Authors

Matilda Joslyn Gage, an early leader in the women's movement, planned conventions, organized state political parties, spoke at Congressional hearings and at the White House, and wrote books that are still being studied today. In 1876 she risked arrest by disrupting the nation's Fourth of July centennial celebration to present a declaration of women's rights. In 1886 she demonstrated at the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, saying women had no liberty in this country. In 1893 she was arrested for registering to vote. Matilda worked closely with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but these so-called friends betrayed her late in life and wrote her out of history. This program, with historical and contemporary photos, is especially suitable for Women's History Month, International Women's Day, Fourth of July programs, and Banned Books Week (Matilda's books were often banned).

In 1876, Matilda Joslyn Gage led the National Woman Suffrage Association to establish a summer headquarters for feminists in Philadelphia. The city was hosting the International Centennial Exposition, the nation's first world's fair. It showcased technology - steam engines, the first typewriter, Alexander Graham Bell's telephone, and new foods —Heinz ketchup and the first bananas most Americans ever tasted. Ten million people attended, including Matilda, who complained of the lack of women's inventions featured. Philadelphia also hosted the country's national centennial celebration, on July 4, at Independence Hall. Matilda, Susan B. Anthony, and two other feminists risked arrest there to stage a women's rights protest during the ceremony. Tour the fair and relive the demonstration in historical photos and quotations. This program is suitable for Women's History Month, International Women's Day, and Fourth of July events.

Many readers don't realize that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was the first of fourteen Oz books by Baum. This program summarizes the first three books and traces Baum's many jobs and travels from New York, to Dakota Territory, to Chicago, and finally to Hollywood in the days of silent movies. Find out why Oz books have been banned from schools and libraries since the start of the series and why they have a feminist slant. Slides feature historical and contemporary photos and Oz illustrations.

L. Frank Baum, author of the Oz books, wrote the best-selling Aunt Jane's Nieces series of girls' adventure novels under the name Edith Van Dyne. This presentation compares the Aunt Jane's Nieces series, written by a man, to the popular Patty books by Carolyn Wells (a real woman) and finds some gender-based differences between the two.

Frances Hodgson Burnett follows the famous author who moved from England to America as a teenager and who crossed the ocean thirty-two more times. The author of The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and Little Lord Fauntleroy also wrote dozens of best-selling novels for adults, dealing with serious issues like single mothers and abusive marriages. Her personal life was considered shocking for Victorian times. She lived to see her books made into silent movies, including two starring Mary Pickford. This talk includes historical pictures and contemporary photos of her walled garden in Kent and other sites where she lived and worked.

Heather to Hibiscus follows Robert Louis Stevenson from Scotland to the South Seas. The author of Treasure Island, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and A Child's Garden of Verses was born in 1850 to a wealthy Edinburgh family. He met his American wife-to-be in France, and later traveled to America and on three voyages through the South Seas. This slide-illustrated tour shows historical photos and current views of Edinburgh, France, California, and Samoa.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson "went up" to Christ Church [College] at Oxford University as an undergraduate and remained there all his life, becoming a mathematics tutor. He wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass for his child friend, Alice Liddell, daughter of the college dean, basing the books on her real life experiences. Dodgson, who published children's books using the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll to protect his academic reputation, is considered the most important photographer of children from the Victorian era. But his friendships with little girls and his photos of some of them undressed make him a controversial subject more than a century after his death. Includes historical photos and current photos of Carroll-related sites throughout England.