Treasures: Women Who Tell Our Stories

By Laurie Beckoff, Digital Editor/Producer
February 27, 2023

This March, The New York Public Library celebrates women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling in honor of Women's History Month. Join us for recommended reading, programs, resources, and more. Plus, check out book lists that highlight the contributions of women writers and look back on the women who helped build NYPL.

Aligning with this year’s National Women’s History Alliance theme, this guide highlights items in the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library’s Treasures that showcase women storytellers in many forms, from arts and media to advocacy. Through words, images, music, and actions, these women told stories of beauty and joy, of hardship and oppression, of hope and change. The women featured here include writers, performers, photographers, illustrators, designers, and civil rights campaigners. By utilizing their talents and sharing their experiences, they entertained, inspired, and made history. The items, most of which went on view in the past year, are shown loosely in the order in which they are encountered in the exhibition.

collage of historical images and documents
collage of historical images and documents
collage of historical images and documents
collage of historical images and documents
collage of historical images and documents
collage of historical images and documents

Plan your visit to the Polonsky Exhibition to see these items and many more, and download the Bloomberg Connects app to explore more specialized tours of the exhibit in our digital guide.

Draft of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, © Rachel Carson. Photograph by Robert Kato.
Fifty years of silence by Tatana Kellner, © Tana Kellner. Photograph by Robert Kato.

Survivors of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, September 11, 2001, © Gulnara Samoilova. Photograph by Robert Kato.
World Trade Center towers, September 11, 2001, © Gulnara Samoilova
Virginia Woolf’s diary, The Society of Authors as the Literary Representative of the Estate of Virginia Woolf
Milt Hinton’s photograph of Sarah Vaughan, Pearl Bailey and Ella Fitzgerald, © Milt J. Hinton Photographic Collection
Nina Simone Sings Pirate Jenny #96 by Kate Shepherd, © Kate Shepherd