Reclaiming Clio - by Jennifer Banning Tomás

About the Book

"Women's history traveled a long and fascinating path before it became a respected and recognized academic field in twentieth-century America. This book explores the field's development as a multiracial and multigenerational effort, going beyond the careers of individual women historians to focus on how the discipline itself took shape. Focusing on the crucial period between 1900 and 1968, Jennifer Banning Tomâas shines a light on the work performed by archivists and professional historians that gave women's history its own identity and legitimacy. The women in Reclaiming Clio laid the groundwork for the field's remarkable expansion during the final wave of twentieth-century feminism after 1970, when a genuine movement for women's history emerged. Their contributions made the later success of women's history possible. Tomâas reveals the dedication and vision that turned women's history into the thriving, influential field it is today"--

Book Synopsis

Women's history traveled a long and fascinating path before it became a respected and recognized academic field in twentieth-century America. This book explores the field's development as a multiracial and multigenerational effort, going beyond the careers of individual women historians to focus on how the discipline itself took shape. Focusing on the foundational period between 1900 and 1968, Jennifer Banning Tomás shines a light on the work performed by archivists and professional historians that gave women's history its own identity and legitimacy.

The women in Reclaiming Clio laid the groundwork for the field's remarkable expansion during the final wave of twentieth-century feminism after 1970, when a genuine movement for women's history emerged. Their contributions made the later success of women's history possible. Tomás reveals the dedication and vision that turned women's history into the thriving, influential field it is today.

Review Quotes

"Arising from the women's liberation movement of the 1970s, the field of women's history changed historical scholarship--which might once have been accurately labeled 'men's history'--indelibly. Tomás's volume offers a vivid survey of that radical change in how we think of the past."--Linda Gordon, author of Seven Social Movements that Changed America

"Impressively researched and engagingly written, this monograph offers the most detailed account to date of how women's history took shape as a field. Balancing insider perspective with careful analysis, it highlights the vision and hard work of scholar-activists who transformed the profession and makes a compelling case for the significance of women's history in both academia and public life."--Rachel Devlin, author of A Girl Stands at the Door: The Generation of Young Women Who Desegregated America's Schools

"In a moment of increasingly virulent culture wars, Reclaiming Clio provides the grounding to remember how histories are made and how movements persist in the face of opposition."--Catherine O. Jacquet, Louisiana State University

About the Author

Jennifer Banning Tomás is professor of history at Piedmont Virginia Community College.