Votes for Women!

On October 23, 1915, nearly 25,000 women marched in New York City demanding the right to vote. Women in New York did not receive that right until 1917. Women all over the nation finally received the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. The image below comes from the Library of Congress. Be sure to also check out Opening History to see more images and documentation of the American suffrage movement.

Suffrage Parade. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

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Anniversary of the World’s Columbian Exposition

Today is the 117th anniversary of the World’s Columbian Exposition, a World Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival to North America.  The fair was held on the shores of Lake Michigan for six months and attracted visitors from all over the world.

World's Columbian Exposition Ferris Wheel. Image courtesy of the University of Illinois's Teaching with Digital Content collection

The fair showcased the latest in arts, technology, and science from around the world. The success of the fair had an impact on Chicago because it was held twenty-two years after the Great Chicago Fire had burned much of the city in 1871. Opening History is an abundant source of information about the World’s Columbian Exposition, offering photos and memorabilia. The two photos featured here are from the University of Illinois Teaching with Digital Content collection.

World's Columbian Exposition Festival Hall. Image courtesy of the University of Illinois's Teaching with Digital Content collection.

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International Day of Rural Women

Yesterday, October 15, was the International Day of Rural Women, instituted by the United Nations to recognize the contributions made and challenges faced by rural women around the world. The majority of rural women all over the world are farmers and face discrimination, limited access to health and education, and lack of access to land titles or credit. The UN’s WomenWatch site offers further info and stats. And you can find historical resources on the lives of rural women in the United States at Opening History; in fact, the Opening History aggregation has a particular topical strength in women’s history. The photo below comes from Washington’s Olympic Peninsula Community Museum, which is also featured in the IMLS DCC Flickr photostream.

 

A Native American woman digging for clams. Image courtesy of the Olympic Peninsula Community Museum

 

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Happy Birthday, Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States, was born on this day in 1890, in Denison, Texas. In fact, he was the last U.S. President born in the 19th c.

 

Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

Eisenhower championed the Interstate Highway System, signed two Civil Rights Acts into law, and sent the National Guard to escort nine black students into the Little Rock High School in 1957. He authorized the CIA’s role in overthrowing Iran’s Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh, and created the Eisenhower Doctrine, which declared that the U.S. would use armed force to stop the spread of communism.   Opening History offers a bounty of historical resources from the era of Eisenhower, including photos (such as the photo above, courtesy the University of Utah Photo Archives), war posters, and a rich collection of WWII Communiques from Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Library, which relates the daily progress of the Allied campaign in Europe from D-Day on June 6, 1944 until the German surrender on May 7, 1945.

 

 

A December 1944 WWII communique from BYU's Eisenhower Communiques collection

 

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