Celebrating Women: Women’s History on Pinterest

(The following blog post is by Jennifer Harbster, a science research specialist and blogger for the Library’s Science, Technology, and Busines blog, “Inside Adams.” Harbster also helped create the Library of Congress Women’s History Month board on Pinterest.)

March is designated as Women’s History Month and this year the National Women’s History Project has selected “Weaving the Stories of Women’s Lives” as the theme. To help commemorate Women’s History Month, the Library has created a Pinterest Board that offers a visual celebration of the diverse stories of women in the United States.

Images capture moments in time and connect us to history; they awaken our senses, revive memories and inspire us. With the Library’s extensive collections related to women’s history, there is an array of material to showcase. We have pinned images from a broad range of women’s achievements, including politics, civil rights, sports, medicine, science, industry, arts, literature, education and religion.

There are images that focus on the stories of the women’s suffrage movement in the U.S. We “pinned” images from the Library’s Women of Protest Photographs from Records of the National Women’s Party, such as the “‘Silent Sentinel’ Alison Turnbull Hopkins at the White House” (1917), who carries a sign that reads “Mr. President, How Long Must Women Wait for Liberty.”

We also pinned memorabilia and images from the Miller National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) Suffrage Scrapbooks, 1897-1911 collection. The women suffragist images are powerful and portray the strength of the modern woman. One of my favorites is from the early 20th century of Miss Maude Younger, legislative secretary of the National Woman’s Party, working on her car in the streets of Washington, D.C.

The Women’s History Board also tells the stories of women who stepped into the workforce during World Wars I and II. The Farm and Security Administration Office of War Information (FSA/OWI) Photograph Collection (color and B/W prints) brings to our attention the spirit and determination of women who worked jobs normally dominated by men in the defense plants, railways and farms. The photographer Ann Rosener, who worked for the FSA/OWI, documents the changing roles of women. We pinned a couple of her images of women on farms – one is a woman behind the wheel of a tractor and the other is a group of women harvesting asparagus in Illinois.

This board also offers up a medley of images of women who drove race cars, flew airplanes, rode motorcycles and played golf. Throughout the month of March, we will be adding more images, so follow us to keep up with the new pins.

We hope the Women’s History Pinterest Board will inspire you to learn more about the individual story of a woman or the larger narrative of that moment in history from the perspective of a woman.

If you’d like to learn more about the Library’s Women’s History collection, a good place to start is American Women: Gateway to the Library of Congress Resources Related to the Study of Women’s History and Culture in the United States.

Several of the other Library blogs are featuring content in celebration of Women’s History Month.

Inside Adams: “Marie Curie: A Gift of Radium”

In Custodia Legis: “Women in History: Lawyers and Judges,” “Women in History: Elected Representatives” and “Women in History: Voting Rights”

Teaching with the Library of Congress: March in History