Our guest author today is Constance Carter, head of the science reference section, mentor, and cookie goddess. Today is the birthday of Ruth Graves Wakefield, “mother of the chocolate chip cookie.” She was born on June 17, 1903, and Inside Adams is celebrating by unveiling the division’s latest acquisition, the 1938 edition of Ruth Wakefield’s …
Have you noticed people wearing the paper red poppies that veterans sell each Memorial Day? This tradition can be traced back to Miss Moina Michael of Athens, Georgia. She had the inspiration on November 9, 1918 to make the red poppy (Papaver rhoeas) the symbol of remembrance for the sacrifices of fallen soldiers during World War I. Her …
It may sound clichéd, but as a librarian, one of the best gifts you can give me is a book. For Christmas one year, I received a re-issue of Rachel Carson’s 1965 Sense of Wonder . This book is an expansion of her 1956 essay “Help Your Child to Wonder” published in the July issue …
In observance of Mothers’ Day many of us in the United States will be buying and sending flowers to mothers this Sunday. You might not know it, but this tradition of sending flowers started back in the early 1900’s before ‘Mothers’ Day’ was proclaimed. The connection of flowers to Mothers’ Day can partially be attributed to …
Today’s post is written by science reference librarian and gardener, Alison Kelly. With the forsythia in bloom once again it seems like a good time to reconsider Beatrix Farrand and some of the other women who have played an important role in horticulture. Farrand, who was the only woman founding member of the American Society …
The desire to tinker, create and invent is universal. It doesn’t matter who or what you are–a scientist, business person, layperson, man, woman or child–if there’s a problem, we want to figure out how to solve it by inventing a new way of doing things or improving on an existing way. Women inventors have had …
As I was compiling our resources related to women and science, I discovered that we have a lot of material on this topic. It would be a true test of my writing abilities to describe all of our guides, reading lists, Web casts and the like in a single blog post without creating an information …
A carry over from my days in the entertainment industry, I still watch the Academy Awards. Sunday night, for the first time in Oscar history, a woman won the award for Best Director and her picture also won for Best Picture. What a way to start Women’s History Month! Women’s History Month was not always …