The Hoboken Historical Museum is pleased to present #NJWomenMakeHistory, an exciting eight-part lecture series focusing on New Jersey women who made their mark on history, as part of New Jersey’s celebration of the centennial of women’s right to vote. From groundbreaking photographer Dorothea Lange, to gender barrier-breaking baseball player Maria Pepe, both Hoboken natives, the series covers women who made history in a variety of spheres, including politics, finance, philanthropy, art, poetry and sports.

Guest speakers include distinguished authors and scholars, as well as the live participation of New Jersey women poets, and an in-person interview with Hoboken’s own Maria Pepe. The lecture series will be streamed online, with some lectures offering limited in-person seating at the Hoboken Museum, 1301 Hudson Street. To attend in person, face masks, hand hygiene and social distance guidelines will be observed. All talks are free to attend, thanks to a generous grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. Reservations are required for in-person and online participation. Visit https://bit.ly/NJWomenMakeHistory to reserve a spot.

Tickets

The second talk in the series is online only, on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 4 pm, featuring author Janet Wallach about Hetty Green (1834-1916), nicknamed the Witch of Wall Street, who was an American businesswoman and financier known as “the richest woman in America” during the Gilded Age. She was known for her wealth and was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “greatest miser.” She amassed a fortune as a financier when other major financiers were men. After her death, The New York Times stated that “It was the fact that Mrs. Green was a woman that made her career the subject of endless curiosity, comment and astonishment.” 

Janet Wallach has written extensively about the Middle East. Her book, Desert Queen; The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell (1996), has been translated into twelve languages and was a New York Times notable book of the year. Her other works include Seraglio: A Novel (2003), Chanel: Her Style and Her Life (1998). She co-authored Arafat: In the Eyes of the Beholder, a biography of Yasser Arafat; The New Palestinians, a look at the leading figures in the West Bank and Gaza; and Still Small Voices, the personal stories of ten Israelis and Palestinians during the intifada.

As a frequent contributor to The Washington Post Magazine from 1982-1987, and as a contributor to Smithsonian Magazine and other periodicals, Wallach has written cover story profiles of Queen Noor of Jordan; First Lady of Egypt Jihan Sadat; Iraqi Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon; Reza Pahlavi, would-be Shah of Iran; and Saudi entrepreneur Adnan Khashoggi. She is a Woodrow Wilson Institute Visiting Fellow and has taught at Bradford College; Earlham College; Longwood College; Ohio Wesleyan University; Stetson College; St. Olaphs College; Susquehana College; and West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Wallach is a founding director and president emeritus of Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit organization created by her late husband John Wallach. This year-round educational and leadership training program begins by bringing outstanding teenagers from countries in conflict to a summer camp in Maine; it continues with follow-up workshops and seminars in the region, and with conferences in the U.S. and elsewhere. More than 4,000 teenagers have graduated from Seeds of Peace. The program focuses on Israelis and Arabs, and also brings together Indians and Pakistanis, and Afghans, as well as American youngsters. In October 2000 Seeds of Peace received a Unesco peace prize. 

Full schedule: (all events begin at 4 pm, streaming online & in person (except Oct. 4 and Nov. 7, which are online only)

• Sunday 9/13 – Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits, by NYU Professor Linda Gordon 
• Sunday, 10/4* – The Richest Woman in the World, Hetty Green in the Gilded Age, by Janet Wallach 
• Sunday, 10/18 – Millicent Fenwick, Her Way, by Amy Schapiro 
• Saturday, 11/7* – The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, by Amy Gilman Srebnick 
• Sunday, 11/15 – Martha & Caroline Stevens, by Eileen Lynch 
• Sunday, 11/22 – Anne Ryan: Her Art and Life, by Nancy Nikkal
• Sunday, 12/6 – NJ Women Poets Make History, with live readings by 6 NJ poets 
• Sunday, 12/13 – An Interview with Maria Pepe

*(Please note: the second lecture, on Sunday, Oct. 4,  and the fourth lecture, Saturday, Nov. 7, are online only, no in-person seating.)

Join our book club! Four of our authors will host online book discussions after their talks. Click on the button below to join all or any of the book discussion sessions. Buy the books on our online gift shop (or in our gift shop at 1301 Hudson St., Hoboken). 

Join the book club!

Linda Gordon, Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits  Sunday, September 20 at 4 pm.

Janet Wallach, The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age, Sunday, October 11 at 4 pm.

Amy Schapiro, Millicent Fenwick: Her Way, Saturday, October 24 at 4 pm

Amy Gilman Srebnick, The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, Saturday, November 14 at 4 pm

In addition to a generous Action Grant of $16,500 from the NJ Council for the Humanities to fund this lecture series, the Hoboken Historical Museum received a $5,000 COVID-19 grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the federal CARES Act. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this [publication, program, exhibition, film, etc.] do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.