On September 1, the Bancroft Library hosted a special event for Senator Barbara Boxer to celebrate and formally announce the donation of her political papers to the Library’s collection. Before the event, the Senator graciously sat down with OHC staff for a short interview, which will be the concluding feature of the Center’s six-episode podcast series, “From The Outside In: Women In Politics.” We are excited to announce that this timely podcast will be narrated by Emmy award-winning television journalist Belva Davis, and will debut at the end of September.
In commemoration of 2016 proving to be another historic year for women in politics, the project seeks to showcase the unique and important interviews in our collection of women who, against tremendous odds, broke through glass ceilings and forged their own paths in the political arena. The six episodes of “From The Outside In” chart the political advancement of women in the United States through the lives and achievements of ten noteworthy pioneers. These include: women’s suffrage leader Alice Paul; America’s first congresswoman Jeanette Rankin; actress, social reformer, and congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas; former U.S. Treasurer and Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Elizabeth Gatov; former HEW Secretary Patricia Hitt; and California’s first Asian-American assemblywoman and Secretary of State March Fong Eu. The project also highlights women who were instrumental in their communities, such as political reformer LaRue McCormick and longtime civil rights advocate and community organizer Mary Frances Albrier. The Center’s oral history recordings featured in this series cover the period from the 1910s to the early 1980s. To bring the series to date, the last episode will feature interviews with Senator Barbara Boxer and San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim.
Work on this podcast has been underway for months. And in every sense it has proven to be collaborative, pulling together the many talents and skillsets of the Center’s staff. We plan for this podcast to be the beginning of a bi-annual podcast series, titled Tales From The Campanile. This series will further highlight the world-recognized oral history collection of the Bancroft Library, and introduce the 4,000 interviews in that collection to a wider audience.
Please be on the lookout later this month for the debut of “From The Outside In: Women In Politics”
-Todd Holmes, historian/interviewer, September 2016