Helen G. Brudner, Ph.D.
Associate Director, School of Political and International Studies, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Our Daughters, the Soldiers
This is a narrative about the trials and triumphs of women who have served and are serving in the United States military. With an emphasis on World War II and current times, it is about how they were perceived and how they perceived themselves, the unique events, experiences and roles they played and continue to play. Oral history materials highlight the discussion.
Barbara Meyer Darlin
Lecturer
The Gibson Girl Friday Meets the Victorian Lady
This program compares the lives and fashions of a turn-of-the-twentieth-century society lady and a working class “typewriter,” as those who first operated the typing machines were called. Imagine working 10-12 hours a day in tight shoes, three petticoats and a whalebone corset! Obstacles women encountered entering the male-dominated world of office work and employment practices before and after marriage are also presented.
Barbara Meyer Darlin
Lecturer
Unlacing the Victorian Woman
This program has been described as a one-woman fashion show, a social history lesson, a conceptual-performance/lecture, and a Victorian striptease. Throughout the program, Ms. Darlin explains women’s role in Victorian society, daily routines, and social customs and etiquette.
Philip C. Dolce, Ph.D.
Chair of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, Professor of History at Bergen Community College
The Changing Role of Women in Suburban Motion Pictures
This presentation closely examines how women’s roles have changed in movies set in suburbia. Issues discussed include the changing role of women from housewives to breadwinners to protectors of husbands and families. In addition, participants will focus on women and their ability to adapt to an environment which seems to value privacy above community.
Kristina Haugland
Assistant Curator, Department of Costume and Textiles, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Perfect Ladies: The Arts of Dress, Beauty and Etiquette in the Victorian Age
In the 19th century many believed the role of women was to please, adorn and refine. While women were responsible for domestic duties such as sewing and laundry, they were also expected to uphold familial social status. This slide-talk examines the social context behind the evolution of Victorian fashions such as corsets, hoop skirts and bustles and looks at attempts to reform women’s dress and redefine their social position.
Kristina Haugland
Assistant Curator, Department of Costume and Textiles, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Revealing A Brief History of Underwear and the Fashionable Ideal
The evolution of clothing in the West – especially feminine undergarments – exposes remarkable changes in conceptions of beauty, modesty, respectability, hygiene, and societal attitudes. Using information from works of art, advertisements, cartoons, literary sources, and surviving garments, this slide-talk examines past style and present trends to illuminate the power of fashion.
Win Win Kyi
Associate Professor and International Student Counselor, Bergen Community College
Who is Aung San Suu Kyi
In 1991 Aung San Suu Kyi became the first Asian woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize. Since then, she has received 30 additional awards recognizing her commitment to democracy and human rights in Myanmar (formerly Burma) – where fear has reigned since the military coup in 1962, and where she remains following her June 1996 "release" from house arrest. This presentation explores her personal and political journey as a woman, daughter, mother, scholar and leader.
Michele LaRue
Actress
Someone Must Wash the Dishes: An Anti-Suffrage Monologue
The presenter performs Marie Jenney Howe’s 1912 satire, in which staunch pro-suffragist Howe wields cutting humor, using the anti-suffrage movement’s own arguments to deflate the opposition. LaRue, in the character of Howe’s fictional anti, delivers the monologue to a gathering of like-minded women, ironically proving Howe’s pro-suffragist points. Following the performance, the presenter explores issues addressed by both sides, putting into context anti-suffrage arguments that may sound ludicrous to us today but were defended with dead seriousness in their time.
Charles F. McSorley
Independent historian; member, American Political Items Collectors
The Suffragette Movement: How Women Won the Vote
This lecture and slide presentation uses humorous (and not so humorous) postcards and memorabilia to offer insight into how American women were regarded as they struggled to win the right to vote.
