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38-457: Beginning in 1977, Ruth Edmonds Hill coordinated and devoted herself to the completion of the project and to creating awareness of the rich information contained in the transcripts. The project began with the goal of capturing the lives and stories of women of African descent, many already in their 70s, 80s and 90s. On the recommendation of Dr. Letitia Woods Brown , professor of history at George Washington University , and with funding secured from

76-603: A consequence of the documentary A Trumpet at the Walls of Jericho: The Untold Story of Samuel Harrison by filmmaker Mike Kirk which PBS television aired in February, 2005. Congressman John Olver secured a Save America’s Treasures matching grant of $ 246,000 for the Samuel Harrison Society, starting endowment of the preservation project, and the initiative which Hill had placed into historic conservation procedures resulted in

114-418: A description of the item or collection and provides other important information such as offsite location or access restrictions. Radcliffe Institute fellowships are designed to support scholars, scientists, artists, and writers of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishments who wish to pursue work in academic and professional fields and in the creative arts. The Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program

152-585: A growing number of educated women were ready to resume intellectual or artistic work after raising families. From 1960 to 2000, more than 1,300 scholars, scientists, artists, writers, and musicians have been named fellows. The Boston Globe Magazine called the Bunting Institute "America's Think Tank for Women", and the Chronicle of Higher Education described the institute as a place where "lives get turned around, books get written, and discoveries are made, all

190-599: A pioneering work in its genre. Hill has also made oral history field recordings, including guided interviews, of Cambodians , Chinese Americans and other ethnic and sociolect communities, traveling widely in research as well as conference participation. After the death of her husband Brother Blue in 2009, Ruth Edmonds Hill hosted Memorial Tributes in the Blue Circle community of artists, ministers and educators formed during his lifetime and from his joint opus with Ruth Edmonds Hill, most recently in 2010. In addition to being

228-464: Is a member of the Some Institutes for Advanced Study consortium. Prof. Tomiko Brown-Nagin is the institute's current dean. The Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study was founded in 1961 by the then-president of Radcliffe College, Mary Bunting , who sought to stem the exodus of highly trained and educated women from promising careers. The institute provided stipends as well as access to all of

266-850: Is chronicled and has been critically analyzed as part of African-American oral history. Hill has degrees from Simmons College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst . Hill is most widely known among oral history researchers for conducting the Black Women Oral History Project at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of American Women at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study which has often been cited within related fields of study in journal articles, dissertations, and in panel discussions and has been acclaimed as

304-568: Is part of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University . She is an iconic figure among oral storytellers, particularly in the United States but also abroad, and has advised storytellers' organizations. Her spouse is Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill who is also known as Brother Blue . Ruth Edmonds Hill is sometimes known as Sister Ruth. Ruth Edmonds Hill is the daughter of Florence Edmonds of western Massachusetts , whose life story

342-544: The Harvard Radcliffe Institute , is an institute of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities , sciences , social sciences , arts, and professions. It came into being in 1999 as the successor institution to the former Radcliffe College , originally a women's college connected with Harvard. The institute comprises three programs: The Radcliffe Institute often hosts public events, many of which can be watched online. It

380-504: The New York Public Library . All of these photographs are also catalogued at Harvard's Visual Information Access (VIA) database and available to view as a collection under "Black Women Oral History". Ruth Edmonds Hill Ruth Edmonds Hill (March 5, 1925 - April 15, 2023) was an American scholar, oral historian , oral storytelling editor, journal editor, educator, historic preservation advocate. Her oral history office

418-566: The Rockefeller Foundation , the project began to address what Brown noted as inadequate documentation of the stories of African-American women in the Schlesinger Library and at other centers for research. The project sought a cross section of women who had made significant contributions to American society in the first half of the twentieth century. Many interviewees had professional careers in such fields as education, government,

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456-513: The education of women and girls are manuscript holdings. Ordinary lives of women and families and the struggles and triumphs of women of accomplishment are richly documented in diaries and other personal records. Many collections, such as the papers of Charlotte Perkins Gilman , Pauli Murray , and the records of the National Organization for Women , feature political, organizational, and economic questions. In addition to these collections,

494-512: The Black Women Oral History Project at the Schlesinger Library, which houses the archives of their recorded and vita materials, include those of: Subsequently, the lives and statements of these subjects are individually treated in literature secondary to the Black Women Oral History Project's reports. Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University , also known as

532-707: The Civil War, whose exploits were dramatized in the motion picture Glory . Reverend Harrison also served as Chaplain of the W.W. Rockwell Post of the Grand Army of the Republic . In May 2004, Ruth Edmonds Hill and her husband, Brother Blue, met with Pittsfield residents interested in conserving, as a historic site, the modest 19th century Samuel Harrison House at 82 Third Street in the Morningside neighborhood (plot purchased by Harrison 1852 for $ 50, house completed and occupied by

570-653: The Harrison family fall 1858 ) which was Reverend Harrison's homestead. The City of Pittsfield had moved to demolish the structure, which was in poor condition. Hill petitioned the Massachusetts Historical Commission , citing her great-grandfather's works and "lifelong pioneering spirit," and the Commission denied the City's motion for demolition. The Samuel Harrison Society 's preservation initiative gained support as

608-509: The Samuel Harrison House being designated a National Register of Historic Places landmark on March 22, 2006, a National Park Service " Save America’s Treasures " Preservation Project, and a Massachusetts Historical Commission Preservation Project. On August 22, 2008, Ruth Edmonds Hill participated in groundbreaking ceremonies to mark the official start of renovation work on the Samuel Harrison House. After renovations costing $ 500,000,

646-701: The Second Congregational Church in Pittsfield and of Sanford Street Congregational Church (now St. John's Congregational Church) in Springfield, Massachusetts , who successfully crusaded to obtain equal pay for black soldiers serving in the Union Army during the Civil War . Reverend Harrison served as chaplain of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry , the first all-black infantry regiment to see action in

684-401: The arts and in music; women and family; feminist and anti-feminist theory; and lesbian writings. Hundreds of periodical titles, including popular magazines such as Ladies' Home Journal , Ebony , and Seventeen , highlight domestic concerns, leisure pursuits, etiquette, fashion, and food. Photographic and Audiovisual Material: More than 90,000 photographs, ranging from casual snapshots to

722-448: The arts, business, medicine, law and social work. Others combined care for their families with volunteer work at the local, regional, or national level. Most of the interviews explored topics such as family background, education and training, employment, voluntary activities, and family and personal life. The intention was to give the interviewee the opportunity to explore and reflect on the influences and events that shaped her life. Among

760-638: The college became an institute, Mary Maples Dunn served as acting president of Radcliffe College and acting dean of the Radcliffe Institute. On January 1, 2001, Drew Gilpin Faust became the institute's first permanent dean; she stepped down in July 2007 to become president of Harvard University . Barbara J. Grosz , Higgins Professor of Natural Sciences at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences , served as interim dean after Faust's departure and

798-419: The daughter of health care specialist Florence Edmonds (1889–1983) of Pittsfield, Massachusetts , who was later chosen to be among the subjects of the Black Women Oral History Project which Ruth Edmonds Hill conducted, Hill is the great-granddaughter of Reverend Samuel Harrison (born April 15, 1818, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , to enslaved parents, died August 11, 1900, Pittsfield, Massachusetts), pastor of

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836-442: The essential gifts of an Institute fellowship: time, financial support, a room of one's own, membership in a vital community of women, and access to all Radcliffe and Harvard resources. Once Bunting's idea was made public and the announcement appeared on the front page of The New York Times in the fall of 1960, more than 2,000 women inquired about the "experiment". The outpouring of interest confirmed President Bunting's hunch—that

874-462: The focus of Radcliffe had already begun to shift: undergraduate women had attended classes with Harvard men since 1943, received Harvard degrees signed by both Harvard and Radcliffe presidents since 1963, and lived in integrated dormitories with Harvard men since 1971. In 2001, the first professorship at the institute was established with the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professorship at Radcliffe. The professorship

912-567: The globe as a result of American women's extensive travel and foreign residence. Some examples are letters of early missionaries in China, activists' accounts of the Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice , and the speeches and writings of Shirley Graham Du Bois . Detailed records for the library's manuscript collections as well as books and periodicals can be found in HOLLIS. The catalog record gives

950-680: The house's new function became that of a black museum. In the mid 1970s, the Radcliffe College Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America responded to recommendations that selected memoirs of older living black women be collected and made available by opening The Black Women Oral History Project. Ruth Edmonds Hill and a team of black oral history interviewers recorded 71 subjects from 1976 to 1981, with work continuing after these first case studies. Some oral histories published or exhibited by Ruth Edmonds Hill as part of

988-431: The interviews and transcripts have been digitized and are available from the Schlesinger Library collection through the Black Women Oral History Project finding aid . In 1981, Judith Sedwick offered to create portraits of a few of the interviewees, and later, with additional grant funding, photographed many more. The result is a collection of stunning photographs, which became a traveling exhibition, first shown in 1984 at

1026-442: The interviews are open for research with digitized materials, with the exception of the following: Merze Tate whose interview is not yet complete and five interviews that remain closed until 2027: Kathleen Adams , Margaret Walker Alexander , Lucy Miller Mitchell , Ruth Janetta Temple , and Era Bell Thompson . The interviews were recorded on audiotape and transcribed and each interviewee was given an opportunity to edit and correct

1064-411: The library also houses the personal papers of Susan B. Anthony , Amelia Earhart , Betty Friedan , Adrienne Rich , and many others. Books and Periodicals: More than 80,000 printed volumes include scholarly monographs as well as popular works. These cover topics including women's rights; women and work; women's health; women of color; comparative material about women in other cultures; works on women in

1102-410: The papers of several famous chefs and food writers, such as M. F. K. Fisher , Julia Child , and Elizabeth David . The Radcliffe College Archives, 1879–1999—including papers of college officers, students, and alumnae—record the history of women in higher education. While its focus for collecting is American women , the library has an abundance of print and manuscript materials bearing on issues around

1140-476: The participants were Melnea Cass , Zelma George , Dorothy Height , Queen Mother Moore , Rosa Parks , Esther Mae Scott , Muriel S. Snowden , and Dorothy West . Volume 2 of the published work features conversations with Sadie Alexander , Elizabeth Barker , and Etta Moten Barnett . Volume 3 includes interviews with Juanita Craft , Alice Dunnigan , and Eva B. Dykes , while Volume 10 features Charleszetta Waddles , Dorothy West, and Addie Williams. All of

1178-552: The resources of Harvard University to take up their chosen creative intellectual studies. The initial funding for the institute came from the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations. The institute was renamed the Bunting Institute in 1978; its grants expanded to support women wishing to pursue advanced degrees on a part-time basis. The current institute came into being by the agreement of October 1, 1999, under which Radcliffe College merged with Harvard University. Long before this date,

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1216-502: The result of time spent among intellectual peers." Including the 2017–2018 academic year, the Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program has hosted around 900 women and men of exceptional promise working on projects across the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. For the 2017–2018 fellowship class, the acceptance rate was only 4 percent. Research clusters at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study use

1254-470: The transcript prior to the final printing. Both the transcripts and audiotapes have been archived and preserved at the Schlesinger Library. Copies of these materials are also held in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College and include the published guide to the transcripts; also the summary of each woman's life and highlights of topics from their interviews, as well as an index. Furthermore,

1292-433: The wide range of women's activities at home in the United States and abroad from the early 19th century to the present day. The library's holdings include manuscripts; books and periodicals; and photographic and audiovisual material. There are more than 2,500 unique manuscript collections from individuals, families, and organizations. Women's rights movements past and present, feminism, health and sexuality, social reform, and

1330-441: The works of professional photographers, create an unparalleled visual record of private and public life. Audiotapes, videotapes and oral history tapes, and transcripts add the soundtrack to the story of women's lives. The library has two distinguished special collections. A culinary collection of more than 15,000 books—spanning five centuries and global cuisines —is one of the world's most significant. This collection also includes

1368-515: Was endowed by the Pforzheimer family, who also endowed the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Directorship and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Student Fellowships at the institute's Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, which, with the Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program, both of which date back to Radcliffe College days, are among the institute's best-known features. As

1406-543: Was founded at Radcliffe College in 1961 as the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study. In 1978, the institute was renamed the Mary Ingraham Bunting Institute to honor Radcliffe College President Mary Bunting , whose initiative it was to create a postgraduate study center for female scholars and artists. Concerned about the prevailing "climate of unexpectation" for women at that time, Bunting deliberately sought to reverse that negative attitude by establishing

1444-450: Was named dean on April 28, 2008; she stepped down in June 2011. After serving as interim dean from 2011 to 2012, Lizabeth Cohen became dean. A historian, Cohen stepped down on June 30, 2018, to return to research, writing, and teaching. The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America exists to document women's lives and endeavors. Its wealth of resources reveals

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