Sunday, August 21, 2011

Chicago 2011: Working Women's History Project book lists

The Working Women's History Project preserves and promotes the stories of historical and living Chicago women who have made significant contributions toward achieving justice and equality in the areas of labor, women’s, human and civil rights.

Check out their webpage for all their activities such as collecting oral histories.

They've also got a great book list and children's book list.

I highly recommend the second book on the list: Exploring the Dangerous Trades: The Autobiography of Alice Hamilton, MD. One of my (Cassie's) favorite historical figures!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Chicago 2011: Women's History Tour

If you want to explore while in Chicago, check out the Women's History Bus Tour, information provided by the Jane Addams Hull House Museum.

Can't make it to Chicago this year? Check out the Women's History Virtual Tour to see and learn from where ever you are.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Check out some of the great collections relating to Chicago women at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Collections highlight women's activism during the progressive era.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Don't forget to check out the WCRT sponsored session!

75 Years of International Women's Collecting: Legacies, Successes, Obstacles, and New Directions
Saturday, August 27, 2011, 8:00am-9:00am
Room: Columbus C/D

A retrospective analysis of three international women's collecting projects across 75 years illuminates the projects' successes and obstacles, which speak to the historical, national, professional, and interpersonal contexts of their founding. Panelists also chart out the projects' legacies and their transmutations into the digital realm. Under examination are the World Center for Women's Archives in New York, Aletta Institute for Women's History in Amsterdam, and International Museum of Women in San Francisco.

Danelle Moon (Chair)
Director, Special Collections & Archives
San Jose State University
From Paper to Bytes: Creation of the International Museum of Women (IMOW)

Anke Voss, MSLS , MA
Director
The Urbana Free Library
Salvaging Their History: Initiatives and Challenges in the Early Development of Women's Archives and Documentation

Rachel Miller, MLIS
Processing Archivist
Center for Jewish History
Kick Her in the Shin for Me: The International Women's Archives Projects of Two Warring Suffragists in the 1930s and Their Digital Footprints in the 2010s


Big thanks to Rachel for organizing and proposing this panel!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Chicago 2011: Leather Archives and Museum

The Leather Archives & Museum is a library, museum and archives pertaining to Leather, fetishism, sadomasochism, and alternative sexual practices. The geographic collection scope is worldwide and includes all sexual orientations and genders. The library collection contains published books, magazines, scholarly publications, films and electronic resources related to the subject matter. The museum collection contains original erotic art and artifacts from alternative sex organizations and individuals. The archival collection contains unpublished papers and records from notable activists, artists, businesses and organizations related to the subject matter.

SAA has a scheduled tour on Wednesday, August 24. See more information here (including directions!)

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Chicago 2011: Jane Addams Hull House Museum

Headed to Chicago and have some spare time on your hands? Consider a trip to the Jane Addams Hull House Museum. From the Museum's website:

"Hull-House, Chicago's first social settlement was not only the private home of Jane Addams and other Hull-House residents, but also a place where immigrants of diverse communities gathered to learn, to eat, to debate, and to acquire the tools necessary to put down roots in their new country. The Museum is comprised of two of the settlement complex's original thirteen buildings, the Hull-Home and the Residents' Dining Hall. These spaces were used variously over the years, including as a nursery school, a library, and a salon for social and political dialogue.

When Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr first opened Hull-House in 1889, they had very modest goals. They imagined a place to offer art and literary education to their less fortunate neighbors. The role of Hull-House, however, quickly grew beyond what either Gates or Addams could have imagined and continuously evolved to meet the needs of their neighbors. The residents of Hull-House, at the request of the surrounding community, began to offer practical classes that might help the new immigrants become more integrated into American society, such as English language, cooking, sewing and technical skills, and American government. The residents were the women and men who chose to live at Hull-House; they paid rent and contributed to the activities and services that the Settlement was committed to providing to their neighbors. These services included, but were not limited to, a nursery and a kindergarten, a public kitchen, and access to public baths and a playground. Hull-House became not only a cultural center with music, art, and theater offerings, but also a safe haven and a place where the immigrants living on Chicago's Near West Side could find companionship and support and the assistance they needed for coping with the modern city."

To get there, jump on the Blue Line west (toward Forest Park) to the UIC/Halsted stop. Walk two blocks south to 800 S Halsted street.

Museum is open Tuesday - Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday noon to 4 p.m.
Closed Mondays and Saturdays