News Release

03/04/09 Celebrating March: Women’s History Month... TWO EVENTS at PPL

Providence Public Library presents author Elaine Weiss for...Fruits of Victory: The Woman’s Land Army of America in the Great War on March 22

In celebration of the Women’s History Month, Providence Public Library presents Elaine Weiss, author of Fruits of Victory: The Woman’s Land Army of America in the Great War on Sunday, March 22 from 2:00 - 3:00 PM at its Central Library, 150 Empire Street, (Barnard Room, 3rd Floor). This program is free and open to public.

Imagine a spunkier, and more controversial, Rosie the Riveter--a generation older, and more outlandish for her time. She is the “farmerette” of the Woman’s Land Army of America, doing a man’s job, in military-style uniform, on the rural home front during WWI.

During the war, she was the toast of Broadway, the darling of the smart set, a star of the wartime cinema newsreel, and highlight of the Liberty Loan parade. Victor Herbert and P.G. Wodehouse wrote songs about her, Rockwell Kent drew sly pictures of her, Charles Dana Gibson created posters for her, Theodore Roosevelt championed her, the New York Times wrote editorials about her, and Flo Ziegfield put her in his follies. And then she disappeared. For 90 years, the farmerette has been lost, totally and inexplicably forgotten, wiped from the national memory. Her story has never before been told ... until now. Fruits of Victory: The Woman’s Land Army of America in the Great War by Elaine F. Weiss brings the lost story of the farmerette back to American history.

From 1917 to 1920 the Woman’s Land Army brought thousands of city workers, society women, artists, business professionals, and college students into rural America to take over the farm work after men were called to wartime service. The WLA’s short but spirited life also foreshadowed some of the most profound and contentious social issues America would face in the twentieth century: women's changing role in society and the workplace, the problem of social class distinctions in a democracy, the mechanization and urbanization of society, the role of science and technology, and the physiological and psychological differences between men and women.

About the Author
Elaine F. Weiss is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Harpers, Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and on National Public Radio. She is a frequent correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information please visit: www.fruitsofvictorybook.com.

Living Literature presents Pearls, Politics & Power — The Challenges Women Face in Public Life at PPL on March 23

In honor of Women’s History Month (March), Providence Public Library welcomes Living Literature on Monday, March 23 from 6:30—7:30 PM at its Central Library, 150 Empire Street — Barnard Room (3rd Floor) for its new 50-minute readers theatre style presentation Pearls, Politics & Power — The Challenges Women Face in Public Life. This program is free and open to the public and made possible by an Education Grant from the League of Women Voters of Rhode Island and Providence Public Library’s Central Library.

A brief discussion follows the program, facilitated by the two Living Literature performers and Artistic Director, Barry Press.

If countries that are historically and culturally far more patriarchal than the United States have elected women heads of state, why do so many Americans still question whether a woman can be elected president of this country? What are the barriers that make it harder for women and girls to think of themselves as future politicians or future presidents? It's time to change our picture of what political leadership looks like.

Madeleine M. Kunin, the first female governor of Vermont, Deputy Secretary of Education, and Ambassador to Switzerland under President Bill Clinton, has laid out this argument and raised such questions in her new book, Pearls, Politics & Power: How Women Can Win and Lead. She not only explores her own personal journey into politics, but shares the voices and stories of other female politicians, such as Sen. Hilary Clinton, Representative Shirley Chisholm, Sen. Bella Abzug, Sen. Diane Feinstein, and others.

Living Literature takes this premise as the core of their new 50-minute readers theatre style presentation, Pearls, Politics & Power, a witty and warm exploration of how women survive the stresses of public life and make change happen, as part of Women’s History Month, March 2009.

About Living Literature
Now entering its 13th year, Living Literature is an association of performing artists in the Rhode Island area, celebrating the written word through readers theatre style performances of non-dramatic literature in schools & community venues throughout southeastern New England. Through classroom visits, community programs in libraries, bookstores and other public facilities, and teacher education, Living Literature expands literacy through performance. Living Literature is listed in the Education Roster of the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts. For further information on this and other Living Literature programs, visit: www.livingliterature.org.