Women’s History Resources

More events, online exhibitions, and resources can be found on the Smithsonian’s Women’s History Month pages. 

Go back to the main Resource Library for conversations that matter here. 

Podcasts & Oral Histories

A cartoon featuring an African American woman in a chef's coat and hat standing next to a tv with the words "Lena Richard's New Orleans Cook Book" on the screen.

Sidedoor Podcast, from the Smithsonian Institution

Image: Artwork for the Sidedoor episode, Lena Richard: America’s Unknown Celebrity Chef. 

Online Exhibitions

oval pin back button with "Lena Horne" handwritten in black marker in the center, blue printed text against a white background reads "TONY AWARDS" across the top and "1981" along the bottom. The pin is backed by brown cardboard.

Music HerStory explores women and music of social change. From our earliest musical encounters to the formation of complex social identities, the American musical landscape wouldn’t be what it is today without the countless contributions of women changemakers, groundbreakers, and tradition-bearers. Women’s leadership in music and social change is central to the American story. Music HerStory explores these contributions through unique media collections from across the Smithsonian.

Image: Pinback button worn by Lena Horne at the 1981 Tony Awards. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Edouard E. Plummer.

Videos

Virtual Scholar Talks, from Smithsonian Affiliations

Dreaming of Colored People: Black Women and the St. Luke Finance Corporation in the 1920s, Museum of American Finance (New York, NY). African American women in 1920s-era Harlem participated in real estate and other investment schemes for complex reasons. The St. Luke Finance Corporation was one such scheme that showed great promise but struggled against structural and institutional inequities as well as criticism from some sectors of the Black community.

Image: Film still for Cabin in the Sky. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

K-12 Resources

This work incorporates quilting, cross-stitch, and stencil. The center panel’s stitching depicts a schoolhouse, two children, and two trees, along with a meandering row of letters of the alphabet. Animals are scattered throughout the letters, including a bird near the “B,” a dog or deer near the “D,” and a turtle near the “T.” The green fabric border is stenciled with a geometric design in white paint and the quilt layers are tied with cream and green embroidery thread. The backing of the quilt is pieced from the same dark green as the border, and a dark calico cloth.

Coloring our World, a coloring book featuring 14 creative, courageous women.

Flights of Fancy Story Time: Bessie Coleman (Video), from the National Air and Space Museum

Spy, Think, Ponder Art Cards from the Rockwell Museum (Corning, NY)
The Spy, Think, Ponder art card sets highlight works of art in The Rockwell’s collection. They incorporate youth-friendly language and fun prompts to engage children’s imagination. Children are exposed to using Visual Thinking Strategies by looking, making observations, thinking about what they see and wondering more about the topics presented.

Image: School Days, by Ira Blount. Anacostia Community Museum, gift of Ira Blount.

Smithsonian Learning Lab Collections

Black and white portrait of Sojourner Truth

High-touch activity guides, multi-cultural modules, untold stories and more on the Smithsonian’s Office of the Under Secretary for Education Learning Lab page.

Browse more than 50 educational collections on the Smithsonian Learning Lab. Some examples:

Image: Sojourner Truth. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. C. 1870

Various Resources

Interior view, library stacks in the upper balcony of the Lower Main Hall of the Smithsonian Institution Building, or Castle, with graphic arts exhibits and Audubon prints in view.

Become a digital volunteer with the Smithsonian Transcription Center and help make historical documents and data more accessible.

Girls and Women in STEM from the Smithsonian Science Education Center is designed to provide STEM resources for all students—girls and boys.

Six Musicians Who Led Social Change from the American Women’s History Initiative

Image: Library Stacks, Lower Main Hall, Smithsonian Institution Building, or Castle. Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 95, Box 31, Folder 38, Image No. SIA_000095_B31_F38_002