Politics and Government

American Women on the Move: The Inside Story of the National Women's Conference, 1977, by Shelah Gilbert Leader and Patricia Rusch Hyatt. Lexington Books, Rowan & Littlefield, 2016. Paperback release, Autumn 2017.

American Women on the Move: The Inside Story of the National Women’s Conference, 1977

November 20, 2017

Feminism

Activism

ERA

Politics and Government

Women's History

November 18–21, 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the unprecedented, historic, Congressionally mandated National Women’s Conference.

Passport of Vera Micheles Dean. Courtesy of Schlesinger Library

Vera Micheles Dean

October 19, 2017

World War II

Politics and Government

International Relations

When people think of the crisis years of the 1930s and 1940s they do not tend to think of Vera Micheles Dean. Yet she has likely influenced how they think about the decade.

Coretta Scott King 1977. Photo by Bettye Lane, courtesy of Schlesinger Library

Coretta Scott King’s Letter to Senator Strom Thurmond (1986) Concerning Jefferson Sessions

February 8, 2017

Civil Rights

Politics and Government

On February 7, 2017, on the floor of the US Senate, Elizabeth Warren RI '02 started to read a 1986 letter written by Coretta Scott King to Strom Thurmond about Jefferson Sessions’s record on civil rights. There is another letter that King wrote, and the Schlesinger Library has a copy.

"We Need Liz Holtzman in Congress" (detail from campaign literature). Courtesy of Schlesinger Library

The Toothpick and the Washington Monument

January 28, 2016

Politics and Government

Women's History

When Elizabeth Holtzman, a relatively unknown Brooklyn attorney and New York state committeewoman, defeated the incumbent in the Democratic primary in June 1972, it was a notable loss and an important victory for women in politics.

Marietta Tree, ca.1945. Photo courtesy of Schlesinger Library

Marietta Tree: More than Just a Pretty Face

April 18, 2013

Manuscript Collections

Politics and Government

Women's History

A celebrity in her own right among politicians and public figures of the mid-20th century, Mary (Marietta) Endicott Tree’s (1917–1991) life was defined by glamour, public service, and political pursuits. Her life was also characterized by the limitations and opportunities of being a woman in elite and powerful circles.

Edith Rogers in a procession with Mexican pilot Emilio Carranza and other military men, 1925-1927.

Veterans’ Advocate Edith Nourse Rogers

November 7, 2012

Manuscripts

War

Politics and Government

In honor of Veterans Day, we present a highlight from our collection, the Edith Nourse Rogers Papers. The first woman elected to the US Congress from Massachusetts, Edith Nourse Rogers served for 35 years and chaired the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.