March is Women’s History Month and this past Wednesday was International Women’s Day, so we begin our post this week with some women’s history resources from EDSITEment, a report from the White House, images of women, and a look at women photographers. In the news, Bill Gates recently pointed out a history professor for his online course, French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to make a French history museum, recent release of some historic D.C. maps, and historians join forces with scientists to investigate “the Leather Man.” Then, hear thoughts on historians and public issues, K-12 teaching, mathematics, and more. Finally, just for fun, look through Britain’s recently declassified UFO files, chuckle at some naysayers, peek inside the Shelby Foote estate, and learn some fake facts about James Franco (future PhD).

Women’s History Month

• Exploring Women’s History
  EDSITEment offers an impressive collection of resources, lesson plans, and links on the First Ladies, women in film, women’s suffrage, women in war, women novelists, women artists, and more.
• Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being
  Last week, the White House released the “first comprehensive federal report on women since 1963.” It addresses how American women’s lives are changing in the areas of family, income, education, employment, health, crime, and the military.
• Women Scientists on Flickr Commons
  The Women’s History Sources blog notes images of women scientists on the Smithsonian’s Flickr page and Bigger Picture blog.
• Women Taking History: Women’s History Month 2011
  While the link above looks to images of women, Teachinghistory.org looks to women who’ve taken such images. Learn about Alice Gardiner Sennrich, a photographer in the early 1900s, Laura Gilpin’s landscape photography, journalist Jo Freeman, and others.

News

• Bill Gates Promotes Professor’s Online Course at TED
  Bill Gates highlighted the work of history professor David Christian, who developed the course “Big History,” at a recent TED talk.
• ‘Cultural Revolt’ Over Sarkozy’s Museum Plans
  French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans for a French History museum are being met with objections.
• DCRA Releases More Historic Maps
  Washington, D.C.’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs is posting historic maps on Flickr, that date back to the 17 and 1800s.
• Looking for Answers From a Wanderer at Rest
  A group of historians, along with geneticists, archaeologists and anthropologists, are planning to uncover the mysteries of “the Leather Man,” who died in 1889.

Insights

• "Say Something Historical!"
  Tomiko Brown-Nagin at the Legal History Blog raises some concerns about historians weighing in on public issues.
• Finding a Speaker Willing to Use Digital Networks
  Robert Townsend, the AHA’s assistant director for research, contributes to TeachingHistory.org’s “Ask a Historian” series by explaining how to find historians to talk to a K-12 history class.
• The Ashtray: Hippasus of Metapontum (Part 3)
  This article, by polymathic filmmaker Errol Morris, from the New York Times online feature, "The Opinionator" of March 8, 2011. The third of a carefully composed quintet (two more will appear later), this article is a delightful, instructive, and provocative meditation on mathematics, metaphysics, semantics, semiotics, and the nature of history (and everything in between).
• Wild Thing
  Louis Menand at The New Yorker looks back at Major General William Donovan, and a book that considers his role in history.
• The Burns Archive: A collection of astonishing images
  A collection of historic photos from the collection of Stanley B. Burns.

Fun

• British UFO files declassified; behold 8,500 pages of crazy (Photos)
  Britain has released a large number of UFO files and images going back to the 1950s, read more in this Reuters article.
• The naysayers
  Jason Kottke looks to the past to see who was wrong about the future. For instance, “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty — a fad.” And NY Times blogger Mark Bittman looks back at predictions about the year 2000
• Shelby Foote Estate
  Peek inside the estate of Civil War historian Shelby Foote, who collected some fascinating historical artifacts. Click on the link above and scroll down for images.  In other news, Rhodes College has acquired Foote’s personal library and papers.
• #JamesFrancoFacts
  The Chronicle rounds up some silly “facts” about James Franco (like “James Franco is allowed to drink in Special Collections. His reflexes guarantee no coffee spills on rare books.” and “James Franco asks all the questions at his job talks.”) after news broke that he’s going to be attending Yale for a PhD in English.

Contributors: David Darlington, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, Matthew Keough, and Pillarisetti Sudhir

This post first appeared on AHA Today.