CU Library plans several events to celebrate Women's History Month

"The Valentine," an engraving from The Keepsake (London: 1857), one of many rare Victorian books on display in the Kroch Library exhibition "Women in the Literary Marketplace 1800-1900."

To kick off the university's celebration of Women's History Month, on Wednesday, March 6, Cornell University Library will host a panel presentation on new research in women's history and a reception for the Kroch Library exhibition, "Women in the Literary Marketplace 1800-1900." Both events are free and open to the public.

The panel discussion by Cornell graduate students will be held in Libe Café on the first floor of Olin Library, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., March 6. Moderated by Mary Beth Norton, the M.D. Alger Professor of American History, the program will include presentations by Lisa Brooks (English) on "The Power of a Woman's Mind: Revisioning the Role of Weetamoo in King Philip's War"; Kate Haulman (history): on "Assembling Philadelphia's Fashionable: Anglo and Mohawk Performances on the Eve of the Seven Years' War"; Alyssa Mt. Pleasant (history) on "Searching for Her Rightful Place: Jigonsaseh's Legacy amongst the Haudenosaunee"; and Sarah Heidt (English) on "I Wonder How It Will Turn Out: Publishing Women's Lives in the Late Victorian Period." The event is co-sponsored by the Women's Studies Program.

A reception celebrating "Women in the Literary Marketplace 1800-1900," the spring exhibition from the library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Kroch Library exhibition gallery. The exhibition showcases a collection of books, letters, magazines and photographs documenting English women's writing in the 19th century and explores the ways in which women authors were able to succeed in a culture that frowned upon female literary ambition. On view will be the works of such celebrated writers as Jane Austen, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charlotte Brontë and George Eliot, as well as some of their less-remembered sisters who worked to extend opportunities for women in Victorian print markets.

The exhibition will be on view through May 31. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. (closed Saturdays, March 16 and 23, during spring break).

For more information about the library events on March 6, contact Katherine Reagan km33@cornell.edu or Brenda Marston bjm4@cornell.edu in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections; phone: 255-3530.