Women's Progress Commemorative Commission

The Women's Progress Commemorative Commission is a U.S. bipartisan commission established pursuant to the Women's Progress Commemoration Act (Public Law 105-341, 1998-10-31) under President Bill Clinton.^[1] The bill was introduced by Congresswoman Louise Slaughter and Senator Chris Dodd. The commission was tasked with identifying and preserving websites significant to American women's history.^[2] It was established in honor of the 150 year anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention.^[3] The commission's first meeting was held 2000-07-12 in Seneca Falls, New York to develop a scope. Subsequent meetings, some sponsored by the National Park Service, included discussions regarding assistance from United State governors as well as problems with data collection.^[2]

Recommendations

• Create and maintain a national database of women’s history sites
• Create a data field on the National and State Registers of Historic Places that identifies women’s history sites
• Support a public-private partnership network to provide technical assistance for preservation and interpretation of women’s historic sites
• Establish an incentive program for State Historic Preservation Offices to encourage them to identify and preserve women’s history sites
• Create Statewide, Regional or Community Women’s History Trails
• Encourage owners of women’s history sites to document, highlight and seek opportunities for preservation and maintenance of their property at time of sale
• Include young people in women’s history site activities^[2]

References