Suffrage parade in New York City, ca. 1912. View in National Archives Catalog

1950 Census Genealogy Series – Overview of What’s on the 1950 Census 
March 2, at 1 p.m. ET
Watch on our National Archives YouTube Channel
Our Genealogy/Census Subject Matter Expert Claire Kluskens will provide an overview of what’s available (and not available) in the 1950 Census. Learn more about the 1950 Census, which will be released to the public on April 1, with our Genealogy Series. 

Book Talk – Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America
Monday, March 7, at 1 p.m. ET
Register in advance; watch on the National Archives YouTube Channel
Each year nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park — one of the most popular of all national parks — but few know the fascinating and complex historical context behind its establishment 150 years ago this month. Megan Kate Nelson’s Saving Yellowstone is a story of adventure and exploration; Indigenous resistance; railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies; and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. Joining Nelson in conversation will be Andrew R. Graybill, Director of the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University.

Book Talk – Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution
Tuesday, March 8, at 1 p.m. ET
Register in advance; watch on the National Archives YouTube Channel
Mary Sarah Bilder looks to the 1780s — the age of the Constitution — to investigate the rise of a radical new idea in the English-speaking world: female genius. English-born Eliza Harriot Barons O’Connor delivered a University of Pennsylvania lecture attended by George Washington as he and other Constitutional Convention delegates gathered in Philadelphia. As the first such public female lecturer, her courageous performance likely inspired the gender-neutral language of the Constitution. Female Genius reconstructs Eliza Harriot’s transatlantic life, paying particular attention to her lectures and to the academies she founded, inspiring countless young American women to consider a college education and a role in the political forum. By 1792 Harriot’s struggles reflected the larger backlash faced by women and people of color as new written constitutions provided the political and legal tools for exclusion based on sex, gender, and race. Joining the author in conversation will be Martha S. Jones, professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. Women's History Month programming is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of Denise Gwyn Ferguson.

Book Talk - The Second World War and Echoes from the Past: A Conversation with Sir Antony Beevor
Tuesday, March 8, at 2 p.m. ET
Register in advance 
The Second World War was a war like no other, and yet it has come to define our idea of war itself. Politicians and the mass media alike have felt compelled to dramatize the importance of a particular crisis by invoking parallels to the Second World War. And foreign dictators are constantly compared to Hitler. So, finding ourselves faced with the possibility of great power clashes once again, this is surely the time to reexamine both its characteristics and consequences. Antony Beevor’s books include Stalingrad, Berlin, D-Day, The Battle for Spain, and The Second World War. This program is sponsored by Armed Forces Thanksgiving, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum, and the World Affairs Council of Western Michigan.

1950 Census Genealogy Series – Mapping the 1950 Census: Census Enumeration District Maps at the National Archives
Wednesday, March 16, at 1 p.m.
Watch on the National Archives YouTube Channel
A census enumeration district was an area that could be covered by a single enumerator, or census taker, in one census period. Enumeration districts varied in size from several city blocks in densely populated urban areas to an entire county in sparsely populated rural areas. In this presentation, Brandi Oswald, a supervisory archivist in the Cartographic Branch of the National Archives, will focus on locating and using census enumeration district maps, with an emphasis on maps from the 1950 census. Learn more about the 1950 Census, which will be released to the public on April 1, with our Genealogy Series.

Book Talk – Only the Clothes on Her Back: Clothing and the Hidden History of Power in the 19th-Century United States
Thursday, March 17, 1 p.m. ET
Register in advance; watch on the National Archives YouTube Channel
Historian Laura F. Edwards explains how textiles tell a story of ordinary people and how they made use of their material goods’ economic and legal value in the period between the Revolution and the Civil War. Edwards uncovers long-forgotten practices that made textiles—clothing, cloth, bedding, and accessories—a unique form of property that people without rights could own and exchange. The value of textiles depended on law, and it was law that turned these goods into a secure form of property for marginalized people. Edwards grounds the laws relating to textiles in engaging stories from the lives of everyday Americans and shows that these stories are about far more than cloth and clothing; they reshape our understanding of law and the economy in America. Joining the author in conversation will be Adam Rothman, professor of history at Georgetown University. Women's History Month programming is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of Denise Gwyn Ferguson.

2022 Environmental Film Festival Screenings – The River and The City
Thursday, March 17 – Sunday, March 27: Films will be available for virtual viewing at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital (dceff.org) 
In partnership with the 2022 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (celebrating its 30th year), we will screen two classic documentaries from the motion picture holdings of the National Archives.

The River (1937; 32 minutes) is Pare Lorentz’s monumental documentary about the exploitation and misuse of one of our greatest natural resources — the Mississippi River.
Directed and written by Pare Lorentz. Music: Virgil Thomson. Narrator: Thomas Chalmers.
Producer: Farm Security Administration

The City (1939, 33 minutes)
Produced for the 1939 New York World’s Fair, The City is a call to rebuild America’s cities in the form of planned communities.
Directed by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke. Producer: American Institute of Planners. Music: Aaron Copland.   

Discussion – Working for Suffrage: How Class and Race Shaped the US Suffrage Movement
Friday, March 18, at 1 p.m. ET
Register in advance; watch on the National Archives YouTube Channel
The fight for woman suffrage was a long-fought battle with support from well-organized national groups. Working-class women involved in grassroots efforts and other reform movements played a significant role in the fight for the right to vote. Historians Page Harrington, Cathleen Cahill, and Alison Parker will discuss these women and the roles they played. Women's History Month programming is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of Denise Gwyn Ferguson.

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