Celebrating Women’s History

Honor the contributions of women throughout history with celebrated artists and influential authors found in The Huntington’s collections. Join us for upcoming events, educational lectures, and family-friendly activities. Continue the celebration at home with recorded programs and some of our favorite books.

On Display

Historic Books by Women in the Library Exhibition Hall

Memorial of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Elizabeth L. Bladen, Olympia Brown, Susan B. Anthony, and Josephine L. Griffing, to the Congress of the United States, and the Arguments Thereon before the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Senate, Printed pamphlet, Washington, D.C.: Chronicle, 1872

After the ratification of the I5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which extended the right to vote to African American men, these advocates petitioned Congress to extend voting rights to women as well. This "Memorial," later bound in a volume with other suffrage pamphlets, published their arguments to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Susan B. Anthony, pictured here, declared, "I have made a most solemn affirmation that I would never beg for my rights again, but that I would come up before you each year, and demand the recognition of those rights."

Library Exhibition Hall

Historic Books by Women in the Library Exhibition Hall

Susan Fenimore Cooper (1813-1894), Rural Hours, New York: George P. Putnam, 1851, Gift of Jay T. Last, 2005

Four years before Thoreau's Walden was published, Susan Fenimore Cooper published her observations of the natural world around her home in Cooperstown, New York (which was founded by her family). Divided into seasons, her book discusses birds, plants, and weather, but also her thoughts about the impact industrialization was already having upon tree and bird populations. Fenimore Cooper's father, James Fenimore Cooper and author of Last of the Mohicans, was instrumental in getting his daughter's naturalist work published.

Library Exhibition Hall

Historic Books by Women in the Library Exhibition Hall

Aphra Behn (1640-1689), Oroonoko: or, The Royal Slave; A True History, Printed book, London: William Canning, 1688, Purchased by Henry E. Huntington, ca. 19I1.

One of the first English women to earn a living from writing, mostly plays, Aphra Behn pivoted to longer works when playwriting became less profitable. Though many details of her life are unconfirmed, it is thought that Behn lived for several months in Suriname, the then-British colony in South America where this story takes place. While not strictly an abolitionist work in its day, Behn's novel was put to that purpose in later centuries.

Library Exhibition Hall

Historic Books by Women in the Library Exhibition Hall

Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673), Plays, Never Before Printed, London: A. Maxwell, 1668, Purchased by Henry E. Huntington, 1917

Margaret Cavendish was one of few women writers publishing in her lifetime and even fewer women writers who wrote under their own names. She published more than a dozen original works in many forms, like poetry, fiction, philosophical prose, and the plays featured here. Cavendish used the play The Convent of Pleasure to imagine a utopian community ("convent") in which men are not admitted and women may live according to their every whim.

Library Exhibition Hall

Historic Books by Women in the Library Exhibition Hall

Gabrielle Emilie Le Tonnelier De Breteuil, Marquise Du Châtelet (1706-1749), Institutions de physique (Foundations of physics), Printed book, Paris: Prault, 1740. The Burndy Library Collection at the Huntington Library

Emilie du Châtelet worked in an era when most women were excluded from scientific institutions and higher learning. She championed the rights of women and became one of the most prominent natural philosophers and mathematicians of the eighteenth century. The Institutions de physique was a general introduction to new ideas in science and philosophy, and Du Châtelet is best known for her influential translation of and commentary on Newton's Principia.

Library Exhibition Hall

Stories

A smiling person wearing a purple jacket in a library.

Ashley Brown Wins 2025 Shapiro Book Prize

The Huntington has awarded the 2025 Shapiro Book Prize to Ashley Brown for the biography “Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson.” The biennial prize, which includes a $10,000 cash award, honors an outstanding first scholarly monograph in American history and culture.

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Ashley Brown. | Dave Giroux of Dave Giroux Photography.

A person stands in a dark doorway, next to artwork on the wall.

Eve Babitz, Collage Artist

Before Eve Babitz became a published writer, she was a visual artist, and her chosen medium was collage. Inspired by Joseph Cornell and Andy Warhol, she created the album cover art for Buffalo Springfield’s “Buffalo Springfield Again” and The Byrds’ “Untitled.”

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A person with wavy, brown shoulder-length hair stands in front of an abstract painting of a landscape with blue details.

Mercedes Dorame: Everywhere Is West

In the spring of 2022, Tongva photographer Mercedes Dorame peered down at a tide pool on Santa Cruz Island, roughly 25 miles off the coast of California. Focusing her camera, she captured an image that provides a window into worlds.

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A composite of a white medical figurine on a dark background: a pregnant figure (left) and the figure with the torso removed to reveal organs.

Abortion in American History

On Jan. 17–18, 2025, The Huntington hosted a research conference titled “Abortion in American History,” which explored more than a century of abortion history in the United States before 1973.

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A person in a blue top with a white floral pattern grabs a branch on a tree.

Celebrating Octavia E. Butler

In 2017, the first major exhibition on the life and work of award-winning science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) was held at The Huntington, where her literary archive resides. She was the first science fiction writer to receive a prestigious MacArthur “genius” award and the first African American woman to win widespread recognition for writing in that genre. In that time, The Huntington has produced dozens of stories about this iconic woman.

Explore Stories About Octavia E. Butler

Etching of women fighting, knocking drinks, tables, and each other to the ground.

Elizabeth Montagu and the Bluestocking Corpus Online

What happens when women get together in a group for tea and conversation? The Huntington conference “Correspondence and Embodiment: The Bluestocking Corpus Online,” held Dec. 8–9 and organized in collaboration with the Elizabeth Montagu Correspondence Online project, investigated new questions derived from the recent digitization of The Huntington’s Elizabeth Montagu Papers.

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Fotografía a color de una mujer negra mayor con cabello blanco y gris recogido en parte superior de su cabeza en una cola de caballo corta y rizada. Lleva una camisa gris holgada y está parada en su estudio de artista, rodeada de relojes de madera, estantes, candelabros y otros artículos diversos.

Betye Saar: Drifting Toward Twilight

Renowned American artist Betye Saar’s large-scale work “Drifting Toward Twilight”—commissioned by The Huntington—is a site-specific installation that features a 17-foot-long vintage wooden canoe and found objects, including birdcages, antlers, and natural materials harvested by Saar from The Huntington’s grounds.

Now on View

The Huntington Store

Women in Literature

Expand your home library with books about important women in history as well as titles by some of our favorite female authors—many of whom are part of The Huntington’s collections. Shop our curated collection online and in-store.

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Programming

Chinese painting of three women preparing to write on parchment scrolls.

Three Women Doctors of Late Imperial China

Thu., Apr. 10 | 2:30–3:30 p.m.

Lorraine Wilcox, professor at Emperor’s College, presents the writings of three female doctors from late imperial China.

In Person and Livestream Reservations

A book cover with a green title "Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson" over a grayscale action shot of a person playing tennis.

Shapiro Book Prize Lecture with Ashley Brown

Wed., May 14 | 7:30–8:30 p.m.

Ashley Brown, winner of the 2025 Shapiro Book Prize, discusses her biography of Althea Gibson, the first African American tennis player to win titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals.

In Person and Livestream Reservations