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Dressing like Shirley: School, social status, and the material culture of 1930s childhood
The 1929 Stock Market crash sparked economic catastrophe, panic, and despair across the United States and around the world. Children felt these effects acutely, as their unemployed parents often struggled to keep the family afloat. Many had to take on additional responsibilities and adapt to the challenges of the Depression. This moment also shaped children’s…
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Eugenics at Smith: Exposing the Legacy of Frank H. Hankins
Creator’s note: this project is rooted in my firm belief in reproductive justice, which asserts the fundamental human right of every individual to lead autonomous, pleasurable, and resourced reproductive lives. Realizing a reproductive justice future cannot happen unless we confront the long history and present of reproductive injustices, and I believe this work is especially…
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Affectionate Women: Community and Kinship at Smith College in the early twentieth century
Residence at Smith College Smith College, a small liberal arts women’s college in Northampton, Massachusetts founded in 1871, created spaces for intimate connection between women. At the end of the nineteenth century the women faculty at Smith College lived amongst their students. This arrangement kept women from having the private lives that male faculty members…
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“The Lesbian Controversy”: Debates on Homosexuality at Smith College in the Late 1970s
Today, Smith College is known as one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly colleges in the United States. However, homosexuality was once hotly debated on campus, and before there was Confesh, the Sophian was the go-to platform to exchange discourse on the most pressing issues. Below, you will find a selection of op-eds and letters to…
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Access the Past, Archive the Present: Documenting Stories of Disability Justice at Smith College
Building a bridge between the past and the present to document the history of disability at Smith, Sarah Mitrani conducted an oral history interview with ej seibert, ’08, Director of the Accessibility Resource Center.
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Rules & Rule Breakers at Smith College
Smith College prides itself on raising students who break the rules of society and build new rules for themself. Just this past year, the college endorsed this idea at its annual Rally Day, encouraging students to “Be Brave, Set High Goals, Break Barriers.” It’s an institution that praises activists and feminists and those who go…
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“For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven”: The Progressive Religion of Catholics for Choice
The Catholic view of reproductive healthcare seems obvious. The Church vehemently opposes legal abortion, and has contributed immensely to the pro-life movement since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. Many individual Catholics built widespread efforts to limit reproductive rights throughout the late 1900s and early 2000s, ranging from political lobbying to mass media campaigns.…
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“We are provoked to tender dreams by a hint”: Alma Routsong’s Historical Imagining
“Betty bought a Ouija board tonight today,” wrote Alma Routsong (1924-1996) in a journal entry dated Thursday, Oct. 28, 1965. Thus began her years-long use of Ouija board seances, all conducted alongside her girlfriend at the time, Elisabeth “Betty” Deran. Alma was a lesbian author, publishing in the late twentieth century under the pseudonym Isabel Miller.…
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Across the Mill River
The Intertwined Histories of Smith College and the Northampton State Hospital, a Mini Exhibit