Schlesinger Library | Radcliffe Institute | Harvard University

11/19/2020

Today we celebrate the birthday of Shirley Graham Du Bois. Du Bois (November 11 1896 - March 27 1977) was an American author, composer, playwright, and activist for African American and other causes. She studied music composition at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, in the 1920s, and received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Oberlin College in 1934 and 1935, respectively. In 1936, she was appointed director of the Chicago Negro Unit of the Federal Theater Project. In the late 1940s, she joined the American Communist Party and also joined Sojourners for Truth and Justice, an African American organization working for global women's liberation. In 1951, she married sociologist and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois.

Caption: Portrait of Shirley Graham Du Bois and W.E.B. Du Bois seated outdoors on a park bench at Coney Island.

10/22/2020

Today we celebrate the birthday of Letitia Woods Brown (October 24, 1915 – August 3, 1976). In 1966 Brown became one of the first Black women to earn a PhD in history from Harvard University. She was a primary consultant for the Schlesinger Library's Black Women's Oral History Project. For more information on Brown and this project, see http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990006053760203941/catalog Caption: Letitia W. Brown and Her Family.

10/15/2020

Today we celebrate Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her appointment to the Supreme Court as its second female justice on October 4th, 1993. The image presented here is of Ginsburg with Radcliffe College President Linda Wilson, at a Women Judges reception in 1994. For more information on this photograph, see http://id.lib.harvard.edu/via/olvwork356894/catalog

09/24/2020

In honor of Alice Church Terrell's birthday, we present this image of the delegates (including Terrell) to the Second Annual Conference of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919. Terrell (September 23 1863 - July 24 1954), one of the first African-American women to earn an undergraduate degree, was a suffragist and civil rights activist. She was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women. This image is from the papers of Jeannette Rankin; for more information on this collection, see http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990091483390203941/catalog. Caption: Group portrait of delegates to the Second Annual Conference of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (formerly: International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace). Front row, from left to right (incomplete): Jeannette Rankin (person 4); Jane Addams (6); Lucia Ames Mead (7); and Emily Green Balch (8). Back row, from left to right (incomplete): Mary Church Terrell (8) and Lucy Biddle Lewis (10).

09/21/2020

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

With gratitude from generations. Remembering a fearless fighter for justice and equality. Honoring the extraordinary life and work of RBG.

Inscription: Verso: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson; Women Judges reception, Supreme Court, spring '94 Radcliffe College Archives PC 708-4-44

09/17/2020

Today we present pictures of Togo the Cat! These images are from the Ellis Gray Loring papers. For more information on this collection, see http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990090503060203941/catalog Caption: Three portraits of Togo the cat outside on a walkway, probably at Sarah Orne Jewett's home, Jewett House.

08/27/2020

Today's post celebrates the birthday of Grace Zia Chu. Madame Chu (August 23 1899 - April 15 1999) was born in Shanghai, China, and studied at Wellesley College in the 1920s, receiving a graduate certificate in Hygiene and Physical Education. In 1954 she began teaching Chinese cooking at the China Institute in America. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she taught many classes on Chinese cooking, including at the Mandarin House School of Cooking and the Culinary Institute of America. She published two cookbooks, The Pleasures of Chinese Cooking (1962) and Madame Chu's Chinese Cooking School (1975). For more information on Madame Chu, see http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990014736640203941/catalog
Captions: Grace Zia Chu's Smallpox Vaccination Certificate, 1941; Grace Zia Chu Stir Frying Broccoli, ca.1975.

08/20/2020

Today we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. The amendment, ratified on August 18th 1920, guarantees American women the right to vote. This image is from Schlesinger's Women's Right's Collection. For more information on this collection, see http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990006053770203941/catalog.
Caption: Gillett at desk, seated, poised as if signing a document, looking up toward camera. A group of women stand behind him to the left, a group of men stand behind him to the right. Inscription: Caption: Harriet Taylor Upton, Mary Garrett Hay, Marjorie Shuler, John E. Raker, Tyler Page, Ida Husted Harper, Maud Wood Park, Helen Hamilton Gardener, Champ Clark, Frank W. Mondell, Speaker Frederick H. Gillett. Signing the Amendment

07/23/2020

Today's post celebrates the birthday of author and activist Barbara Deming. Deming (July 23 1917 - August 2, 1984) was a firm believer in the power of nonviolent protest and participated in civil rights, nuclear disarmament, and anti-war marches and sit-ins. Many of these activities led to her arrest and sometimes resulted in jail time. Her final arrest occurred in 1983, when she participated in the Feminist Walk of the New York City Women's Pentagon Action.
For more information on Deming, including a detailed biography and a list of her books, see the finding aid for her papers at the Schlesinger Library: https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/sch00057/catalog. The library also holds a collection of her letters to peace activist Paul Salstom: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990078021910203941/catalog.

Caption: Mug shot of Barbara Deming. On back of photo: From Seneca Women's Peace Encampment, 1983.

07/21/2020

https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library/blog/one-hundred-and-fifty-six-years-memories

Thursday, July 16, 2020 Civil War Family Thomas Bayley Fox, Jr., 1857. Courtesy of Schlesinger Library Archivists often remember the names and odd bits of information about people long dead. In October of 2018, I was at the Gettysburg National Military Park with my husband. The Gettysburg National M...