Pennsylvania Historic Preservation

Resource Round-Up: Resources for Studying Women’s History in Pennsylvania

Shelby Weaver Splain
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March is Women’s History Month and an opportunity to highlight and celebrate the vital role of women in Pennsylvania and American history.

This week’s post is another in our “Resource Round-Up” series, which we occasionally publish during important months as a guide to learning more about the older and historic places and spaces in Pennsylvania that reflect that month’s theme. This one highlights just a few sources related to women’s history in Pennsylvania.

About Women’s History Month

According to the Women’s History Month 2024 website, the first nationally recognized “Women’s History Week” was March 7, 1982. Five years later in 1987, Congress designated the entire month of March as “Women’s History Month” after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project. Since then, the President has issued proclamations each year to celebrate the contributions women have made to the United States and recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields.

Check out this history of Women’s History Month for more information.

PA SHPO’s Blog

Here are just a few examples of blog posts related to women’s history in Pennsylvania:

Pittsburgh’s Jennie Bradley Roessing drove the Justice Bell to campaign events in all 67 counties. Photograph from the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

Pennsylvania Historical Markers

Historical markers are a great source of information about a person, place, thing, or subject. Below are just a few related to women’s history. To find more, use this simple marker search tool to find the records in PA-SHARE. Select “women” from the dropdown options in the marker category box.

American Red Cross historical marker and interpretive panel in Johnstown, Cambria County.

National Register Nominations

National Register nominations hold a wealth of information about a place, community, event, person, and more and are often an overlooked resource for historical research.  In addition to including a history and significance of a particular place, nominations often include a historic context that places the property being nominated into the bigger story. They also often have hearty bibliographies that can lead readers to other primary and secondary resources.

National Register nominations are available to view in PA-SHARE by all types of users, including Guest users. I’ve noted a few here related to this month’s theme:

Cranaleith, known historically as Mill-Rae, Philadelphia. Courtesy of Cranaleith Spiritual Center.

If you’d like to read these nominations, follow these steps:

If you’d like to see what else we may have, follow these steps:

For additional instructions for searching in PA-SHARE, see Searching for Resources and Other Information in PA-SHARE.

PA State Archives Guides

The PA State Archives has a number of great resources, both online and at their Harrisburg building. A search of their records using their new and improved online catalog or digital collections can lead researchers to interesting places for information.

I recommend starting with their Women’s History Resource Guide, written by Caroline E. Radesky in 2008, to navigate all of the different record and manuscript groups that have content related to women’s history. Once you read through the introduction, a long scroll past the listings will get you to written descriptions of the holdings that can help you find what you’re looking for.

Their digital collections, like the Polk Center Glass Plate Negatives, Postcards, or Posters also include interesting materials related to women’s history. A simple “women” keyword search in one of these collections will provide some results.

Posters like this one from World War I highlight the role of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) are available through the PA State Archives digital collections.

I also recommend getting in touch with the PA State Archives to learn more about how they can help with women’s history research in Pennsylvania. You can also make a trip to see them in their brand new building, which is very, very cool.

PA Heritage Magazine

Pennsylvania Heritage magazine is a great sources of information. Below are just a few examples of their offerings related to women’s history in Pennsylvania. To find others, use the magazine’s search feature.

PHMC’s Museum Collection

Argus, the online museum collection is a relatively new addition to the PHMC website. Using the simple keyword search of “women”, I found over 900 items related to women’s history in Pennsylvania.

“Votes for Women” playing card in the collection of the State Museum of Pennsylvania.
“Votes for Women” became a rallying cry in the campaign for women’s suffrage, especially as the movement gained strength during the first and second decades of the 20th century. The slogan was inscribed on a variety of promotional materials, including playing cards such as this one. The effort to enfranchise women finally achieved victory with the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920. Image courtesy of The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Argus is a work in progress and these records represent a small fraction of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) collection. We are constantly working to expand public access. This site will be updated as we research our objects and improve our records.

National Resources

These online resources are nationwide in scope and may or may not have information specific to Pennsylvania. They do, however, provide some important context to better understand women’s history month and how the people, places, and events in Pennsylvania fit in the broader story.

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