Happy International Women's Day!
By Grace Wagner, Reading Room Access Services Supervisor
International Women's Day is Sunday, March 8th, 2020 this year. To celebrate the upcoming holiday, SCRC staff members and students have contributed materials highlighting groundbreaking and interesting women or aspects of the women's rights movement from our collections. Take a look at the contributions below!
Brisbane Family Papers
by Dane Flansburgh, Assistant Archivist
The New York Evening Journal circa 1915.
The clipping is a political “cartoon” that ran in the New York Evening Journal circa 1915 advocating for issues that would benefit women. The banner reads, “Political equality: Improved social conditions; Equal wages for equal work; Protection for the home; Abolition of child labor; Purer politics; Unfair legal discrimination; Protection for working women.” The cartoon is contained in a scrapbook of Women’s Suffrage editorials in our Brisbane Family Papers.
The Brisbane Family Papers (Brisbane Family Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries) are part of the Special Collections Research Center’s manuscript collections.
Howard Bond Negatives
by Tiffany Miller, Reference Assistant
A silver gelatin print from the Howard Bond Negatives depicting an elderly Greek woman (1985).
This photograph depicts an elderly Greek woman in the town of Naoussa in Paros, which is a southern island in the Cyclades above Crete and to the left of Turkey, known for its beaches, white stone buildings, and tourism. The woman has a soft smile on her face as she peers out from the window at her house. She wears a paisley-printed outfit, likely a long dress down to her ankles, earrings, and a ring on her right ring finger as she leans against her windowsill with her hands joining. There is a small glimpse into the interior of her house with the wooden shutters and white curtains, allowing for some curiosity of the viewer.
The Howard Bond Negatives(Howard Bond Negatives, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries) are part of the Special Collections Research Center’s manuscript collections.
Mary, Queen of Scots Letter
by Nora Ramsey, Reference Assistant
A portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The Mary, Queen of Scots letter concerning religious tolerance
The Mary, Queen of Scots letter holds a special place in my heart. This item was one of the first items I was able to see when I started working at SCRC. In the letter, Mary Stuart, or Mary I of Scotland, proclaims her tolerance for religious worship to quell the opposition of the Scottish church regarding her upcoming marriage to Lord Darnley.
She writes: “The effect is to certifie and assure you that as hitherto we have never permitted stop stay or molestation to you or any others in using your religion and conscience, so may ye look for the same good will and clemency in time coming…”
The Mary, Queen of Scots Letter (Mary, Queen of Scots Letter, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries) is part of the Special Collections Research Center’s manuscript collections.
Syracuse University Portrait Collection
by Vanessa St. Oegger-Menn, Pan Am Flight 103 Archivist
Mary L. Huntley, the only female member of the Class of 1872.
Sarah M. Loguen’s entry in the 1875-1876 Annual.
Portrait of Kate E. Stark, Syracuse University’s first woman faculty member.
Syracuse University has been a coed institution since its founding in 1870. The University's first commencement was held at Wieting Opera House in downtown Syracuse on June 27, 1872. Among the 19 graduates - nine with a Bachelor of Arts, 10 with a Bachelor of Science - was Mary L. Huntley, the only female member of the Class of 1872.
Sarah Loguen was one of the first African American women to earn a medical degree from Syracuse University's College of Medicine, graduating in June 1876. She went on to be one of the first African American women to become a physician in the United States and the first woman licensed to practice medicine in the Dominican Republic. Loguen’s name is listed in 1875-1876 Annual, held by the Syracuse University Archives.
Kate E. Stark was Syracuse University’s first woman faculty member. She was hired as an instructor of vocal music in the College of Fine Arts in 1883, and later became a professor in the same field in 1884.
The portraits of Huntley and Stark are part of our Syracuse University Portrait Collection (Syracuse University Portrait Collection, University Archives, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries) are part of our University Archives collections.
Marguerite Higgins Papers
by Nicole Westerdahl, Reference and Access Services Librarian
Marguerite Higgins working at her typewriter in the midst of the Korean War.
Marguerite Higgins (1920-1966) was an American reporter and war correspondent. Higgins is here pictured in Korea, where she covered the Korean War for The New York Herald Tribune. In 1951, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.
The Marguerite Higgins Papers (Marguerite Higgins Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries) are part of the Special Collections Research Center’s manuscript collections.