Just
after the end of the Civil War, baseball captured the
American heart and mind. Although baseball was quickly
deemed a “masculine game,” women also embraced it.
Ever since, organized baseball has struggled with the
desire for male exclusivity versus women’s desire to
participate as fans, players, umpires, front office
personnel, and sportswriters.
How much has changed for women in baseball over
the last 150 years? How much has not? These questions
and others will be explored by baseball scholars Jean
Hastings Ardell and Amy Essington in a lecture sponsored
by the Baseball Reliquary in conjunction with its
exhibition “Women
in Baseball: There’s No Place Like Home (Plate),”
which runs from June 2-June 30, 2003 at the Burbank
Central Library, Burbank, California. The lecture
program will be held on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 7:00
PM in the Burbank Central Library Auditorium, 110 N.
Glenoaks Blvd., and is open to the public and free of
charge.
Jean Hastings Ardell will provide an historical
overview of women in baseball, while Amy Essington will
focus on some of the women who participated in the
professional game, discussing their experiences both on
and off the diamond. Lizzie Arlington, Alta Weiss,
Amanda Clement, Lizzie Murphy, Helene Britton, Jackie
Mitchell, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Effa Manley, Toni
Stone, and Jackie Autry are the key figures to be
covered.
Jean Hastings Ardell is a freelance writer, based
in Corona Del Mar, California, whose book about women
and baseball is forthcoming from Southern Illinois
University Press. Amy Essington is a Doctoral student at
Claremont Graduate University. She teaches American
History and American Studies courses at CSU Long Beach
and CSU Fullerton. Her dissertation is on the
integration of the Pacific Coast League, and she has
presented and published on the Negro Leagues,
integration, and Effa Manley.
For additional information, contact the Baseball
Reliquary by phone at (626) 791-7647 or by e-mail at
skpubs@earthlink.net. |