Schlesinger Library

A behind the scenes look at incoming materials and goings-on at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

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Today we celebrate the birthday of Shirley Graham Du Bois.  Du Bois (November 11 1896 - March 27 1977) was an American author, composer, playwright, and activist for African American and other causes.  She studied music composition at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, in the 1920s, and received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Oberlin College in 1934 and 1935, respectively. In 1936, she was appointed director of the Chicago Negro Unit of the Federal Theater Project.  In the late 1940s, she joined  the American Communist Party and also joined Sojourners for Truth and Justice,  an African American organization working for global women's liberation.  In 1951, she married sociologist and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois.

Caption: Portrait of Shirley Graham Du Bois and W.E.B. Du Bois seated outdoors on a park bench at Coney Island.

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Today we celebrate the birthday of Letitia Woods Brown (October 24, 1915 – August 3, 1976).  In 1966 Brown became one of the first Black women to earn a PhD in history from Harvard University. She was a primary consultant for the Schlesinger Library's Black Women's Oral History Project. For more information on Brown and this project, see  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990006053760203941/catalog Caption: Letitia W. Brown and Her Family.

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Today we celebrate Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her appointment to the Supreme Court as its second female justice on October 4th, 1993.  The image presented here is of Ginsburg with Radcliffe College President Linda Wilson, at a Women Judges reception in 1994.  For more information on this photograph, see  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/via/olvwork356894/catalog

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In honor of Alice Church Terrell's birthday, we present this image of the delegates (including Terrell) to the Second Annual Conference of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom  in 1919.   Terrell (September 23 1863 - July 24 1954), one of the first African-American women to earn an undergraduate degree,  was a suffragist and civil rights activist. She was the first president of the National Association  of Colored Women. This image is from the papers of Jeannette Rankin; for more information on this collection, see  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990091483390203941/catalog. Caption: Group portrait of delegates to the Second Annual Conference of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (formerly: International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace). Front row, from left to right (incomplete): Jeannette Rankin (person 4); Jane Addams (6); Lucia Ames Mead (7); and Emily Green Balch (8). Back row, from left to right (incomplete): Mary Church Terrell (8) and Lucy Biddle Lewis (10).

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Today we present Togo the cat!  These images are from the Ellis Gray Lorring papers.  For more information on this collection, see http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990090503060203941/catalog. Caption: Three portraits of Togo the cat outside on a walkway, probably at Sarah Orne Jewett's home, Jewett House.

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Today's post celebrates the birthday of Grace Zia Chu.  Madame Chu (August 23 1899 - April 15 1999) was born in Shanghai, China, and studied at Wellesley College in the 1920s, receiving a graduate certificate in Hygiene and Physical Education.  In 1954 she began teaching Chinese cooking at the China Institute in America. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she taught many classes on Chinese cooking, including at the Mandarin House School of Cooking and the Culinary Institute of America. She published two cookbooks, The Pleasures of Chinese Cooking (1962) and Madame Chu's Chinese Cooking School (1975).   For more information on Madame Chu, see  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990014736640203941/catalog Captions: Grace Zia Chu's Smallpox Vaccination Certificate, 1941; Grace Zia Chu Stir Frying Broccoli, ca.1975.

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The Papers of Ernestine R. Etienne (1921-1996) describe her experience during World War II as an enlistee in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in 1942. Etienne was one of many African American women who supported the war effort despite pervasive discrimination, segregation, and ill-treatment. In 1943, after protests by the press and the public, the WAAC was renamed the Women’s Army Corps and its members experienced some scattered improvements and continued challenges.  Etienne’s collection includes a service record book of these experiences and 20 photographs. Although Etienne is not included in this group portrait, thirteen of her corps members are shown shaking hands with Captain Vera Harrison. Their last names, inscribed on the photograph, are [l to r]:  Galloway, Reyonald, Smith, Adams, Gomes, Pierce, Pleasants, and Harrison. For further details see: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/images/8001391042/catalog  See also the Ernestine R. Etienne Papers, 1941-1945. A/E841. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990150493910203941/catalog

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Today's post celebrates the birthday of author and activist Barbara Deming.  Deming (July 23 1917  - August 2, 1984)  was  a firm believer in the power of nonviolent protest and participated in civil rights, nuclear disarmament, and anti-war marches and sit-ins. Many of these activities led to her arrest and sometimes resulted in jail time. Her final arrest occurred in 1983, when she participated in the Feminist Walk of the New York City Women's Pentagon Action. For more information on Deming, including a detailed biography and a list of her books, see the finding aid for her papers at the Schlesinger Library: https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/sch00057/catalog.  The library also holds a collection of her letters to peace activist Paul Salstom:  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990078021910203941/catalog.

Caption: Mug shot of Barbara Deming.  On back of photo:  From Seneca Women's Peace Encampment, 1983.

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Today we celebrate community and civil rights activist Muriel Snowden.  In 1940 Snowden (July 14 1916 - September 30 1988) and her husband Otto founded Freedom House, a center for civil rights and community activism for Boston’s African American community in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Snowden was interviewed as part of the Black Women Oral History Project for more information on Snowden and the other women interviewed,  see  the Interviews of the Black Women Oral History Project, https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/sch01406./catalog.

Caption: Portrait of Muriel Snowden by Judith Sedwick. Women of courage : an exhibition of photographs based on the Black Women Oral History Project, by Judith Sedwick; sponsored by the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe College. [Cambridge, Mass.] : Radcliffe College, c1984

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Noted journalist and author, Era Bell Thompson worked for the Johnson Publishing Company for more than 30 years. She joined the Company in 1947 as a reporter for Ebony Magazine, one of several Johnson publications. She also published several books detailing her experiences, including American Daughter, a memoir of growing up in North Dakota  (1946), and Africa: Land of My Fathers (1954) an account of her first trip to Africa. This portrait is part of Women of Courage: an exhibition of photographs based on the Black Women Oral History Project, by Judith Sedwick. For additional details see: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/images/olvwork570586/catalog

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In celebration of Pride month, we present this image of gay liberation activist Marsha P. Johnson. Johnson (August 24, 1945 – July 6, 1992) a self-identified drag queen and a prominent figure in the 1969 Stonewall uprising, was known as "the mayor of Christopher Street." This photograph is part of the Schlesinger Library's "Catching the Wave: Photographs of the Women's Movement by Bettye Lane and Freda Leinwand" project. For more information, see http://catchingthewave.library.harvard.edu/. Caption: Marsha Johnson speaks at Intro 384 gay and lesbian civil rights event in Sheridan Square. Photo by Bettye Lane. Copyright: Estate of Bettye Lane

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In celebration of Juneteenth, we present this photograph of Etta M. Barnett and a link to her reminiscences about celebrations in Texas in the early 20th century  (https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:45166423$22i).  These recollections are part of her oral history interview in the Schlesinger Library's Black Women Oral History Project (http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990006053760203941/catalog)

Barnett (1901-2004) was  an actress, singer,  civic activist, and humanitarian. She was the first African American woman to perform at the White House.

Image caption: Portrait of Etta M. Barnett by Judith Sedgwick

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Today we celebrate Sonia Pressman Fuentes.  Fuentes (b.5/30/1928) is a founding member of the  National Organization for Women (NOW), the Women's Equity Action League (WEAL), and other feminist organizations.   She was the first woman attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  For more information on Fuentes, see the finding aid for her papers: https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/sch01256/catalog

Caption: Undated photograph of Pauli Murray, Sonia Pressman Fuentes and Bernice Sandler, from the Bernice Resnick Sandler Papers.  https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/sch01194/catalog

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Today we celebrate Amelia Earhart and the 88th anniversary of her flight from Newfoundland to Ireland, which she accomplished in just under 15 hours on May 21, 1932. She is the first woman to complete a solo transatlantic flight.

Caption:  Amelia Earhart in flight helmet and goggles. Photographer: H.M. Murdoch, 1928.  From the Janet Mabie Papers,  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990026534410203941/catalog.

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Dr. Mary Crutchfield Thompson (1902-1985) graduated from Tufts University Dental School during the Great Depression and was one of the first African American women to practice dentistry in the Boston area.  Initially she volunteered at the Boston Dispensary while building a private practice. Committed to community service, she also formed the Children's Dental Clinic, which she operated from her Cambridge, Massachusetts home to keep prices low. In addition to community work, during the 1970s, Thompson and her husband Oscar formed one of the first fair housing committees in the United States and received an NAACP award in recognition of their work. This portrait is part of Women of Courage: an exhibition of photographs based on the Black Women Oral History Project, by Judith Sedwick. For additional details see: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/images/olvwork570587/catalog

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Today we belatedly celebrate the birthday of activist  and author Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006). Known as the First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement, King, the wife of Martin Luther King, Jr., was also an active member of the Women's Rights and anti-Apartheid movements.   Caption: Portrait of Coretta Scott King at Harvard University's Memorial Church. Photo Credit: Wan Joon Kim, The Harvard Crimson.  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/images/olvwork355958/catalog

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To cheer us all during these difficult times, we present a kitten and small dog, from the papers of photographer Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870-1942).  For more information on Beals, see  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990006050450203941/catalog.