Jane Speaks is a public history project that explores and documents the voices and representations of women in the history of American higher education.

The project leverages digital media to increase the accessibility, engagement, and integration of written, material, and visual sources that reveal the tacit voices of the past. Through a growing collection of digital objects, Jane Speaks places women’s own words and experiences in conversation with contemporary cultural and visual representations. In this way, Jane facilitates public discussion that challenges and re-draws established historical narratives.

The collection primarily depicts women in higher education during the first half of the twentieth century, focusing on postcards, college humor magazines, etiquette guides, scrapbooks, diaries, and photographs. If you have information about relevant resources, such as local archival collections, data sets, ephemera, or research, please contact us at jane@janespeaks.org.

UPCOMING PROJECTS

As an academic and informational resource, Jane Speaks examines the relationships between gender, history, education, culture, and society. Future projects will make plain those relationships through the identification, interpretation, and visualization of data:

• The Clery Data Project takes publicly available campus crime data—collected under the Clery Act—and displays sex offenses committed on or near campus via an interactive map interface.
• Women in College Sports Infographic Series explores the history of women’s athletics in the United States and traces the roots of gender inequality in collegiate sports.
• The Education of Girls and Women in the United States Interactive Timeline visualizes the gendered history of American educational policy from the nation’s founding through present day.