The theme of this symposium was intergenerational and transgenerational feminisms. Leaders and participants in the U.S. Women's Movement from the 1960s to the present including Duke faculty, students, staff, outside speakers and others came together to explore questions related to the genealogy of the movement and the evolution of feminist philosophy and practice. The keynote address was delivered by Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. In addition, there was an exhibit, " Word of a Woman: 40 Years of Feminist Publishing."

This symposium focused on the power and relevance of primary source materials to the history and future of abortion. Through a combination of plenary addresses and breakout sessions, the symposium addressed the relationship of the academy to social movements, the evolution of medical ethics, the intersection of feminism and abortion rights, international perspectives on access to abortion, and other topics. It offered an opportunity for scholars, students, activists, health care providers and others of varying viewpoints to join creators of collections held by the Bingham Center to discuss these topics. In conjunction with these events, the Bingham Center mounted two related exhibits at Perkins Library: The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture: Fifteen Years and Counting and A Century of Choices: Selections from the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture. More information at: Abortion: Research, Ethics, and Activism.

The Bingham Center presented an evening of humorous and dramatic readings culled from its collections on women and politics. Members of the Duke community entertained a standing room only audience with readings ranging from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, by Mary Wollstonecraft, written in 1796, to "Dear Readers," a selection from The Coup, a zine by Allison Williams written in 2001.

A selection of these materials documenting the efforts of women working to effect social change through the political process was displayed in an exhibit. Items included materials related to Carrie Chapman Catt, one of the best known leaders of the woman suffrage movement; Lucy Randolph Mason, a champion of women's rights, child labor reform, and workers' rights; Mary Wollstonecraft, writer of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, the first great feminist treatise; Mary Octavine Thompson Cowper, an active member in the N.C. League of Women Voters from 1922-1930; Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum; and Geraldine Ferraro, first woman vice-presidential candidate on a national party ticket.

Dr. Johnson's book, based upon the Mary and Louisa Poppenheim collection, features a stream of letters sent home by the Poppenheim sisters that chronicled the opportunities and ideals they encountered at Vassar. Their mother replied with gentle yet firm counsel on the "proper" responses of a southern lady. Intimate and searching, these letters reveal the struggle of two young women to resolve conventional southern expectations of women's roles with their interest in activism. Their letters also illuminate the tension between progress and tradition that characterized the New South. After remarks given by Dr. Johnson, Ann Gilson and Elizabeth Barney, Duke students, read as the sisters and Janie Morris, research services librarian in the Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, acted as their mother for the evening.

This evening of staged readings was held in conjunction with the exhibit, A Woman's Place: Evolutions and Revolutions in Domestic Culture from Catharine Beecher to Martha Stewart. Selections from the Bingham Center's prescriptive literature collections were read by Duke students, faculty, and staff. This evening was conceived as an "homage to Martha Stewart," and showcased, through a series of readings ranging chronologically from the mid-19th century until the present day, the ongoing practice of endeavoring to make our home lives more pleasant and livable.

Held in honor of Women's History Month and International Women's Day, Estrofest was a gala evening of readings celebrating women's creativity. Duke students, faculty, and staff read selections from their own poetry and prose or shared the words of a woman whose work they admired. Displaying an impressive range and skill, the readers both entertained and enlightened. Borrowing from an Italian International Woman's Day tradition, each guest received a sprig of mimosa.

This event was an evening of readings to showcase the Center's collections. Ranging from a poignant letter written for a slave woman hoping to be reunited with her long-lost daughter to a hilarious lesson in facial exercises to maintain a youthful appearance, the readings evoked both tears and hoots of laughter. Local drama students and library staff members presented the dramatic interpretations. Now-comical advice related to health and manners contrasted with a moving excerpt from feminist author Alix Kates Shulman's Drinking the Rain.

The Bingham Center and Lilly Library hosted a screening of two documentaries made by women about the camaraderie that develops between women in different cultural contexts of two very intimate locations. The first film, The Ladies, is about Iranian women who create a private space in a public restroom in a Tehran park, and the other film, Ferry Tales, is about a group of women who bond in the women's room of the Staten Island Ferry. Discussion was facilitated by Professor Ellen McClarney, Department of Asian & African Languages & Literature.

This event featured an award winning 3-part documentary series by Dorothy Fadiman, Daniel Meyers, and Beth Seltzer:

• When Abortion Was Illegal: Untold Stories (1992)
• From Danger to Dignity: The Fight for Safe Abortion (1995)
• The Fragile Promise of Choice: Abortion in the US Today (1996)

Conversation was facilitated by a group of Duke staff, students, and faculty along with Durham community members.

As part of the NC Festival of the Book, the Women's Colloquium, and the Sallie Bingham Center hosted a conversation with local authors and publishers Kim Arrington, Andrea Selch, and author Elizabeth Brownrigg, about the lifecycles of their work. The writers did readings of their work and answered questions about their writing process.

This interactive reading of the anthology Leaving Home, Becoming Home: Girls and Women Write About the Search for Self, highlighted the Bingham Center's acquisition of the records of the records of Charis Books and More, the oldest feminist bookstore in the Southeast. During the reading, the audience was encouraged to write down impressions of and thoughts inspired by the reading and these comments were added to the archival collection.

Duke Creative Writing Instructor Faulkner Fox read from her book Dispatches from a Not-So-Perfect Life, Or, How I Learned to Love the House, the Man, the Child. This memoir about her years as a pregnant wife and the mother of small children contains anecdotes and discusses issues about the conflicting emotions caused by motherhood.

A tradition in Special Collections started by the Bingham Center, these events are organized in conjunction with the grants program of each of the research centers in RBMSCL. During their visits, grant recipients are invited to give a talk about their work and the collections they are using. Staff have an opportunity to suggest other collections that might be useful while all parties, including invited faculty and students, have a chance to hear how distinctive collections at Duke are supporting scholarship.

On March 30, 2006, feminist filmmaker, photographer, and book artist, Tamar Stone visited Duke. The library recently acquired one of Tamar Stone's artists' books, "The Untitled Pink Corset Book." In her talk, Tamar discussed the creation of this piece and other works in her body image/images of women series as well as her career as an artist. "Tamar Stone explores society's changing conceptions of beauty, but more importantly, society's changing attitudes towards women's objectified place in society."

Air America Radio host and author of Bushwomen: How They Got Their Man in the White House, an investigation into the women in George W. Bush's administration, Laura Flanders gave a talk about her work in the Rare Book Room that was cosponsored by the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture, the Women's Studies Program, the Baldwin Scholars Program, and the Duke University Libraries.

Renowned activist, author, journalist, and poet, Robin Morgan made Duke one of the first stops on her tour to introduce the third in her Sisterhood trilogy. The feminist anthology, Sisterhood is Forever, follows ground-breaking mainstays of the Women's Movement, Sisterhood is Powerful (1970) and Sisterhood is Global (1984). In honor of Morgan visit, guest teaching, and public lecture, Bingham Center staff culled from our extensive collections to mount an exhibit highlighting the forty years of feminist history documented in the trilogy and in Morgan's papers which are housed at Duke.

An exhibit highlighting the Bingham Center's growing collection of artists' books by women. These works show us how women engage with traditional books arts in order to create idiosyncratic vehicles for their own creative expression. Also included in the exhibit were several items from the Sarah Dyer Zine Collection which illustrate the relationship between zines and artists' books. This exhibit was timed to coincide with a visit from and presentation by a collective of emerging artists and community activists, Project MOBILELIVRE/BOOKMOBILE Project, a mobile book arts gallery that tours the U.S. and Canada to bring the power of independent publications to the people.

Amy Leigh and graduate intern Kelly Wooten created an exhibit highlighting a selection of books written for girls from the late 1800s through the 1990s, in conjunction with producing the bibliography of the same name. Most of the selected titles, whether fiction or prescriptive literature, reflected their era's notions of proper behavior for girls and young ladies, from table manners to appropriate career choices. The colorful covers attracted attention from undergraduate students intrigued by vintage ideas of girlhood and stirred nostalgia in those who read Cherry Ames and Trixie Belden stories while growing up. On the other end of the spectrum was a selection of feminist books from Lollipop Power, Inc., which published children's books during the 1970s and 1980s that portrayed non-sexist and non-stereotypical role models to empower and instruct children in diverse life situations. See also: Beyond Nancy Drew: A Guide to Girls Literature

The exhibit cases were designed to represent the various rooms of a house (living room, kitchen, bedroom, nursery, laundry). The "rooms" were filled with materials, both printed and in manuscript form, that highlighted the Bingham Center's rich collections of prescriptive literature that document the changing views of domestic life. In conjunction with the exhibit, a series of panel discussions on various domestic issues took place as well as a dramatic reading of a selection of prescriptive literature entitled "Cocktails, Casseroles and Contraceptives."

Cristina Favretto and graduate assistant Maureen McLarnon created an eye-catching exhibit of these lovely books. The books combine text, visual elements, and creative application of the book arts to create works that are sometimes poetic, sometimes witty, and always original.

Elizabeth Dunn organized an exhibit in the Biddle Rare Book Room cases in conjunction with historian Gerda Lerner's lecture on Women's Autobiographies and Biographies. The exhibit presented the results of an informal survey of Duke students, faculty, and staff, who were asked what woman's story inspired them or changed their values or aspirations. Responses were enthusiastic and varied, including works by or about Zelda Fitzgerald, Helen Keller, Bernadette Devlin, Virginia Woolf, Saint Teresa of Avila, and many more.

Cristina Favretto and Ellen Gartrell, Director of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History, collaborated on this major exhibit. Exploring the 20th-century's quest for the feminine ideal, the exhibit drew heavily on a wide range of advertising materials. Visitors enjoyed tracing the changing ideal from the languid, bustled beauties of the 1890s to the briefcase-toting, aerobicizing career woman of the 1990s. Library staff members generously lent a variety of artifacts to enhance the exhibit. Collectible Barbie dolls, clothing items, vintage toilet articles, and workout tapes added to the nostalgia. Two cases labeled "Marrying Up, Slimming Down, and Having it All" presented a selection of prescriptive literature, designed to instruct young women about proper deportment, household management, dress, and grooming. The exhibit coincided with a Literature Program conference on gender and technology. Students and library visitors picked up over 800 copies of the brochure that accompanied the exhibit.