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Category: Women’s & Gender History

Nautical Almanac Office director Charles Henry Davis offers Maria Mitchell a position as a “computer,” at a time when computers were people and opportunities for professional work in astronomy were vanishingly few, for both men and women. Davis to Mitchell, August 10, 1849.

Maria Mitchell’s Enduring Legacy: From Astronomical Poetry to Liberty Ships

Posted by: Josh Levy

This post is coauthored by Morgan Black, librarian at the United States Naval Observatory, and Josh Levy, historian of science and technology at the Library of Congress Manuscript Division. When Maria Mitchell spotted a telescopic comet from the roof of her Nantucket home in 1847, a historic feat that helped make her a national celebrity, …

Portrait of Dr. Ruth smiling wearing red blouse with glasses and necklace.

“On the Air” and in the Archives: The Dr. Ruth Westheimer Papers

Posted by: Julie Miller

The newly opened papers of sex therapist and talk show host Ruth Westheimer contain thousands of letters sent by listeners of her radio program and viewers of her television show, providing insight into the sexual frustrations and obsessions of the 1980s. They also document the dynamic rise in popularity of “Dr. Ruth.”