Introduction
Use the resources below in tandem with the resources provided on the other pages (tabs) of this History guide to research women in American history. You may also want to consult the Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Research Guide.
Biographical Dictionaries
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Ahead of Their Time: A Biographical Dictionary of Risk-Taking Women
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This unique reference work brings together a wealth of information about pioneering women who took risks and made remarkable strides in a diversity of fields. Whether in the name of science, sport, or humanitarianism, the spirit of adventure runs through the lives of these 75 daring woman who broke down barriers as they explored the far reaches of the globe, the depths of the seas, and the lofty expanses of space. These inspiring profiles investigate a wide range of notable women from throughout history and from around the globe. Included are the familiar and famous names such as Amelia Earhart, Jane Goodall, and Margaret Mead. Lesser known but equally inspiring women for whom it is more difficult to find information are also included, from early explorers to recent role models. An appendix offers short vignettes about women on whom little information is available, but whose accomplishments are significant particularly when they may have played a part in the contributions of other women cited here. This biographical dictionary will be a valuable research tool for students looking for information on a specific person, from a particular profession, time period or country of origin. For easy reference, alphabetized entries identify the subjects' country of origin and field of pursuit, and appendices list the names by these categories. Each biographical entry offers further suggested readings on the subject, and a more inclusive bibliography follows.
Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2001 -
Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A biographical dictionary
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This access code card gives you access to all of MyHistoryLab's grade-boosting resources! Want a complete e-book of your textbook, too? Buy immediate access to MyHistoryLab with E-Book online with a credit card atwww.myhistorylab.com.
Call Number: Level 2 920.7 N899Publication Date: 1971 -
Notable American Women: A biographical dictionary completing the twentieth century
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Entries on almost five hundred women representing a wide range of fields of endeavor are featured in a collection of biographical essays that integrate each woman's personal life with her professional achievements, set in the context of historical developments.
Call Number: Level 2 920.720973 N899Publication Date: 2005 -
Shapers of the Great Debate on Women's Rights
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The three waves of feminism are explored through the lives of the women who made history in bringing women's issues to the forefront of American society. Many early feminists supported not only women's rights, but also rights of slaves and contributed to the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, granting emancipation to slaves. They continued to work towards women's suffrage and were hopeful the Fourteenth Amendment would provide universal suffrage. However, women were not granted suffrage until the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment, nearly fifty years later. It was women's fundamental need for independence and an identity of their own, separate from that of men, which thrust the women's movement forward and continues to propel it today. Many notable women, such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Billie Jean King, Betty Friedan, Helen Gurley Brown, Jane Fonda, and Sandra Day O'Connor, are included in this history of the women's movement in America. The biographical entries cite works for further reading, and the volume closes with a bibliography. The Shapers of the Great Debate series takes a biographical approach to history, following the premise that people make history in the circumstances in which they find themselves. Each volume in this series examines the lives and experiences of the individuals involved in a particular debate through both major and minor biographies.
Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2008
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American National Biography Online This link opens in a new window
Biographical dictionary of over 19,000 notable American figures from all eras of history who are no longer living, with illustrations and links to other websites. Produced by the American Council of Learned Societies and Oxford University Press. Access limited to 1 user at a time.
Primary Source Content Examples
The Mansfield Library owns thousands and thousands of books, ebooks, serials (journals, magazines, etc.) and microfilm that contain primary source content, including transcriptions or reproductions of personal papers (such as letters and diaries) to support researching women's history in America. You can find these using OneSearch, and examples are below.
Books
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American Women's Suffrage: Voices from the Long Struggle for the Vote 1776-1965
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For the first time, here is the full, definitive story of the movement for voting rights for American women, of every race, told through the voices of the women and men who lived it. Here are the most recognisable figures in the campaign for women s suffrage, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, but also the black, Chinese, and American Indian women and men who were not only essential to the movement but expanded its directions and aims. Here, too, are the anti-suffragists who worried about where the country would head if the right to vote were universal.
Call Number: Level 2 324.623 A51293Publication Date: 2020 -
Archives of Dispossession
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One method of American territory expansion in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands was the denial of property rights to Mexican landowners, which led to dispossession. Many historical accounts overlook this colonial impact on Indigenous and Mexican peoples, and existing studies that do tackle this subject tend to privilege the male experience. Here, Karen R. Roybal recenters the focus of dispossession on women, arguing that gender, sometimes more than race, dictated legal concepts of property ownership and individual autonomy. Drawing on a diverse source base--legal land records, personal letters, and literature--Roybal locates voices of Mexican American women in the Southwest to show how they fought against the erasure of their rights, both as women and as landowners. Woven throughout Roybal's analysis are these women's testimonios--their stories focusing on inheritance, property rights, and shifts in power. Roybal positions these testimonios as an alternate archive that illustrates the myriad ways in which multiple layers of dispossession--and the changes of property ownership in Mexican law--affected the formation of Mexicana identity.
Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2017 -
Autobiographical Writings by Early Quaker Women
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While writings by early modern Quaker women have been discussed and quoted fairly extensively, relatively few of their texts are readily or widely available. The chief purpose of this edition is to rectify this state of affairs in one central area - that of autobiographical writing. The edition contains substantial excerpts from a range of self-writings by Quaker women, composed between the 1650s and circa 1710: letters, testimonies, memoirs, accounts of spiritual development, narratives of persecution and imprisonment. Six of the texts have been freshly edited from manuscripts (including Mary Penington's A Brief Account); the others have been transcribed from the first printed editions. In his general introduction to the volume, the editor sketches the history of the Quaker movement from the 1650s to the early 1700s, and considers the role of female Quakers during the first and second phases of the movement. The introduction also surveys the types and purposes of autobiographical writings produced by female Friends, and relates these writings to key Quaker ideas, concerns and practices regarding the inner light, scripture, testimony, plain speaking, friendship, gender and community. Booy indicates the wider context of the development of autobiographical writing during the seventeenth century, and discusses briefly issues to do with the construction of the self in writing. Each text is prefaced by a substantial headnote providing biographical and historical information. Footnotes supply biblical and other references, and gloss unfamiliar or specialist vocabulary. The volume includes a comprehensive bibliography of primary and secondary materials. The edition is aimed at all those interested in the history of the Quakers, whether they be scholars in the fields of religious, cultural and women's studies, or of history and literature generally.
Call Number: Level 1 289.60922 A9393Publication Date: 2004 -
Girl from the Gulches
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A covered wagon on a dim road, the promise of a long journey, and the wonder of what lay ahead filled the shadowy spaces of Mary Sheehan Ronan's earliest memories. By the time she was a married woman in her twenties, she was a well-seasoned pioneer, having crossed most of the country and retraced her steps back across a third of it. Ronan tells her story in this highly readable, entertaining account of one woman's life in the West during the second half of the nineteenth century. This detailed memoir recalls a girl's growing up on the Montana mining frontier, her ascent to young womanhood on a farm in southern California, her experiences as a student in a Los Angeles convent school, her return to Montana as a bride, and her life on the Flathead Indian Reservation as wife of the Indian agent. The exhilaration of a forbidden sled ride, the creaking of the hangman's rope, her father giving the last of their water to his dying mule--these things Ronan remembers with vivid clarity. A highly readable, entertaining account, Girl from the Gulches's unique perspective is a joy to read.
Call Number: Level 2 978.6 R7685.m 2003Publication Date: 2003 -
In Our Own Voices
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"Until a quarter century ago little was known or acknowledged about the role American women played in the shaping of America's religious history." "In Our Own Voices reclaims and affirms the previously ignored historical contributions of women by recovering many long-silenced voices. Here, woven together into a multicultural, multiethnic, and multifaith tapestry, are many of their remarkable contributions to American religion written in their own words." "Restored for contemporary women and men are the lyric voices of women representing various locales, time periods, and religious viewpoints: indigenous women, early colonists, religious council leaders and reformers, slaves and free women, commune leaders, Christian lesbians, witches, and Islamic and Buddhist feminists. Controversial issues are examined, including the clash of Catholic nuns and lay women with the hierarchy of priests, bishops, and the Pope; black women's experience with slavery and more recently with the womanist liberation movement; and the rights of women to lead and hold official office within their own religious faith." "Illuminating firsthand accounts - selections from diaries, letters, civil and religious documents, and formal histories - re-create in vivid and compelling detail the intricate fabric of women's religious aspirations, struggles, and accomplishments over the last four centuries, including: a pioneer nun's account of her meeting with Billy the Kid; Mother Jones urging miners to strike to "get a little bit of heaven before you die"; and a letter written by the founder of Hadassah stating her decision to say Kaddish for her mother." "Included among these works are the writings of such notable matriarchs as Mother Jones, Zora Neale Hurston, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Lucretia Mott, Toni Morrison, Las Hermanas, Kathryn Kuhlman, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The body of their work and the spirit of their words continue to speak to both the minds and the hearts of women and men everywhere."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Call Number: Level 1 200.82 I35Publication Date: 1995 -
Jennie Carter: A Black Journalist of the Early West
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In June 1867, the San Francisco Elevator-one of the nation\'s premier black weekly newspapers during Reconstruction-began publishing articles by a Californian calling herself \""Ann J. Trask\"" and later \""Semper Fidelis.\"" Her name was Jennie Carter (1830-1881), and the Elevator would print her essays, columns, and poems for seven years. Carter probably spent her early life in New Orleans, New York, and Wisconsin, but by the time she wrote her \""Always Faithful\"" columns for the newspaper, she was in Nevada County, California. Her work considers California and national politics, race and racism, women\'s rights and suffrage, temperance, morality, education, and a host of other issues, all from the point of view of an unabashedly strong-minded African American woman. Recovering Carter\'s work from obscurity, this volume re-presents one of the most exciting bodies of extant work by an African American journalist before the twentieth century. Editor Eric Gardner provides an introduction that documents as much of Carter\'s life in California as can be known and places her work in historical and lite-rary context. Eric Gardner is chair and professor of English at Saginaw Valley State University. He is the editor of Major Voices: The Drama of Slavery, and his work has appeared in African American Review, the African American National Biography, and Legacy.
Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781934110102Publication Date: 2007 -
Montana Memories
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Published by the Salish Kootenai College Press, Montana Memories is the life story of a mixed-blood Indian woman in western Montana and southern Alberta during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in 1866 to a white trader and a Shoshone and Salish Indian mother, Emma Magee saw Montana change from Indian Country to a part of industrial America. When she was born, mixed-blood Indians were socially part of the white community in Montana. By the time she died in 1950, however, mixed-bloods were considered Indians. In the memoirs of her long and dramatic life, Magee recounts many interesting aspects of early Montana: -Her father's experiences as a free trader in the Rocky Mountains. -Her mother's tales of her Shoshone ancestors. -Her memories of her life as a mixed-blood child in the Missoula Valley during the nineteenth century. -Her father's and other relatives' role in the Nez Perce War of 1877. -Her travels with her first husband through the Upper Flathead Country and the Thompson Falls area of Montana and High River, Alberta. -Her move with her second husband to the Flathead Indian Reservation and her impressions of the impact of allotment and the new irrigation system on the reservation community. -Her daughter's life in the boarding school at St. Ignatius Mission in the early twentieth century.
Call Number: Level 2 970.1 M191p 2011Publication Date: 2012 -
The Selected Papers of Jane Addams
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Venturing into Usefulness, the second volume of The Selected Papers of Jane Addams, documents the experience of this major American historical figure, intellectual, social activist, and author between June 1881, when at twenty-one she had just graduated from Rockford Female Seminary, and early 1889, when she was on the verge of founding the Hull-House settlement with Ellen Gates Starr. During these years she evolved from a high-minded but inexperienced graduate of a women's seminary into an educated woman and seasoned traveler well-exposed to elite culture and circles of philanthropy. Themes inaugurated in the previous volume are expanded here, including dilemmas of family relations and gender roles; the history of education; the dynamics of female friendship; religious belief and ethical development; changes in opportunities for women; and the evolution of philanthropy, social welfare, and reform ideas.
Call Number: Ebook and Level 2 361.92 A222zPublication Date: 2009 -
The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger, Volumes 1-4
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The birth control crusader, feminist, and reformer Margaret Sanger was one of the most controversial and compelling figures in the twentieth century. The Selected Papers of Margaret Sanger, Volume 1 is composed of Sanger's letters, diaries, journals, articles, and speeches, most of which have not appeared previously in print. Now in paperback, the book documents the critical phases and influences of an American feminist icon and offers rare glimpses into her working-class childhood, burgeoning feminism, spiritual and scientific interests, sexual explorations, and diverse roles as wife, mother, lover, nurse, journalist, radical socialist, and activist.
Call Number: Level 2 363.96092 S2256sPublication Date: 2002 -
Southern Women in the Progressive Era
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Riveting, revealing stories from women of all walks of southern life taking on the challenges of the Progressive Era From the 1890s to the end of World War I, the reformers who called themselves progressives helped transform the United States, and many women filled their ranks. Through solo efforts and voluntary associations, both national and regional, women agitated for change, addressing issues such as poverty, suffrage, urban overcrowding, and public health. Southern Women in the Progressive Era presents the stories of a diverse group of southern women--African Americans, working-class women, teachers, nurses, and activists--in their own words, casting a fresh light on one of the most dynamic eras in U.S. history. These women hailed from Virginia to Florida and from South Carolina to Texas and wrote in a variety of genres, from correspondence and speeches to bureaucratic reports, autobiographies, and editorials. Included in this volume, to name but a few of the selections, are the previously unpublished memoir of the civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune, who founded a school for black children; the correspondence of a textile worker, Anthelia Holt, whose musings to a friend reveal the day-to-day joys and hardships of mill-town life; the letters of the educator and agricultural field agent Henrietta Aiken Kelly, who attempted to introduce silk culture to southern farmers; and the speeches of the popular novelist Mary Johnson, who fought for women's voting rights. Always illuminating and often inspiring, each story highlights the part that regional identity--particularly race--played in health and education reform, suffrage campaigns, and women's club work. Together these women's voices reveal the promise of the Progressive Era, as well as its limitations, as women sought to redefine their role as workers and citizens of the United States.
Call Number: EbookPublication Date: 2019 -
Women's Letters: America from the Revolutionary War to the Present
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Historical events of the last three centuries come alive through these women’s singular correspondences—often their only form of public expression. In 1775, Rachel Revere tries to send financial aid to her husband, Paul, in a note that is confiscated by the British; First Lady Dolley Madison tells her sister about rescuing George Washington’s portrait during the War of 1812; one week after JFK’s assassination, Jacqueline Kennedy pens a heartfelt letter to Nikita Khrushchev; and on September 12, 2001, a schoolgirl writes a note of thanks to a New York City firefighter, asking him, “Were you afraid?” The letters gathered here also offer fresh insight into the personal milestones in women’s lives. Here is a mid-nineteenth-century missionary describing a mastectomy performed without anesthesia; Marilyn Monroe asking her doctor to spare her ovaries in a handwritten note she taped to her stomach before appendix surgery; an eighteen-year-old telling her mother about her decision to have an abortion the year after Roe v. Wade; and a woman writing to her parents and in-laws about adopting a Chinese baby. With more than 400 letters and over 100 stunning photographs, Women’s Letters is a work of astonishing breadth and scope, and a remarkable testament to the women who lived–and made–history. From the Hardcover edition.
Call Number: Level 2 305.40973 W87269Publication Date: 2005
Microfilm
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American Missionary Association ArchivesLevel 1 Microforms 266.5873 A512 microfilm, reels 1-2
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The cattle queen of Montana: A story of the personal experience of Mrs. Nat CollinsLevel 1 Microforms 978 W527 microfilm, reel 587, no. 6050
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Judith Sargent Murray PapersLevel 1 Microforms 818.2 M982Z, reels 1-7
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Mary McLeod Bethune papers, 1923-1942Level 1 Microforms 370.92 B563Z microfilm
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Mary Susan Ker papers, 1785-1923Level 1 Microforms 305.40975 S727 microfilm Series A, pt. 1, reels 1-25
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Papers of the Women's Trade Union League and its principal leadersLevel 1 331.4 P2144 microfilm, reels 1-4
Level 1 331.4 P2144 Guide microfilm -
Southern women and their families in the 19th century, papers and diaries. Series A, Holdings of the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel HillLevel 1 Microforms 305.40975 S727 ser. A microfilm
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Women's studies manuscript collections from the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College. Series 1, Woman's suffrageLevel 1 Microforms 324.623 W872 pt.c microfilm, reels 1-8
Level 1 Microforms 324.623 W872 pt.c Guide microfilm -
Women's studies manuscript collections from the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College. Series 2, Women in national politicsLevel 1 Microforms 973.91 R211Z microfilm, reels 1-12
Level 1 Microforms 973.91 R211Z Guide microfilm
Includes Jeanette Rankin's Papers.
Archival Resources
Select the "Archives and Special Collections" tab at the top of the page to find further information on UM and other archival collections.
University of Montana Archives and Special Collections
Women in Montana
Archives and Special Collections has many manuscript collections, oral histories, and photography collections created by or related to women in Montana and Missoula, in particular. Writers, professors, politicians, wives, teachers, ranchers, doctors, conservationists, mothers, poets, students, historians, pioneers, smokejumpers, postmasters, activists, and a filmmaker are all represented in the records. There are also collections created by women’s social and civic organizations and materials generated by various University of Montana women’s clubs and departments founded by or directed toward women.
Oral Histories
Interview project topics include: women and feminists in Montana; forestry, land use and conservation, and the environment; Montana politics and politicians; smokejumping; homesteading and fur trapping in Montana; and University of Montana history. The majority of our oral history interviews can be found searching OneSearch (use "oral history" as one of your search terms).
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Montana Feminist History Project Collaborative project designed to collect and interpret the history of the second wave of feminism in Montana. These interviews, recorded between 2001 and 2004, describe a broad range of women's and families' lives in Montana, including politics, birth, family aid, family violence, law, and feminism from multiple perspectives. The interviewees discuss women’s access to health care, reproductive rights, domestic violence, and activism within the gay and lesbian community in Montana.
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Montana Women’s Oral History Collection This collection contains interviews detailing the everyday lives of women in Montana during the first half of the 20th century. It contains histories of women from a variety of economic, social, and political backgrounds and includes the stories of immigrants, ranchers, and nurses. The interviews were conducted from 1972 to 1981 by Mary Melcher, Pam Frasier, Kathy White, Eleanor Wend, and Diane Sands. The interviewees discuss the role of and attitudes about women in the early decades of the 20th century. Topics include women’s suffrage, Prohibition, courtship and marriage, women’s fashion, birth control, midwifery, sex education, and child care and rearing. The original interviews are held as Oral History collection OH 049 at Archives and Special Collections, Mansfield Library, University of Montana-Missoula.
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A History of Greek Life The first greek social organizations at the University of Montana-Missoula were founded over 100 years ago. Today the University of Montana-Missoula is home to six nationally-recognized fraternities and four nationally-recognized sororities. This exhibit features materials from the The Sentinel yearbook, the Montana Kaimin newspaper, UM student scrapbooks, and records held by the Mansfield Library’s Archives and Special Collections.
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The Home Economics Department In the summer of 1913, the first home economics course was offered at the University of Montana-Missoula. The department offered courses in subjects like household budgeting, textiles, nutrition and interior design until 1989, when it was eliminated. This exhibit features photographs, recruitment pamphlets, and other memorabilia that illustrate the history of the department.
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Inextricable Fusion: The Poetry of Patricia Goedicke Patricia Goedicke published 13 books of poetry from 1968-2009 and taught Creative Writing at the University of Montana from 1981-2003. Goedicke's works often weave together a broad range of images and themes. For example, in her review of As Earth Begins to End, Robin Becker writes, "[Goedicke's] genius, in this book, becomes her language for linking individual sorrow to the sorrows of the environment, of globalization, of science and politics." This exhibit draws from Patricia Goedicke's literary manuscripts at The University of Montana, Missoula, some of which have been digitized and are available via ScholarWorks. It is intended to illustrate Goedicke's approach to poetry as teacher, writer, and critic.
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A Matter of Perspective: Women Writers and Montana 1890-1930 Montana is home to a number of prominent women authors, although their work is often overshadowed by that of their male peers. The exhibit tells the story of several of Montana’s women writers, using text from their published manuscripts.
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Women in Montana Politics On November 3, 1914 women won the right to vote in Montana. Over the last one hundred years women in Montana have continued to fight for reform and equality. The exhibit features photographs and documents from well-known early twentieth century suffragists Jeannette Rankin and Ella J. Knowles Haskell along with information on contemporary activists and politicians such as Juliet Gregory, Missoula’s only female mayor, and Lorena Burgess, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council Member. There is also a special section devoted to history of women at the University of Montana. For additional information on women in Montana politics check out the collection guide to Women in Montana.
Montana
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Archives and Special Collections, Montana State University LibraryA good place to research the history of Eastern Montana, the Bozeman area and Yellowstone National Park.
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Butte-Silver Bow Public ArchivesThe place to go for primary sources documenting Butte and Anaconda.
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Montana Historical SocietyThe Historical Society has numerous collections documenting Montana's people and places from the 19th century to the present day. The State Archives (located at the Historical Society) houses the official records of state agencies.
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Montana Memory ProjectThe Montana Memory Project (MMP) is an online source for digital collections relating to Montana's cultural heritage.
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Women’s History MattersCreated in 2014 as part of a commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of women’s suffrage in Montana, Women’s History Matters is designed to help the Montana Historical Society promote an increased appreciation and understanding of the role of women in the Treasure State’s past. The site is no longer being updated, but there is still a wealth of information here for people interested in learning more about Montana, women’s history, and the intersection of the two.
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Archives WestProvides access to guides to archival collections and to descriptions of primary source collections held at repositories in the Western United States, including Montana, Idaho, Utah, Washington, Oregon and Alaska.
National
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American Women: A Guide to Women's History Resources at the Library of CongressThe Library of Congress unique and diverse collections are rich with resources for the study of women's history. This research guide gathers together a collection of topical guides and essays that tell the stories of women in America.
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Pathfinder for Women’s History ResearchThis list is supplemented by an updated list of bibliographic resources available at Archives Library and Information Center created in 2001 entitled the Bibliography of Women’s Resources in ALIC.
History 371 & 471 Student Sample Papers
HSTA 371
HSTA 471
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A Beer for the Mrs.Women and Alcohol in Butte, Montana, 1908-1918
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The Confederate AmazonLoreta Velazquez a.k.a. Lieutenant Harry T Buford: A case study of Cross-Dressing in Nineteenth Century America
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Following National Trends in the Shelter MovementA Case Study of the YWCA of Missoula Battered Women’s Shelter, 1977-1990
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Friends and BeausThe Rise of Heterosocial Relationships at Women’s Colleges in the Twentieth Century
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In the Wake of Disaster and DiseaseWidowhood in Butte, America, 1900-1920
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A Place of Their OwnMissoula’s Women’s Place 1973-1995
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Redefining ActivismJudge Elreta Alexander Ralston and Civil Rights Advocacy in the New South
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Run Like a GirlCorporate, Mainstream, and Feminist Influences on Women’s Distance Running in the United
States, 1960-1985 -
Stars, Stripes, and StrumpetsAmerica’s Militant Campaign Against Prostitution During World War One
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Testing LoyaltyWomen’s Efforts to Teach Patriotism in American Public Schools, 1890-1920
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Why the Equal Rights Ammendment FailedDisagreements among American Feminists in the 1920s
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Yellowstone the “Wylie Way”National Park Tourism and the Western Ideal
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“But Where Are the Factory Girls?"New England’s Textile Mill Women in Published Memoirs and Private Writings, 1830-1861
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“Inmates” and “Disorderly Moral Conduct”Legal Restrictions on Women’s Sexuality in Missoula, Montana, 1890-1930
Databases
Select the other tabs at the top of the page (e.g., Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, U.S. and Canadian History) for further database recommendations.
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American Periodicals Series This link opens in a new window
Digitized full-text reproductions of over 1,500 American newspapers and periodicals from the 18th and 19th centuries, archived by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL). The collection includes a wide variety of publications—general interest, children's, women's, early scientific, and professional titles—documenting over 150 years of American history and cultural development.
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Contemporary Women's Issues This link opens in a new window
Full-text coverage from mainstream periodicals, gray literature (including newsletters, NGO reports, and alternative press), and ephemeral publications, highlighting critical issues and events shaping women's lives across more than 190 countries from the 1960s to the present.
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Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Full text of current newspapers, magazines, and journals from ethnic and minority presses, along with historical archives of Native American, African American, and Hispanic American publications from 1959 to 1989. Coverage includes a wide range of ethnic groups such as African American, Caribbean, African, Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian/Pacific Islander, European/Eastern European, Hispanic, Jewish, and Native American communities. See also the Diversity Collection to search Ethnic NewsWatch, GenderWatch and Alt-PressWatch in one platform.
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GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
Full text of scholarly and popular articles and gray literature titles focusing on the evolution of gender roles in society. Covers topics related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender studies; family studies; gender studies, and women's studies from 1970-present. See also the Diversity Collection to search Ethnic NewsWatch, GenderWatch and Alt-PressWatch in one platform.
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History Vault This link opens in a new window
Full text of several million pages of digitized primary source materials drawn from the National Archives, presidential libraries, and the archival papers of key organizations and individuals, presented in eight modules: (1) Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Federal Government Records, (2) Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century: Organizational Records and Personal Papers, Part 1, (3) NAACP Papers: Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff Files, (4) NAACP Papers: The NAACP's Major Campaigns--Education, Voting, Housing, Employment, Armed Forces, (5) Slavery and the Law (1775-1867), (6-7) Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantations Records, Parts 1 and 2, (8) Vietnam War and American Foreign Policy, 1960-1975. Note: Beginning July 2024, History Vault moved to a new interface. The former version is available from History Vault (Legacy).
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JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Explore over 2,800 academic journals across more than 60 disciplines, including the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Access millions of primary sources from four unique collections: Global Plants, 19th Century British Pamphlets, Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa, and World Heritage Sites: Africa. Discover over 3 million high-quality images from ARTstor, along with a growing library of 10,000+ open access books. Click more… for links to specific collections.
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LGBTQ+ Source (formerly LGBT Life with Full Text) This link opens in a new window
Full-text journals, books, and reference materials focused on LGBTQ+ and gender studies.
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Lily, The: A Temperance and Feminist Newspaper, 1849-1856 This link opens in a new window
Full text digitized version of the first newspaper for women, covering temperance, child-bearing and education, women's rights, and laws, among other topics.
Journals
Journals published by state historical societies often contain transcripts of primary source accounts of individuals lives in, and activities of, that state. Below are some examples.
Web Resources
Be sure to look at resources provided on the "Primary Sources" tab linked above, in addition to the resources below.
Civil Rights
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The American Indian Movement, 1968-1978 Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Set.
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Civil Rights Digital Library The Civil Rights Digital Library Initiative represents one of the most ambitious and comprehensive efforts to date to deliver educational content on the Civil Rights Movement via the Web. The struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s is among the most far-reaching social movements in the nation's history, and it represents a crucial step in the evolution of American democracy. The initiative promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement through its three principal components: 1) a digital video archive of historical news film allowing learners to be nearly eyewitnesses to key events of the Civil Rights Movement, 2) a civil rights portal providing a seamless virtual library on the Movement by connecting related digital collections on a national scale, and 3) a learning objects component delivering secondary Web-based resources - such as contextual stories, encyclopedia articles, lesson plans, and activities--to facilitate the use of the video content in the learning process. The CRDL advances cross-disciplinary approaches, promoting a seamless infrastructure for learning, emphasizing context and structure for digital information, and recruiting and educating new leaders for a learning society. The Civil Rights Digital Library initiative achieves its desired outcomes through a partnership among digital library and information technology professionals, archivists, humanities scholars, educators, university graduate and undergraduate researchers, academic publishers, and public broadcasters.
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Eyes on the Prize Interviews Eyes on the Prize is a 14-part series which was originally released in two parts: Eyes I in 1985 and Eyes II in 1988. This series, which debuted on PBS stations, is considered to be the definitive documentary on the Civil Rights Movement. “Eyes on the Prize” won more than twenty major awards and attracted over 20 million viewers. These interviews are part of the Henry Hampton Collection housed at the Film and Media Archive at Washington University Libraries. Each transcript represented the entire interview conducted by Blackside including sections which appeared in the final program and the outtakes. For more information, on the various formats of each interview, please contact the Film and Media Archive.
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Women in SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) The Our Voices section highlights important ideas and themes within SNCC’s history and presents them in the voices of the activists themselves. Each page is authored by an individual SNCC activist or by multiple activists in conversation with each other.
Culture
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African American Women Writers of the 19th Century African American Women Writers of the 19th Century guide includes a digital collection of published works by 19th-century black women writers, biographies for each author, citations and much more.
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American Women Making History and Culture: 1963-1982 The American Women Making History and Culture: 1963-1982 collection includes 2,024 reel-to-reel tapes and 2,024 WAV files preserved as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives’ 2013-2016 “American Women Making History and Culture: 1963-1982” (“American Women”) preservation project. The recordings were selected as an “artificial collection” to document the Women’s movement and second-wave feminism as it was broadcast on the Pacifica network. The collection also includes recordings that, though they weren’t about feminism or women’s rights, are significant because they were produced by women or featured women important to American history and culture at that time. Nearly all of the recordings were broadcast between 1963 and 1982 on a Pacifica network station: KPFA - 94.1FM Berkeley, CA; KPFK - 90.7FM Los Angeles, CA; WBAI - 99.5FM New York, NY, KPFT - 90.1FM Houston, TX; and WPFW - 89.3FM Washington, D.C. or via satellite. One thousand six hundred and ninety six reel-to-reel tapes were digitized with funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and all 2,024 tapes are being stored at the University of Maryland’s Public Broadcasting Archive. The 2,024 WAV audio files are being stored at the Pacifica Radio Archives in North Hollywood, CA, the University of California, Berkeley Library, and the Internet Archive in San Francisco, CA.
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Archives of Women Artists The Archives of Women Artists is dedicated to collecting and preserving the papers and primary records of women visual artists and organizations that promote women’s contributions to the arts. The archive includes personal papers, correspondence, gallery guides, sketches, photographs and slides, and other unique materials.
Feminism
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16 Black Feminist Archival Projects You Need To Know About Black women and gender non-conforming and non-binary people’s histories, productions, leadership, and activism has often been overlooked, forgotten, and ignored in the United States and beyond. Here are 16 Black and Brown women-led archival projects that are reclaiming and restoring what white heteronormative patriarchal revisionist history tried to destroy and take from us.
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Digital Feminist Archives This archive offers a snapshot of feminist history in the 1960s and 1970s, the institutionalization of women’s centers and women’s studies as an academic discipline, and feminist struggles taking place at colleges and universities, in healthcare and social service centers, in political organizations and neighborhood meetings across the country.
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The Feminist Chronicles, 1953-1993 Excerpted from a larger work in progress, the Feminist Chronicles of the 20th Century. This larger work documents the feminist movement primarily in the United States from the turn of the century national convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, (NAWSA), when Susan B. Anthony retired as president and turned the organization over to the younger Carrie Chapman Catt, to “the present,” which may well be the year 1100.
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Jane Addams Digital Edition Jane Addams' correspondence and writings for the period 1901-1935.
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The VFA (Veteran Feminists of America) Pioneer Histories Project The VFA Pioneer Histories Project is the personal history of the Second Wave women’s movement – one story at a time. Just click on the photo or name of any of the feminists below to read and listen to their stories.
LGBTIQ+
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Black Lesbian Archives The Archives for Black Lesbians to build Community, Educate & Preserve our Culture.
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Lesbian Herstory Archives The Lesbian Herstory Archives exists to gather, preserve and provide access to records of Lesbian lives and activities. Doing this also serves to uncover and document our herstory previously denied to us by patriarchal historians in the interests of the culture that they served. The existence of the Archives will thus enable current and future generations to analyze and reevaluate the Lesbian experience.
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Mazer Lesbian Archives Colletions Our published materials include fiction and non fiction numbering more than 2300 titles. The Archives is committed to gathering and preserving materials by and about lesbians and feminists of all classes, ethnicities, races and experiences. Included are personal letters and scrapbooks, artwork, manuscripts, books, records, newspapers, magazines, photographs, videotapes, flyers, papers of lesbian organizations, private papers, and even clothing, such as softball uniforms from the 1940s and 50s. Hundreds of lesbians and feminists have been inspired to donate artifacts of their personal and collective histories. The Archives encourages all lesbians to deposit the everyday mementos of your lives so that others can discover them in the future. The privacy of any donor is protected to whatever extent desired.
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Native Americans/LGBT+ Americans: 1528-1976 These documents about LGBTQ+ Native Americans present years of testimony from a wide variety of observers: military men, missionaries, explorers, trappers, traders, settlers, and later, medical doctors, anthropologists, homosexual emancipationists, and LGBTQ+ activists. In a few rare instances the voices of LGBTQ+ Native Americans are heard. Adapted from Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (NY: Crowell, 1976). The notes to these documents contain numbers of additional sources. Last edit: May 31, 2021.
Suffrage
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Suffrage: Women Fight for the Vote Many of the personal papers of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Church Terrell, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Anna E. Dickinson are included here, and have never been fully transcribed. Explore the daily lives of these determined leaders and their stories of hope, perseverance, sacrifice, courage, creativity, and conviction, as well as how everyday Americans participated in and reacted to the suffrage movement.
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Suffragists Oral History Project Suffragists Oral History Project, under the auspices of the Bancroft Library's Regional Oral History Office, collected interviews with twelve leaders and participants in the woman's suffrage movement. Tape-recorded and transcribed oral histories preserved the memories of these remarkable women, documenting formative experiences, activities to win the right to vote for women, and careers as leaders of the movements for welfare and labor reform, world peace, and the passage of the Equal Rights Am
Work
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Changing the Face of Medicine National Library of Medicine online exhibit on women physicians.
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Labor Archives of Washington The Labor Archives contains more than 300 collections of labor and labor-related materials from individuals and organizations. These collections document the local, national, and international dimensions of the labor movement in the Pacific Northwest. Collections document the intersection between labor unions and social justice, civil rights, and political organizations that feature a labor relations or labor rights as part of their focus.
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Women Working, 1800-1930, Harvard Library An exploration of women's impact on the economic life of the United States between 1800 and the Great Depression.