Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council

Second Line of Defense: Grand Rapids Women and the Great War
2019-03-21 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Lowell Area Historical Museum
You have another chance to catch this program and its tremendous visuals! World War I had a surprising impact on women and they, in turn, had tremendous impact on the war — far greater than is generally known. This program will tell the story of American women as citizens during the largest wartime mobilization of our young country and dispel myths that women’s lives were led only in their homes. Upon U.S. entry into the war in 1917, women’s groups across the nation transformed their organizational structures for war work. Led by the Woman’s Committee of the Council of National Defense, they made contributions that ranged far beyond the war and their traditional gender roles and addressed the nation’s failure to assess serious food, health, and labor problems suddenly compromising national security when a huge percentage of American men failed military physicals. Focusing on West Michigan women a hundred years ago, the program illustrates how they were among midwestern leaders whose pioneering efforts have been too long neglected. Get ahead of history — credit them by joining us in Lowell!

"INTELLIGENT SAINTS": THE BENEVOLENT ORIGINS OF HOSPITALS AND NURSING IN GRAND RAPIDS
2019-02-20 15:30 - 17:00 | Meeter Center Lecture Hall
Known for its thriving medical institutions, it may surprise many that the very existence of a medical field in Grand Rapids is the result of the efforts of three different groups of charitable nineteenth-century women. Founders and leaders of medical charities in this city’s early history, these women were gradually pushed from the center of their organizations to the more feminine task of founding nursing schools. Recovering this forgotten past reveals a history in which women utilized, were limited by, pushed against, and ultimately expanded the evolving ideas about gender that continuously mediated their presence in Grand Rapids’s developing medical field.
About the speaker
Julia Bouwkamp is a recent history graduate of Calvin College. She has put her degree to use as a historical interpreter at Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City, as an AmeriCorps VISTA member working in historic preservation, and as a researcher and archivist with both the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council and Froebel USA. Bouwkamp is applying to graduate programs in material culture and public history.

History Detectives: Sleuthing for Local History
2019-01-19 09:00 - 16:00 | Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
A day-long event made up of six programs exploring various aspects of Grand Rapids history. Presented by area historians and members of historical and cultural organizations, topics are varied and reflect the unique heritage of West Michigan. Topics include:

Lawrence C. Earle is Grand Rapids’ First Artist

African American Women in Turn-of-the-Twentieth Century Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids and the Holocaust

Evening Entertainment in Grand Rapids, 1940-1970

School Gardening Programs in Progressive Era Grand Rapids

WWII: When Patriotism Was the Norm

Bring Your Ancestors to Life with Archival Resources
2018-12-01 13:30 - 15:00 | Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
Discover how to use archival collections to go beyond basic facts and dates and learn more about who your ancestors were. Julie Tabberer will illustrate how to think creatively and find primary sources that may contain unexpected information. Archives hold unique and rich material that can be particularly helpful for researching women and people of color. Using the library’s archives, Julie will give you tips and guidelines for using archival records for genealogy research in any geographic area. This program is co-sponsored by the Western Michigan Genealogical Society.

Elaine Weiss - The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote
2018-11-15 19:00 - 20:00 | Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
The nail-biting climax of one of the greatest political battles in American history; the fight to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. Following a handful of remarkable women who led their respective forces into battle, along with appearances by Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Frederick Douglass, and Eleanor Roosevelt, The Woman’s Hour is an inspiring story of activists winning their own freedom in one of the last campaigns forged in the shadow of the Civil War, and the beginning of the great twentieth-century battles for civil rights.

THE SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE: GRAND RAPIDS WOMEN AND THE GREAT WAR
2018-11-14 15:30 - 17:00 | Meeter Center Lecture Hall
Calvin College History Colloquium! Upon U.S. entry into WWI, national women’s groups transformed their organizational structures for war work. Grand Rapids women were among midwestern leaders whose pioneering efforts have been too long neglected. Get ahead of history–credit them!

Janet Sheeres: The Wives (and Lives) of Early Dutch Pastors
2018-11-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
Join us for a riveting account of the stories of early local pastors’ wives!

When Janet Sjaarda Sheeres was editing a 700-page tome on early synod minutes of the Christian Reformed Church (1857-1880), she realized that she had waded into an all-male world, where women’s concerns were seldom considered and their stories never recorded.

Sheeres immediately recognized a worthy historical subject! She has been in the business of finding the remarkable in seemingly ordinary women, their stories virtually always sidelined in early historical records. From lists of births, she has illustrated the lives of early Dutch midwives; from shipping indexes, created pictures of single women immigrants crossing the Atlantic on their own. Now she has turned her attention to pastors’ wives, a group of women whom no one else has thought to consider.

The biographies of early male ministers have been well documented. Rescuing their wives from obscurity in her new book, For Better, For Worse , Sheeres proves they were important community builders in their own right, and highlights their living conditions and the challenges they faced. Her fascinating slides will also make visible aspects of their lives and give us another angle on nineteenth-century area history.

Kent County Women and WWI's Home Front Defense
2018-10-29 18:00 - 19:00 | Kent District Library – Cascade Branch
Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council President Melissa Fox will illustrate how in 1917 area women joined the largest wartime mobilization of their young country. Long-time ideas about food, children, and factory life suddenly took off when women were granted a federal mandate by the establishment of Woman’s Committees by the Council of National Defense. Join us for a look at history-making in process!

Educator Event: From Suffragists to Senators
2018-10-25 08:30 - 16:30 | Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Attention, educators! In celebration of the centennial birthday of Mrs. Betty Ford, the Gerald R. Ford Foundation is presenting a free, day-long professional development workshop for educators focused on women’s leadership. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of both the character and causes of Mrs. Ford as well as her contributions to women’s rights. Following a look back at the evolution of women’s leadership in this country over the last century, participants will hear from prominent women leaders in Michigan about their experiences, challenges, and advice for young women. During the workshop presented by the Center for American Women and Politics, attendees will learn strategies and activities designed to make women’s leadership visible in the classroom and to develop leadership skills in their own students.
Light breakfast and lunch included; Educators may apply for 5 SCECH hours ($6 fee for SCECH hours). Please note: This event is free but space is limited and registration is required, please click the link to register (responding to the Facebook event will not register you!)

Lisa McCubbin - Betty Ford: First Lady, Women's Advocate, Survivor, Trailblazer
2018-09-13 19:00 - 20:00 | Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Hear Lisa McCubbin discuss her new book, Betty Ford: First Lady, Women’s Advocate, Survivor and Trailblazer. It is based on intimate in-depth interviews with family friends and colleagues. McCubbin reveals a fiercely independent woman who had a lively sense of humor, unwavering faith, and an indomitable spirit – the true story behind of the most admired and influential women of our time.

Diana Barrett - WWI Women's Cards
2018-09-08 13:30 - 14:30 | Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
During the week of April 27th through May 4th 1918, twenty thousand Grand Rapids women, half the city’s female population, registered for the war effort. One thousand registrars were trained to conduct a twenty-to-thirty-minute interview with each woman. Her information was recorded on a 5 X 8 card, designed and printed in Washington DC and used nationally. Unlike the male WWI registration cards, those from the women’s nationwide registration are a data-rich resource. The men’s cards were saved; the women’s cards disappeared. Grand Rapids, however, had discovered a collection of 20,000 cards housed in the Library’s attic. Since that time, due to excellent research by genealogists and other interested researchers, many new sources of cards, and new information has been discovered beyond Grand Rapids and Michigan.

Susan B. Anthony Slept Here! National Suffrage Strategy & 1899 West Michigan
2018-08-23 19:00 - 20:00 | Holland Museum, 31 W. 10th Street, Holland, MI, 49423, United States
Susan B. Anthony had visited West Michigan many times, but her last appearance was at the 1899 NAWSA annual convention in Grand Rapids, the only time the National American Woman Suffrage Association met in Michigan. Using images and period language, Jo Ellyn Clarey of the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council will recreate the feel of the late-nineteenth-century meeting, explain “why West Michigan,” and tell the story of the recovery of this significant piece of area women’s history. Jo Ellyn will introduce descendants of Emily Burton Ketcham, who have donated archival materials.
This is a free event, but donations are always appreciated.

Observance of Women's Equality Day
2018-08-23
Check for us at food-truck Thursday on the patio of the Grand Rapids Art Museum! Once again, we will buttonhole passers-by about the 98th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment and remind them of the centennial of constitutionally guaranteed universal suffrage in 2020! We’ll have great local history materials.

Beyond Her Grave Bicycle Tour: The Legacies of Women Buried in Fulton Street and Oakhill Cemeteries
2018-08-18 11:00 - 12:30, 2018-08-14 18:00 - 19:30 | Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
Sponsored by She Rides Her Own Way, the Grand Rapids Public Library’s GR Reads program, and the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, a one-of-a-kind bicycle tour will make stops at Fulton Street and Oakhill cemeteries, highlighting remarkable as well as lesser-known local women, who have made a difference in the history of our city.

Takeover! West Michigan Suffragists and the 1914 Grand Rapids Press
2018-07-26 19:00 - 20:00 | Holland Museum, 31 W. 10th Street, Holland, MI, 49423, United States
Wolfgast Knocked Out by a Suffragist: Former Champion Goes Down in Three Rounds in Battle of Words” headlined the sports page of the May 2, 1914, edition of the Grand Rapids Press, when local suffragists took over production of the newspaper for the day. The takeover was a result of the National American Woman Suffrage Association call for rallies and parading across the country.
Ruth Van Stee of the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council will talk about the Grand Rapids edition, the area women involved, and how the work of West Michigan women fit into the national movement. Ruth will bring along hard copy of the first section of the actual 1914 suffrage edition of the Grand Rapids Press. You do not want to miss this lecture!
This is a free event, but donations are always appreciated.

Betty Ford Sculpture Unveiling
2018-07-14 10:00 - 11:00 | Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum

Hollyhock Lane Parade
2018-07-04 08:30 - 10:30 | Ottawa Hills neighborhood, Grand Rapids, MI
Back by popular demand, the GGRWHC will take to the streets to honor parading suffragists from a hundred years ago. Watch for details & join the fun with bands, bicyclists, candy, and placards! To quote a past participant: this event is “oddly exhilarating”!

Fourth Annual Midwestern History Conference
2018-06-06 | Ralph W. Hauenstein Center, GVSU downton campus
The Long Reach of Midwestern Women into the WWI Council of National Defense and 1918 Children’s Programs – We have offered a panel presentation for this day-long conference in Grand Rapids. Admission will be free, including a complimentary lunch, and is open to the public. The program is the second in a three-year GGRWHC project illustrating women’s initiatives to create a home defense by guaranteeing healthy food sources, raising healthy children, and ensuring the health of women in the industrial work force. This year the GGRWHC will demonstrate how women’s programs benefited children, ensuring the ongoing health of the nation. Melissa Fox, Jayson Otto, and Sue Caldwell will integrate local histories into the national story by reporting on a variety of 1918 “Children’s Year” intiatives.

National Genealogical Society 2018 Family History Conference
2018-05-05 14:30 - 15:30 | DeVos Place Conference Center
Bringing Your Female Ancestors to Life with Archival Resources Featuring unique collections at the Grand Rapids Public Library and the ambitions of the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, this GGRWHC-sponsored session will focus on the building of and identification of unusual archival resources. It will highlight materials long available but unused when researching women (century-old furniture factory newsletters) as well as materials recently sought out and donated (individual’s suffrage scrapbooks) or purposefully created (the city’s women’s entire elective history; date on nineteenth-century African American women’s clubs). Librarian Julie Tabberer will illustrate how to think beyond the usual records and to identify sources with unexpected information. Women’s historian Jo Ellyn Clarey will discuss how disparate data uncovered by genealogists and historians can be collected and shaped for easier access and analysis. They will highlight the recently finished database featuring 23,000 Kent County women war registrants in 1918. Conference registration required.

National Genealogical Society 2018 Family History Conference
2018-05-02 17:00 - 20:00 | Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
GGRWHC at NGS Society Night! The national gathering of over 2000 family historians and genealogists will open its conference in Grand Rapids with “Society Night,” where the GGRWHC will join other groups showcasing their organizations on the Center Concourse of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. This event is open to the public, as will be the huge exhibit hall during the conference. Check the Society website for details: https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/home

Treasures Of Your Library - A White Glove Event
2018-04-18 17:00 - 19:00 | Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
The Grand Rapids Public Library Foundation will celebrate women–past, present and future–who make Grand Rapids great. Enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at treasures from GRPL’s archival collection, a silent auction, appetizers, and craft cider, beer and wine. Tickets are $75 per person and are available at grplfoundation.org or by calling 616-988-5399.

In Step with Betty Ford: In Celebration of Her Centennial
2018-04-10 | Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Grand Rapids’ Central High graduate, student of dance, New York model, proud mother, and Congressman’s wife. First Lady Betty Ford spoke openly about personal and political issues near and dear to her heart; her courage endeared her to the American people as she found herself in step with the times. The exhibit run from April 10, 2018 – January 6, 2019.

Votes for Women: Untangling Michigan's Suffragist History
2018-03-23 01:45 - 15:00
Join us at the Historical Society of Michigan’s Local History Conference in Detroit! Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council board members Jo Ellyn Clarey and Ruth Stevens will lay out Michigan’s history of local legislation initiatives and court decisions revealing the crucial role played by local school board elections as both a testing ground for suffrage and a launching point for women in elective office. They will outline a better history of suffrage organizations by correcting faulty assumptions about geography, ethnicity, and race; and revalue Michigan history’s effect on the national story, illustrating once again the importance of full and accurate research about local women throughout the nation.
From the conference brochure: A century ago, Michigan granted full suffrage to women, which at last allowed them to vote in state and local elections. In this session, the speakers will discuss the history of the suffrage movement in Michigan; the significance of local school board elections; and the movement’s inclusion of geography, race, and ethnicity

Who in the World is Merze Tate?
2018-03-22 19:00 - 20:30 | Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library NE, Grand Rapids, MI, United States
Author Sonya Bernard Hollins will update us on her research into the amazing life and mysteries of Merze Tate. An African American girl born in 1905 in rural Michigan, Tate graduated first in her class from Western Michigan University in 1927, earned a doctorate from Oxford University, worked for the State Department, and traveled around the world twice. She became a Howard University history professor and sometime U.S. diplomat, held patents, spoke five languages, wrote seven political books, and purchased a ticket for a flight into outer space before leaving a legacy of millions to educational institutions. Bernard Hollins will release a book on Tate soon. Maybe in March! Be there!

Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Rediscovering Emma Cole's 19th-Century Grand Rapids Flora
2018-03-19 18:30 - 20:30 | Bunker Interpretive Center at Calvin College
In 1901 Emma J. Cole published Grand Rapids Flora, a catalogue of plants growing without cultivation in the vicinity of Kent County. Enormous changes have taken place since those “horse and buggy” days, yet her book remains the most complete account of plants specific to our area. Who was this remarkable high school teacher, world traveller and Kent Scientific Institute botanist? Where were her favorite spots for wildflowers? Do they still exist?
Julie Stivers will speak about the life of Emma Cole. Professor Crow will describe the work he and Dr. Warners are doing with Calvin students to rediscover Emma’s haunts and assess their natural quality today. There are interesting surprises as we don our “sleuthing” hats, grab our hand lenses, and observe the changes over more than 116 years.

The GGRWHC Annual Reception
2018-03-15 17:00 - 19:00 | John F. Donnelly Conference Center at Aquinas College
The annual reception immediately follows author Rebecca Traister’s visit to Grand Rapids on March 13 discussing her book All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation. The GGRWHC will add to the conversation by complicating the relationship between singledom and progress for women. To Traister’s examples we will add vivid anecdotes about our own “single ladies” in Grand Rapids – single for so many different reasons – and we will lift a glass to favorite married ladies for their contributions to social reform and massive change in Grand Rapids’s history. Honoring them we honor our researchers who have brought them back into the light.

Author Lecture with Rebecca Traister
2018-03-13 19:00 - 21:00 | GVSU, Allendale Campus, Kirkhof Center, Grand River Room
Community Reading Projects Author Lecture with Rebecca Traister, author of All the Single Ladies!
Door open at 6:00pm, book signing will follow the lecture. Free and Open to the Public!

Atmosphere of Distinction
2018-03-02 | Holland Museum, 31 W. 10th Street, Holland, MI, 49423, United States
Open to the public on March 2! During the twentieth century, women throughout the country took great strides toward equality and began abandoning their traditional roles, as well as restrictive fashions, in search of greater opportunity and comfortable clothing. “Atmosphere of Distinction” displays how the emergence of the women’s rights movement impacted West Michigan fashion trends and how it reflected women’s changing role in society. This exhibit runs through September 1, 2018.

Links to the Local: Building a National Women's Elective History
2018-02-21 13:30 - 14:45 | GVSU, Allendale Campus, Kirkhof Center, RM2270
The historical charting of Grand Rapids women’s runs for public office upends conventional wisdom and offers surprises about dates, the numbers of races, and the identities of women who participated in local politics beginning in 1887. Julia Bouwkamp and Jo Ellyn Clarey will report on how the national crowdsourcing project Her Hat Was in the Ring invited local researchers to share their data with the world, helping others complete and complicate American women’s history by seeking out every woman who ran before 1920. This unique historical accounting hopes to inspire cities across the nation to create their own comprehensive elective histories.
Presented by Julia Bouwkamp & Jo Ellyn Clarey
This event is co-sponsored by the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council and GVSU’s Office of Integrated Learning and Advising Community Reading Project.
