Who were these women?
The women in A Woman of the Century were accomplished women from the United States and all over the world. While their contemporaries would have known about many of them, most are not well known today. Each is inspirational and well worth exploring.
A major goal of the project is to create an item record for each woman, based on her biographical sketch. These item records are searchable by metadata so, for example, clicking on the word "biographer" will lead to a page listing all the women whose items list them as biographers. Another goal of the project is to find out more about the women by researching their lives in Chronicling America and other primary sources. These primary sources enrich the items by providing new information about the activities and social networks of the women. They also help readers understand what their contemporaries had to say about the women. It's possible to investigate many women's social networks by looking at the Personal Network fields and the Item Relations tabs in their item records.
Where did they go to school?
The women went to a variety of high schools, academies, colleges, and graduate schools. Some of those more frequently mentioned are Troy Female Seminary, Mount Holyoke, Oberlin, Boston University, University of Michigan, Cooper Union For The Advancement of Science and Art, New York Medical College and Hospital for Women, and Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Eventually, there will be pages for each educational institution which will list both students and professors.
What contributions did they make?
These women made contributions in a variety of fields, frequently not just the one or two mentioned at the beginning of their biographical sketches. This project uses broad categories to facilitate analysis of the occupations and activities of the women, including them in every category they are known to have participated in.
What can you learn?
Exploring A Woman of the Century and this project will teach you more about these inspirational women. Whether you are interested in women's history, local history, or both, there are fascinating women to learn about and be inspired by.
Within the project, each woman is listed as an item, and most items include images. Parenthetical citations within items refer to pages in A Woman of the Century. Each woman's biography is linked to the page number(s) in her item record. Items are gathered into collections and are presented within exhibits, but enjoy exploring in any way that you wish to.