Exploring American Girlhood through 50 Historic Treasures

Ashley E. Remer is the founder and Head Girl of Girl Museum—the first and only museum in the world dedicated to celebrating girlhood. She holds an MA in the History and Criticism of Art from the University of Auckland. For over two decades, Ashley has worked as an art historian, curator, writer, and editor internationally. She has collaborated with artists, NGOs, scholars, educators, and girls across the globe showcasing girl culture to raise awareness and promote social change. Her research focuses on girlhood in various local and global contexts. She is currently working on her PhD at the Australian National University and is the co-chair of the Girls’ History and Culture Network with the Society for the History of Children and Youth (SHCY).Tiffany R. Isselhardt serves as Girl Museum’s Program Developer, where she oversees exhibitions, podcasts, community outreach, and social media. She holds a Master’s in Public History from Appalachian State University, and has worked with the Hickory Ridge Living History Museum, Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, Theodore Roosevelt Center, Museum Hack, and the Kentucky Museum at Western Kentucky University. Her research focuses on uncovering the hidden history of girls in order to advocate for gender equality, and how museums can better interpret and provide programming inclusive of girls’ unique history and culture. She has presented on girlhood at several conferences, including the International Girl Studies Association and the National Council on Public History, and enjoys working at the intersections of history, material culture, and girl studies.

The latest in the Exploring American Historic Treasures series spotlights girls and young women. While “treasures” may conjure up images of crown jewels, the focus here is on day-to-day objects, homes, and occasionally the bones of the girls themselves. Photos set the stage for stories about lives of girls ranging from care of the dead in 9500 BCE to activist letters in 2016. Some items, such as an embroidered sampler, a pledge card, or an early sanitary puff, remind us that girls and women created art, worked, and lived varied lives throughout history. Others are tied to specific hardships and suffering, such as a bill of sale for a Black girl or a letter from a Japanese-American girl in a California internment camp. Others still celebrate achievements, sharing stories of Sacajawea and Dominique Dawes. Fictional girls, like Barbie or Judy Blume’s Margaret, are highlighted for their effect on girls and culture. The authors faced an incredible challenge in choosing only 50 entries and have succeeded in showcasing a vast range of the American experience of girlhood.

• List of FiguresPreface: Why Girls?TimelineAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Finding Girls in American HistoryPART I9500 BCE to 1590s CE – In Search of ‘Home’Xaasaa Na’ (Upward Sun River), AlaskaHa’ena State Park, Kaua’i, Hawai’iMound 72, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Collinsville, Illinois“The Display with Which a Queen Elect is Brought to the King”Virginia Dare Monument, Roanoke, North CarolinaPART II1600 to 1760s – Her and Me: Otherness in the New World Pocahontas Statue, Jamestown, VirginiaSamuel Parris Archaeological Site, Danvers, MassachusettsMary Wright’s SamplerMary Jemison Statue, Letchworth State Park, New YorkPhillis Wheatley Statue, Boston, MassachusettsPART III1770s to 1840s – Becoming “American”Anna Greene Winslow’s DiarySybil Ludington Statue, Carmel, New YorkSacajawea Statue, Salmon, IdahoBill of Sale for a Girl Named Clary and Runaway Advertisement for Harriet TubmanPantaloonsPatty Reed’s DollPART IV1850s to 1860s – ReckoningLime Rock Light House, Newport, Rhode IslandBelle Boyd House, Martinsburg, West VirginiaReminiscences of My Life in Camp by Susie King Taylor“Vinnie Ream at Work”Poems and Translations by Emma LazarusPART V1870s to 1910s – Hope“Group in Bathing Costumes” by Alice AustenWater Pump at Ivy Green, AlabamaStatue of Annie Moore, Ellis Island, New YorkPortrait of Georgia Rooks DwellePART VI1870s to 1910s – StrifePhotograph of Princess Kai’ulani“Indian Girls dressed for a ball game”“Sadie Pfeifer” by Lewis HinesDormitory at Angel Island, CaliforniaPART VII1910s to 1940s – Becoming “Modern” American Girls Girl Scout Pledge CardPaper Doll of Clara Bow Cashay Sanitary Puffs“Stand Up and Cheer” Dress worn by Shirley Temple“Jumping Rope on Sidewalk” by Edwin RosskamPART VIII1940s to 1950s – VoicesElizabeth Kikuchi’s Letter to Clara BreedSeventeen MagazinePatty-Jo DollMonument to the Westminster Case Children, Westminster, CaliforniaTransportation Token from Montgomery, AlabamaBarbie Teen-Age Fashion Model PART IX1960s to 1970s – Revolutions “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” by The ShirellesKachina DollAre You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy BlumeMary Beth Tinker’s Black Armband“Peggy Oki” by Pat DarrinPART X1980s to Present – Girl Power Selena Quintanilla Memorial, Corpus Christi, TexasDominique Dawes’s LeotardRookie Yearbook OneGoldieBlox and the Spinning MachineLetter by Anna Lee Rain Yellowhammer and Photograph of Mari CopenyAfterword: The Future of American GirlhoodSelected BibliographyIndexAbout the Authors