Featured Collection
American Women: A guide to Women's History Resources at the Library of Congress
A major new online research guide highlights hundreds of sources that tell the stories of women through a wide variety of perspectives and media in the Library of Congress collections. The guide's comprehensive coverage includes historic and contemporary audio and video files, posters, photographs, magazines, sheet music, maps, manuscripts and rare books, as well as government documents and legislation. The topical essays highlight such themes as the Equal Rights Amendment, Patriotism, and Suffrage.
Image credit: Hear Our Voice: Women's March on Washington, January 21, 2017. Poster by Liza Donovan. Courtesy of Amplifier Foundation. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division.
Exhibits and Collections
Arts and Design 11Hide All
- Carol M. Highsmith Collection (Library of Congress)
- Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists
- Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection (Library of Congress)
- Humor's Edge: Cartoons by Ann Telnaes (Library of Congress)
- Julia Margaret Cameron – The Mountain Nymph, Sweet Liberty (National Gallery of Art)
- Kay Ryan, U.S. Poet Laureate: Online Resources (Library of Congress)
- The Margaret Armstrong Binding Collection
- One Life: Maya Lin (Smithsonian Institution)
- A Petal from the Rose: Illustrations by Elizabeth Shippen Green (Library of Congress)
- Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978-1996 (Library of Congress)
- The Water Babies: Illustrations by Jessie Wilcox Smith (Library of Congress)
Business and Economics 4Hide All
- Blog posts related to Women's History in Business and Science: Inside Adams blog
- Frances Perkins became the First Female Cabinet Member: This Month in Business History (Library of Congress)
- Hetty Green the “Witch of Wall Street” was Born: This Month in Business History
- Labor Activist Mother Jones Dies: This Month in Business History
Culture and Folklife 14Hide All
- All Work, No Pay (Smithsonian Institution)
- Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Title IX with Archival Footage of Sporting Legends (National Archives)
- The Elizabeth Robins Pennell Collection; Cookbooks and Cookery
- Ella Jenkins: A Life of Song (Smithsonian Institution)
- Iowa Women on the Farm, PDF 2.77MB (Smithsonian Institution)
- 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)
- RIGZIN Women (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine)
- Sidney Robertson Cowell, 1903-1995 (Library of Congress)
- Tupperware! (partially funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Women Photojournalists (Library of Congress)
- Women's Worlds in Qajar Iran (National Endowment of the Humanities & Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute)
Government, Politics and Law 7Hide All
- 100th Anniversary of Jeannette Rankin becoming First Congresswoman (National Archives)
- Eleanor Roosevelt and the United Nations (National Archives & Google Cultural Institute)
- Featured Document Display: The 50th Anniversary of Title IX (National Archives)
- The Hannah Arendt Papers (Library of Congress)
- The Patsy T. Mink Papers (Library of Congress)
- Women in History: Lawyers and Judges (Library of Congress)
- Women in History: Elected Representatives (Library of Congress)
Historic Places (National Park Service) 14Hide All
- Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument
- Clara Barton National Historic Site
- Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site
- First Ladies National Historic Site
- Harriett Tubman National Historical Park
- Harriett Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park
- Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site
- The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
- National Register of Historic Places celebrates Women's History Month
- Rockhaven Sanitarium Historic District, Glendale, California
- Rosie the Riveter/World War II Homefront National Historical Park
- Travel Itinerary: Places Where Women Made History
- Women Making History in Alaska Parks
- Women's Rights National Historical Park
History 45Hide All
- 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.
- College Women: Documenting the History of Women in Higher Education (Suppoerted by the National Endowment for the Humanities)
- Colored Conventions Project:
-- Black Women's Economic Power: Visualizing Domestic Spaces in the 1830s (supported by the National Endowment of the Humanities)
-- Working for Higher Education: Advancing Black Women's Rights in the 1850s (supported by the National Endowment of the Humanities) - Women Suffrage: Women Fight for the Vote. Help the Library of Congress improve access to women's suffrage history! Transcribe the writings of movement leaders for our By the People 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)
- 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)
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. - Crowdsourcing opportunity: Help the Library of Congress make the Mary Church Terrell Papers more discoverable and accessible by transcribing, reviewing, and tagging digitized images of manuscripts and typed materials
- Mobilizing A Nation For War (National Park Service)
- National Inventor's Day: Marjorie S. Joyner (National Archives)
- The Only One in the Room (Smithsonian Institution)
- Portraits of Nineteenth Century African American Women Activists Newly Available Online (Library of Congress)
- Photographs of Women During the Civil War: Selected Images (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)
Performing Arts 17Hide All
- Chamber Music: The Life and Legacy of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (Library of Congress)
- Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Collection (Library of Congress)
- Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Exhibition: Two Kids from Brooklyn (Library of Congress)
- Dolly Parton and the Roots of Country Music (Library of Congress)
- Elizabeth Cotten: Master of American folk music (Smithsonian Institution)
- Heartbeat: The Voices of First Nations Women, PDF 9.24MB (Smithsonian Institution)
- I Love Lucy: An American Legend (Library of Congress)
- Jazz Singers (Library of Congress)
- The Katherine Dunham Collection (Library of Congress)
- Lucinda Williams: Blues Musician (Smithsonian Institution)
- Martha Graham Collection (Library of Congress)
- Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change (Smithsonian Institution)
- Politics and the Dancing Body (Library of Congress)
- Singing Truth to Power: Barbara Dane's One-Woman Riot (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine)
- Women Breaking Musical Barriers (Smithsonian Institution)
- Women They Talk About: Discovering America's Female Film Pioneers (National Endowment for the Humanities & the American Film Institute)
- The Zora Neale Hurston Plays (Library of Congress)
Social Media 34Hide All
Blogs—Library of Congress
- Library of Congress Main Blog
- American Folklife Center (“Folklife Today”)
- Copyright Office (“Creativity at Work”)
- Geography & Maps (“Worlds Revealed”)
- International Collections (“4 Corners of the World”)
- Law Library of Congress (“In Custodia Legis”)
- Newspapers & Comics (“Headlines & Heroes”)
- NLS (“NLS Music Notes”)
- Manuscripts Division (“Unfolding History”)
- Performing Arts (“In the Muse”) – Women in Dance
- Performing Arts (“In the Muse”) – Women in Music
- Performing Arts (“In the Muse”) – Women in Theater
- Poetry & Literature (“From the Catbird Seat”)
- Prints & Photographs (“Picture This”)
- Science, Business & Technology (“Inside Adams”)
- Teachers (“Teaching with the Library of Congress”)
Blogs—National Archives
- Rediscovering Black History blog
- African American Women in the Military during WWII
- A Bridge into the 20th Century: Suffragist Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch
- Jeannette Rankin: The woman who voted to give women the right to vote
- Women Homesteaders
Other Blogs
Flickr
- A Collection of Women's History through Photos and Documents on Flickr (National Archives)
- National Archives Girl Scouts album on Flickr
- National Archives Notable Women album on Flickr
- National Archives Women's Rights album on Flickr
- National Archives Women's Bureau Photographs album on Flickr
- Smithsonian Institution Flickr Photostream: Women in Science
- Women Striving Forward, 1910s – 1940s (Library of Congress Flickr photostream)
- Images of First Ladies from the “Our Presidents” Pinterest board (National Archives)
- “A National Policy of Nagging” board on US National Archives Pinterest to honor the 100th anniversary of suffragists' march on Washington (National Archives)
- Women's History Month Pinterest board from the Library of Congress
- Women in the WWII Workplace board on US National Archives Pinterest
- Works by Women Artists from the Gallery's Collection (National Gallery of Art Pinterest board)
Women and War 16Hide All
- African American Women in the Military and War (Library of Congress)
- Hannah Szenes and the Jewish Parachutists from Palestine (U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum)
- Homefront Heroines: The WAVES of World War II documentary (National Endowment of the Humanities)
- Rosie Pictures: Select Images Relating to American Women Workers During World War II (Library of Congress)
- Susie King Taylor: An African American Nurse and Teacher in the Civil War (Library of Congress)
- The US Food Administration, Women, and the Great War (National Archives & Google Cultural Institute)
- Veterans History Project Collection (Library of Congress)
• Medical Personnel: Nurses
• The WASP: First in Flight
• Women at War
• Women of Five Wars (Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Iraq/Afghanistan) - Women Come to the Front: Journalists, Photographers, and Broadcasters During World War II (Library of Congress)
- Women in the Military (National Archives)
- The Women of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station (National Endowment for the Humanities & California State University)
- Women of the Empire in War Time: In Honour of their Great Devotion and Self-Sacrifice (World Digital Library)
- World War II Home Front (Stories from the Veterans History Project) (Library of Congress)
Women's Rights and Women's Suffrage 28Hide All
- 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)
Online Publications (National Archives Prologue Magazine) 10Hide All
- Belva Lockwood: Blazing the Trail for Women in Law
- Black Domestics During the Depression
- Civil War--Women soldiers
- Explorers--Women of the Polar Archives-Marie Peary Stafford and Louise Boyd
- Revolutionary War--Looking for the real Molly Pitcher
- Spanish-American War
- Wearing Lipstick to War: An American Woman in World War II England and France
- Women's treatment by naturalization laws
- World War I--Female Yeomen
- World War II--Women's Land Army
Online Publications (Smithsonian Folklife Magazine) 29Hide All
- A Ladino Legacy: Flory Jagoda and Her Accordion
- A Q&A with the Smithsonian's First Curator of Women's Music
- A Centennial Glimpse into New Mexico's Suffrage Movement through “El corrido de la votación”
- A Get-Out-of-Trouble Pie for Trying Times: Making Cuban Pastel de Pollo at Home
- Ballads and Bridges in the Muddy Waters of Bobbie Gentry's “Ode to Billie Joe”
- Coming of Age in Poetry: An Interview with Elexia Alleyne
- The Downtown D.C. Musical Ministry of Flora Molton
- Ella Jenkins, a Hidden Figure in the Fight for Civil Rights
- 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 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
- Painting the Pandemic: Coronavirus Patachitra Scrolls in West Bengal, India
- Partners in Flight: The Women Falconers of the UAE
- A Q&A with the Smithsonian's First Curator from the Lumbee Tribe
- The Quarter-Century Reign of Mariachi Reyna (video)
- 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
- 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
- Yiddish Wedding Hop: The Archives of Song Collector Ruth Rubin
Resource Guides (Library of Congress) 17Hide All
- American Women: A guide to Women's History Resources at the Library of Congress
- American Women: Resources from the Geography and Map Collections
- American Women: Resources from the Manuscript Collections
- Civil War Nurses: Almira Fales
- Civil War Nurses: Helen Louise Gilson
- Harriet Tubman: Online Resources
- Kay Ryan: Online Resources
- Rachel Carson: A Resource Guide
- Rosa Parks: A Resource Guide
- Sojourner Truth: Online Resources
- Sonia Sotomayor (Law Library of Congress)
- Storyville: an exhibit guide to sources about commercialized vice in historic New Orleans
- Susan B. Anthony Collection - Annotated Bibliography With Inscriptions
- Women in Astronomy: A Comprehensive Bibliography
- Women in Business and the Workforce
- Women in Science: A Resource Guide
- Women's History Resources in the Prints & Photographs Division