>> Good morning, and welcome to the Library of Congress on a very special day. We're grateful that all of you are here so we can give you an exclusive preview of the Library's newest exhibition, "Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote." The exhibition is part of the Library's commemoration of the national centennial celebration of women's suffrage. It will spotlight the stories of dozens of diverse women who shaped the suffrage movement and made history. The exhibition is also part of the Library of Congress's year-long initiative to explore America's change makers, and we're opening this wonderful exhibition to the public this coming Tuesday, June the 4th. And as you probably know, that date is very important in history because on June the 4th, 1919, the U.S. Senate finally approved the women's suffrage amendment and sent it to the states for ratification. And the 19th Amendment was finally ratified by enough states in August of 1920. Now, the exhibition will tell the story of the largest reform movement in American history with documents and artifacts from the women who changed political history 100 years ago. What makes this exhibition unique is that the Library of Congress holds the personal collections of many American suffragists and leaders of the movement. And this includes the handwritten letters, speeches they prepared, the scrapbooks, the diaries, all created to document their work. They donated the materials to the national library because they wanted their stories to be remembered. And many of us, unfortunately, don't know enough about women's history and these influential change makers who helped win the vote for women. This exhibition will tell their stories, will draw from the collections of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Mary Church Terrell, Carrie Chapman Catt, and organizations like the National Women's Party and the National American Women Suffrage Association. Through the personal collections of these extraordinary women who've helped shape history, you'll learn more about the struggles and the challenges, even the divisions in the movement. The Library of Congress's mission is to engage and inspire and inform the American people, and we know that this exhibit will do just that. This is the largest library in the world, and it's been called an extraordinary gift by the Congress to the American people. And we want to make sure that we deliver on that promise. This exhibition would not have been possible without the support of many generous donors. Of course, Congress and the Library's James Madison Council, with additional support from 1st Financial Bank USA, the Democracy Fund, Mr. Thomas Girardi, AARP [laughter], the Barbara Lee Family Foundation Fund at the Boston Foundation, the HISTORY® channel, and Roger and Julie Baskes. I'm also excited, as a librarian, to show you this new book, which will be a companion to the exhibition. It will be available for visitors to purchase both at our gift shop and online. And it has beautiful images from the exhibit that you can take home and learn about. So I know many of you will probably be posting on social media today. So please share your stories and your photos with the hash tag #shallnotbedenied. So a lot of people also worked very hard to make this exhibition possible. And the team was led by the Library's Center for Exhibits and Interpretation and its director, Mr. David Mandel. So I'd like to have David come up and tell you more about what you'll see in the exhibit. [ Applause ] >> Thank you, Dr. Hayden. Good morning, everyone, and thank you very much for being here today. The Library's exhibition draws uniquely from the collections of the suffragists themselves and the suffragist organizations and documents the years-long struggle in pursuit of the right to vote. Our narrative grows from the injustices that built a movement that spans 70 years and explains the tactics developed by successive generations to further the cause. It is a story of genuine sacrifice, risk, and struggle. It is ultimately a story of how the women we featured in the exhibit changed the United States of America. The Library's exhibition program's goal is to showcase our collections through immersive, experiential spaces, utilizing creative design and storytelling. For "Shall Not Be Denied," the design begins with large walls symbolizing the barriers women faced. Artifact-rich alcoves symbolize the private spaces where the movement organized and developed. The main pathway through the exhibit symbolizes the public spaces where the protests grew, and the gallery's walls come down as the exhibit culminates in a plaza-like space as women made their voices heard in the American public square. I'm especially happy that our creative partners on this project, Pure+Applied for exhibition design and Upswell for our introduction video and interactive table, are women-owned businesses. Both firms brought a real passion and energy to the project, and we think it shows through in the exhibit, and we know you'll let us know. I'd like to close with, exhibitions are collaborations, and I'd like to acknowledge the following. Our exhibit's curator, Janice Ruth and Elizabeth Novara, and from the Library's Exhibits Office, Carroll Johnson, Kim Curry, Betsy Nahum-Miller, Karen Werth, Ray Leo, Dave Jung, Peter Bottger, Marc Roman, Rachel Waldron, Patrick Shepler, Simonette dela Torre, Naomi Coquillon, and Joon Yi. We look forward to you seeing the exhibition soon, and thank you. [ Applause ] >> And thank you to David and your truly amazing creative team. Now I have the opportunity to introduce the next speaker, who really needs no introduction. She is the longest-serving female U.S. Senator in history. I think that deserves applause. [ Applause ] During her 40 years in Congress, she's always been a strong supporter of women's issues, and now she's the vice-chair of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission, which is leading the national efforts to commemorate, educate, and celebrate the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Please welcome the Honorable Senator Barbara Mikulski. [ Applause ] >> Good morning, everybody. [ Applause ] Well, as Dr. Hayden said, I'm retired United States Senator Barbara Mikulski. Senators don't retire, they keep showing up and talking and talking and talking. It's a thing with us. And it's so great to be back here at the Library of Congress. And it's the Library "of" Congress; it was never meant to be the library "for" Congress. When Congress created this great library, it's so they themselves would have access to books and the classics, as they worked to invent democracy. But they didn't want to be the only holders of the repository of knowledge. And, of course, now under the leadership of Dr. Hayden, it's expanded its great mission more. And today, we're commemorating or we're announcing the fact that the one, next week we will be opening the exhibit, "We Shall Not Be Denied," language taken from the 19th Amendment that expanded democracy to the other half of the population, the one that Abigail Adams wrote her husband about and said don't forget the ladies. Well, they finally got around to remembering, but only because of this mass movement. What is so exciting about this exhibit is that it is, yes, educational. Yes, it's done in an exciting way, but it's also inclusive. We will, in this exhibit, own the entire narrative of suffrage and the entire narrative of all of those who participated, people of all backgrounds, of races, and ethnicities. It reflects what the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission, of which I'm a member, wanted to do. The Commission was created by Congress at the leadership, initiated the women of the Senate so that we could commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment, but we wanted to be able to remember so that we could reflect and re-empower what this means. Because we believe that in order for democracy to work, we have to work at democracy and remember our own background. This exhibit is part of a larger commemorative effort that is already underway. National cultural institutions like the Portrait Gallery, the Archives -- the National Archives have already launched their exhibit. On May 21st, the House passed the, once again, the resolution on the 19th Amendment. On June 4th, the Senate will also commemorate that anniversary. And there will be the race to the states. All other federal agencies, including Treasury, Interior, the Park Service, are participating. So that's the data. But why is it important? Students sometimes say, why should I study history. Well, we study history to better know who we are, to know who we are as a country and as a nation, because history is part, is our national identity. This particular commemoration enables us to own the entire narrative of all who participated, some well known, some rarely, if ever, known. The movement of women's suffrage is the story of America, its law, its character, and its never-ending efforts to expand democracy. What we will see in this exhibit is that it educates, it edifies, and hopefully, it inspires because it tells the story of courage, persistence, and sacrifice. We'll learn the history of past brave, the bravery of women, and we will also hear the stories of the great men who supported us. We're also going to take a look at the false reasons that were given to exclude women of all races and ethnicities so that we can learn never, ever to repeat those mistakes again. We are commemorating women's suffrage, as I said, to remember the past, what it means today, and to empower and inspire the next generation. Again, what we hope to do is by remembering, we continue to expand democracy. I would like now to introduce Janice Ruth, who is the curator of this, and the acting chief of the Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Dr. Ruth is really an outstanding scholar in her own right, and she has put together, I think, something that's going to be a blockbuster of an exhibit. So, Dr. Ruth, won't you please come up and take over while I get off this good old stool [laughter]. [ Applause ] >> Thank you, Senator. Good morning. It is so thrilling to see all of you here today. On behalf of the many Library staff who worked with me on this exhibit, I want to thank you for coming. We greatly appreciate your interest in helping us share this remarkable story of courage, perseverance, creativity, and hope on the part of multiple generations of women fighting for that most fundamental right of a participatory democracy, the right to vote. The long and arduous struggle for women's suffrage is one of the best documented and most widely researched topics in American women's history. That historians know as much as we do about the suffrage campaign is due in large part to the foresight, to the participants' conscious efforts to record their movement's history and to the foresight with which many archival repositories collected the materials. The Library of Congress was at the forefront of this collecting effort and over the years has amassed what is arguably one of the nation's strongest collections on the topic. Generations of scholars asking different questions frequently return to these collections and probe them in new ways to enhance our understanding of this complex multi-faceted movement. The friendships and the personal connections that sustained the suffrage movement itself also aided in the preservation of its history. In 1903, Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford convinced his friend, Susan B. Anthony, to donate her collection of books and other printed matter to the National Library. Anthony's personal papers followed many years later, donated by her niece, to the Manuscript Division. Spofford and his wife, as it turns out, were good friends also with Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Blackwell. The Blackwell papers were first solicited as early as 1915 by then Manuscript Division chief, John C. Fitzpatrick. It would take another 46 years before they were received as a gift from suffrage archivist Edna Stantial to whom Alice Stone Blackwell had bequeathed them. Alice had been told by suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt the papers of the Blackwell family are too valuable to repose in a college library. The Library of Congress should be your first choice. People will come from all over the world just to see the files there. Catt herself had donated her book collection to the Library, but when asked for her own papers in January 1918, she put Fitzpatrick off. Yeah, we're kind of busy [laughter]. Actually, she graciously responded. As she said, "At the present moment, I do not think we have sufficient time to prepare any suitable deposit for the Library of Congress. We are hopeful and expectant that our movement is nearly at an end." Sadly, it would take two and a half more years for the 19th Amendment to be ratified. These kinds of exchanges and acquisition efforts would be repeated year after year. As a result, the personal papers of many of the leading participants -- and Dr. Hayden alluded to many of them, so I won't, I won't go over those, the names again, but well-known names as well as some names that probably aren't as familiar to you -- have come into the Library. We're gradually digitizing many of them, making them available worldwide online. And in connection with this exhibit, we're also launching a crowdsourcing transcription project so that we can further people's engagement with these wonderful materials. In addition to the personal papers, as Dr. Hayden mentioned, we also have the records of the two principle national organizations, the National American Women's Suffrage Association, which goes by the acronym NAWSA, and the National Women's Party, or NWP, which is best known for its pioneering use of picketing the White House in the campaign. As you walk through the exhibit, you will see pioneering feminist books that inspired the suffragists. I mean, these ideas just didn't spring forth in 1848 at Seneca Falls. So in today's parlance, you see the earliest influencers. Right? Take a moment, if you would, to read some of the passages of these letters, the unique letters that the Library of Congress has. Abigail Adams telling her sister that she will never consent to have her sex consigned in an inferior light. Lucretia Mott, quite frankly, dishing the dirt a little bit on the other women in the movement and frustrated with the Grimkés, you know, that they were kind of a flash-in-the-pan in her mind. Susan B. Anthony, pushing Elizabeth Cady Stanton to write a speech on equal education for women, despite the fact, she said, oh, it doesn't matter you have a baby on your knee and your four boys are buzzing around you. Get to the task. The reputation of womanhood is depending on you. Nellie Quander of Howard University writing to ask if African American women were going to be welcome in the March 3, 1913, parade. Also worth a look in the exhibit are affidavits describing the suffragist's harsh treatment in jail and being force-fed all in protest for the right to vote. Rare printed versions of the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments and the 1876 Declaration of Rights for Women. We're very fortunate, our friends at the Belmont-Paul National Women's Equality site has loaned us the bust of Susan B. Anthony. This is a bust that Anthony herself had hoped Congress would buy to install in the Thomas Jefferson building. So I'm so thrilled Susan gets her wish for the duration of this exhibit. We have cartoons, hand bills, a cookbook, a doll, other suffrage merchandize. So you can really see how this proliferated and was pervasive in American society, particularly in that last decade. A sash and buttons. You can get into the personal story. You can look at a sash and buttons of a suffragist picket by the name of Cora Week who, you look at her photograph and there's a petite woman, an artist by occupation, defiantly staring into the camera as she heads off with the picket line to the White House where she would shortly be arrested and later be part of the group that experienced the "Night of Terror" at Occoquan Workhouse. Lastly, to be sure, be sure to listen to the some of the suffrage songs. We have a wonderful sheet music collection and recordings here at the Library, as well as the stories that suffragist Mabel Vernon shared in an oral history. Find your home state on the tabletop interactive and find out who a couple of the prominent suffragists were in your area. Watch the early film footage taken of suffrage parades, but also the modern clips of those who have continued the inspiring fight for women's political equality. Next up on the agenda today, I'm very pleased to introduce you to Elaine Weiss, author of two books, "Fruits of Victory: The Women's Land Army in the Great War," and now her best-selling book, "The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote," which is soon to be a major television event. Elaine's going to share with you her personal journey through the Library's suffrage collections. And I'm looking forward to hearing you tell us what you found most interesting. >> Thank you. [ Applause ] >> Good morning. Good morning. You know, if you ask a researcher why they choose to spend their days -- can you hear me -- why they choose to spend their days alone, pouring over manuscripts and sometimes dusty books, and crouched over a desk, they'll tell you, it's the thrill of the hunt, and it's the thrill of discovery. And I think we're about to experience some of that thrill as we are able to preview this extraordinary new exhibit. I'm very excited about it. It will give us a tantalizing taste of the vast holdings that we've heard about described of the Library's holdings chronicling this amazing reform movement that we call the women's suffrage movement. It's really the primary source for anyone who is studying or writing about this extraordinary effort to both challenge societal norms and women's role and rights in America and also to expand our democracy in a way it had never been before. The suffrage movement is really one of the pivotal civil rights struggles in our nation's history, and it's the story of grassroots activists organizing to win political freedom for half of the citizens of the nation. It spans more than seven decades and three generations of fearless activists participating in more than 900 campaigns at the state, local, and national level. Both the historical arch of the movement and the nitty-gritty details are here, kept safe and available at the Library. And I was lucky enough to discover this treasure trove and fortunate enough to be able to use it to write my book. That book, "The Woman's Hour," -- and the meaning of the title is actually embedded here in the Library -- was born right here in the Library of Congress, and it was nurtured here. It began with what might be called a moment of serendipity in the stacks. I was researching something completely different. This happens a lot. I was reading a document in the Library's collection. It was an old, obscure, hundred-page report on how a bequest to the suffrage movement had been spent. I'm trained as a journalist. I know to follow the money. And there at about the three-quarter mark, I found an anecdote that would become the dramatic core of my book. I'd never heard about it before. It was an account of the battle for the last state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment in the summer of 1920. That happened to be Tennessee. It was a wild and colorful and dramatic story. And it was here, and I stumbled upon it. I wasn't looking for it, but I was very grateful for it. And that surprise find became a magic door for me, entering into world of women activists and lobbyists and politicians and protesters. These amazing, powerful, and empowered women in an era when women were stifled. The library then provided me with the sophisticated tools and deep resources to tell the story on a granular level. The subject files and collection manifests, you know, the sort of, almost, you might consider them boring, but they are so important to a researcher. And I could read those in the comfort of my home on my laptop because they are available online. And that is great gift to any researcher. I could delve into the manuscript collection, the papers, as you've heard, of the various collections, the day-by-day workings of their offices and of their organizers and how these organizations evolved, how they stumbled, how they persevered. And that's an important lesson for us. I was able to read those letters of both the leaders and the foot soldiers we had never heard about before. I learned to decipher strange handwriting. And that was really important, seeing those handwritten documents, the letters, the speeches, the reports, the diaries, the travel logs, even the Christmas cards. Who these women exchanged Christmas cards with can be very telling. Again, looking at the handwriting, the underlines, the exclamation points, even the misspellings, give a sense of character and of their state of mind. And I wanted readers to be able to understand these women in a full sense, as people, as actors in a great historical movement, not just historical footnotes. And the resources of the Library was the only and the best way for me to do that. I looked at many of these manuscripts in the Madison building across the street, but I was also able to order them on interlibrary loan and read them in my university library. Yes, you do get cross-eyed looking at the microfilm after a while, but it provided me with amazing depth and texture to create my narrative. I used the photograph collection to see what my characters looked like, what they wore, what hats they enjoyed. I could see the scenes of important events. I could see the anger on the faces of the men and boys who attacked the suffragists in that 1913 march right down Pennsylvania Avenue in 1913. I could see how Warren Harding crossed his arms when he pretended to be listening to the women. I could see the twinkle in Elizabeth Cady Stanton's eye, the moral gravitas in Frederick Douglass's face, the defiant posture of Alice Paul's pickets at the White House gates. I used the newspapers, the LOC's amazing Chronicling America project, which digitizes small-town papers and big city papers over decades. It was extremely valuable because I could then tell a day-by-day account of how the nation was looking at this historic event transpiring in Nashville, Tennessee. I found some great and valuable surprises. Alice Paul's bounced checks. This gave me great insight into the challenges of financing the movement. Carrie Catt's poignant letters to her friends while she was on the road, the great suffrage warrior who was on the road most of her adult life. First Lady Edith Wilson's angry rants against women's suffragists, while she was running the White House and the government. And then Warren Harding's steamy love letters to his mistress, which are online and available for reading. And during this time, Warren Harding was being blackmailed by this mistress during his presidential campaign of 1920, he was paying hush money to keep her quiet. And it added an important new dimension in his equivocating on the 19th Amendment. The exhibit we're about to experience now, some of the gems of the Library's collection, tell a story that's not just an historical curiosity. It is surprisingly and, I think, even unnervingly, relevant today. It deals with issues in our headlines right now, voting rights and voter suppression, women's rights, inequality, dark money and politics, the role of religion in public policy, and racism because the story of women's suffrage is inevitably a story about race. And there are moral compromises made, and we are still living with those consequences, and we need to learn valuable lessons from that. In a broader sense, this exhibit asks important questions. When we say, "We the people," do we mean everyone? And do we, as a nation, are we brave enough to embrace democracy? We're still asking those questions, and I think the treasurers of the Library of Congress help us answer them and understand where we've been and where we are today. Thank you very much. [ Applause ] >> Wow. I have to say, thank you, Elaine, because you have given testimony to what can happen when the treasure chest that is the Library of Congress is made available and accessible online and in person. So thank you. You even brought up a few things I didn't know about. And now I want to read more about it. And that's what we're hoping that by having this exhibit that people will want to explore more, that they're going to find out more, and they're going to read more. So thank you so much. So now after hearing so much about the exhibition, it's time to see it. And, again, please use the hash tag #shallnotbedenied when you post on social media. And thank you, again, for coming, and thank you, members of the Library's team that brought this together, Janice Ruth, the people who collect and preserve and make the materials available. You see what happens, and you've heard what happens when those things come together. Senator Mikulski, wow. Keep fighting. And, of course, David Mandel, who makes it all come alive. So thank you, and let's go look. [ Applause ] [ Music ]