An Archival Treasure Hunt in the Chicago Daily Tribune’s “Varied Activities of Women” Column

Did you know that only 17% of biographies on Wikipedia are of women? Join the effort to build a fuller record of women’s contributions to history by contributing to the Varied Activities of Women Project. In this two-hour workshop, you will have a chance to explore the Chicago Daily Tribune’s bi-weekly “Varied Activities of Women'' column, which ran from June 1913 to March 1928. The column featured a batch of one to two sentence summaries of news made by or considered relevant to American women. These tantalizing peaks into the lives of historical women hold endless possibilities. Why was Mme. Dieulafay the only woman in France legally permitted to wear male attire? How old was Mrs. Alice S. Blount when she first owned and edited a newspaper? What was Mrs. Walter Hancock’s first name and in what subject did she receive her masters of arts degree from Temple University? Did Catherine Kline win in her run for mayor of Cleveland, Ohio? Together we’ll embark on an archival treasure hunt using U.S. Federal census data to discover biographical details about some of the fascinating individuals mentioned in the Varied Activities of Women column. We’ll also spend time pondering what questions and future research directions the summaries suggest. Following along with the guided treasure hunt, by the end of the two hours you will produce a short biographical overview of one of the individuals mentioned in the column. Your work will be published online on the Varied Activities of Women website.

What to expect:
Single workshop (one-off workshop –" 2 hours total)

Meet the facilitator:
Emma Sarconi is a librarian and book historian, who serves as the Reference Professional for Special Collections in Firestone Library at Princeton University. Some of her special projects include the Archival Silences Working Group and the Her Book at Princeton Project. Sara Howard is the Librarian for Gender and Sexuality Studies and Student Engagement at Princeton University Library. Sara's research interests include; gender and labor, gender and performance and exploring traditionally marginalized voices and materials within the academy. Siobhan Barco is a Ph.D. candidate in Princeton’s Department of History. Siobhan’s research explores American women’s participation in the legal profession in the long nineteenth century.

To request accommodations for this event, please contact the workshop or event facilitator at least 3 working days prior to the event.

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