Women’s History is Everywhere: 10 Ideas for Celebrating In Communities: A How-To Community Handbook, is a resource prepared by The President’s Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History in 1999. Though dated, there are still helpful ideas and insights here. Here are lines from the booklet’s introduction:
“Much of the work done by women, individually as volunteers and as members of clubs and organizations, has occurred in and for the benefit of local communities. Women founded businesses, libraries, hospitals, schools and parks. Women worked side-by- side with the men who are memorialized as heroes in our communities but most women
pioneers have gone largely unrecognized; most local historical sites identify only the men who lived there. Whether This Is Result Of conscious suppression or ignorance, the fact that few women appear in history books or the lore of our heroic ancestors is evident.
To increase awareness of the important roles local women have played throughout American history, the President’s Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History is publishing this handbook to guide communities in recognizing and celebrating local women. Included are suggestions for getting started and many resources to support the organizers as they construct their plans for making women’s history part of the fabric of local community life.”