The stories of women involved in the contemporary women's movement as it played out in Sonoma County from 1960 to 1985 is the subject of a new exhibit at the Sonoma State University Library Art Gallery from Aug. 15-Sept. 28.
"A Fine and Long Tradition: Stories from the Contemporary Women's Movement" is funded by the California Council for the Humanities' "California Stories Initiative" and is coordinated by Michelle Jolly, SSU Professor of History.
Jolly leads a discussion on Sept. 20 at noon in the library. A reception for the project will be held in the University Library Art Gallery on Sept. 20 from 5-6:30 p.m. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Over the past year, Jolly and her history students have been conducting interviews as part of the Sonoma County Women's Oral History Project. Their work contributes much to the exhibit which includes:
- listening stations where visitors can listen to excerpts from the interviews
- newspapers and ephemera from the women's movement in Sonoma County
- a series of timelines highlighting aspects of the women's movement in Sonoma County between 1960 and 1985
- photographs of many women who participated in the Sonoma County women's movement and of the Sonoma State University students who have been gathering their stories
In addition, visitors to the gallery are invited to contribute to this on-going effort to collect the stories of the women's movement in Sonoma County from 1960-1985 by adding comments to the timeline or telling their stories in the exhibit's blog.
The story of activists in Sonoma County is a reminder, says Jolly, that while the women's movement may have had a national impact, its grassroots were in towns and counties across the country who initiated the ideas and programs that fueled national trends.
The women who serve as the focus of this project were central figures of the women's movement in Sonoma County, helping to create and sustain woman-centered organizations, many of which continue to exist today.
For women in Sonoma County, as elsewhere, the personal was truly political, says Jolly. "Women in classrooms, kitchens, and county offices shared their concerns and their ideas with one another and began to create woman-centered and women's history-centered organizations."
These included the National Women's History Project, Women's History Week, the Sitting Room, the Women's Studies program at Sonoma State University, Women's Voices, Clairelight Bookstore, Las Mujeres Unidas, and the Displaced Homemakers Project, among others.
Although a few attempts have been made over the years to collect the stories of the women who were involved in the women's movement in Sonoma County, no systematic effort had been made until now to collect, analyze, and tell their stories.
"Now, many of the activists who were deeply involved in the creation of Sonoma County's many woman-centered organizations are aging, moving away, and dying. Because many of these women are in their sixties and seventies, the time to hear them tell their stories is now," Jolly says.
The Sonoma County Women's Oral History Project is the brainchild of Mary Ruthsdotter, co-founder and former Projects Director of the National Women's History Project. It is funded by grants from the California Council for the Humanities' California Stories Initiative and by the School of Social Sciences at SSU.
For more information, contact Michelle Jolly at (707) 664-2461 or e-mail michelle.jolly@sonoma.edu.
ABOVE, Marchers at the Women's History Week Parade, Santa Rosa, March 1982. National Women's History Week, which later became National Women's History Month, originated in Sonoma County. One of many photos included in the upcoming Sonoma State University Library exhibit opening in August. (Photo by Mary Ruthdotter)
