March is Women’s History Month.
- Dr. Nellie Neilson was one of the best – and best known – Medieval history scholars in the world, but she struggled to climb every rung to the top during her long career.
- Sara Yorke Stevenson was a self-trained Egyptologist, a founder of the Penn Museum, a leader in women’s rights, and a popular newspaper columnist who gained respect from colleagues around the world – her story is told by fellow Laurel Hill Cemetery docent Pat Rose.
- Elizabeth Head Fetter, older sister to maverick inventor Howard Head, was writing under the pen name of Hannah Lees about topics like masturbation and women’s extra-marital affairs in the prudish 1940s, several years before the Kinsey Report was released.
These three remarkable women shattered many glass ceilings in their long careers. I hope you enjoy their stories.