Empowering History Professionals
Even though women are half the population, women’s history is often overlooked, water-downed, and sometimes all together edited out at hundreds of museums, historic houses, and sites. But guess what? The stories are there. We need to start with the people who make the decisions on whose story to share: museum and history professionals. These are the frontline soldiers.
Bootcamps are the first phase of March to the 19th, a five-year grassroots campaign, in partnership with Humanities Tennessee, that will change the way we see and do women’s history.
“Thank you so much for organizing this workshop. This was so much more than I thought it was going to be, and I’m so glad I attended.”
Frankie M. Perry, University Libraries, The University of Memphis, Memphis Bootcamp Participant
Bootcamps were a one-day workshop designed specifically for museum and history professionals ready to do better women’s history.
Over the past seven months, Chick History travelled across Tennessee building an incredible network of museum and history professionals committed to better women’s history.
- 4 Bootcamps across Tennessee
- 160 attendees
- Over 80 organizations represented
- 36 hours of professional development, women’s history, and networking
- 5 speakers with over 8 decades of experience
View the Final Bootcamp Report
Protecting women’s history for all of us.
More than just a workshop, Bootcamps pushed attendees to see and do things differently. They came out inspired and ready to protect the frontline of women’s history. Because without them, we have no women’s history.
Four Bootcamps across Tennessee:
- Nashville Bootcamp: April 28, 2016
- Memphis Bootcamp: June 30 2016
- Knoxville Bootcamp: August 25 2016
- Chattanooga Bootcamp: October 27 2016
Speakers
Ashley Bouknight, PhD, is the Assistant Curator at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. Prior to her work at The Hermitage, she served as a community educator and museum consultant for various museums, historic sites, and neighborhood history projects in the southeast. Her research focus on race, gender, and collection methodology.
Cindy Grisham, PhD, is a historian, genealogist, and writer based in Little Rock, AR, who made an incredible discovery in her state. She received her PhD in 2010 from Arkansas State University and is currently an adjunct faculty staff member at the College of the Ouachitas and the President of the Arkansas Women’s History Institute. Her work uses not only her research skills as an historian, but experience from her years in law enforcement and investigations. She believes every story is a mystery waiting to be found and told.
Page Harrington is the Executive Director of the National Woman’s Party at the Belmont-Paul National Monument for Woman’s Equality, a premier women’s history site located in Washington, DC. It was the home of the National Woman’s Party and Alice Paul. She earned two Master’s Degrees from the University of San Diego; her first in Public History, and second in Non-Profit Management and Leadership. In addition to her work at the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum, Page served on the Board of Directors for the National Collaborative for Women’s History Sites and as founding Co-Chair of the Women’s History Affinity Group at the American Association for State and Local History.
Rebecca Shrum, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of History and Assistant Director of the Public History Program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. She’s created a method that proves museums don’t represent women the way they should. She received her PhD in 2007 from the University of South Carolina. Her book, In the Looking Glass: Mirrors and Identity in Early America, will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2017. Her current research project explores how race, gender, and material culture are used and interpreted at historic sites in the United States.
Noelle Trent, PhD, is the Director of Interpretation, Collections and Education at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. She received a Master’s degree in Public History and a PhD in American history from Howard University. She has worked with several noted organizations and projects, including the National Archives and Records Administration, the National Park Service, and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Chick History 