March is Women’s History Month and Lancaster’s Library has exhibits and programs that will highlight some of the struggles in the ongoing march towards equal rights for women in America.

On display in the Library’s Current Topics’ Club case near the first floor elevator are original newspaper articles, pamphlets, booklets, tracts, and song leaflets about Women’s Suffrage. These rare treasures are from the Library’s Constance V. R. Dexter Special Collections Room. Also on display is a reproduction of a baby quilt which was made in 1836 to be auctioned at the 3rd Annual Anti-Slavery Fair in Boston, MA.

Next to the display case is an original ballot box from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, numbered 1483. Dated 1905, this hand-operated wooden container would have held the ballots cast by citizens of Lancaster during each election and may actually have been the box into which Lancaster’s women deposited their ballots after voting for the very first time ever in an election.

Draping a section of Thayer Memorial Library’s rotunda balcony is a 19th Amendment Centennial Quilt which was crafted by Mothertown Quilters. It highlights colors, symbols, and quotes in support of women’s suffrage. The quilt was a group effort utilizing individual members’ various talents such as hand embroidery and inking, hand appliques, computer-generated printing on fabric, machine piecing, machine quilting, binding, and a tremendous amount of planning.

One of the most thought provoking quotes on the quilt reads “If the Law can meddle with the woman, why should not the woman meddle with the Law?” attributed to Lucy Stone in a childhood query to her mother, circa 1820.

In addition to the displays, the following programs will be presented during Women’s History Month.

Tuesday, March 17: 6:30 p.m. Lecture – Short Skirts, Oh My! History of Women’s Rights
Historian, writer, performer, and storyteller Anne Barrett, will trace the exciting social and historical milestones in the fight for women’s rights.

Monday, March 23: 6:30 p.m. Author Event – From Freedom to Flight: Changing Women’s Roles During King Philip’s War in New England
Author Christine Duffy Zerillo will read from her new historical fiction novel entitled Still Here, comparing and contrasting the roles of two powerful women during colonial times in New England. Hear excerpts describing the daily lives of a minister’s wife, Mary White Rowlandson, and a native woman sachem, Weetamoo during King Philip’s War. A book signing will take place after this program.

All programs are free. All are welcome. For more information, phone Karen Silverthorn at 978-368-8928 ext. 4 or go to www.thayermemoriallibrary.org or the library’s Facebook page. Thayer Memorial Library, 717 Main Street, Lancaster 01523