The
Emancipation of Women: 1750-1920:
A comprehensive encyclopaedia of how British women got the vote. Each
entry contains a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The
text within each entry is hypertexted to other relevant pages in the
encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people
and events in great detail. The sources are also hypertexted so the
student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper, organization,
etc., that produced the material. So far there are sections on: omen
in the 19th Century (Schooling, Marriage,
Industrial Work, Careers
& Professions, University
Education, Birth Control), Pressure Groups, Strategy and Tactics and
Parliamentary Reform Acts.
Women's
Suffrage Movement in the United States:
A comprehensive encyclopaedia of the struggle in the United States
for the vote. Each
entry contains a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The
text within each entry is hypertexted to other relevant pages in the
encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people
and events in great detail. The sources are also hypertexted so the
student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper, organization,
etc., that produced the material. So far there are sections on: Women
Campaigners, Women Artists and the Campaign, Journals and Magazines,
Organizations, Political Campaigns and Male Supporters of Women's
Suffrage.
Women's
History Sources: Women's lives and their social, political, economic
and cultural contributions are becoming the increasing focus of historical,
cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research. This extensive
list of web resources on women's history produced by the Genesis Project
team at the Women's Library in London, will enable you to discover
where in the world you can access information to aid your research.
This guide has been divided into a number of categories. Alternatively
you can use the A-Z facility for an overview of all the websites listed
in these pages.
Women
In World History offers an engaging way to access the historic
experiences of women in a global setting. It features biographies
of female rulers and national heroes, special topic categories such
as a world wide view of the lives of women in the first millennium,
the involvement of women during the Crusades, and quotes by women
from diverse regions and epics. Viewers can also find reviews of useful
general background books, a list of links to other sites, a wide variety
of classroom available lessons, and additional information in a question
and answer section. An on-line catalog describes fourteen curriculum
units designed to provide an easy way to include the perspective of
women in commonly taught history topics. Sample lessons and essays
are part of each unit description.
Women
of the Special Operations Executive: This website, created in
1995, tells the story of the women who joined the Special Operations
Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. As the author points
out, the website "does not intend to glamorize or hero worship
the women - the work was far from glamorous - but to simply show the
intricate work they did, the extraordinary courage they showed and
the sacrifices they made."
ANA
Hall of Fame: In 1974 the American Nurses Association (ANA) decided
that those nurses whose dedication and achievements have significantly
affected the nursing profession should be honored for their contributions
to society. Therefore the ANA established its Hall of Fame as a lasting
tribute to nurses. This website contains biographies and photographs
of the 65 women honored by the ANA, including figures such as Mary
Breckinridge, Dorothea Dix, Mary Mahoney, Sara Parsons, Margaret Sanger
and Lillian D. Ward.
Elizabeth
Robins: This website is devoted to the life and works of the American
novelist, actress, suffrage campaigner and feminist activist. Elizabeth
Robins was an early member of the Women's Social and Political Union
and after women got the vote she spent her last years fighting for
the reform of the House of Lords and an improvement in the health
care for women in Britain. As well as a chronology of her life, the
website includes online editions of her major novels and Way Stations,
a collection of speeches and articles dealing with women's suffrage.
Hull-House
Museum: Politicians now involved in the drafting of legislation
concerning the integration of immigrants into society would be well
advised to explore the history of the Hull-House Social Settlement,
established by Jane Addams in Chicago in 1889. Over the next few years
Hull-House was the base of a group of amazing group of people that
included Ellen
Gates Starr, Florence Kelley, Edith Abbott, Grace Abbott, Alice Hamilton,
Charlotte
Perkins,
William Walling, Charles Beard, Mary McDowell, Mary Kenney, Alzina
Stevens and Sophonisba Breckinridge. Hull-House is
now owned and operated by the University of Illinois and this website
provides information on the achievements of these early pioneers in
social work.
Women
in World War One: It was not until the United States got involved
in the World War One that some parts of the government got serious
about using women power. During the conflict nearly 13,000 women enlisted
in the Navy and the Marine Corps. This website, produced by Barbara
Wilson, a former captain in the USAF, contains information of these
women and the large number of nurses who served in Europe during the
conflict.
Women
and the Second World War: In
September 1943 the Special Operations Executive
(SOE) sent Pearl Witherington
into France where she became head of the Wrestler Network. Over the
next few months Witherington, one of the 39 female agents sent into
France during the war, helped organize over 1,500 members of the Maquis
against the German Army. This website illustrates the important role
played by women in the war and includes biographies of twenty secret
agents, twenty women involved in the anti-Nazi resistance movement
in Europe and twelve women who risked their lives as war reporters.
Violette
Szabo: After
hearing that her husband had been killed at El Alamein, Violette
Szabo, developed
a strong desire to get involved in the war effort and was recruited
to join the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The violette Szabo
Museum website tells the story of how she was parachuted into occupied
France to help the resistance. Szabo was captured and executed by
the Gestapo and was posthumously awarded the Croix
de Guerre and the George Cross.
Great
Women: In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and 300
other women and men held the first Women's Rights Convention at Seneca
Falls. The Declaration of Sentiments, modeled after the Declaration
of Independence, was presented and passed by the convention. These
resolutions included among other demands, that women have the right
to vote. The struggle for women's rights had begun. Seventy-two years
later in 1920, the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the United
States was ratified, which gave women many rights, including the right
to vote. In 1969 the
women and men of Seneca Falls created the National Women's Hall of
Fame, believing that the contributions of American women deserved
a permanent home. The biographies of these women can now be found
on this impressive website.
Women
and Social Movements in the United States: The Women and Social
Movements website is a project of the Center for the Historical Study
of Women and Gender at the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Currently it contains 30 document projects undertaken principally
by Binghamton undergraduate and graduate students and mounted after
revision and editing. Each project poses an interpretive question
and provides a collection of documents that address the question.
Altogether the site includes over 600 documents, more than 150 images,
and 250 links to other websites. These projects offer students an
opportunity to understand historical research and writing as an interpretive
process based on documents. Viewers of the site are encouraged to
participate in that interpretive process.
Women
in American History: An impressive website produced by Encyclopedia
Britannica. This includes four overview articles: Early America 1600-1820,
The Nineteenth Century 1820-1880, At the Crossroads 1880-1920 and
Modern America 1920 to the Present. There is also a large collection
of biographies, a media gallery, a recommended reading list, a study
guide and a useful list of women's history website links.
Women
Come to the Front is a website devoted to women who worked as
journalists, photographers and broadcasters during the Second World
War. This includes articles such as War, Women and Opportunity and
Seeds of Change and biographies of Therese Bonney, Toni Frissell,
Clare Boothe Luce, Janet Flanner, Esther Bubley, Dorothea Lange and
May Craig. There is also a full list of accredited women correspondents
employed during the war.
Jewish
Women's Archive:
The mission of the Jewish Women's Archive is to "uncover, chronicle
and transmit the rich legacy of Jewish women and their contributions
to our families and communities, to our people and our world".
As well as the Virtual Archive there are online exhibitions. This
includes Women of Valor (the lives of Jewish women who have made significant
contributions to Jewish and American life) and Women Who Dared (information
on contemporary Jewish women who risked their lives to fight for something
in which they believed).
Not
for Ourselves Alone: In
1869 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
formed the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). The organization
condemned the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments as blatant injustices
to women and advocated easier divorce and an end to discrimination
in employment and pay. This website, based on the television documentary,
Not For Ourselves Alone, celebrates the achievements of these two
remarkable women.
Distinguished
Women: A collection
of biographies of women who contributed to our culture in many different
ways. There are writers, educators, scientists, heads of state, politicians,
civil rights crusaders, artists, entertainers, and others. Some were
alive hundreds of years ago and some are living today. As Danuta Bois,
the author of the website points out: "you will have heard of
some of them, while many more have been ignored by history book writers."
American
Civil War Women: Ginny Daley has produced a directory website
on the lives and experiences of women during the American Civil War.
This includes diaries, letters, documents, photographs and prints
and features the writings of Alice Williamson, Rose O'Neal Greenhow,
Rachael Cormany, Carrie Berry, Catharine Hunsecker, Alansa Rounds
Sterrett and Nancy Emerson.
Chrystal
Eastman: When Crystal Eastman died of
a brain hemorrhage on 8th July, 1928 one obituary claimed that "she
was for thousands a symbol of what the free woman might be."
Eastman was one of the leaders of the women's suffrage movement in
the United States and during her short life played a significant role
in establishing the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage, the
Woman's Peace Party and the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACTU). Eastman's political activities led to her being blacklisted
and she spent most of her later life in England. This website provides
a biography of Chrystal Eastman and extracts from articles that she
wrote for The Nation, The Liberator, Time and Tide, the Daily Herald
and the Birth Control Review.
Victoria
Woodhull: In 1872
was nominated as the presidential candidate of the Equal Rights Party.
Although laws prohibited women from voting, there was nothing stopping
women from running for office. During the campaign Woodhull called
for the "reform of political and social abuses; the emancipation
of labor, and the enfranchisement of women". Woodhull also argued
in favour of improved civil rights and the abolition of capital punishment.
The supporters of President Ulysses Grant decided to attack Victoria
Woodhull's character and she was accused of having affairs with married
men. It was also alleged that Victoria's previous husband was an alcoholic
and her her sister, Utica Claflin, took drugs. Woodhull became convinced
that Henry Ward Beecher was behind these stories and decided to fight
back. She now published a story that Beecher was having an affair
with a married woman. Woodhull was arrested and charged under the
Comstock Act for sending obscene literature through the mail and was
in prison on election day. Over the next seven months Woodhull was
arrested eight times and had to endure several trials for obscenity
and libel. She was eventually acquitted of all charges but the legal
bills forced her into bankruptcy. This website provides an account
of Victoria Woodhull's life and extracts from her speeches and articles.
Suffragist
movement and Feminism, 1789-1945: This material was elaborated
in the framework of a Comenius School Project “Men and Women
in the Current European Society”. It contains an overview on
feminist movement and women’s fight for the right of suffrage
from the late 18th century (French Revolution and earlier British
feminists) to the end of the Second World War when equal franchise
was given in most of the Western countries. All the pages contain
different sort of activities to be carried out by students. The website
includes a selection of biographies, a chronology and a list of links
to webs in different languages.
Margaret
and Rachel McMillan: Inspired
by the ideas of William Morris, Margaret and Rachel McMillan devoted
their lives to helping children living in Britain's slums. In
1892 Margaret joined Dr. James Kerr, Bradford's school medical officer,
to carry out the first medical inspection of elementary school children
in Britain. Kerr and McMillan published a report on the medical problems
that they found and began a campaign to improve the health of children
by arguing that local authorities should install bathrooms, improve
ventilation and supply free school meals. The two sisters led the
campaign for school meals and eventually Parliament passed the 1906
Provision of School Meals Act. Two years later Margaret and Rachel
opened the country's first school clinic in Bow.
Just before her death in
1931 Margaret McMillan established a new college to train nurses and
teachers. A friend of the
sisters, Walter Cresswell, later wrote:
"Such persons, single-minded, pure in heart, blazing with selfless
love, are the jewels of our species. There is more essential Christianity
in them than in a multitude of bishops." As
well as providing biographies of Margaret and Rachel McMillan this
website also includes extracts from the writings of these two amazing
women.
Women's
Labor History: This directory of websites on Women's Labor History
has been compiled by the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees. The material is organized under the headings:
Women's Labor History, Women's Trade Union League, Mother Jones and
Other Women in the Mines, Women and Labor in the Textile Industries,
Wobbly Women, Famous Women in Labor History and Women's Labor Songs.
Diary
of Nella Last: In September 1939, Nella Last began a diary which
was to continue for nearly thirty years. She was a volunteer with
the Mass Observation Archive that was set up in 1937 by Charles Madge
and Tom Harrisson. They wanted to record the views of the British
people and recruited volunteers to either observe British Life or
diarists to keep a day to day account of their lives. Nella Last was
a housewife and married to a shop-fitter and joiner. Their younger
son, Cliff, was in the Army whilst the elder son, Arthur, was a tax
inspector and therefore exempted from conscription. The Lasts lived
in Barrow-on-Furness which was a shipbuilding town. During the Blitz,
it became a target for German bombing. This BBC website provides extracts
from Last's diary that includes the events during the war, the bombing
of Barrow, the effect on the women left behind and Nella's strongly
held opinions about the past and the future.
Internet
Women's History Sourcebook:
This sourcebook attempts to present online documents and secondary
discussions which reflect the various ways of looking at the history
of women within broadly defined historical periods and areas. This
massive resource includes sections on Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia,
Greece, Rome, Medieval Europe, Early Modern Europe, Modern Europe,
North America, Latin America, China, Japan, India, South East Asia,
Australasia, Africa and the Islamic World.
Women's
History Books: Naomi Symes Books is a bookselling service to academics,
collectors and enthusiasts in the field of social history and women's
history. It supplies out-of-print, antiquarian and in-print titles
to individual customers and academic institutions worldwide. Over
the summer months, the website has been making improvements to its
online booksearch to allow for easier, more informed browsing. This
means that in addition to its fast search facility, which pinpoints
specific books, the visitor is presented with a range of options related
to your likely interests.
Emma
Goldman: An influential and well-known anarchist of her day, Goldman
was an early advocate of free speech, birth control, women's equality
and independence, union organization, and the eight-hour work day.
Her criticism of mandatory conscription of young men into the military
during World War I led to a two-year imprisonment, followed by her
deportation in 1919. For the rest of her life until her death in 1940,
she continued to participate in the social and political movements
of her age, from the Russian Revolution to the Spanish Civil War.
Since 1980, the Emma Goldman Papers Project at the University of California
has collected, organized, and edited tens of thousands of documents
by and about Goldman from around the world. The website uses primary
historical documents to examine issues related to immigration, freedom
of expression, women's rights, anti-militarism, and the art and culture
of social change.
Female
Explorers: This website is dedicated to women who have explored
the world around them. The home page approvingly quotes Amelia Earhart
who once said: "Women must try to do things as men have tried.
When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others."
Women featured include Harriet Chalmers Adams, Gudridur Thorbjarnardottir,
Amelia Earhart and Margaret Bourke-White.
100
Most Important Women of All Time: Shelby Ellery, created this
site as a gold award project, the highest award that can be awarded
in Girl Scouting. Women featured include Jane Addams, Susan B. Anthony,
Marie Antoinette, Joan of Arc, Aspasia of Miletus, Nancy Astor, Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, Jane Austen, Ella Baker, Clara Barton, Florence
Bascom, Simone de Beauvoir, Aphra Behn, Ruth Fulton Benedict, Shirley
Temple, Elizabeth Blackwell, Rosa Bonheur, Louise Arner Boyd, Pearl
S. Buck, Rachel Carson and Catherine the Great.
The
Women's Library is a cultural centre, housing the most extensive
collection of women's history in the UK. Its collections cover a range
of topics relating primarily to women in Britain, but some international
material is available. Published materials include over 60,000 books
and pamphlets, including first editions and rare items, and 2,400
periodical titles, ranging from popular magazines to academic quarterlies.
Special collections consist of 350 archival collections, including
diverse personal papers, records of societies and associations, and
research and oral history projects. There are also rich holdings of
photographs, posters, postcards and other visual materials.
Women
and Social Movements: This website is a project of the Center
for the Historical Study of Women and Gender at the State University
of New York at Binghamton. Currently it contains 41 mini-monographs
that interpret documents. Each mini-monograph poses an interpretive
question and provides a collection of documents that address the question.
Altogether the site includes almost 900 documents, nearly 400 images,
and 350 links to other websites. There are currently twenty comprehensive
lesson plans with over a hundred lesson ideas mounted in the Teacher's
Corner.
Equal
Rights Amendment: The 1920s debate between supporters and opponents
of the Equal Rights Amendment in America generated antagonisms among
feminists that continue to the present day. The disagreement in the
1920s was both strategic (what strategies best advanced the rights
of women) and philosophical (what it meant to be a "woman").
One side supported the amendment out of a conviction that all women
would benefit from a legal strategy that equated women's rights with
men's rights. Others opposed the amendment because they thought that
women needed to claim some rights different from men. This website
provides an overview of the debate, a collection of relevant documents
and biographies of the women involved in the debate.
Pioneer
American Women: This photo-essay gallery from Time Life explores
the lives of 11 noteworthy American women from the late 19th century
and early 20th century. This includes Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth
Blackwell, Margaret Sanger, Belva Lockwood, Jeannette Rankin, Frances
Perkins, Clare Booth Luce, Rosa Parks and Clara Barton, who made an
impact in such male-dominated fields as medicine and government.
Mary
Seacole and Florence
Nightingale:
In 1850 Kingston, Jamaica, was
hit by a cholera epidemic. Mary Seacole, using herbal medicines, played
an important role in dealing with this disease. During the Crimean
War soldiers began going down with cholera and malaria. When Seacole
heard about the epidemic she travelled to London to offer her services
to the British Army. There was considerable prejudice against women's
involvement in medicine and her offer was rejected. However, soon
afterwards, the government changed its mind and sent Florence Nightingale
and a team of thirty-nine nurses to treat the sick soldiers. Seacole
visited Nightingale at her hospital at Scutari but once again her
offer of help was refused. This classroom activity looks at the careers
of these two remarkable women.
Charlotte
Mason: According to Charlotte Mason (1842-1923): "Education
is a life; that life is sustained on ideas; ideas are of spiritual
origin, and that we get them chiefly as we convey them to one another.
The duty of parents is to sustain a child's inner life with ideas
as they sustain his body with food." Mason, a schoolteacher and
a a lecturer at Bishop Otter Teacher Training College in Chichester,
wrote many books and pamphlets, started a training school for governesses
which became the Charlotte Mason College. She also established the
Parents National Education Union (PNEU). This website provides details
of her life and work.
American
Women: Unlike most American Memory presentations, American Women
is not a collection of digital items. It is a gateway - a first stop
for Library of Congress researchers working in the field of American
women's history. The site contains a expanded and fully searchable
version of the print publication American Women: A Library of Congress
Guide for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States.
The guide has been redesigned for online use, with added illustrations
and links to existing digitized material located throughout the Library
of Congress website. These materials are supplemented by a small number
of newly digitized items that provide a sample of the many relevant
types of materials available in Library of Congress holdings.
Isabella
Bird Bishop: In
her youth Isabella Bird suffered from poor health. As one historian
has pointed out, this was not uncommon "among intelligent, high-spirited
girls of the period, who were thwarted by lack of formal education
and oppressed by constrictive social conventions." Eventually
a doctor suggested to Ernest Bird that his daughter's health would
be helped by taking a long sea voyage. This
was the beginning of Isabella's career as an explorer and eventually
she became the
first woman to become a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
This website provides information on the life of this remarkable woman.
Clara
Collet was a leading economist, statistician and champion of women's
employment. Her success was always firmly of her own making. An early
female university graduate, later a postgraduate and then teacher,
she campaigned for the secondary education provision of girls at a
time when it was negligible. Her other major contribution was in raising
the status and position of working class women, becoming a Commissioner
for the Royal Commission on Labour (!892). Collet later carved out
a career as a civil servant at the Board of Trade and was elected
a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. Of equal importance and
interest to social and economic historians is the wide range of friendships
and relationships she conducted in her life. She was close to the
family of Karl Marx from an early age, particularly with Eleanor Marx,
and with Beatrice Webb. Her working relationships with Charles Booth,
Lloyd George, Ramsay MacDonald and Winston Churchill are also celebrated
on this website.
Music
By Women: This website provides a catalogue of recordings (CDs
and tapes), books and resource packs in 12 main sections, including
acappella, feminist and political, folk, world music and women composers
from the 11th century to the present day. Women composers featured
include Hildegard of Bingen, Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, Isabella
Leonarda, Lucretia Vizzana, Maria Margherita Grimani, Anna Amalie,
Maria Agata Szymanowska, Louise Farrenc, Louise, Josephine Lang, Clara
Schumann, Cecile Chaminade, Ethel Smyth, Amy Beach, Alma Mahler, Rebecca
Clarke, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Elizabeth Lutyens, Grazyna Bacewicz,
Minna Keal, Lili Boulanger, Germaine Tailleferre and Priaulx Rainier.
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