March is Women's History Month, and once again VPR is offering a special series featuring the voices and stories of a cross-section of Vermont women about the lasting contributions women have made to our life and culture here in Vermont. Also join us for Switchboard on Thursday March 22 when Fran Stoddard talks about women in Vermont history ­ some famous, and some completely unknown.

Transcript and Audio

Deb Markowitz is the first woman elected as Vt Secretary of State

Tuesday, March 20
Amy Cunningham speaks on the letters and other writings of Sylvia Bliss, archived at the Vermont History Center. Bliss was an early 20th Century musician, botanist, poet and writer of short stories and articles to the American Journal of Psychology.

Transcript and Audio

Amy Cunningham is Education Director for the Vermont Historical Society.

Wednesday, March 21
Barbara Snelling on her mother Hazel M. Weil, who lived a life of quiet, willing and uncomplaining service as the Minister's wife in a large suburban church.

Transcript and Audio

Barbara Snelling is a former two-term Lieutenant Governor and State Senator.

Thursday, March 22
Deborah Luskin on the Diane Eickoff book about Clarina Howard Nichols, the first woman ever to address the Vt legislature. Nichols was also a pioneering newspaper editor and a founding mother of the women's movement.

Transcript and Audio

Deborah Luskin is a Visiting Scholar for the Vermont Humanities Council.

Friday, March 23
Cyndy Bittinger will tell how Grace Coolidge and Dorothy Thompson attempted to rescue Jewish children from Germany in 1939. Both were Vermont humanitarians.

Transcript and Audio

Grace Coolidge & Dorothy Thompson
Photos: Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation/Smith College Archives

Cyndy Bittinger is Executive Director of The Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation.

Thursday, March 22 - Women in Vermont History

Fran Stoddard talks about women in Vermont history ­ some famous, and some completely unknown­ with guests Susan Ouellete, chair of the Saint Michael's History Department; Deborah Clifford, a writer on women in Vermont history; and Judith Irving of the Vermont Women's History Project, which will open a public database this month on the women in Vermont history.