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Things I like: suffragettes, war workers, factory girls, socialites who got stuff done, ladies who ruled countries, and women who changed the world, even if it was just a little bit. Click on photos for sources.

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Top saleswomen cool off, 1960. Find Girl Scout cookies in your area.

Top saleswomen cool off, 1960.

Find Girl Scout cookies in your area.

Female musicians in India, 1898.

Female musicians in India, 1898.

Woman Member of the Secret Service, Olive H. Doyle

Woman Member of the Secret Service, Olive H. Doyle

lbjlibrary:

1940: Lady Bird shoots Home Movie #1.

This Lady Bird Johnson Home Movie features footage of the spring through the fall of 1940. It was filmed mostly in Washington, D.C., where LBJ was serving as Congressman. Lady Bird narrates.

Lady Bird’s love of flowers shines through in this film. It also features cherry blossoms, FDR’s motorcade, Mount Vernon, and the Jefferson Monument under construction.

She shot footage on her return trip to Texas, too. We also see a marker describing the birthplace of Sam Houston in Virginia, and Andrew Jackson’s The Hermitage. The film concludes with shots of flowers blooming.

Credit: LBJ Library Video by Mrs. Johnson’s Home Movies.  No usage fees.

(Source: youtube.com)

Two young women viewing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s casket, 1968.

Two young women viewing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s casket, 1968.

World Book Night 2012

April 23rd 2012 is World Book Night in the US, the UK and Ireland.  50,000 volunteers in the US and 20,000 volunteers in the UK/Ireland will give away free copies of specially chosen books to light or non-readers.  In order to participate, you must be over 16 years of age, live in one of the three countries and have read the book(s) you would like to give away.

The goal is to give light readers motivation to read through a new book, it isn’t just a chance to give away a favorite book to friends who are already readers, so it is a good idea to think about who you’d give the books out to. How could you target light and non-readers?  Do you have a connection to a traditionally undeserved community who might particularly benefit from a book giveaway?  

The US list leans a bit more towards contemporary fiction while the UK/Ire list leans a bit more towards classic literature, but there are books I’ve recommended to friends on both lists.  I’m sure some people will roll their eyes at the inclusion of authors like Jodi Picoult and Sophie Kinsella along with heavy hitters like Charles Dickens and Maya Angelou, but giving someone a book they’re likely to enjoy makes more sense than giving them one they aren’t interested in. 

If you’re interested in giving away books in your community, you can apply here in the US and here in the UK/Ire. Librarians and booksellers who would like to participate as distributors to book givers can find more information here (US) and here (UK/Ire).

Related: If you yourself are a light reader, it isn’t too late to set a New Year’s Resolution to read 12 or 52 books in 2012.  I’m surprised that I’ve seen more New Year’s Resolutions to watch more TV than I’ve seen resolutions to read more on my dashboard.  

Girl Scouts, 1920

Girl Scouts, 1920

Margaret Leech (Mrs. Ralph Pulitzer) Margaret Leech (1893-1974) was a writer and occasional member of the Algonquin Round Table.  She won two Pulitzer Prizes in history for her books Reveille in Washington (1942) and In the Days of McKinley (1960).* There is a website devoted to Margaret’s life and work. *The Pulitzer Prize was established by Margaret’s father in law as part of his will in 1917.  It is administered by Columbia University and voted on by a panel of newspaper editors and academics.

Margaret Leech (Mrs. Ralph Pulitzer)

Margaret Leech (1893-1974) was a writer and occasional member of the Algonquin Round Table.  She won two Pulitzer Prizes in history for her books Reveille in Washington (1942) and In the Days of McKinley (1960).*

There is a website devoted to Margaret’s life and work.

*The Pulitzer Prize was established by Margaret’s father in law as part of his will in 1917.  It is administered by Columbia University and voted on by a panel of newspaper editors and academics.

Commander Adelaide Sinclair (1900-1982), Director of the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service. Adelaide was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours 1945 for her work with the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service. After the war, she went to work for the UN and eventually became Deputy Director of UNICEF (1957-1967).  In 1967, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Commander Adelaide Sinclair (1900-1982), Director of the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service.

Adelaide was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours 1945 for her work with the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service. After the war, she went to work for the UN and eventually became Deputy Director of UNICEF (1957-1967).  In 1967, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

"Daisy Bates was the poster child of black resistance. She was a quarterback, the coach. We were the players."

— Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine, the group of students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.

Learn more about Daisy Bates at the Schomburg Center on Saturday, when they host a film screening of Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock at 4pm. The director will be there for a talk-back. (via nypl)
obitoftheday: Obit of the Day: The Woman Who Saved 800,000 Babies Prior to the work of Dr. Mary Ellen Avery, 15,000 premature babies died every year from hyaline membrane disease. Avery and other pediatric pulmonologists originally thought that the infants died because of a glassy membrane on the lungs. But Dr. Avery discovered that what was truly the cause was a lack of a foam in the lungs that is called surfactant. A Japanese colleague, Dr. Tetsuro Fujiwara, took the new information and created an artificial surfactant from cows’ lungs. The death rate for premature babies who die from what is now called “respiratory distress syndrome” is down 1500% from the time when Dr. Avery began her research in 1959. Dr. Avery was awarded the National Medal of Science for her work on surfactant. She was also a pioneer in other areas of pediatrics and research: 1st woman to be appointed physician in chief at Children’s Hospital Boston 1st to head a clinical department at Harvard Medical School 1st to serve as president of the Society for Pediatric Research 1st pediatrician to lead the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She passed away at the age of 84. (Image of Dr. Avery checking on one of her tiny patients is courtesy of Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library in Boston.)

obitoftheday:

Obit of the Day: The Woman Who Saved 800,000 Babies

Prior to the work of Dr. Mary Ellen Avery, 15,000 premature babies died every year from hyaline membrane disease. Avery and other pediatric pulmonologists originally thought that the infants died because of a glassy membrane on the lungs. But Dr. Avery discovered that what was truly the cause was a lack of a foam in the lungs that is called surfactant. A Japanese colleague, Dr. Tetsuro Fujiwara, took the new information and created an artificial surfactant from cows’ lungs. The death rate for premature babies who die from what is now called “respiratory distress syndrome” is down 1500% from the time when Dr. Avery began her research in 1959.

Dr. Avery was awarded the National Medal of Science for her work on surfactant. She was also a pioneer in other areas of pediatrics and research:

  • 1st woman to be appointed physician in chief at Children’s Hospital Boston
  • 1st to head a clinical department at Harvard Medical School
  • 1st to serve as president of the Society for Pediatric Research
  • 1st pediatrician to lead the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

She passed away at the age of 84.

(Image of Dr. Avery checking on one of her tiny patients is courtesy of Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library in Boston.)

Mrs. Eleanor J. Bolesta, the only woman winner of a farm in the recent drawing for homesteads, located near Merrill, Oregon on the Klamath Project. Mrs. Bolesta, despite the fact that she does not look the part, can handle a tractor efficiently. She has lived on a farm most of her life and is quite familiar with all types of farm machinery.

Mrs. Eleanor J. Bolesta, the only woman winner of a farm in the recent drawing for homesteads, located near Merrill, Oregon on the Klamath Project. Mrs. Bolesta, despite the fact that she does not look the part, can handle a tractor efficiently. She has lived on a farm most of her life and is quite familiar with all types of farm machinery.

"There’s a reason hobble skirts are called hobble skirts, you literally can’t move very far in them. Some of those dresses are originals, some are copies, but when you’re wearing them you can really see why women who lived in that period couldn’t move very fast or do very much. It’s just physically impossible to move at speed in them. But, the costumes are beautiful though. Susannah Buxton [Downton Abbey’s costume designer] 100 per cent deserved that Emmy, she thinks of everything right down to the smallest detail."

—

Jessica Brown-Findlay on hobble skirts and costume’s worn on Downton Abbey (source: vogue.co.uk via styleatdownton)

This quote ties in nicely with some of the reblog commentary on my Iowa State tap dancing post.  Beautiful fashions are not necessarily comfortable or practical.

Strange as it may seem, many persons misspell or change the spelling of their names, from time to time. To forestall the difficulties which would ensue when Baer subsequently spelled his name Bear, the Social Security Board Records Office has set up several varieties of indexes for reference and to insure accuracy. One of these is the alphabetic code index. This is printed on flexible strips, each just wide enough for one line of type. They are printed automatically from the employee master card. The strips are in partially perforated rolls when they first are printed, as shown in the above photograph taken in the Records Office. The perforations allow strips to be separated at any point so that, for example, Abraham Abel’s name may be inserted in proper alphabetic sequence between Aaron Abel and Adam Abel. Baltimore, circa 1936

Strange as it may seem, many persons misspell or change the spelling of their names, from time to time. To forestall the difficulties which would ensue when Baer subsequently spelled his name Bear, the Social Security Board Records Office has set up several varieties of indexes for reference and to insure accuracy. One of these is the alphabetic code index. This is printed on flexible strips, each just wide enough for one line of type. They are printed automatically from the employee master card. The strips are in partially perforated rolls when they first are printed, as shown in the above photograph taken in the Records Office. The perforations allow strips to be separated at any point so that, for example, Abraham Abel’s name may be inserted in proper alphabetic sequence between Aaron Abel and Adam Abel.

Baltimore, circa 1936