Hope May to Speak March 31: "Peace, Patriotism, and Public Education"

On Thursday, March 31, The Clarke welcomes Central Michigan University professor of philosophy and religion, Hope Elizabeth May. Drawing on select items held by the Clarke Historical Library, including the work of former CMU President E.C. Warriner (1866-1945) and U.S. Suffragist May Wright Sewall (1844-1920), Professor May will discuss how both individuals - and the organizations which they represented - conceptualized peace, patriotism, and public education.

Sewall was an educator, co-founder of the Girls' Classical School of Indiana, writer, lecturer, reformer, and pacifist. She was president of the National Council of Women of the United States, 1897-1899, president of the International Council of Women, 1899-1904, Chair of the Committee for Peace and Arbitration, 1904, Chair of the Executive Committee of the Women's Suffrage Association, 1882-1890, and co-founder of the Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society, 1878.



In 1892, Warriner became the principal of Battle Creek High School. In 1895, he moved to Saginaw as the principal of East Saginaw High School. Just four years later, Warriner became the superintendent of the Saginaw school system, a position he held for 18 years, while also playing an important role in the state’s Peace Movement and efforts to integrate peace education into the K-12 curriculum. In 1918, he became CMU's president. During his tenure, CMU grew from fewer than five hundred to nearly a thousand students. The school offered its first bachelor of arts degree and graduate courses during his tenure, and built the first women's dormitory on a normal school campus in Michigan. President Warriner retired in 1939.

This presentation begins at 7:00 pm in the Park Library Auditorium. A reception will be held in the Clarke following the lecture. If you would like more information about this event or need accommodations, please contact the Clarke via e-mail or by calling 989-774-3352.

International Women's Day

by Casey Gamble and Bryan Whitledge

Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day, a day to celebrate all women around the World for the differences – large and small – that they make. International Women’s Day came about in the beginning of the 20th century and, since 1977, has been recognized by the United Nations every year on March 8. Michigan is no stranger to women who have made a difference and we would like to recognize that.

At the Clarke, we maintain a great deal of general information about women in Michigan and throughout the Great Lakes region. We also have many works about specific individuals who had an impact on their community and beyond. For example, Elly Peterson was a Michigan native and a major player in the Republican Party during the 1960s and 1970s. The diaries and letters of women who lived in Michigan during the Territorial period and early days of Statehood are in the holdings of the Clarke as well.

In addition to specific individuals, the Clarke has a bounty of resources related to social movements and events. Women’s suffrage is an example and there are many resources that focus on the suffrage movement from the early period in the 19th Century through the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. We have reprints of suffrage movement posters, as well as thousands of pages of newspapers on microfilm that chronicle the fight for the right to vote.

As activism increased in the 1970s, the women’s liberation movement took center stage and the Clarke is home of several primary sources that cover the topics of feminism and the fight for equal rights. Some of the sources focus on the activism of female students at CMU and others explore the nation-wide movement from a Michigan perspective.

While the entire planet is celebrating women and their contributions that make our communities and World great places to live, we here at the Clarke would like to let you know that the contributions of women in Michigan are being preserved for generations to come.