Research Projects

Making Visible the Seemingly Invisible

Asking questions can lead us to look more carefully and in new places not always considered to hold answers. For example, revolutionary women have always been around but often gained considerably less attention than their male counterparts. Whether making political and social change during war and revolution or in other arenas like higher education in the American West or the lives of lesbians during the 20th century, my historical research has been rooted in questions--that lead to others. Such as: How did women-headed households survive in eras that disallowed women's access to so many jobs? Are women on the front lines of warfare really a new phenomenon? Why weren't women allowed to pole vault in the Olympics till 2000 when some were doing it almost 100 years prior? How did lesbians find each other in a pre-internet age? Otherwise invisible revolutions need to see the light of day.

Project updates coming soon!

A Lifelong Revolutionary

Victorine Malenfant Rouchy Brocher (1839-1921)

termed herself a revolutionary throughout her life and was born into a likeminded family. Even before riding atop her father's shoulders as a diminutive 10-year old during revolutionary 1848 events in Paris, Victorine had overheard conversations at home as people increasingly resisted traditional power. Her memoir, Souvenirs d'une morte vivante, vividly tells the story of her own experience, focusing especially on her time in Paris during the 1870-71 siege during the Franco-Prussian War and the 1871 Paris Commune. The latter resulted in the book's title, given the government thought it had killed her when in fact she had escaped their notice passing as a young boy, hair shorn, with a red flag, dagger, and incriminating diary hidden on her body. She went on to escape France--as had her father before her--and remained a revolutionary, aligning especially with the anarchist movement in coming decades.

Soon, after upcoming research in France, this site will include an interactive map will allow visitors to learn more about her life--and the revolutionary 1871 Paris Commune. Vive la Commune!

Photo: Unknown author, Portrait non daté de Victorine Brocher, communarde puis anarchiste française (1839-1921). Wikipedia Commons.

Educating the Body Towards Equality

Ina E. Gittings (1885-1966)

paved a pioneering path for women's sports in the American West and beyond, ultimately spending 35 years as the Director of Women's Physical Education and Athletics at University of Arizona (1920-1955). The Wilber, Nebraska native reflected, "'Mother tried to make a lady out of me, but with four brothers I was usually drafted into a baseball game on the vacant lot; that's how I got my start in physical education,'" grinning as she recalled growing up in Superior, NE. She added, "'I guess the nearest I ever came to living up to my mother's ambition was when I made Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Nebraska.'" Ina (pronounced Ee-na) Estelle Gittings' life allows investigation of educational opportunities forged by girls and women as the 19th century became the 20th, long before Title IX was contemplated.

With a completed book manuscript ready to move forward, shortly this site will include more details of her fascinating life. And for those familiar with Tucson, Arizona, yes, Ina Road is named for her, commemorating her homestead, and a building on University of Arizona's campus is named for her.

Photo: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Library Archives and Special Collections.

Historical Cemeteries: Phoenix

Wait--that doesn't look like a cemetery! Where's all the grass and orderly grave markers? Cemeteries have interesting histories and this one in downtown Phoenix, Arizona is not an exception.

Soon, more information on the work at Pioneer and Military Memorial Park in downtown Phoenix will be visible here, but in the meantime, you might be interested in an article by John D'Anna about a different historical cemetery in Phoenix, Sotelo-Heard Cemetery.

Concrete History

Phoenix formally began to get paved streets and some sidewalks in 1911 but inconsistently so until the 1920s. Yet some took it upon themselves to create walkable sidewalks as early as 1902. Wander in the downtown area and you may notice some of the city's history, right under your feet. I look forward to sharing a bit of "concrete history" with visitors to the site but in the meantime, have you ever heard of "Frenchy" Vieux, whose imprint remains visible in downtown Phoenix--both in concrete and in the lovely home he built over 100 years ago. (PS: The home has been updated of late so you may want to wander the neighborhood and check it out!)

Women-Headed Households

How did women survive, especially with children in tow, long before anything like equal pay or even equal access to jobs existed? To say they employed creativity is an understatement. Although some seem to think that women's independence is more recent, imagine what it was to keep a home together when a husband died due to a mine accident, illness--or he just up and left. The rates of widowhood 100+ years ago were extremely high, with mining communities particularly vulnerable in parts of Arizona and beyond. The image we have of nuclear families who also took in older relatives is often grossly inaccurate and contributes to mythologies that suggest a safety net was long in place: the family. Not so. I look forward to sharing more of my research into this topic, perhaps with a longer term goal of helping policy makers better understand the history behind the myths.

Community-Driven Archives:
Lesbian Elders

Depending on your age, the 1960s, '70s, and '80s may seem forever-ago or just yesterday. But how did women who identified as lesbians live, find each other, network, and survive--even thrive during eras when the law, sexism, and so much more was not on their side? Where are their stories and how might we encourage more to tell those stories?

Working with Arizona State University associate archivist, Nancy Godoy, and her team in the Community-Driven Archives Initiative, I am having conversations with dynamic women who were in many ways, pioneers in the LGBTQ world in Arizona during earlier decades. In various ways, they were socially, politically, economically, and culturally important to the history of Phoenix and beyond. Until more can be included here, some may be interested in the Bj Bud Memorial Archive, part of ASU's collection and much of it accessible online. The full finding aid for the archive can be found here.

Photo courtesy of: Arizona State University Libraries/Bj Bud Memorial Archive, digital exhibit/Folder: Events, 1983 June 25/"Pride March and Protest, Phoenix, AZ"/https://exhibits.lib.asu.edu/s/BjBud/item/1561#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-3213%2C0%2C9401%2C4083