W ORCESTER W OMEN’S H ISTORY P ROJECT We remember our past . to better shape our future. WWHP VOLUME 11, NO. 2 FALL 2011 Abby Kelley Foster inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame they induct ten women at a time, five By Kara Wilson living and five deceased. However, It’s hard to believe how quickly this year there was a tie between two time has flown by since receiving candidates. Therefore, eleven women the exciting announcement in early were inducted. In addition to Abby March that Abby Kelley Foster Kelley Foster, the deceased inductees Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society would be inducted into the National were: Sister Katharine Drexel, a mis- Women’s Hall of Fame. But before sionary who devoted her life and for- Abby Kelley Foster 1811-1887 we knew it, we were on our way to tune to aid Native Americans and Af- 200th Birthday Year Seneca Falls, New York, on the rican Americans; Dorothy Harrison morning of September 30 for a Eustis, who founded The Seeing Eye busy weekend filled with activities dog guide school; Billie Holiday, the leading up to the induction cere- jazz vocalist; and Coretta Scott King, INSIDE THIS ISSUE mony on October 1. the champion of human and civil About 20 people representing rights. The six living inductees were: President’s Message 2 Worcester Women’s History Pro- Dr. Loretta C. Ford, who created the ject and Abby’s House made the nurse practitioner program; Helen Annual Meeting 3 trip from Worcester to Seneca Falls Murray Free, a chemist who discov- in support of Abby’s long-awaited ered the first dip-and-test strips for 4 induction. WWHP had nominated testing urine glucose levels; Lilly stART on the STREET 5 Abby Kelley Foster for induction Ledbetter, who fought to achieve pay into the NWHF four times, so the equity between men and women; Yours for Humanity... 5 weekend was a jubilant reunion of Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, the first AKF by Barbara Kohin 6 WWHP Steering Committee mem- female Democratic United States bers from the past and present who Senator elected in her own right; Dr. Annual Tour 7 each played a part in making Donna E. Shalala, the longest serving Our Supporters 8 Abby’s induction possible. How- U.S. Secretary of Health and Human WOMEN IN PRINT 9 ever, no one has worked more tire- Services; and Katherine Switzer, the lessly on getting Abby recognized first woman to enter the Boston Mara- An Activist’s Life 10 than Lynne McKenney Lydick, thon. “Visionary Women” 11 who portrays Abby in WWHP’s After checking into the Hotel Cla- one-woman show Yours for Hu- rence, we only had to walk down to manity —Abby. It was fitting that the lobby to attend a gala reception in Induction of Lynne was chosen to represent the evening, which included compli- Abby at the induction ceremony. Abby Kelley Foster mentary drinks called “Inductinis,” into The National Women’s Hall of wine from the many local wineries in National Abolition Hall of Fame Fame holds their induction ceremo- the Finger Lakes, a large buffet, and a October 22, 2011 nies every other year. Usually, www.nahof.org (Continued on p3, “Abby…”) PAGE 2 WORCESTER WOMEN’S President’s Message HISTORY PROJECT 30 Elm Street • Worcester, MA 01609 Telephone: 508-767-1852 Dear WWHP Friends, Website: wwhp.org • Email: [email protected] Fall 2011 heralds the landmark occasion of Abby Kelley Foster’s STEERING COMMITTEE induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She was first Dianne Bruce nominated in the 1990s and four times since then. It’s been a long Kathleen Comer wait, and we are indebted to the women who began the process and Maureen Ryan Doyle to those who, over the years, persisted and continued to champion Regina Edmonds Abby. Thank you! Judy Finkel Beth Harding On October 1, 2011, over a dozen WWHP members and supporters Charlene Martin were in Seneca Falls, New York, as Abby received her long overdue C.J. Posk recognition (Lynne McKenney Lydick, dressed as Abby, accepted). It Barbara J. Sinnott was my privilege to attend, – one of my last “official” duties as Presi- Hanna Solska dent before completing my term of office at the annual meeting on th Susan R. Vogel November 5 . By the way, please mark the date on your calendars to Stephanie Yuhl join us at the Worcester Historical Museum at 2:00 p.m. After a short business meeting, MA State Secretary of Labor and Workforce EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Development, Joanne Goldstein, will be our speaker. Like Frances Fran Langille, President Perkins, “Madame Secretary” Goldstein grew up in Worcester. Doreen Velnich, Vice President “Worcester, the city of “Madame Secretaries,” has a nice ring to it, Mary Plummer, Clerk don’t you think? Worcester, the city of fantastic, amazing women … Barbara Kohin, Treasurer but who knew? Who knows? That’s something WWHP continually Executive Assistant: Nancy Avila works to change. [email protected] Abby will also be inducted into the National Abolition Hall of Newsletter Committee: Kara Wilson, Fame in Peterboro, NY, on October 22nd. An induction dinner will Karen Folkes, Barbara J. Sinnott, be held at Colgate University followed by Lynne McKenney Lydick’s Dianne Bruce performance of “Yours for Humanity —Abby.” Co-author Carolyn ————————————————— Howe will be attending and some other of the band of WWHP WWHP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable and “happy travelers.” educational organization incorporated in 1995 with a vision “to celebrate and document Along with this year’s national highlights, we were delighted to women’s contributions to the history, social meet Professor Mary Muldowney from Trinity College, Dublin, Ire- fabric, and culture of Worcester and beyond.” land. Prof. Muldowney visited with the WWOHP to learn more about our oral history project. We shared information and decided that our website and hers will be linked. WWHP goes international! raise awareness of the rich history of women in the Worcester area Two of our Steering Committee members’ terms end with the an- nual meeting: Stephanie Yuhl, busy wife, mother and Holy Cross create national recognition of professor, who during one conversation about building membership Worcester’s role in the history of said something like “Let’s just tell them to come and hang out with a the women’s rights movement great bunch of interesting, amazing, fabulous women!” Judy Finkel, advance the ideals put forth in the chair of the events extraordinaire, will leave the Steering Committee, 1850 convention that there should but move to the nominating committee. Many thanks to both. It be “equality before the law, without has been my pleasure to serve with and get to know these “fabulous distinction of sex or color,” or eth- women.” nicity. The heartbeat of WWHP is Nancy Avila, a remarkable woman in her own right. Nancy is one of those people who avoids the lime- light, remains in the background and quietly and effectively just www.wwhp.org MAKES things happen. I cannot complete this last “President’s Mes- sage” without a big shout out to Nancy: “Thank you!!” Fran Langille WWHP VOLUME 11, NO. 2 The first National Woman’s Rights Convention was held in Worcester PAGE 3 on October 23 and 24, 1850. 1,000 women and men from 13 states attended. Abby… (continued from p1) silent auction of items donated by past and pre- NOTICE OF 16th ANNUAL MEETING OF sent inductees. The gala also included live Big Band music and the opportunity to meet the in- WORCESTER WOMEN’S HISTORY PROJECT ductees and personnel from the National Saturday, November 5, 2011, 2:00 P.M. Women’s Hall of Fame. We also got to talk with Worcester Historical Museum Colleen Jenkins, who is the great-great grand- daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a long- 30 Elm Street, Worcester, Massachusetts time supporter of the NWHF. Ms. Jenkins visited Seneca Falls schools earlier in the day, along with FOR THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES: Lynne McKenney Lydick, and a few others repre- 1. To hear the President’s report. senting important historical women. 2. To approve the minutes of the last Annual On Saturday, October 1, the day started with Meeting held October 23, 2010. breakfast at the hotel, where we met Miriam As- 3. To approve the Treasurer’s report for fiscal year carelli, author of Independent Vision: Dorothy ending June 30, 2011. Harrison Eustis and the Story of the Seeing Eye. 4. To approve the budget for fiscal year ending Ms. Ascarelli is also a blogger for Ms. Magazine June 30, 2012. and interviewed people from WWHP and Abby’s 5. To elect Officers, Steering Committee, and House for her blog. Following breakfast, we had Nominating Committee. many activities to choose from to celebrate Induc- tion Weekend. Fortunately, Seneca Falls is a village Respectfully submitted, where it is easy to walk everywhere. Some of us chose Mary Plummer, Clerk to take a tour of the National Women’s Hall of Fame gallery. We learned that the NWHF recently won a $2.5 million grant through Recovery New York to renovate the nearby Seneca Knitting Mills building to house the NWHF museum. Some people chose to at- PROGRAM following the annual meeting: tend a play called Mosaic: Voices of Women’s Suf- frage, which was written and performed by three jun- Joanne F. Goldstein, ior high school students from Colorado. The play showcases the life stories of famous American suffra- Secretary of Labor and gists Julia Ward Howe, Caroline Churchill, and Alice Workforce Development for Paul. Massachusetts Following lunch at Zuzu’s (named for the character in It’s a Wonderful Life), we walked to the Women’s Rights Historical Park, where the 1848 convention was held.