It's Women's History Month: Do You Know Where The Women's History Blogs Are?

OK, everyone from the Library of Congress to Coca-Cola is "celebrating" women's history month. Whaddya bet we see a commercial next week where a computer-generated Bella Abzug shares a coke with a computer-generated Betty Friedan to yuck about old times at the 1977 Houston Women's Conference and that nutty lesbian plank that made Phyllis Schlafly and Jimmy Carter just plotz!?

Better yet, let's look at some history blogs that celebrate women's history every day of the year.

Let's start with History of American Women Blog, written by Maggie MacLean, who also writes Civil War Women Blog. The first has a keen sidebar with links to the Wives of the Signers, and the second, wives of the Civil War Generals. Because both lists are alphabetized by first names, we learn that an astonishing 11 wives of generals were named Mary (Emily comes in second, with 7.) Mary was also the most popular name in 1776, but was tied with variations on the name Ann(e).

Next, let's drift to Women of History, "a site providing biographies of some of the fascinating women who have graced the pages of history, in addition to articles pertaining to history, and medieval and modern women." Written by "Melisende," who claims to be Australian and female (I'm not saying she isn't, but who knows?), it's eclectic and fun, moving the reader back and forth between centuries in the blink of an eye. A quick scan of the site shows that Melisende doesn't just stick to stuff medieval, her stated field, but has quite an expansive view of the world. It is just as contemporary as it is historical, but if you can handle that, you'll learn a lot.

Finally, check out the LDS Women's History Blog. It's Mormon women's history from a Mormon point of view, and written by "Erin," a Mom who is determined to dig out the herstory hidden behind all those patriarchs. Drawing on sources not available to most of us who do not have access to arcane books of nineteenth century pioneer lore, Erin's recent post was about poor 13-year old Mary Goble, whose mother died on the way to Salt Lake in 1857. If that were not bad enough, she got frostbite, and Brigham Young had her toes amputated. The point of this story, however, is that the doctor wanted to take the feet too, but Young had prophesied that she would keep her feet. You'll have to read it to learn how it worked out!