Every Girl Pulling for Victory. Lithograph by Edward Penfield, 1918.
Before Rosie the Riveter, there were the Victory Girls. By the end of the First World War, women made up 20% of manufacturing workers. The U.S. Government was so impressed it decided women “deserved the protection of labor laws and in 1920 created the Women's Bureau, which has remained an essential lobbying resource for female workers in the fight for improved conditions and equality with men in the workplace" - The American Women's Almanac: 500 Years of Making History.
For the student and scholar, reference can have two meaning. One, a source that you can refer to for answers, and also the source, or reference, that accompanies a book or article. A good encyclopedia article gives you the best of both. Try starting your research with Credo Reference.
Use the Library’s collection of encyclopedias for exploring the history of, and the current world of, gender & women’s studies. Start at the beginning with the Historical Dictionary of the Lesbian and Gay Liberation Movements, or Women and Gender in Medieval Europe, of the encompassing 6 volume set A Cultural History of Women. See where issues currently stand with The Greenwood Encyclopedia of LGBT Issues Worldwide, or Women's Rights in the United States: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Issues, Events, and People and. Get specific with such works as the Encyclopedia of Gender in Media or Transgender Health Issues. Written by scholars, and with attached bibliographies, it’s a great way to jump start your research from the very beginning.
Remember to check the bibliography at the end of an article - a basic trick to build your own bibliography for your paper. Browse the master list of print & electronic encyclopedias available to you as a student for more great sources for your other classes
Susie King Taylor (1848-1912). She escaped slavery and become the first African-American nurse to serve in the U.S. Army. Her autobiography, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, was published in 1902.
