History Into Focus

Women's stories have been in a constant state of becoming visible, never quite coming into focus in American history. Even though historians have long documented the lives and work of women, their contributions have vanished from most popular narratives of U.S. history. Explore how five women’s stories have been recorded and remembered, and join our effort to expand the story of America.

Image Credit: Courtesy of the Smithsonian

Past Highlights

Video installation and mixed media, of an image of a woman projection over stage curtains behind velvet ropes.

Carrie Mae Weems: Looking Forward, Looking Back

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Poster for Hear Our Voice, with a graphic of multiple hands grasping one another forming a torch with a flame on top and a white bird sitting above.

American Women: A guide to Women's History Resources at the Library of Congress

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Black and white photograph of Rosa Parks looking over the back of a chair.

Rosa Parks: In Her Own Words

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Exhibits and Collections

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Title IX with Archival Footage of Sporting Legends (National Archives) A Century of Ella Jenkins: Tributes to the First Lady of Children’s Music The Elizabeth Robins Pennell Collection; Cookbooks and Cookery Ella Jenkins: A Life of Song (Smithsonian Institution) History through My Jewish Grandmother’s Eyes, Music through Her Memories Iowa Women on the Farm, PDF 2.77MB (Smithsonian Institution) It’s Time for Women in Go-Go to Grab the Mic and Get Their Flowers Margaret Mead: Human Nature and the Power of Culture (Library of Congress) Margaret Mead Papers and the South Pacific Ethnograpic Archives—Selected materials from this collection are now available online Masters of Tradition: A Cultural Journey Across America (Smithsonian Institution) Mixteco Women on the Migration Route, PDF 0.88MB (Smithsonian Institution) National Park Service Uniforms: Breeches, Blouses and Skirts, 1918-1991 (National Park Service) Native American Women Warriors: A Sisterhood Bonded through Service RIGZIN Women (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine) Rooted in Tradition, Reaching for Social Change: Verónica Castillo’s “Tree of Life” Sculptures Ann Savoy’s Life of Art in Another Heart Sidney Robertson Cowell, 1903-1995 (Library of Congress) Tupperware! (partially funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Women of a Certain Age—Virtual Exhibition (National Portrait Gallery, Google Arts & Culture) Women Photojournalists (Library of Congress) Women's Worlds in Qajar Iran (National Endowment of the Humanities & Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute) The Women Who Carry Words: Music, Mothers, and Language of Akwesasne

150 Years of the Surgeon General (National Archives) A Collection of Women's History through Photos and Documents on Flickr (National Archives) Amelia Earhart's Flight Suit – Smithsonian X 3D Explorer (Smithsonian Institution) American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith (Smithsonian Institution) American Women and the Holocaust (US Holocaust Memorial Museum) Because of Her Story (Smithsonian Institution) Bernice Johnson Reagon: Civil Rights song leader (Smithsonian Institution) Bev Grant: My Story (Smithsonian Institution) The Clara Barton Papers (Library of Congress) Become a virtual volunteer: Help the Library of Congress improve access to women's suffrage history! Transcribe the writings of movement leaders for our By the People project
Colored Conventions Project:
Dolley Madison -- from the PBS American Experience Film Series (sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities) Eleanor Roosevelt: American Visionary (National Park Service) Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project (supported by the National Endowment of the Humanities) Famous Women collection on Historypin (National Archives) Gloria Ford Gilmer papers Free to Use and Reuse: Images of African-American Women Changemakers (Library of Congress) Girlhood (It's complicated) (Smithsonian Institution) A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America (Smithsonian Institution) Hellen Keller Archive (National Endowment for the Humanities & American Foundation for the Blind) Images of First Ladies from the "Our Presidents" Pinterest board (National Archives) In Our Own Voice: Songs of American Indian Women (Smithsonian Institution) Jane Addams Papers Project (supported by the National Endowment of the Humanities) Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site Museum Collection Museum Collection (National Park Service) Mary Church Terrell Papers (Library of Congress) Mobilizing A Nation For War (National Park Service) National Inventor's Day: Marjorie S. Joyner (National Archives) Portraits of Nineteenth Century African American Women Activists Newly Available Online (Library of Congress) Research the History of Women's Rights & Suffrage at History Hub (National Archives) Rosa Parks in Her Own Words Exhibition (Library of Congress) Rosa Parks Papers (Library of Congress) Telling All Americans' Stories: Women's History (National Park Service) Testimonies of Survival: Diaries from a Slave Labor Camp (US Holocaust Memorial Museum) Topics in Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers – Women's History (Library of Congress, National Endowment for the Humanities) Willa Cather Papers Project (supported by the National Endowment of the Humanities) Women's History Month (US National Holocaust Memorial Museum) Women in the 1950's (National Archives) Women's History (National Park Service) Women Striving Forward, 1910s - 1940s - Photo Exhibition (Library of Congress on Flickr) Works by Women Artists from the Gallery's Collection (National Gallery of Art Pinterest board)

19th Amendment (National Park Service) Anna E. Dickinson Papers (Library of Congress) Blackwell family papers, 1759-1960 By Popular Demand: "Votes for Women" Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920 (Library of Congress) The Carrie Chapman Catt Papers (Library or Congress) Creating Icons: How We Remember Woman Suffrage (Smithsonian Institution) Cultural Landscapes: Women's Rights National Historical Park (National Park Service) Elizabeth Cady Stanton Papers (Library of Congress) From the Local to the Global: America's Newspapers Chronicle the Struggle for Women's Rights (National Endowment for the Humanities) In Her Own Right: Women Asserting Their Civil Rights, 1820-1920 (supported by the National Endowment of the Humanities) Library and papers of Susan B. Anthony (Library of Congress) The Lasting Legacy of Suffragists at the Lorton Women's Workhouse (Smithsonian Institution) National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection The National Woman Suffrage Parade, 1913 (Smithsonian Institution) One Half of the People: Advancing Equality for Women—Traveling Exhibit (National Archives) The Constitution: The 19th Amendment (National Archives) Records of Rights (National Archives) Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote (National Archives) Rightfully Hers: Online Exhibits: View documents and photographs featured in Rightfully Hers on Google Arts and Culture (National Archives) Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote (Library of Congress) Susan B. Anthony Papers (Library of Congress) Utah Humanities Council Honors Utah's Women (National Endowment for the Humanities) Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence -- exhibition opening 3/29/2019 (Smithsonian Institution) Votes for Women, Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921 (Library of Congress) Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman's Party, 1875-1938 (Library of Congress) Women's Rights (National Archives) Women’s suffrage (World Digital Library) Women's Suffrage in Sheet Music (Library of Congress)

Appalachian Folk Magic: Generations of “Granny Witchcraft” and Spiritual Work Ballads and Bridges in the Muddy Waters of Bobbie Gentry's “Ode to Billie Joe” A Centennial Glimpse into New Mexico's Suffrage Movement through “El corrido de la votación” Coming of Age in Poetry: An Interview with Elexia Alleyne Coptic Women Sing Too: The Power of Raising Coptic Orthodox Women’s Voices The Downtown D.C. Musical Ministry of Flora Molton Ella Jenkins, a Hidden Figure in the Fight for Civil Rights A Get-Out-of-Trouble Pie for Trying Times: Making Cuban Pastel de Pollo at Home How Laura Veirs Introduced a New Generation to the Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten “I Dance to Share”: Sue Yeon Park Sustains Korean Ritual Performance in America Kulning: The Swedish Herding Calls of the North A Ladino Legacy: Flory Jagoda and Her Accordion A Language of Rhythm Inspires Milwaukee's African Diaspora Madame Kansuma at 102: On Confinement and Little Tokyo's Cultural Heritage “Making a Living by the Sweat of Her Brow”: Hazel Dickens and a Life of Work Mothers Marching for Equality: The Two-Year Fight for Integration in Hillsboro, Ohio Painting the Pandemic: Coronavirus Patachitra Scrolls in West Bengal, India Partners in Flight: The Women Falconers of the UAE Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women A Q&A with the Smithsonian's First Curator from the Lumbee Tribe The Quarter-Century Reign of Mariachi Reyna (video) Quilts of Our Mothers: Five Generations of Family Craft The Rise of Female Batá Drummers: Gender, Sexuality, and Taboo in a Cuban Ritual Tradition Roller Derby for Everybody: A History and Culture of Inclusivity Sacred Monsters: The Poetry and Fiction of Elizabeth Acevedo The Salem Witch Trials Memorial: Finding Humanity in Tragedy Session Notes from Songs of Our Native Daughters The Spirit Lives On in Art: Lily Hope's "Chilkat Protector" Stories to Tell: Carolyn Mazloomi and the Women of Color Quilters Network in 2020 “Talking About the World”: Same Suki's Revolutionary Folk Music “We’ve Always Been Here”: Women in the Video Game Community To Show That All’s Equal: The Devoted Life and Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll “We Shelter in Songs”: Women Marimberas of Colombia and Ecuador What We Keep: A Single Mother's Escape from Laos Women and Water: Connections in Caribbean Music and Spirituality Yiddish Wedding Hop: The Archives of Song Collector Ruth Rubin