Dr. Elizabeth Harmon

Celebrate with us as we ramp up to digitize more than 36,000 records documenting the history of women and work at the Smithsonian.  

From The Feminine Mystique to Ms. magazine: take a look at what members of the Women’s Council were reading in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Learn about FitzHugh’s over 50-year career in conservation science at the Smithsonian.

How the marital status provision of the 1932 Economy Act impacted one Smithsonian scientist.  

Dr. Margaret S. Collins became a renowned expert in multiple areas of termite zoology during her almost 50-year career as a scientist and professor.

In the late 1970s, Gloria Steinem thrilled members of the Smithsonian Institution’s Women’s Council by meeting with members and discussing the women’s movement.

Wonder Woman 1984 features fictional Smithsonian women in science trying to change the world. Let’s examine how real-life women pushed for change at the Smithsonian in the 1970s and created new opportunities for women at work.

You can watch the 2020 Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative symposium on the past and future of women in science any time.  

Attend this year’s Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative Virtual Symposium!

As one of the first women to work in scientific illustration at the Smithsonian, Violet Dandridge made her mark at the United States National Museum.