Citation
CWWH Newsletter 17, no. 1 (Spring 2024)
Editor
Elizabeth M.B. Bass, HER Writing
Letter from the Chair
Dear Coalition Colleagues,
I want to begin my note with a hearty THANK YOU to Dr. Katherine Massoth, who has been com-piling this newsletter since Spring 2020! She has been fantastic to work with, especially during the difficult first year of Covid. Our newsletters are such an important place for our community to celebrate its accomplishments, circulate news, and connect with each other. It is also our archive, a record of our goals and accomplishments that we leave for future historians of women, gender, and sexuality.
And, the newsletter will go on! I’m delighted to introduce you to our new editor, Dr. Elizabeth Bass! She has extensive publishing experience, most recently serving as Director of Publications and Editor of The Chronicles of Oklahoma. We are thrilled that she’s willing to share her time and talents with the Coalition!
I also want to once again welcome our new Steering Committee members, Dr. Katrina Jagodinsky and our graduate representative, Gianna May Sanchez. Without all our volunteers, the Coalition would not be able to function.
As you know, women’s history is in the news these days from the revivification of the Comstock Law to the decision of Arizona’s Supreme Court to revive the state’s 1864(!) abortion law. These laws and their context are not well understood and therefore there is much work for us to do in educating the public about them and their contemporary implications. I urge all of you to think about how (or if, depending on your status and the state in which you work) you can do this important work in your classrooms or research, but also in ways that you can reach the public. Many of you are already doing that important work, and I thank you and encourage you to keep it up! For better or worse, this is a moment where History Matters and so do historians of women, gender, and sexuality!
In this issue we will celebrate some of the important work being done by our members and encourage you to help support the next generation of scholars by encouraging your colleagues and students to apply for our Irene Ledesma Graduate Student Research Prize and our Conference Travel Grant. Enjoy looking through the newsletter for more information and if you didn’t send in your good news this time, look for the call for our Fall newsletter. We want to know what you are doing.
In solidarity.
Cathleen Cahill, Penn State University