It won't be news to anyone to hear that there is a (well-documented) dearth of historic sites dedicated to, or even incorporating, women’s history in the United States. But many sites across the country are working to close this gap. What are public historians and preservationists getting right? The following examples look at how women’s stories are being presented in more inclusive and dynamic ways. Many of these ideas can be applied to telling other underrepresented histories as well.

Using Objects to Tell Women’s Stories

In 2016 National Trust Historic Sites Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, New York, and Filoli in Woodside, California, both debuted exhibits featuring clothing and accessories of women who had called these places home. Both of these sites usually conjure up associations with men—for example, Lyndhurst usually brings to mind former owner Jay Gould and architect Alexander Jackson Davis. By using objects from the sites’ collections and that were borrowed and re-created, these spaces were repopulated with tangible evidence of lives, stories, and passions of the women who lived there.

The President Woodrow Wilson House, National Trust Historic Site in Washington, D.C., also uses objects from its collection to ensure that women’s stories are incorporated into the traditionally male-dominated narrative about a president. Much of Edith Bolling Wilson’s wardrobe and furniture remain in the house, which she donated to the National Trust at the end of her life. The plainly furnished nurse’s room gives visitors a glimpse into the lives of the women who cared for President Wilson in the waning years of his life. The harp and other musical instruments in the upstairs drawing room belonged to President Wilson’s daughter Margaret.

One of the few objects currently on display at the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice, in Durham, North Carolina—a National Trust National Treasure—is Pauli Murray’s personal address book. As a truly intersectional figure—an African American woman who identified as queer, served as a lawyer and social justice activist, and became an Episcopal priest, for starters—Pauli Murray was closely connected with many notable figures of her day, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Bayard Rustin, and Thurgood Marshall. Her address book provides the public with a tangible link to her personal landscape and shows the broad, powerful reach of her ideas.

Lesson learned: Objects and collections offer ways to include more women’s stories in the narrative and can provide richer, more varied entry points for visitors.

Getting Creative with Interpretation and Programming

Almost every tour at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City incorporates women’s history, but one educational program looks at tenement life exclusively through the eyes of a young woman. Victoria Confino lived in the building during her childhood in the early 20th century. Today the Tenement Museum, a National Trust Historic Site, trains living historians to portray Victoria and interpret her story for school groups, providing a unique experience for children to relate to a relative peer, as well as job opportunities for young women working in public history.

The story of Judah, an enslaved woman who lived at the Middletown, Virginia, plantation Belle Grove in the 19th century, has proven to be a powerful interpretive tool for sharing the experiences of enslaved women there. Belle Grove, a National Trust Historic Site, and National Park Service staff from Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park jointly developed a program called “Kneading in Silence: A Glimpse into the Life of the Enslaved Cook Judah,” in which an interpreter presents information about Judah’s life and then facilitates a conversation with visitors. While records of Belle Grove’s enslaved community are scarce, documents show that Judah was a cook and had many children while at Belle Grove. By tracing the births and deaths that defined the course of her life (both of her children and members of the family that owned them), a window into Judah’s perspective opens. The plantation kitchen where Judah worked and possibly slept serves as the setting for these conversations about her life; the power of telling this challenging history in its original setting can be transformative.

Lesson learned: Creative, visitor-focused interpretation can foster powerful connections to women’s history and historical figures even when evidence or material culture is scarce.

Connecting to Today

The home of women’s suffrage leader Alice Paul, Paulsdale in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, now houses the Alice Paul Institute. As part of the institute’s mission, the site offers many educational and leadership programs for young women and girls. By leveraging the legacy of Alice Paul, the Alice Paul Institute has ensured that Paulsdale remains a vibrant and sustainable site today and provides valuable resources to future generations of women.

Another way for historic sites to engage with young women and girls is through targeted programming with local schools and organizations such as the Girl Scouts. Historic sites are a perfect setting for teaching a variety of skills and activities, such as gardening, cooking, sports, music, and dance. A few sites offer a special patch or badge for scouts who complete the Scout Day programming.

One of the most common and important ways women’s history is made present in historic sites is by telling the story of women as preservationists. It is often said that the modern American historic preservation movement began with the campaign to save George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, led by Ann Pamela Cunningham and what became the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. Countless women across the United States, inspired by patriotism and civic duty even before they won the right to vote, waged similar campaigns to save places they believed were significant in their hometowns.