The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : American Women … A Guide to Their History

American Women . . . A Guide to Their History

The resources at the Library relating to women's history are so vast that a guide has been published to guide researchers. That guide is now online.

Unlike most American Memory online presentations, American Women is not a collection of digital items. It is a gateway -- a first stop for Library of Congress researchers working in the field of American women's history, both in person and online.

No More Messenger Boys for the National Women's Party--From President to Messenger All The Members of the Staff Are Feminine. This Is in Accordance with the Stipulation of Mrs. Belmont When She Donated the National Women's Party Headquarters. Photo Of Julia Obear, Messenger

The site contains a slightly expanded and fully searchable version of the print publication "American Women: A Library of Congress Guide for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States" (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 2001). The guide has been redesigned for online use, with added illustrations and links to existing digitized material located throughout the Library of Congress Web site. These materials are supplemented by a small number of newly digitized items that provide a sample of the many relevant types of materials available in the Library's holdings. The guide also provides practical search tips, detailed collection summaries of the Library's voluminous multiformat holdings and links to fuller catalog record descriptions and digitized material.

In addition to the Research Guide, the gateway home page also provides information on preparing to do on-site research at the Library of Congress; tips on searching for women's history resources in the Library's catalogs; guidance on finding materials relating to women within the Library's American Memory collections; and helpful orientations to women's history sources in the Library's online exhibitions and audiovisual Web broadcasts of lectures, readings and symposia.

If you can't get to the Library to view its exhibitions, you can access many of its presentations relating to women online. From Blondie, sharecroppers, battlefield reporters and actresses to political activists and urban shopgirls, the online versions of Library of Congress exhibitions are peopled with multimedia women's history materials. The Exhibitions Web pages are a good place to find photographs, lithographs and designs by women artists, as well as images of allegorical women, famous faces and representative women from all walks of life. Women's words and voices can also be found here in the many letters, speeches, books, films and sound recordings that fill these digital exhibition halls. To find these materials, begin with the Exhibitions home page. Obvious places to start are "Margaret Mead: Human Nature and the Power of Culture," "Women Come to the Front: Journalists, Photographers and Broadcasters During World War II," "A Petal from the Rose: Illustrations by Elizabeth Shippen Green," "The Water-Babies: Illustrations by Jesse Willcox Smith" and "The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention."

In American Memory, you can find "The Hannah Arendt Papers," "Votes for Women: Selections from the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection, 1848-1921," "By Popular Demand: "Votes for Women" Suffrage Pictures, 1850-1920" and "By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present."

The help pages on Searching the LC Catalogs, Searching Online Exhibitions and Searching American Memory for women's history materials can take you even deeper into the 8 million items the Library offers online.

A. "No More Messenger Boys for the National Women's Party--From President to Messenger All The Members of the Staff Are Feminine. This Is in Accordance with the Stipulation of Mrs. Belmont When She Donated the National Women's Party Headquarters. Photo Of Julia Obear, Messenger," 1922. Cartoon showing a torch-bearing female, symbolizing the awakening of the nation's women to the desire for suffrage, striding across the western states, where women already had the right to vote, toward the east where women are reaching out to her. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction information: Call No.: LOT 12294, vol. 9 [P&P] Find any corresponding online LOT(group) record; Reproduction No.: LC-USZ6-1841 (b&w film copy neg.)

B. Hy Mayer, "The awakening," 1915. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction information: Call No.: Illus. in AP101.P7 1915 Case X [P&P]; Reproduction No.: LC-USZC2-1206 (color film copy slide)