Women's History Matters

As I mentioned in an earlier post on anniversaries, 2014 marks the hundredth anniversary of women's suffrage in Montana. The Montana Historical Society decided to use this anniversary to raise the profile of women's history generally by shining a spotlight on Montana women's contributions, challenges and experiences over the past 200 years.

At the center of this project is our website: Women's History Matters. On the site, you will find

• Bibliographies of manuscript collections, oral histories, government documents, pamphlets, magazine articles, videos and dvds, and published material

• Over 130 articles published in Montana The Magazine of Western History to download and read

•  Information on oral histories, including what’s been collected and how to conduct your own

• Educator resources, including lesson plans

• Suggestions for ways communities, individuals, and organizations can celebrate the centennial

• Information on selected historic places–from homesteads to hospitals–associated with Montana women’s history

• Resources specifically related to the suffrage campaign, including links to newspaper articles published in the Montana press debating the issue in 1914

• A gallery of intriguing photographs that hint at the diversity of Montana women’s lives

• Information about speakers willing to travel to your community and other suggestions for how to celebrate the centennial 

• Twice weekly blog posts that will feature a wide range of Montana women’s stories and topics, from women bootleggers and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union to early Virginia City business woman Sarah Bickford and twentieth-century Blackfeet banker Elouise Cobell. The blog will be updated Tuesdays, Thursdays and sometimes Fridays, so visit often or subscribe to receive these posts in your mailbox (subscription information in the right-hand column of the home page.)

I'll be posting more about the Women's History Matters project throughout the year--especially as we add new curricular resources. Meanwhile, I'd love to hear from you about ways classroom teachers can use the resources on this site with their students.