PLANS ARE AFOOT TO BUILD AN “American Women’s History Museum” in Washington DC. The Smithsonian is masterminding the project, and a council of advisers — among them Billie Jean King and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark — has already been established. It will be another ten years or more before the doors to the building open, but the Smithsonian has given a taste of what is to come through a preliminary American Women’s History Initiative, which can be explored online.
Scrolling through, it all looks very exciting. There are sections showcasing objects from the worlds of female education, activism, sport, culture and science — things such as Helen Keller’s watch, the clothes worn by one of the Little Rock Nine in), and the first maternity uniform for pregnant pilots. There are also plenty of intriguing pages dedicated to needlework created by women in the nineteenth century. Ellen Harding Baker’s didactic quilt illustrating the solar system — including two moons of Mars first detected in her lifetime — is anything but dull.
