For the next installment of the Holland Museum’s Tales from the Archives series which focuses on local history and in celebration of Women’s History Month, join us for a talk by current Hope College students about some of the incredible accomplishments of Hope women who proceeded them.

During the summer of 2021, Hope College students Maria Seidl, Grace Pettinger, and Brooke Carbaugh had the goal of uncovering and communicating an accurate account of the lives of women at Hope College in the 1930’s and 1940’s, based on the records at the Joint Archives of Holland. They combined this archival work with existing research on Hope College’s history and on national trends in higher education during the 1930s and 1940s. By examining several archival materials, the research team analyzed the daily lives of women during the early to mid-20th century. Amid national crises, Hope women created opportunities for themselves, resulting in the creation of multiple female organizations, many women majoring in STEM, and increased participation in campus social events. They also analyzed the way in which these women looked at events such as the Great Depression and World War II to best understand their perspectives and more accurately tell their stories. While these historians cannot create a complete picture of the past, analyzing the preserved pieces of their lives allowed them to approach a growing web of information to better understand these women’s untold stories.