ARTISTS, LEADERS, MUSICIANS, SCIENTISTS, AND WRITERS

Hi, I’m Michal Strutin, one of the newest Paper Lantern Writers, but not new to writing…everything from books and magazine articles to lists of links. Actually, link lists are more from my research librarian background. Finding fascinating, provocative, and useful links is like a treasure hunt. I hope you enjoy these and other links in coming months. If you have topic or link suggestions, don’t hesitate to mention them in the Comments below.

ARTISTS

When I’m about to exit an art museum, I often think, “which piece of art would I most like to steal?” If I’m anywhere around a Louise Nevelson sculpture, especially the large ones, that’s what I want.

 “The 20 Female Artists You Need to Know.” From the 18th Century to present day: France, Mexico, America, Sweden, Japan, Serbia. No Louise Nevelson?

“Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.” Small images of 266 works by women fill two-thirds of the screen. Click on the art to see who created it. Some clicks take you to one of the 87 essays. The right sidebar is a linked list of the artists in alphabetical order. Plus there’s a chronology of brief art history around the world. Fun!

 

LEADERS

Women leaders of yore must have been fearless to make their mark in “take no prisoners” times. Or they were so up against it, they had no other choice.

”Fifteen of the Most Powerful Women in History.” Leaders in England, India, the Middle East, France, Mongolia, China, among others.

“Women Rulers of the Ancient and Classical World.” Brief paragraphs on Boudicca of 1st Century Britain; Zenobia, ruler of Palmyra in the Middle East; Lei-Tzu, first empress of ancient China; and others.

MUSICIANS

Women making music starts in pre-history. From biblical times celebrating escape from Egypt to  Medieval women making up songs of love and loss. Women created work songs, including lullabies. We don’t know the names of most women musicians. Here’s some we do.

“Women in Music Timeline.” The timeline begins with Kassia (810 CE) and continues through Medieval and Renaissance to the present. The timeline offers only a snippet for each writer. If you or your library don’t have a subscription to Oxford Music Online, you can Google-search specific names.

“10 Female Composers to Hear During Women’s History Month.” From Hildegard to Catharine Shaw (1980s). Although not a composer, I’d like to add Marin Alsop, the brilliant symphony conductor. For more on Hildegard and other long-ago women composers, see Historical Novel Society member Melanie Spiller’s Music History page.

 “Women in Blues.” If Etta James, why not Ella? Because Ella Fitzgerald could—and did—sing everything.

SCIENTISTS

As a science nerd, I remember reading a biography of Marie Curie, in the orange biography series published by Bobbs-Merrill. Curie was one of the few to win two Noble Prizes. I thought she was the only woman scientist. Women scientists: overlooked no longer.

 “Ten Historic Female Scientists You Should Know.” From an 18th Century astronomer and a 19th Century paleontologist to the physicist who studied and named “nuclear fission.”

 “Ten Famous Women Scientists in History.” Click on each scientist’s name to see what she accomplished. Rachel Carson, Jane Goodall, and Barbara McClintock, among them.

African-American Women Pioneers in STEM. The women in the movie Hidden Figures and more, from astronauts to medical doctors in STEM (science, technology, engineering, medicine).

WRITERS

Writing is joy. Writing is hard work. How did writers manage all those drafts before computers? I’m deep into a difficult edit, so what did I do? I lightened up and took an online class in Motown. We kept our videos off. Why? We were all dancing.

“Women Writers from Before 1500…” An image of the writer, a bit of her background, sometimes a short writing sample. Writers from Italy, England, Kashmir, France, India, Japan, and elsewhere. My bet: the minute women knew how to read is when women’s writing began. 

 “A Celebration of Women Writers.” This is a deep dive into University of Pennsylvania’s digital library where information—often only citations—about the world’s women writers can be accessed by browse, search, author, date, country, ethnicity. Who knew there were so many known women writers in 5,000 years of history? Don’t get lost!