Women's History Commons^™

“In Her Shoes”: Victorian Lady Explorers In Imperial Africa And Their Relationship To Contemporary Travellers Of A Commercialized, Nostalgic Landscape, Mary Smith

History & Classics Student Scholarship

Smith uses the framework of the Cape to Cairo trek to illuminate both the problematic maternalist feminism of early 19th century women, and to draw parallels with contemporary nostalgia for a romanticized and racialized past.

Myscofski's Book Writes Brazilian Women Back Into History, Kim Hill

News and Events

No abstract provided.

Protecting Pregnant Women And Newborns (Press Release, 2013), Aclu Of Maine Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Protecting Pregnant Women And Newborns (Press Release, 2013), Aclu Of Maine Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

The Deans' Bible Bibliography, Angie Klink

Supplementary Content for The Deans' Bible: Five Purdue Women and Their Quest for Equality

This bibliography lists the resources used when researching The Deans' Bible: Five Purdue Women and Their Quest for Equality.

Paul, Linda (Smith) (Sc 1211), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collecction 1211. “The Life of Jessie Smith,” written by Jessie Marie (Trowbridge) Smith and compiled by Jessie’s granddaughter Linda (Smith) Paul, detailing Jessie’s life including information about traveling round trip in a covered wagon from Missouri to Oklahoma, frontier life, and life in Trask, Missouri.

Weir, Nancy A., B. 1821? (Sc 2782), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2782. Letter, 11 August 1865, of Nancy A. Wier, Webster County, Kentucky, to the postmaster of Danville, Virginia, asking for assistance in reestablishing contact with her family in the area, particularly her father and siblings. She names family members and describes the death of her husband while a prisoner of war at Camp Douglas, Illinois.

Dallas, William Robert, Sr., 1910-1997 (Mss 472), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 472. Correspondence, almost exclusively between William Robert Dallas, Sr., and his girlfriend, fiancé, and later wife Virginia “Ginny” Eileen Lindsay. Dallas was in the Army Air Corps and stationed in Louisville, Kentucky, while Ginny was living in her hometown of Ventnor, New Jersey, right outside Atlantic City. The letters are courtship related and are filled with plans for their wedding on 15 September 1945.

Addressing “This Woeful Imbalance”: Efforts To Improve Women’S Representation At Cia, 1947-2013, Brent Durbin

Government: Faculty Publications

This collection consists of some 120 declassified documents, the majority of which are being released for the first time. The collection includes more than 1,200 pages from various studies, memos, letters, and other official records documenting the CIA's efforts to examine, address, and improve the status of women employees from 1947 to today.

Key documents include the 1953 Panel on Career Service for Women (dubbed the "Petticoat Panel"); a 1976 letter written by DCI George H.W. Bush nominating three female officers for the Federal Woman's Award: a poignant 1984 memo on career opportunities for women; a 1992 summary of he …

Hume, Glee, 1902-1998 (Mss 470), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 470. Letters written 1940-1946 to Glee Hume, a teacher at Burkesville High School, Cumberland County, Kentucky, by former students and relatives serving in various military service units around the world.

Weimar Jewish Chic: Jewish Women And Fashion In 1920s Germany, Kerry Wallach

German Studies Faculty Publications

This volume presents papers delivered at the 24th Annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium, held at Creighton University in October 2011. The contributors look at all aspects of the intimate relationship between Jews and clothing, through case studies from ancient, medieval, recent, and contemporary history. Papers explore topics ranging from Jewish leadership in the textile industry, through the art of fashion in nineteenth century Vienna, to the use of clothing as a badge of ethnic identity, in both secular and religious contexts. Dr. Kerry Wallach's chapter examines the uniquely Jewish engagement with fashion and attire in Weimar, Germany.

I, The Queen: Power And Gender In The Reign Of Isabel I Of Castile, Sarah E. Hayes

Student Publications

The role of women in society, in particular, women in leadership positions, constantly is debated. However, this discussion extends far back in history. As one of the most memorable rulers of Early Modern Europe, the life and reign of Queen Isabella of Spain, more accurately known as Queen Isabel I of Castile and León, can provide answers. Scholars have long grappled with the degree to which Isabel embodied or transcended the gender norms of her time as well as whether she ruled more through the joint monarchy with her husband King Fernando of Aragón or as a sovereign in her …

Documenting Women’S Civil War Experiences In The Ohio Valley At The Filson, Eric Willey

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

This collections essay describes archival collections of the Filson Historical Society of Louisville, Kentucky. These collections document women and their experiences in the American Civil War.

Lawrence, Ruth, 1892-1969 (Mss 476), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 476. Letters, written mostly to Ruth Lawrence in North Carolina and Louisville, Kentucky, genealogical notes, and Ruth’s domestic science notebook. Many of the letters are from or concern her relatives in the Goodnight, Moulder and Lawrence families of Kentucky, Texas and Tennessee.

Coombs Family Collection (Mss 349), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 349. Correspondence, photographs, business records and miscellaneous papers of the Coombs, Robertson and related families of Warren and Simpson counties in Kentucky and of Alabama, Texas and Tennessee. Includes correspondence, personal papers and research of Elizabeth Robertson Coombs, librarian at the Kentucky Library, Western Kentucky University. Several documents from this collection have been scanned are available for viewing by clicking on the "Additional Files" below.

Watkins, Nancy Arianna (Sloss), 1838-1866 (Sc 2752), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2752. Autograph book of Nancy Arianna “Anna” (Sloss) Watkins, Simpson County, Kentucky, with entries from 1857-1865. Many of the contributors included poems. Also includes locks of hair found in the autograph book.

Mauldin, Martha, 1920-2006 (Sc 1096), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1096. Response of Mauldin, Bowling Green, Kentucky, to Rush Limbaugh Position Poll relative to positions held by the National Organization of Women and the Limbaugh-Luce Policy Institute. Mauldin did not return the form, but she added personal comments to it.

Wier Family Letters (Sc 2749), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2749. Letters (3) to her sister of Nancy A. Wier, written from Union County, Kentucky, and from Webster County, Kentucky under her remarried name of Nancy A. Martin; and letter to her aunt of Mollie Wier, written from Cadiz, Kentucky. Nancy writes of her health and both husbands and children, and asks about family members; she also mentions having seen a coal mine in Union County. Mollie writes of her siblings and other family, and mentions her brother Henry’s death in the army.

Documenting 'Herstories' In The Ohio Valley At The Filson, Eric Willey

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

This collection essay describes archival collections held by the Filson Historical Society of Louisville, Kentucky. The collections described document women’s contributions to the region’s history, their struggles and triumphs, and the contours of their daily lives, including interactions with family, peers, neighbors, and business associates.

Franklin Female College - Franklin, Kentucky (Sc 2720), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2720. Bound typescript of the Board of Trustees minutes from the Franklin Female College, Franklin, Kentucky. (155 p.)

Mary Reed Cooke Music Club - Smiths Grove, Kentucky (Sc 2712), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2712. Yearbooks, programs and news clippings related to the activities of the Mary Reed Cooke Music Club of Smiths Grove, Kentucky.

A Widow’S Will: Examining The Challenges Of Widowhood In Early Modern England And America, Alyson D. Alvarez

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While English women in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had different social and economic circumstances, many were able to gain autonomy and power in their widowhood. Widows who were able to gain autonomy faced a number of challenges as they attempted to live and function in a patriarchal society. One of the factors that affected the challenges of a widow was her social standing. In this thesis I argue that widows of all means encountered a challenges from the patriarchal society in which they resided. The number and severity of difficulties that a widow confronted depended on several factors. I …

Freedom Indivisible: Gays And Lesbians In The African American Civil Rights Movement, Jared E. Leighton

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This work documents the role of sixty gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals in the African American civil rights movement in the pre-Stonewall era. It examines the extent of their involvement from the grassroots to the highest echelons of leadership. Because many lesbians and gays were not out during their time in the movement, and in some cases had not yet identified as lesbian or gay, this work also analyzes how the civil rights movement, and in a number of cases women’s liberation, contributed to their identity formation and coming out. This work also contributes to our understanding of opposition to …

Conforming To Conventions In Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, Pride And Prejudice, And Emma, Veronica Olson

Masters Theses

A major part of Jane Austen's novels consists of a critique of the societal conventions that were prevalent in Regency England. Through a study of Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma, it can be seen that Austen marginalizes those characters who chose conformity to social conventions. Contrariwise, the characters who exhibit a greater degree of autonomy within their patriarchal culture become the focus of the narrative. In looking at societal conventions concerning money, gender roles, and class status in conjunction with Austen's portrayal of various characters in the three novels, Austen's own views about conformity to societal conventions are …

Martin, Lanna Gayle, B. 1961 (Sc 1023), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1023. Paper titled “Sadie F. Price: Artist, Botanist, Author, and Naturalist,” written by Lanna Gayle Martin for a Western Kentucky University class.

Death Became Them: The Defeminization Of The American Death Culture, 1609-1899, Briony D. Zlomke

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Focusing specifically on the years 1609 to 1899 in the United States, this thesis examines how middle-class women initially controlled the economy of preparing the dead in pre-industrialized America and lost their positions as death transitioned from a community-based event to an occurrence from which one could profit. In this new economy, men dominated the capitalist-driven funeral parlors and undertaker services. The changing ideology about white middle-class women’s proper places in society and the displacement of women in the “death trade” with the advent of the funeral director exacerbated this decline of a once female-defined practice. These changes dramatically altered …

Yolanda Barco's Impact On The Cable Television Industry, Piper L. Peteet-Kilgore

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to take a detailed look into the life of cable television pioneer Yolanda Barco and demonstrate that her achievements in cable telecommunications have directly impacted the success of the cable telecommunications industry.

The daughter of cable television pioneer George Barco, Yolanda Barco worked alongside her father advocating for the rights of cable television during the early years of the industry. Following a biographical story framework, this research follows a timeline of her career discussing her family life, education, how she became involved in the cable television industry, achievements in cable television and the lasting …

Cherokee Acculturation & The Fall Of Women's Status, Danielle Rogner

2013 Awards for Excellence in Student Research & Creative Activity - Documents

As the eyes of the late 18th century Americans fell upon the territories occupied by the Cherokee Nation, the cultural disparities between the two nations became a source of apprehension. Most challenging to many Americans was the differences between the traditional roles of women. Instead of possessing the domestic, submissive role of the American homemaker, Cherokee women held positions of authority within society.

Porter, Roger Charles, 1887-1963 (Sc 1003), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1003. Courtship letters (29) written by Roger Charles Porter of Warren County, Kentucky to his future wife, Nan Cole, during a summer she spent at Massey Springs, a Warren County resort operated by her parents. The Porters married 16 March 1911.

Mothers Club - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 113), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 113. Organizational records including minutes, financial and attendance reports, yearbooks, and newspaper clippings related to the Mothers Club, a group of concerned mothers who formed the Bowling Green club in 1925 for educational purposes. The group formally dissolved in 1998.