Press Release nr00-29
Press Release · Tuesday, February 8, 2000

Washington, DC

Washington, DC . . . The National Archives and Records Administration presents programs relating to the new National Archives exhibition entitled "Treasures of Congress," "Picturing the Century" and Women's History Month.

The programs are free and open to the public and will take place at the National Archives Building, Pennsylvania Avenue between 7th and 9th Streets, NW. The public may verify times and dates by calling the National Archives public events line at (202) 501-5000. TDD users may call (202) 501-5404.

Thursday, March 16-Treasures of Congress/Autobiography/Women's History Month
In her candid autobiography, 24 Years of House Work and the Place Is Still a Mess: My Life in Politics, Pat Schroeder recounts her career, telling how she struggled to find a place and a voice in the "guy gulag" of Congress. Schroeder entered the House of Representatives when Nixon was President (1972) and left when Clinton was in office (1996). She has thus witnessed, and often been one of the shapers of, a remarkable period in American and world history. Noon. Room 105.

Tuesday, March 21-Picturing the Century
Thayer Soule will discuss his book, Shooting the Pacific War, which is based on his detailed wartime journals. His story includes the heat of battle as well as the intense training before and the rebuilding after each campaign. Thayer Soule was a Marine Corps Photographic Officer on Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima, where he won the Bronze Star. In 1988 he was honored with the National Geographic Society's Centennial Award. Noon. Room 105.

Wednesday, March 22-Treasures of Congress/Women's History Month
Women's Writings to Congress. Long before they could vote, women participated in the political process by exercising their First Amendment right to petition Congress. Alysha Black, an archivist and outreach specialist at the Center for Legislative Records, will use a selection from the 12,000 petitions in congressional records to explore women's contributions to the major social movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries: the abolition of slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the temperance movement, Progressive-Era reforms, and woman suffrage. The audience may view the Rotunda exhibit, "Treasures of Congress," immediately following today's lecture. Noon. Room 105.

Thursday, March 23-Treasures of Congress
On March 4, 1789, New York City's church bells pealed to celebrate the opening of the First Federal Congress. Kenneth Bowling and Donald Kennon will discuss their book, Inventing Congress: Origins and Establishment of the First Federal Congress, which presents the latest scholarship on the intellectual, institutional, cultural, and political antecedents of the First Congress. Kenneth Bowling is co-editor of the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, 1789-91. Donald Kennon is chief historian of the United States Capitol Historical Society. Noon. Room 105.

Wednesday, March 29-Picturing the Century
In an illustrated presentation, curator Bruce Bustard will discuss his work on Part II of "Picturing the Century: One Hundred Years of Photography from the National Archives" which opens on Friday, March 24. The audience may view the exhibit immediately following the lecture. Noon. Room 105.

Thursday, March 30-Women's History Month/150th Anniversary of California Statehood
JoAnn Levy will discuss her three books about women in the American West. Daughter of Joy: A Novel of Gold Rush California is based on Ah Toy, the first Asian woman to stand up for her rights in a U.S. court. In They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush, Levy uses excerpts from diaries and journals and concludes with brief biographies of 17 women. For California's Gold is the story of reluctant "forty-niner" Sarah Daniels, who experiences the desperation and danger, exhilaration and triumph of the nation's epic adventure. Noon and 7 P.M. Room 105.

For additional PRESS information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (301) 837-1700 or by e-mail.

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