GGRWHC Annual Reception!

John F. Donnelly Conference Center at Aquinas College

Then & Now: The 2018 Completion of a 1918 Collection Join us for our signature women's history month event - the GGRWHC reception and brief annual meeting! Mingle with friends new and old during our cocktail hour, get an update on our year-in-review, and stay to learn about and celebrate the work behind the now-digitized […]

“The Abandoned Bride” – A Documentary

Grand Rapids Public Library 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States

Twenty years after their Grandfather Del Havens died, sisters Lynne Doele and Dr. Deb Havens discovered a secret that stunned their entire family: a box of pictures and post cards from their grandfather’s post-World War I service in Europe. Among them were sad messages from a mysterious woman named Dora Gallner, claiming to be his […]

Fifth Annual Midwestern History Conference

Ralph W. Hauenstein Center, GVSU downton campus

Once again we will present at the MHA Conference. Admission is free, open to the public, and includes a complimentary lunch on both days - click here to RSVP. Our programs this year conclude a three-year GGRWHC project illustrating women's initiatives to register women for work during WWI and to create a home defense. Most […]

Hollyhock Lane Parade

Back by popular demand, the GGRWHC will take to the streets to honor parading suffragists from a hundred years ago. Meet us at the corner of Calvin and Alexander at 8am & join the fun with bands, bicyclists, candy, and placards! To quote a past participant: this event is “oddly exhilarating”!

Equality Day at Rosa Parks Circle

United States suffragists persisted for over 70 years and four generations organizing referenda, circulating countless petitions, and giving speeches, even though they were frequently harassed and ridiculed just because they wanted the right to vote. Finally on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment guaranteeing universal suffrage became the law of the land. In order to […]

Maya Lin & Melanie Daniel at the Grand Rapids Art Museum

Grand Rapids Art Museum 101 Monroe Center

Melanie Daniel (Canadian, b.1972)Sharing (detail) 2018Oil on Canvas Learn more about these women artists during a docent led tour at the Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM). Join the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council for an evening of art at GRAM. One of GRAM’s docents will guide us through the gallery featuring Maya Lin: Flow […]

Women Trailblazers: Celebrating 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage in Germany and the U.S.

Wege Ballroom at Aquinas College 1700 Fulton St. E

The Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council will join a collaborative event featuring representatives from academics, the community, and the German Embassy. A panel discussion will highlight milestones in women’s history before and after suffrage was achieved in Germany and the United States. There will also be a poster exhibition on the German suffrage movement. […]

Grand Rapids Women Architects 1920s-1970s

Join the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council and architectural researcher Pamela VanderPloeg (grandrapidsbuildings.com) on Saturday, October 5 for a presentation and walking tour on Grand Rapids female architects and their influence on homes and neighborhoods, both locally and nationally, from 1920-1970. We will meet at 1pm in the beautiful Gothic-designed Klise Memorial Chapel at […]

From Managerial Void to the Medical Mile:  The Evolving Roles of Women and the Enduring Presence of History 

Grand Rapids Public Library 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States

Fleshing out the history of women founders of early Grand Rapids medical institutions, GGRWHC's Julia Bouwkamp will reveal a pattern where they were pushed from the centers of organizations they had created to the more feminine realm of nursing. Despite their marginalization, these nineteenth-century women exploited limiting ideas about gender to continue the expansion and […]