National Women's History Museum

Women’s museum in D.C. again pushed (The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 3/31/2011)

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110331/FEAT/303319988

Stefanie Scarlett | The Journal Gazette

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”

That now famous quote (by historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich) is affixed to Christine Erickson’s office door at IPFW, where she is an associate history professor. Last year, Erickson says, someone scribbled a few choice words on the bumper sticker: “That’s because women didn’t do anything important.” Perhaps the proposed National Women’s History Museum is needed now more than ever. On Wednesday, a bill that would allow the museum’s construction near the National Mall was introduced in Congress for the fourth time since 2005. “It has been a long road,” says Joan Wages, the museum’s president and CEO. “It’s just what it takes to get 530 members of Congress to agree. It takes a long period of time to make one’s mark in Washington and convince them that you’re serious about your project,” she says. Read the rest of this entry »

Congress To Revive Bill For Women’s History Museum (MyFox DC, 3/31/2011)

WASHINGTON – Two lawmakers are working to revive legislation in Congress to create a National Women’s History Museum in Washington after an earlier effort expired in the Senate.The House passed a bill in 2009 to create the museum, but time ran out during that congressional session for the Senate to vote. Maine Sen. Susan Collins and New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney announced Wednesday that they’re introducing legislation to try again. Organizers want authority to purchase a federal property at 12th Street and Independence Avenue near the Smithsonian Institution to build the museum on the National Mall. They plan to hold a fundraiser Thursday in New Brunswick, N.J., and will honor the work of former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and other women.

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/dc/congress-to-revive-bill-for-womens-history-museum-033111

Women’s museum seeks national space (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/30/2011)

By Monica Haynes

Women make up more than half of this country’s population, but you’d never know it from reading history books.

“In today’s history textbooks, only one out of 10 figures is of a woman. If you look at our national parks, less than 5 percent of the statues are women,” says Joan Wages, National Women’s History Museum president & CEO.

“Women are being left out of the telling of our national story and that’s what we have to change.” Read the rest of this entry »

Organizers Face Hurdles to Creating Women’s History Museum (Hybla Valley Patch, 3/30/2011)

By Mary Ann Barton

Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce members got the scoop last week on efforts to build the National Women’s History Museum from museum president and CEO, Joan Bradley Wages. Although it exists online, charter members wish to see a bricks-and-mortar version, built with private funds, at 12th Street and Independence Avenue SW, near the National Mall.

“It always amazes me when someone says ‘Why women’s history?’ ” Wages said in a speech to the group. “It’s dangerous not to know our women’s history.” Read the rest of this entry »