A Web Quest is a problem-solving project that requires students to search for, analyze, and creatively present information found on the Internet.  The EWHP Web Quest, entitled Evanston Women Make History, asks students to imagine that they are part of a committee to research and identify important people, places, and events in the history of Evanston to include in a book celebrating the city’s 150^th anniversary.  In small groups, the students must specifically utilize the information found in the EWHP database to provide recommendations for or against the inclusion of women in this book.  Students present their findings in the form of an oral/multimedia presentation, skit, or poster.

For all the Web Quest materials click on the Resources tab at the top. For the Database, click on Research Database tab at the top.

Student learning objectives include learning about the historical role of Evanston women in the areas of art, education, government and politics, medicine, and social welfare, and developing an understanding of how women have contributed to the history and development of the city of Evanston.

Feedback is welcome! If you and/or your students use the Web Quest we’d love to hear from you. Just send us an email or respond to this post.

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Helen Palmer Dawes

When researching a prominent woman in history, often our first inclination is to look to her public accomplishments.  We want to know how this woman enacted social change, because after all, that is what we as individuals are most affected by.  But when we only focus on her social or political work, we are completely missing another side of the story.

I was asked to do research on Helen Palmer Dawes, wife of Rufus Dawes and sister-in-law to Charles and Caro Dawes, for the Evanston Women’s History Project.  I went to the Special Collections Library at Northwestern University, expecting to find some interesting quotes or supporting information.  Indeed I found what I was looking for; Mrs. Dawes, publicly, was an incredibly outspoken woman.  She worked tirelessly for issues of food conservation and substitution during WWI, was president of the Woman’s Club of Evanston during their first two years in their new clubhouse, was the first female library board member in Evanston, and was Chair of the Social Committee at the Century of Progress – and the list goes on.

Paging through her diary, however, I found a much different story.  It was about her children and family life, chronicled in detail.  I learned about first words and first steps, broken arms and lost teeth, sports and school assignments.  Turning to her diary for the years that she would have started her Woman’s Club and Library positions, I found a large gap between April 6, 1913 and Mar 29, 1914.  On the left side of the book were two hastily pasted newspaper articles about these positions.  The right side began:  “The newspaper clippings on the opposite page are intended as a lame excuse for neglecting to chronicle the doings of the Dawes children in this book.  I have been doing too many things that have made me put off writing.  Now so many happy times and funny sayings will be forgotten, all because mother went to the Club.”

Mrs. Dawes felt the drive and the passion to enact social change, but like so many women both before and after her, she struggled with the delicate balance of being an activist and being a mother.  This is not an issue new to women, brought on by the women’s movement of the 1970s, but instead something that has affected women for decades.  If we had to ask Mrs. Dawes today, would she want us to remember her for her public accomplishments, or instead the accomplishments of her children?

What you read about in public documents only provides a snapshot of what these women did; it is not all of whom they were.  Learning about her family life, her children, even her own childhood demonstrates that these women, too, were human beings with the same joys and struggles as non-activists.  As women’s history month comes to a close, remember to always reflect on the fact that there is always another story to tell.

Erin Hvizdak is an intern at the Evanston History Center and volunteer in the Frances Willard House Museum archives.  She is currently pursuing her MA in Women’s Studies and Gender Studies at Loyola University Chicago.

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Frances Willard, ca. 1890

March is Women’s History Month and this year we will be highlighting some of the as-yet untold women’s history stories we’ve uncovered through our research for this project. More on that to come. In the meantime, take a minute during this month to honor those women who’ve made an impact on your life and your world. And, if you want to get connected to the women’s history beyond your immediate circle, here are some great resources (other than this web site) to do just that.

Happy Women’s History Month!

Library of Congress — Women’s History Month – http://womenshistorymonth.gov/

National Women’s History Project – http://www.nwhp.org/whm/index.php

National Park Service — Women’s History Sites on the National Register of Historic Places – http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/wom/

National Women’s History Museum – http://www.nwhm.org/

A note about the photo – Frances Willard learned to ride the bicycle at the age of 50. She wrote a pioneering book called A Wheel Within a Wheel about the experience, highlighting the great joy and freedom she found while riding. This book was the first written by a woman about a sporting activity. Willard was always ahead of everyone, even in women’s sports!

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This event is sponsored by Whole Foods Market Evanston South and the Whole Planet Foundation.

For more about Evanston’s historic connection to International Women’s Day, see a previous post – http://evanstonwomen.org/2011/03/05/may-wood-simons-and-international-womens-day/

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Rest Cottage with Willard, Anna Gordon and Mary Thompson Hill Willard

The EWHP exhibit Lifting as We Climb: Evanston Women and the Creation of a Community is now installed at the Frances Willard House, 1730 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, Illinois (also known fondly as Rest Cottage). An exhibit opening will be held on Sunday, November 6th from 1-4 pm. Refreshments will be served. In addition to the exhibit, visitors can tour the home, catching a glimpse of 19th century Evanston and learning more about Willard’s amazing career as a world-renowned social reformer. Willard called Evanston “a paradise for women” and the Lifting as We Climb exhibit explains how this was so from the earliest days of the community up through today. The exhibit will be open when the Willard House is open for regular tours (the first and third Sundays of the month) through 2012. For more information, visit www.franceswillardhouse.org.

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The comments we received were amazing. The tree was regularly covered with notes (as you can see from the photos) and the notes mentioned all sorts of women — most often family members, mothers, grandmothers, aunts — but sometimes women from the visitor’s personal past. Many also mentioned women from Evanston today and from Evanston history. Many were written by children. We hoped it made the exhibit a little more fun and personal.

This web site is in some ways an online extension of that tree. We have received comments about the women we’ve highlighted here. Some of those comments reference a personal connection to the stories we are telling. We’d love to continue the conversation about the meaning women, especially Evanston women, have had in our virtual visitor’s lives. So, write your comments here…

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Join us on January 27, 2011 for a special event where we culminate a year of exploring Evanston’s women’s history with a look toward the future, asking “What issues do women face today that need our leadership?”

This evening will include a viewing of the 2010 YWCA Evanston/North Shore YWomen Leadership Award film by Susan Hope Engel, documenting the work of three Evanston women leaders and the Evanston Women’s History Project, and a presentation by Sunny Fischer, Executive Director of The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and co-founder of the Chicago Foundation of Women. Fischer will speak about current issues women in our community face and how we can be inspired by women leaders of the past to take on these issues today.

The evening will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a light reception and exhibit viewing of Lifting as We Climb: Evanston Women and the Creation of a Community, EHCs current exhibit in partnership with the Evanston Women’s History Project. The film and presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m. The cost is $5 for the public, free for EHC members. Reservations are encouraged as capacity is limited. To make a reservation call (847) 475-3410 or email losborne@evanstonhistorycenter.org.

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The Evanston Women’s History Project is proud to announce that it is one of the recipients of the 2010 YWomen Leadership Awards from the YWCA Evanston/North Shore! The YWomen Leadership awards honor and celebrate women and organizations for their work to empower women, eliminate racism, promote justice and encourage women’s leadership. For more information about the award, the other amazing recipients, or the October 14th event where the award will be formally presented, you can visit the YWCA Evanston/North Shore web site at: http://www.ywca.org/site/pp.asp?c=erLOK1PJLsF&b=4444857

The EWHP receives this award on behalf of the many Funding and Project Partners, and volunteers, who have made the project possible. For a complete list of Funders and Partners, click on this link: http://evanstonwomen.org/home/project-partners/.

It also receives the award on behalf of all the women and organizations whose stories we have documented, who struggled against great odds, worked tirelessly for the betterment of women’s lives both near and far, and left us a community where the leadership of women is valued, encouraged and recorded.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha8zhu-0QFg

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