Because of Her Story: Women’s History and the Public

Abstract

This session takes place offsite at the National Museum of American History. Transportation to and from the museum is at the discretion of the attendee.

In an effort to celebrate the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment and to honor the appointment of Dr. Anthea Hartig as the first woman to serve as Director of the National Museum of American History, this roundtable panel brings together leading scholars to discuss how to engage the public in women’s history in ways that challenge common assumptions and create a more inclusive understanding of the diversity of women’s experience. The roundtable conversation, moderated by Kathleen Franz, curator of the National Museum of American History’s upcoming exhibit, Girlhood: It's Complicated, focuses on current trends in women’s history scholarship and how museum curators are incorporating new historiography into exhibitions through historical artifacts and public programs. In addition, Dr. Hartig will explain her vision for the “Because of Her Story”: Women’s History Initiative at the National Museum of American History. The panel will also address the how the Centennial of the 19th Amendment has renewed public interest in women’s history. 

Following the roundtable discussion, there will be a reception sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center at Spelman College, Mount Holyoke College, and the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. At the reception, attendees will be able to meet Dr. Hartig and the panelists.

Chair: Kathleen Franz, National Museum of American History Smithsonian Institution

Panelist: Marcia Chatelain, Georgetown University

Panelist: Catherine Ceniza Choy, University of California, Berkeley

Panelist: Linda Gordon, New York University

Presenter: Anthea M. Hartig, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Panelist: Lisa Tetrault, Carnegie Mellon University