Forty-Five Years of the CCWH: Then, Now, and the Future

Session Abstract

2014 marks the 45^th anniversary of the founding of what became the Coordinating Council for Women in History. Founded in 1969 as the Coordinating Council on Women in the Historical Profession and expanded in 1974 with the formation of the Conference Group on Women's History, CCWH combines the functions of both groups. It’s dual missions are to promote and encourage the study of women’s history and to educate men and women on the status of women in the historical profession. This panel looks at the history of the organization and evaluates its current status and will discuss such questions as is the organization still necessary? Has women’s history achieved legitimacy as a field of study and research? Have women achieved parity with men in the academic workplace and public history? Have local women’s history organizations taken the role originally envisaged for the CCWH? Where, as an organization, should we go in the twenty-first century?

The panel will be an open dialogue with panelists and the audience about the historical issues that served as a catalyst for the formation of the CCWH; the achievements of the past four and a half decades; and an evaluation of the present functions and achievements and a look to the hard questions of the future.