Women’s History Month 2016 - 2024

 

Women’s History Month 

A Primary-Source Exhibit at Loyola University New Orleans

March is Women’s History Month, a time to recognize and reflect on the indispensable role women have played in shaping society, culture, government, education, and the struggle for freedom and equality.

Loyola University Honors, Scholars for Justice in the Heart of New Orleans proudly presents a primary-source exhibit honoring generations of women whose intellect, courage, creativity, and public service expanded the boundaries of opportunity and justice in the United States and beyond.

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The Origins of Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month emerged from a grassroots movement to ensure that women’s contributions were fully integrated into the national historical narrative.

·      1981: Congress passed Public Law 97-28, authorizing the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982, as Women’s History Week

·      1982–1986: Congress continued to designate a week in March for national observance

·      1987: Following advocacy by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March 1987 as Women’s History Month

·      Since 1995: Presidents of the United States have issued annual proclamations recognizing March as Women’s History Month

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Exhibit Overview

This exhibit presents original documents, letters, photographs, newspapers, books, and printed laws that illuminate women’s leadership across more than two centuries. Rather than offering retrospective commentary, the exhibit relies on contemporary primary sources, allowing visitors to encounter women’s voices, actions, and influence as they were recorded in their own time.

The materials span the Revolutionary era to the late twentieth century, highlighting women as:

·      Political advocates and reformers

·      Writers, artists, and cultural leaders

·      Educators and institution builders

·      First Ladies and public servants

·      Activists for suffrage, civil rights, labor, and human rights

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Women and the Fight for Political Equality

The exhibit traces the long struggle for women’s suffrage and political representation through rare and often fragile materials, including:

·      Contemporary newspapers documenting the final ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in August 1920

·      Suffrage-era correspondence and signatures from leading advocates

·      Congressional hearings, resolutions, and signed legislative documents related to women’s voting rights

These materials underscore how narrow margins, regional resistance, and sustained activism determined the outcome of one of the most consequential constitutional amendments in American history.

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Women as Intellectuals, Writers, and Artists

Women have long shaped public thought through literature, scholarship, journalism, and the arts, often while navigating barriers to publication, recognition, and institutional authority.

The exhibit includes signed works and correspondence by:

·      Poets and early American women writers

·      Historians and scholars redefining national narratives

·      Novelists and essayists whose work reshaped modern literature

·      Opera singers, performers, and cultural icons whose voices reached global audiences

Together, these items demonstrate how women influenced culture not at the margins, but at its center.

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Women in Public Life and Governance

Primary-source documents reveal women’s expanding role in public service and governance, including:

·      First Ladies who shaped political culture, diplomacy, and social reform

·      Cabinet-level leadership and federal policymaking

·      Advocacy for labor rights, social security, workplace safety, and education

These materials highlight women’s transition from informal influence to formal authority within American political institutions.

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Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Global Leadership

The exhibit also places women within broader movements for justice at home and abroad, featuring signed works and correspondence related to:

·      Civil rights leadership in the United States

·      The Equal Rights Amendment debate

·      International humanitarian and cultural preservation efforts

·      Global political and social engagement in the twentieth century

These sources document women acting not only as participants in history, but as architects of moral and political change.

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Exhibited Artifacts & Individuals

Suffrage, Law, and Political Rights

·       Susan B. Anthony - Clipped autograph signature from an Autographed Letter Signed (with partial surviving manuscript text)

·       Elizabeth Cady Stanton – ANS :There is a word sweeter than Mother, Home or Heaven and that is Liberty.”

·       Clara Barton - Letter Signed as President of the American National Red Cross, December 31, 1900

·       Mary A. Livermore - Autographed Letter Signed (ALS), six pages, August 19, 1891

·       U.S. Senate Woman Suffrage Hearings - Printed congressional hearings before the Judiciary Committee and Committee on Woman Suffrage

·       Frederick H. Gillett - Autographed document relating to the Nineteenth Amendment, June 1919

·       Baltimore News, August 19, 1920 - Front-page newspaper announcing Tennessee’s decisive ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, with political cartoon

·       Equal Rights Amendment -

o   Statement on the Equal Rights Amendment, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1978)

o   Letter Signed by Barry Goldwater, July 27, 1978

o   Letter and signed photograph of Leonor K. Sullivan

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First Ladies and Political Influence

·      Dorothy Hancock – Signed Deed April 3, 1792

·      Sarah Jay – Document Signed December 6, 1794

·      Martha Washington – Clipped signature from an ALS partial text “this house have”

·      Abigail Adams - Steel engraving from The Republican Court (c. 1854)

·      Varina Davis - Autographed Letter Signed March 1862

·      Edith Roosevelt - Signed subscription receipt to The Living Age Magazine

·      Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - Type Letter Signed to Mary Edith Wilroy, Blair House, December 2, 1986

·      Mamie Eisenhower - Typed Letter Signed on White House letterhead, November 28, 1955

·      Eleanor Roosevelt - Typed Letter Signed, July 7, 1952

·      Rose Cleveland - Autograph signed and dated February 4, 1866

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Writers, Scholars, and Intellectuals

·      Annis Boudinot Stockton - Signed poem (A Poetical Epistle), Columbian Magazine, November 1786

·      Harriet Beecher Stowe - Autograph Quotation Signed citing the 37th Hebrew Psalm Sept 25, 1885

·      Louisa May Alcott - Autograph Manuscript Signed "My Kingdom" January 1887

·      Ida M. Tarbell – ALS March 21, 1921

·      Nell Irvin Painter - Signed seminar program, “Portraying Women of Color”

·      Mary Ellen Chase - Signed presentation card, May 5, 1934

·      Helen Keller - TLS August 28, 1944

·      Grace King - Signed card, July 16, 1888

·      Maya Angelou - Signed first edition of Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas

·      Toni Morrison - Signed first trade edition of Jazz (1992)

·      Barbara Jordan - Signed first edition of A Self-Portrait

·      Frances Perkins - Typed Letter Signed, January 19, 1960

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Performers, Artists, and Cultural Figures

·      Kate Smith and Irvin Berlin - Signed Photo, God Bless America Score and Berlin TLS November 9, 1938  

·      Lavinia Warren - Albumen CDV photograph with Tom Thumb by Mathew Brady

·      Carla Laemmle - Film-era documentation

·      Lily Pons - Opera-related materials

·      Amelita Galli-Curci - Opera-related materials

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International and Global Figures

·      Dorothea Beale – ALS June 24, 1903

·      Amelia Earhart and Will Rogers – Signed Original Radio Scripts  February 3, 1935

·      Clementine Churchill – ALS 1942

·      Raisa Gorbacheva - Signed first edition of I Hope: Reminiscences and Reflections

·      Coretta Scott King - Signed book, The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Revolutionary & Early American Women

·      Dorcas Armitage Montgomery - Autographed Letter Signed, Geneva, 1781

·      Sally Franklin Bache - Referenced in correspondence

·      Lucy Holcombe Pickens - Confederate $100 bill featuring her portrait

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Periodicals & Social History

·      The Lady’s Magazine; or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex (1776, 1778, 1783)

·      1778 Connecticut document ordering the transport of Dorcas Austin (signed by colonial officials)

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Summary

Exhibited materials include:

·      Autographed letters and manuscripts

·      Signed books and first editions

·      Newspapers and political cartoons

·      Government documents and legislation

·      Photographs and engravings

·      Cultural and performance ephemera

Why This Exhibit Matters

Women’s history is not a separate narrative, it is integral to the history of democracy, culture, and justice. By presenting original documents rather than summaries, this exhibit restores women to the historical record as decision-makers, creators, reformers, and leaders.

This is not symbolic recognition.
It is documentary evidence.