News Release

Library hosting visiting scholars, public research discussions

June 25, 2008

Considered by many scholars as one of the largest privately compiled research collections on women’s history in America, the Alice Marshall Women’s History Collection – housed in the Penn State Harrisburg Library Archives and Special Collections – is drawing the interest of scholars from throughout the nation.

This summer, scholars from Minnesota, California, and Massachusetts will each spend a week on campus utilizing this unique archival collection for their respective research and sharing their efforts with the campus and general public.

Acquired by Penn State in 1991, the Marshall Collection was amassed over a period of 50 years by the late Camp Hill resident Alice Kahler Marshall. The eclectic compilation of visual, literary, and manuscript materials reflects more than 300 years of women’s history. There are more than 7,000 books and pamphlets, hundreds of periodical titles, and thousands of other items – letters, broadsides, posters, advertisements, postcards, sheet music, fashion plates, and miscellaneous ephemera including political campaign buttons.

In addition to scholars and students, the collection is available to the public.

The visits by the summer researchers, supported by a grant from the Penn State Harrisburg Library Endowment, will include “brown bag” public luncheon sessions during which the three scholars will profile their respective research.

The researchers include:

• Midori Green, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Art History at the University of Minnesota, who is investigating visual motifs associated with women as secretaries and clerical workers. The topic of her doctoral dissertation is "Sec's Appeal: The American Secretary in American Popular Culture, 1900-1964." She will visit campus on dates to be determined. Her visit will also include a public presentation on her research.
• Dr. Rachael Schreiber, associate professor of critical studies and photography at the California College of the Arts, who is researching anti-war visual culture and suffrage periodicals. Dr. Schreiber is a media artist, writer, and cultural historian whose work in video, digital media, and photography has been exhibited internationally. She will visit campus July 14 to 18 with her public discussion from noon to 1 p.m. in the Library Conference Room. Light refreshments will be provided.
• Amy Beaudry, associate professor of English as Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Mass., who is studying everyday artifacts created in the middle to late 1800s which reinforce gender roles. She will visit campus July 21 to 25 with her public presentation from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 23. Light refreshments will be provided.

For information, contact Heidi Abbey, Humanities Reference Librarian and Archivist, at 717-948-6056 or heidi.abbey@psu.edu.