Welcome from the Librarian of Congress
Welcome from the Library of Congress
For more than 200 years, the Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, has been gathering materials necessary to tell the stories of women in America. The Jefferson Building itself is adorned with ornate imagery of women. There is the image from the top of the dome in the Main Reading Room featuring the female form of Human Understanding lifting the veil of ignorance. There is also the Great Hall mosaic of Minerva, Goddess of Wisdom and Learning, setting aside her armor to contemplate such civilized pursuits as art, science, labor and law, all of which are intrinsic to the Library’s mission of sparking and preserving knowledge and creativity.
As a leading resource for the study of women’s history, the Library holds such gems as the drawings of Ann Telnaes, the second woman ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, the papers of Hannah Arendt and diaries from women through the ages.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Library has developed this new Web site highlighting the many resources on women’s history and culture available from our extensive online collections.
This annual celebration is one of the ways in which the Library heightens awareness and recognizes the contributions of women to our society and nation. This year’s theme, “Women’s Art: Women’s Vision,” recognizes women in the arts and celebrates their achievements and contributions to the palette of our country.
The Library’s month-long celebration will help demonstrate the originality, beauty, imagination and multiple dimensions of women throughout our nation’s history. On behalf of our dedicated staff, I invite you to the Library in Washington, D.C., to celebrate Women’s History Month.
James H. Billington
Librarian of Congress
Women's History Month
Before the 1970’s, the topic of women’s history was largely missing from general public consciousness. To address this situation, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women initiated a “Women’s History Week” celebration in 1978 and chose the week of March 8 to coincide with International Women’s Day.
The celebration was met with positive response, and schools began to host their own Women’s History Week programs. The next year, leaders from the California group shared their project at a Women’s History Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. Other participants not only became determined to begin their own local Women’s History Week projects but also agreed to support an effort to have Congress declare a national Women’s History Week.
In 1981, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) cosponsored the first Joint Congressional Resolution proclaiming a “Women’s History Week.”
In 1987, the National Women’s History Project petitioned Congress to expand the celebration to the entire month of March. Since then, the National Women’s History Month Resolution has been approved every year with bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
Information from the National Women’s History Project
- National Women’s History Project Web site http://www.nwhp.org/
About This Year's Theme
Women’s Art: Women’s Vision
National Women’s History Project Web site
The National Women’s History Project chose its 2008 national theme “Women’s Art: Women’s Vision” to honor the originality, beauty, imagination and multiple dimensions of women’s lives. Women in the arts have left their valuable mark upon history. Theirs is the story of amazing accomplishments often acclaimed at the time but later forgotten.
This year’s theme provides a special opportunity to discover and celebrate women’s visual arts in a variety of forms and mediums that help expand the perceptions of each other and ourselves.
