BackStory

In a special podcast produced in collaboration with the History Channel in 2010, the History Guys trace the history of women in the workplace. From the farms of colonial America to the factories of World War II, how have war, boom & bust, and education shaped the changing role of women in the American economy?

Part 1:

Part 2:

And check out some of the other interesting stories and resources that helped to shape the show:

General and Modern History

• Harvard Business School’s “Women, Enterprise, & Society” collection.
• The Economist hosts a debate on the proposition, “This house believes that women in the developed world have never had it so good.”
• Pew Research Center on the economics of marriage and breadwinners, “New Economics of Marriage: The Rise of Wives.”
• Time Magazine on the changing “State of the American Woman.”
• The Economist with an overview of the state of women in the workplace, “Female Power.”
• New York Times on women and work, “In a First, Women Surpass Men on U.S. Payrolls.”

20th Century

• “Rosie the Riveter” by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, performed by The Four Vagabonds in the early ’40s.
• Library of Congress webcast presentation about Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter” and the “We Can Do It!” posters.  Historian Sheridan Harvey does a great job tracing the historical and artistic roots of these icons.
• Library of Congress archive of WWII Rosie photographs.

19th Century

• Harvard’s “Women Working” collection of original diaries, letters, pamphlets, and photographs.
• Excerpts from the “Handbook to Lowell” for girls working at the famous Lowell mills in the mid 1800′s.
• Harvard Library’s scanned copies of “The Lowell Offering,” a paper produced and written by the women working in Lowell.

18th Century

• Colonial Williamsburg on women and education in 18th century Virginia.