What is her name? Many of the portraits of married women in the RIHS Collections have been cataloged, recorded and identified by their husband’s name (Mrs. John Smith) in our accession records and in published works. As part of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

the Collections Staff at the RIHS started to look for women represented in the Collections, and discovered that it was almost impossible to find them when we were looking for them by their names. This ongoing project of research, documentation, cataloging and digitization is putting women’s names into the records.

18th Century Portraits 1700-1799

19th Century Portraits 1800-1899

20th Century Portraits 1900-1999