Celebrating American Women During the Bicentennial – Pieces of History

As we look ahead to the nation’s 250th birthday, we’re looking back on the events celebrating our 200th. Today’s post, for Women’s History Month, looks back on a major exhibit at the National Archives during the bicentennial era. 

To coincide with International Women’s Year and the Bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence, the National Archives created a special exhibit, Her Infinite Variety: A 200-Year Record of American Women. It ran in the National Archives Building’s old Circular Gallery from July 1975 to February 1976 and examined women’s roles at home, work, in wartime, as reformers, and in public life.

The exhibit explored both famous and lesser known women. Along with stories about Amelia Earhart, Clara Barton, and Harriet Tubman, the exhibit featured stories such as the women garment workers who in 1909 and 1910 went on strike for better working conditions.

On July 3, as with many exhibits at the National Archives, staff were given the opportunity to have a special preview. A week later, the National Archives had another exhibit preview—this time for more than 400 distinguished women and their guests. Among the attendees was a very special guest: First Lady Betty Ford.

During the preview, GSA Administrator Arthur Sampson gave the First Lady a copy of the 1919 Joint Resolution of Congress that extended suffrage to women. Betty Ford is the last First Lady to have been born before the amendment was ratified. 

Another attendee, Helene Deschamps Adams, represented the women of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Adams, who loaned some of her papers for the exhibit, was part of the French resistance as a teenager and in 1943 joined the OSS as a field operative. Working behind German lines, Adams provided critical information to Allied and French patriot forces.

To create the exhibit, National Archives staff combed through 200 years of records to showcase the diverse stories of women’s contributions to our history. Because records about women are found in nearly every record series, it was a daunting yet fulfilling task. The exhibit was extremely popular, and the National Archives received a large number of requests for reproductions of items on display. 

Visit the National Archives website to learn more about women’s stories found in our holdings.