Who Tells Our History?

Museums are often described as places that preserve the past. In reality, they do something far more powerful: they decide which stories are collected, whose lives are celebrated, what future generations inherit. Every exhibition, monument, and acquisition is a choice about what deserves our attention.

For much of history, women’s contributions have been treated as footnotes rather than central stories. Expanding the historical record requires investing in uncovering forgotten or suppressed histories along with the institutions that define how we understand our past and imagine our future.

That’s the vision of the WMM members who are investing in women’s stories and strengthening the cultural organizations that tell them. Through the Art Catalyst Fund, their grants are supporting museums across the country that broaden whose stories are remembered.

In Washington, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum is building a permanent home for stories that have been absent from the nation’s historical narrative, affirming that women’s history is American history. The grant will support We Do Declare: Women’s Voices on Independence, an oral history project marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by collecting the firsthand accounts of women who forged new paths toward financial freedom by building businesses and networks, and challenging assumptions about women’s economic power.

The Women’s Suffrage National Monument Foundation is creating the first monument on the National Mall dedicated to the women who fought for the right to vote, ensuring their leadership is recognized in one of the country’s most visible civic spaces. Of the 40 monuments, memorials, and statues that currently stand on the Mall, none is dedicated to the women who shaped American history; this monument will allow future generations of women and girls to see themselves reflected in the story of American democracy.

In Montgomery, Alabama, the Mothers of Gynecology Monument confronts one of medicine’s most painful histories by honoring Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey, the enslaved women whose suffering made modern gynecology possible but whose names were nearly erased from history.  Artist and women’s health advocate Michelle Browder created the 15-foot monument near where they were subjected to medical experimentation without consent or anesthesia, restoring their rightful place in the medical record while connecting their experiences to inequities that persist in health care today.

In New York, The Climate Museum, the first of its kind in the nation, invites artists and communities to imagine a more just and sustainable future. The grant will support exhibitions highlighting women-led solutions to the climate crisis and elevating their voices within the movement. And in San Francisco, the Courage Museum uses immersive storytelling to help visitors understand violence, resilience, and the choices that foster healing and more connected communities.

These institutions remind us that memory is shaped by the stories we tell. WMM members are helping build a fuller cultural record that gives women their rightful place in the story of who we are.

Photo Credits:
Hero: Sari Goodfriend for the Climate Museum
Video 1: Sarah Heaton for Asico photo, Video 2: Courtesy Climate Museum
Grid photos: 1 & 2) Sari Goodfriend for the Climate Museum, 3) Asico Photo