Dear Friends and Members,

March is Women’s History Month—an opportunity to honor women’s achievements and reflect on ongoing challenges faced by half the global population. In this month’s program guide, Smithsonian Associates offers many ways to deepen your familiarity with the celebrated—and the often-overlooked—women whose leadership, talents, passions, and fortitude shaped the world we know.

Examine how and why the fight for equality that engaged American women across a century continues today (p. 4). Go behind the scenes at Woodrow Wilson’s 1919 White House, where Edith Bolling Galt Wilson functioned as president for her incapacitated husband. (p. 5). A 1909 photo taken at a Wright Brothers’ flight trial captures a trend-setting Alice Roosevelt Longworth in her electric car playing host to a trio of men, two of whom are cabinet secretaries. Discover the fascinating story behind that proto-tailgate party (p. 6).

Trace the artistic and cultural influences that guided art patron Isabella Stewart Gardner as she assembled the dazzling and highly personal collection showcased in her Boston palazzo (p. 41). Unwrap the creative partnership of Jeanne-Claude and Christo, which generated extraordinary works of ephemeral public art that live long in memory (p. 44). And extraordinary is just one of the words describing Barbra Streisand, whose mercurial talents and career are applauded in a lively evening program (p. 19).

The Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative, Because of Her Story, launched in 2018 and Associates programs are among the offerings all year long. Keep an eye out for the logo as you peruse this month’s new selections, and you’ll notice it in many more issues to come. Visit womenshistory.si.edu, the initiative’s site, for another way to celebrate Women’s History Month.

March

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