Tradition states that Capitols has long been male dominated spaces where women played decidedly secondary roles. Yet in 1879, when the present Capitol opened, Harriet Tenney, Michigan’s first female state librarian, held control over almost an entire wing of the building. The first professional woman to hold a top tier gubernatorial appointment in the peninsular state, Tenney was aware of her significance. In her first report to the governor she wrote that “By the advice of the Chief Executive of the State and with the unanimous consent and approbation of the Senate, on the 31st day of March, 1869, this Library was placed in charge of a WOMAN.”

Learn about trailblazing women and the rules—written and unspoken—that both limited and inspired their successes in Michigan government from the 1860s to the 1930s. Prominent women featured in this presentation include State Librarians Harriet Tenney and Mary Spencer, Senator Eva McCall Hamilton, clerk-turned-author Belle Maniates, Museum Curator Marie Ferry, and Representatives Cora Reynolds Anderson, Dora Stockman, and Charline White.