With spring showers comes a new year for the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council. At our recent annual meeting members confirmed a revised set of bylaws and elected Jef McClimans to join in our board work. Currently, Jef serves on our Oral History Committee and has been working with Grand Rapids NOW on an April 13th event showcasing the history of late-twentieth-century feminist activism in Grand Rapids. Scroll down for a program description.

Visit our website for more information the NOW program, and about other upcoming events. While you are there, update your membership!  GGRWHC is largely dependent upon dues and contributions to accomplish our goals. During this membership push, would you forward this newsletter? Friends can sign up to receive it by clicking the button in the left hand margin. Don't assume they are with us! With every technological shift, we miss people.

A week ago we were energized by a roomful of celebrants acknowleding a small slice of the history of Grand Rapids women in elective politics. Thanks again to our host, WGVU's Shelley Irwin, and our guests Marge Byington and Sandi Frost Parrish. Among other elected officials, Carol Kooistra, elected to the Kent County Commission in 1976, joined us; and we met Susy Avery, new chair of the Michigan Women's Commission. Thanks to everyone!

Pictures at the Finale 

Attendees having a lively discussion

Watch for us! After a little break we'll be visible again (Women's Equality Day in late August, possibly more parading on July 4^th!) but we're always working. Please consider helping us out on a committee-or simply by diving in and doing some research! Questions? info@ggrwhc.org

When the weather gets nicer, pick up a Legacy Landmarks brochure in the Grand Rapids Public Library or print it from our website.  This guide for walkers will take you past a sampling of downtown sites significant to local women's history.  

End the month with another visit to a live link to Grand Rapids women's virtual history from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission:    

Photo Essay of the Week: Virtual History from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission 

Ethnicity and Women at Work: Etta Smith Wilson (click here for link) Grand Rapids' ambitious newswoman Etta Smith Wilson was the first full-time paid female journalist here. Born in the 1850s and the inheritor of conflicting cultures--her grandparents were Congregational missionaries in Northport as well as Ottawa royalty--Smith Wilson grew into an accomplished practitioner of Western print culture and was a founding member of the Michigan Women's Press Association in 1890.