Women’s History Resources at the National Museum of American History


Understanding women’s history is integral to understanding the American experience. Although often underrepresented in recorded histories, women helped build the United States of America of today and women will help shape the United States of America of the future.

Resource Guides

The Women’s History Resource Guides below cover women’s histories from the early days of the United States to the present, reflecting a wide range of content produced by the National Museum of American History. Presented in a variety of formats, the content referenced in the guides features women of achievement as well as ordinary women and their everyday lives.

The Women’s History Resource Guides were made possible through the support of Bette and Lindsey Hagan and the James Lollar Hagan Internship program.

Explore women’s diverse histories with resource guides outlining women-centered...

Because of Her StoryLearn about the Smithsonian's American Women's History Inititiave on the Because of Her Story website.

Classroom resource: The Suffragist

This set of three classroom videos examines the actions taken by suffragists in 1917 as they fought to win the right to vote.

Women Inventors

The museum's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation offers a resource hub with oral histories, archival materials, blogs, and public programs about women inventors.

More online resources

For more women’s history resources at the museum, take a look below at these women-focused exhibitions, collections, and blog posts. 

From Our Blog

Anna Dickinson, seated
Abolitionist Anna Dickinson's January 1864 speech to a packed House of Representatives was dubbed the “sensation of the season.”
Group of people led by Dr. Marie Curie and President Harding walking down steps at the White House
One hundred years ago Marie Curie stood among the rose bushes, the press, and a crowd of White House guests, holding a golden key. The key opened a box that contained a gram of radium. Could it also unlock a cure to cancer? Women across America were led to believe as much, rising to the call sent out in their journals and newspapers to fund a gift worth more than $100,000.
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