Tuesday, April 17, 2012
In 1969, President Richard Nixon created the Task Force on Women's Rights and Responsibilities that marked the beginning of a successful initiative to recruit and train women for upper-level governmental positions. Unfortunately, few of the women who joined the government as a result of this initiative left collections of papers for historians to review.
In an effort to capture this moment in history, an advisory board chaired by Barbara Hackman Franklin initiated a project to gather oral histories from key participants. The board initially identified twelve individuals to be interviewed. As the project continued, this list expanded to nearly 50 interviews that are now housed in Penn State's Special Collections Library.
Ten of those interviews are available in full text online at www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/afgw/bios.html
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Friday, March 09, 2012
Forty years ago Newsweek magazine proclaimed, "the person in Washington who has done the most for the women's movement may be Richard Nixon." Today opinions of the Nixon administration are strongly colored by foreign policy successes and the Watergate debacle, while its accomplishments in advancing the role of women in government have been overlooked. A new book reveals how "A Few Good Women" shattered the glass ceiling and opened up opportunities for generations to come.
The public is invited to join the Honorable Barbara Hackman Franklin and archivist and historian Lee Stout, for a discussion about this time in women's history, at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 19, in the Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. The presentation, "A Matter of Simple Justice," is also the title of the newly published book that describes Franklin's efforts to bring more women into the executive ranks of the Nixon administration. (more)
Friday, April 23, 2010
Most Penn State graduates have memories of days spent in the University Libraries, but only the most recent can imagine libraries as they are today. A new video, "The Library: the Heart of the University," shows the intellectual energy, outstanding resources and the redefined spaces in Pattee and Paterno Libraries. (more)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Barbara Hackman Franklin of Washington, D.C., former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and a member of Penn State's class of 1962, has directed $500,000 to name the Barbara Hackman Franklin Atrium in central Pattee Library on the University Park campus as part of the new and transformational Knowledge Commons project. This space, currently identified as the lending service lobby, will be renovated into additional service space. The gift is a continuation of Franklin's long-standing support for the University Libraries. (more)
