Sites of Girlhood

Sites of Girlhood is a large scale global project to put girls “on the map.” Girls around the world have been part participants and, at times, victims to some of the greatest moments in history. Their stories are more important than ever, shedding new light on our history while giving us a unique view of our hometowns and home countries.

This collaborative project is an opportunity for both a celebration of girls in history as well as establishing sites of memory in their honor. Through virtual recognition and the resources produced for this project, we will advocate for greater recognition and inclusion of girls in our historic sites and monuments. Sites of Girlhood is a combination of researched and crowd-sourced content from around the world.

This project is continually evolving. Every quarter, we will update the map with new sites, submitted by people like you and researched by our team. We are also producing the Great Girls podcast series, educational activities, publications, and exhibitions that promote scholarship and exploration of the world through the eyes of girls. If you have an idea for a Sites-related project, please contact us!

Girl Studies and Public History: The Impact of Sites

Sites of Girlhood is the first virtual, global mapping project to document the places where girls have made or participated in human history. Girls have been present since the very beginnings of human civilization, and Sites of Girlhood aims to document this fact while encouraging local activism to establish sites of memory – from plaques to statues to museums – in their honor. By bringing girl studies into the geospatial realm, this project aims to prove the validity of girl studies – establishing girls as a distinct presence and lens through which to view history and culture – while also encouraging the involvement of girls on a local level, helping nominate, research, and establish sites that honor the girl. 

So often, girl studies has remained in the realm of the intangible. While this is equally valid, tangible history offers engagement opportunities that push girl studies beyond the academy and into the public eye. This, in turn, garners public support for our work, empowering our scholarship to become practical applications that advance gender equality through girlhood. As Freeman Tilden stated in Interpreting Our Heritage, “Through interpretation, understanding; through understanding, appreciation; through appreciation, protection.” Sites of Girlhood brings girl studies into the realm of interpretation on a global scale, with the possibility of thousands of local connections. In so doing, we advocate that by interpreting the places where girls were part of history, we bring understanding of girls as historical agents; this understanding fosters appreciation for girls as a distinct population whose contributions have profoundly shaped human history; and, finally, through appreciation, we empower the public to protect the historic spaces and artifacts of girlhood that will showcase the importance of girls for generations to come.

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Instructions

Click on a pin to view the site and learn about its importance to girlhood.

In the upper left, click the box to view all sites in a list.

In the upper right, click the ‘share’ button to share the map with your friends! The more people know about girls’ sites, the more we will remember and honor their contributions and roles in our history.

Suggestions

Click the button to fill out a Sites of Girlhood Nomination Form. Our team will review your suggestion and, if approved, add it to our next map update. Thank you!

Encyclopedia

The Sites of Girlhood Encyclopedia is dedicated to providing biographical information and links to additional resources for the girls featured on our map. The encyclopedia is an ever-evolving resource as our team of interns and volunteers continue to research, interpret, and post entries related to each girl. 

Related Projects and Publications

Exploring American Girlhood through 50 American Treasures

by Ashley E. Remer and Tiffany R. Isselhardt

Who are the girls that helped build America? Read this book to find out.

Conventional history books shed little light on the influence and impact of girls’ contributions to society and culture. This oversight is challenged by Girl Museum and their team, who give voices to the most neglected, yet profoundly impactful, historical narratives of American history: young girls.

Exploring American Girls’ History through 50 Historic Treasures showcases girls and their experiences through the lens of place and material culture. Discover how the objects and sites that girls left behind tell stories about America that you have never heard before. Readers will journey from the first peoples who called the continent home, to 21st century struggles for civil rights, becoming immersed in stories that show how the local impacts the global and vice versa, as told by the girls who built America. Their stories, dreams, struggles, and triumphs are the centerpiece of the nation’s story as never before, helping to define both the struggle and meaning of being “American.”

Click here to order your copy.

 

Book cover, Exploring American Girlhood through 50 Historic Treasures

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