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Women's History

Judy Chicago's Sappho plate

Cool Finds

Now You Too Can Eat Off of Judy Chicago’s Famous Feminist Dinnerware

Reproductions of four plate designs from “The Dinner Party” are available for the first time

Dorothy Parker at a typewriter in 1941

Women Who Shaped History

Writing in the Public Eye, These Women Brought the 20th Century Into Focus

Michelle Dean’s new book looks at the intellects who cut through the male-dominated public conversation

New Statue Immortalizes Mary Thomas, Who Led a Revolt Against Danish Colonial Rule

It is the city’s first public monument to a black woman

Marvin, a trailblazer in more ways than one, surveys the Antarctic terrain on her meteorite-hunting expedition of 1978-79.

Women Who Shaped History

The Rockstar Geologist Who Mapped the Minerals of the Cosmos

A professor told Ursula Marvin she should learn to cook. Instead she chased down meteorites in Antarctica

From left to right: Jennifer Woodul, Meg Christian (in glasses), Ginny Berson (whose hand is on Meg's leg), Kate Winter (above) and Judy Dlugacz (far right).

Women Who Shaped History

How Should We Archive the Soundtrack to 1970s Feminism?

It’s time to talk about the lasting legacy of Olivia Records, a leading voice of the women’s music movement, whose history is ready to come out of storage

Mary McLeod Bethune in 1949

Trending Today

U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall Collection Will Get Its First State-Commissioned Statue of a Black American

A statue of educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune will replace a statue of a Confederate general

Cool Finds

Rare Image of Early Female Pharaoh Found in University Collection

After her reign, Hatshepsut was expunged from Egyptian history, but a carving of her likeness has turned up in Swansea University

Women Who Shaped History

Ruth McGinnis: The Queen of Billiards

Back when pool was a serious sport that grabbed the attention of the nation, one woman smoked the competition

Can you spot Sheila?

Women Who Shaped History

How Smithsonian Helped Solve the Twitter Mystery of the Unknown Woman Scientist

Sheila Minor was a biological research technician who went on to a 35-year-long scientific career

Kewpies were the creative invention of illustrator Rose O'Neill.

Women Who Shaped History

The Prolific Illustrator Behind Kewpies Used Her Cartoons for Women’s Rights

Rose O’Neill started a fad and became a leader of a movement

'Cattle Kate' and Postmaster Averill, lynched. Stockmen a Sweetwater, Wyo., July 21, end the career of a lawless pair of depredators - swung from a cottonwood at the rope's end. Undated illustration.

Women Who Shaped History

The Tragedy of Cattle Kate

Newspapers reported that cowgirl Ella Watson was a no-good thief who deserved the vigilante killing that befell her, when in reality she was anything but

Newly elected Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, surrounded by children and grandchildren of members of Congress, holds up her gavel in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2007.

Women Who Shaped History

This Historic Gavel Hammers Home the Achievements of Nancy Pelosi… and the United States

The congresswoman donates to the Smithsonian artifacts tied to her first day as Speaker of the House in 2007

Anna Murray Douglass helped Frederick escape from slavery, and continued to support his abolitionist work for the rest of her life.

Women Who Shaped History

The Hidden History of Anna Murray Douglass

Although she’s often overshadowed by her husband, Frederick Douglass, Anna made his work possible

More women than men were left standing after the war and pandemic.

Women Who Shaped History

How the 1918 Flu Pandemic Helped Advance Women’s Rights

While the virus disproportionately affected young men, women stepped into public roles that hadn’t previously been open to them

Ruth (Woodworth) Creveling, US Navy Yeoman (F), 1917-1920

During World War I, Many Women Served and Some Got Equal Pay

Remembering the aspirations, struggles and accomplishments of women who served a century ago

An endocast revealing the brain of an Iguanodon, an herbivorous dinosaur of the early Cretaceous period. This was the first fossilized dinosaur brain found by modern scientists, announced in 2016.

Women Who Shaped History

The Woman Who Shaped the Study of Fossil Brains

By drawing out hidden connections, Tilly Edinger joined the fields of geology and neurology

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Women Who Shaped History

Women Who Shaped History

Collecting the stories of women who forever changed the course of the American story

The Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial in Knoxville is a start to what should be a nationwide trend.

Women Who Shaped History

Why We Need to Start Building Monuments to Groundbreaking Women

The brilliant female codebreakers of WWII were forgotten to history, but would that have happened had they been recognized with the same fervor as men?

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders director Kelli Finglass (left) peruses the donated materials with current DCC captains Jinelle (middle) and KaShara (right). Foregrounded are the original uniform sketches of designer Paula Van Wagoner.

A Classic American Cheerleading Troupe Tumbles to Smithsonian Immortality

“America’s Sweethearts” are as dedicated to social service as they are to the Dallas Cowboys

Many of the fascinating stories tied to women across history are preserved in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution.

This Museum Tour Is the Perfect Guide to Celebrating Women’s History in Style

From the National Portrait Gallery to the Air and Space Museum, here’s where to find the stories of wondrous women come March

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