As North Carolina FCS celebrates its 100-year centennial, it is time to reflect. For a century, FCS professionals have helped families apply research-based knowledge and principles. This article describes how American families have changed and how we have met those changes in our Extension roles. We also challenge FCS professionals to view the…

On May 17-18, 2008, FPRI's Wachman Center presented a weekend of discussion on America in the Civil War Era, 1829-77, for 43 teachers selected from across the country, held at and co-sponsored by Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sessions included: (1) Throes of Democracy (Walter A. McDougall); (2) What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of…

This article documents the literary and adminstrative works of Annie Nathan Meyer, an early advocate of quality higher education for women. Documenting events surrounding the founding of Barnard College, the author maintains that Ms. Meyer may be viewed as the founder, though official histories mention her only as a "key person." (JDH)

Discusses how the mom-and-apple-pie facet of the American dream no longer seems to be working. Ways to redefine that dream so that women, men, children, and families are comfortable with each other and are able to develop a mutual dependence which also allows for mutual independence are examined. (RM)

Discusses social changes brought about in the United States as a result of the women's suffrage movement. Explains that groups marginalized by existing institutions must create alternative organizations if they are to be successful. Describes political innovations used by women's groups in the struggle for voting rights. (CFR)

Examines the historical characteristics of women in the United States. Discusses the conceptions of women's roles expressed by writers from Alexis de Tocqueville to Betty Friedan, specifically the notion of the woman's "sphere" in society. Concludes that the idea of "separate spheres" was used to characterize power…

This article contrasts the personal philosophies of Horace Mann and feminist Olympia Brown as manifested in the educational policies and daily school life at Ohio's Antioch College during the early years of the "great experiment" with "equal" coeducation. (JDH)

This book is the first edition of what is to be an annual report on the status of women in the United States. It presents information concerning changes in U.S. women's roles and analyzes the social and political consequences of these changes. This premier edition provides a broad overview of how women's lives have changed during the 20th century,…

The U. S. Constitution's treatment of women and blacks is generating heated controversy among historians, with some scholars charging that its framers ignored those groups and that subsequent reformers have gained too little for them, too late. (MSE)

The Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor was created by Congress in 1920, and given the mandate: "to formulate standards and policies which shall promote the welfare of wage-earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment." Highlights from the…

The largest mass women's movement of the 19th century was the women's mission movement. Initially, in the early 1800s, the concerns the mission societies addressed were mainly parochial, such as raising money to support young men in their theological studies. Gradually, women's mission societies began expanding their interests to a more public…

Surveys current literature dealing with the 1970s feminist movement, concentrating on national public policy. Remarks that little of the research is archival because the Nixon and Carter presidential papers were just recently opened. Offers predictions for the second wave of reconstruction and interpretation that will follow the opening of the…

Discusses the changing legal status of women from the American Revolution to the present. Divides discussion into five major constitutional periods. Describes the "Broken Barometer" theory in which laws passed for the benefit of women are actually an indicator of their past needs rather than their present concerns. (RW)

A feminist historian traces the development of feminist history in the United States beginning with the investigation of the impact of industrialization on gender roles in both the work force and the family. Debates among feminist historians and yet unresolved theoretical issues are outlined and discussed. (MSE)

Discusses a neglected area of U.S. history: the impact of World War II on the role and status of women. Shows how women's work in the home and in the community assisted the national defense effort, and examined the way that changes in employment opportunities affected traditional ideas about women's roles and fostered the modern women's movement.…