One could be excused for thinking that a document certifying a Black man’s freedom in 1811 was a sign of the slow march of racial progress in the United States. Yet, given the elusiveness of true equality, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that looks can be deceiving. In reality, the certificate of freedom shown…

When Alice Foote MacDougall (1867-1945) began her coffee roasting and retail business in 1907, she did so under the more ambiguous name A. F. MacDougall. She knew that some of her customers and even some of her suppliers didn’t like the idea of a woman in business, so she let people make their own assumptions…

This post was written by Maureen Maryanski, Reference Librarian for Printed Collections. As Women’s History Month draws to a close, let’s focus on one of the founding documents of American feminism: the Declaration of Sentiments. Drafted, debated, and signed during the first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York in July 1848, the Declaration…

Few would argue that the events of December 8, 1941 match in significance the catastrophic events of the previous day but it’s worth recalling that this was the day Congress actually voted to declare war on Japan. Though the vote was all but a foregone conclusion, there was yet a lone voice of dissent to which Milton Halsey Thomas, then curator of…

This post was written by cataloger Catherine Falzone. The American Historical Manuscript Collection (AHMC) contains seven letters by Susan B. Anthony, American feminist and campaigner for women’s suffrage. The letters mostly concern various speaking engagements—both her own and those of Frederick Douglass, Julia Ward Howe, Theodore Tilton, and Mary L. Booth. The following letter is from Anthony…

Written by Maureen Maryanski, Reference Librarian for Printed Collections. As Women’s History Month comes to a close, let’s focus on an attempted publicity stunt from 1916 involving New York suffragists, a biplane, and President Woodrow Wilson. Three fantastic photographs in the library collection tell the beginning of the story as a group of suffragists met…