28 Results for tag "Women"

• Women's History Month

  Learn even more about Women's History Month by exploring these resources from both our museum and other trusted institutions.

• Stories of Women

  Women played important, and at times, unexpected, roles in early Williamsburg. Their stories, often hidden in the historical record, illuminate their rich contributions to the social, economic, and political life of eighteenth-century Virginia. Join us as we celebrate and examine the experiences, lives, and relationships of these women.

• 5 Things You Might Not Have Known About Martha Washington

  Learn five things you might not have known about America's First Lady—Martha Washington was an incredible woman in her own right. Read on to learn more.

• How We Know What We Know About Milliner Margaret Hunter

  Milliner Margaret Hunter was a single businesswoman in a male-dominated economic system in the 18th century. Read on to learn more about this incredible woman.

• Cutting to the Chase

  In the 18th century, gowns were made by cutting to the body for the perfect or stitching a new one based on an old garment. Learn more about the process.

• To Make Ends Meet: Working Women in the 18th Century

  Explore the life of the working women in the 18th century. Learn how female participation in the workforce enabled America to become an economic superpower.

• A Woman Computer

  Finding a practical yet reliable method for determining longitude at sea was one of the major scientific quandaries of the 18th century. In 1759, John Harrison debuted his H4 chronometer which ran reliably enough to make the longitude calculation a simple multiplication problem. Unfortunately, devices like Harrison’s “longitude watch” remained …

• Myth Busting with Martha

  Ever wondered if there's any truth to the myths surrounding the Washingtons? Uncover the facts from the interpreter known for portraying Martha Washington.

• The Ladies Advisory Committee

  Discover how the Ladies Advisory Committee played an important role in restoring the interior decoration of John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library. Read to learn more.

• Norfolk to Nova Scotia: Judith Jackson's Crooked Road to Freedom

  Cover image of “Book of Negroes,” Courtesy of Nova Scotia Archives.Graham Russell Hodges, ed., The Book of Negroes: African Americans in Exile After the American Revolution (New York: Fordham University Press, 2021), 197.“Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation,” Museum of the American Revolution.Sylvia Frey, Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary …

• Who Did I Marry? Margaret Bannerman and the Gold Digger

  [Note: the historical account described below includes domestic violence.]What do you do when you discover that your new husband isn’t the man you thought he was? Margaret Bannerman placed an advertisement in the Virginia Gazette.

• Unheard Witness: The Hidden Testimony of Lydia Broadnax

  COVER IMAGE: Actor-interpreter Brigitte Jackson in the quarters of the George Wythe kitchen.Richmond Enquirer, Sept. 9, 1806.George Wythe Munford’s account is discussed at greater length below. George Wythe Munford, The Two Parsons; Cupid’s Sports; the Dream; and the Jewels of Virginia (Richmond: J. D. K. Sleight, 1884), 422–23. On Broadnax’s …

• Abigail Briggs: An Indigenous Woman in a White Court

  This account of the enslaved man Dick’s death is based on the only known description of that event, in Francis Fauquier’s account of Abigail Briggs’s trial. Fauquier describes Sturges as testifying “against” Briggs, indicating that her testimony likely did not support Briggs’ account of events. See Francis Fauquier to Board …

• A Bold Type: Clementina Rind’s Revolutionary Press

  Not long after her husband’s funeral, Clementina Rind sat down at his desk, now hers, to write. “Being now unhappily forced to enter upon Business on my own Account,” she wrote, she was obliged to ask the subscribers of her newspaper the Virginia Gazette to “be punctual” in sending payments.Her …