Talks, exhibits explore women's history

Women's History Month Several upcoming events at William & Mary provide the campus and local communities an opportunity to celebrate Women's History Month through educational events and exhibits. At Swem Library, two current exhibits reveal the lives of women, both past and present. The exhibit case seen here is part of an exhibit dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the Mu Upsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Photo by the Special Collections Research Center

by Erin Zagursky | March 10, 2011

Several upcoming events at William & Mary provide the campus and local communities an opportunity to celebrate Women’s History Month through educational events and exhibits.

On March 22, Professor of History and American Studies Leisa Meyer will lead discussion after a screening of the 45-minute, Oscar-nominated documentary “With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women's Emergency Brigade.” The movie explores the 1937 Great General Motors Sit-Down Strike and follows the reunion of nine of the women who were involved, 40 years later. The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Blow 331. It is free and open to the public.

The next day, Christine Quinan of UC Berkeley will give a talk entitled "Gender and Institutional Amnesia in the French-Algerian War" from noon to 1 p.m. in Morton 314. The event is part of the Women's Studies/Africana Studies Brown Bag series. Light refreshments will be provided at the event, which is free and open to the public.

In April, Denise R. Gill-Gürtan, visiting instructor of music and ethnomusicology and 2010-11 director of W&M Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, will give a talk titled “Melancholy, Gender Subjectivities, and the Spiritual Labors of Turkish Classical Musicians." The April 20th event will be held in Morton 314 from noon to 1 p.m.

At Swem Library, two current exhibits reveal the lives of women, both past and present. On the first floor, in the read and relax area, an exhibit dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the Mu Upsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority will be on display until April 25. Chartered in 1976, the William & Mary chapter of the sorority was the first African-American sorority on campus to move into its own house. The exhibit, which was curated by University Archivist Amy Schindler, displays posters, programs and other documents from the sorority’s history.

Additionally, the “Unlocking the Diary” exhibit, located in Swem’s third floor rotunda gallery until March 31, features a wide range of diaries, mostly from women. The diaries tell of the lives of a diverse group of women throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries, ranging from a Confederate woman documenting the Union occupation of Winchester, Va., to a William & Mary undergraduate student describing her life at the College at the dawn of female enrollment. The exhibit features several cases, including “Through Their Eyes: Diarists in Virginia,” which includes diaries written by 19th-century Virginia women. The exhibit was curated by students in Professor Jennifer Putzi’s “Gender and the American Diary” class (WMST 490/ENGL 475) and the Special Collections Research Center staff.

Images of both exhibits may be seen on the Special Collections Resource Center’s Flickr page.

For more upcoming events at William & Mary, visit http://events.wm.edu/.