Selective List of Academic Presentations
"Early Efforts for Viable Scientific Societies," Smithsonian Institution, February, 1971.
"The Formative Years of the American Association for the Advancement of Science," Worcester Polytechnic Institute, November, 1971, and American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1973.
"The Association of American Geologists and Naturalists," Symposium on the History of Geology, University of Connecticut, September, 1972.
"Resources for the Social History of American Science," Association of American Archivists, 1974.
"Working on the Periphery: Women Scientists in the Nineteenth Century," Berkshire Conference on Women in History, Bryn Mawr College, 1976.
"Maria Mitchell and the Advancement of Women in Science," Organization of American Historians, 1977.
"Single Sex Education for Women: The Early Years of Simmons College," Conference on Women and Educational Leadership, Syracuse University, 1977.
"Henry A. Ward: Scientific Entrepreneur," International Congress for the History of Science, Edinburgh, 1977.
Chair and Commentator, "Pioneering Women in Science," Berkshire Conference of Women in History, August, 1978.
Commentator, "Promoting Feminism, American and British Efforts, 1873-1914," American Historical Association, 1978.
"Natural History Museums: Emerging Theory," University of Pennsylvania, March, 1979.
"Henry A. Ward and American Museum Development, 1860-1890," International Conference on the History of Museums and Collections in Natural History, London, April, 1979.
"Pictures of the past: Museum Display and Scientific Theory," Society of American Archivists, Toronto, 1979.
"The Early Years of Science," American Association for the Advancement of Science, San Francisco, February, 1980.
"Determined for Excellence," Honors Convocation Address, Simmons College, October 29, 1980.
Commentator, "Monuments, Museums and the Problem of the Past in the Nineteenth Century," Organization of American Historians, Detroit, April, 1981.
"Women and History: The Profession Finds New Roots," History Honors Convocation, April, 1981, Valparaiso University.
"Naturalists and Public Education: Nineteenth Century Museums of Natural History (United States)," Conference on Scientific Colonialism, Melbourne, Australia, May, 1981.
Chair and Commentator, "Women and Nature," Berkshire Conference on Women's History, Vassar, 1981.
"Nature Study: A Theory of Education in Science," (scientific section) and "Women in Science in the United States in the Nineteenth Century," (symposium), International Congress for the History of Science, Bucharest, Rumania, 1981.
Commentator, "Scientific Community," Symposium on Science in the Old South, University of Mississippi, March, 1982.
"Public Museums and Private Aspirations," History of Science Colloquium, Harvard University, November, 1982.
"American Museums of Natural History and Their Public in the Nineteenth Century," presented while Senior Fulbright Fellow at the South Australian Museum, The Queensland Museum, and the National Museum of Victoria, 1983.
"Natural History for the Public: Changing Definitions in America," Australian Association for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science, Wollongong, 1983.
"Natural Heritage: Australian Museums of Natural History," National Museum of Victoria, June, 1983.
"Women as Science Teachers in the United States," presented in my absence and published in the proceedings of the International Conference on the Role of Women in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine in the l9th and 20th Centuries, Veszprem, Hungary, August, 1983.
"Institutional History: Revived and Revised Tradition in the History of American Science," and "Peale, Barnum and the Naturalists," opening lectures at a semester-long symposium on American Science at West Virginia University, January 25 and 26, 1984.
"Strategies for Survival: Lessons from Women in Science and Education a Century Ago," Brown University, April 10, 1984.
Organizer and Commentator on session "Natural History on Display," History of Science Society, Chicago, December, 1984.
"George Brown Goode and the Naturalists' Tradition in History," American Historical Association, December, 1984.
"Science or Sentiment: Women as Nature Study Teachers," International Congress for the History of Science, University of California at Berkeley, August 2, 1985; revised version at Iowa State University, December, 1985.
"Museums in Higher Education in Nineteenth Century America," Dickinson College Symposium on Science in the Liberal Arts (sponsored by the Philadelphia Council on the Humanities), September 27, 1985.
"Museums and Public Culture," Invited Public Lecture sponsored by GTE Foundation, Iowa State University, December, 1985.
"Teaching Science in the Academies," Albany Tricentennial Symposium on the History of Science, Albany Academy, May, 1986.
"Reflections on Editing Historical Writing on American Science," special panel on the volume at the American Historical Association, December 29, 1986.
"Museums of Natural History in the United States: An Overview," National Museum of American History, National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution, 19 January 1987.
"George Brown Goode and the Historical Tradition," Smithsonian Institution Archives, May, 1987.
"Education and Science in Nineteenth Century Museums," Conference on Collections and Culture: Museums and the Development of American Life and Thought, Woodrow Wilson Center, October, 1987.
"Unfinished Experiment: The History of Women in Science," as Visiting Lecturer for the History of Science Society at Marlborough College, March, 1988, and at Texas Women's University, April, 1988.
"Collections and Curators Cross the Pacific" to the conference on Nationalism and Internationalism in Science: The United States, Australia, and the World, Melbourne, Australia, May 25, 1988.
"Making Connections: Archives for Urban Museums" at the Society of American Archivists, Atlanta, October 2, 1988.
"Parlors and Primers: Education for Science in the Nineteenth Century," Plenary Lecture for the History of Science Society, Cincinnati, Ohio, December 29, 1988.
"Still Experimental," Visiting Historian of Science at Washington State University at Pullman and Eastern Washington State University at Cheney, February 28 and 29, 1989.
"Institutional History" and other informal presentations at the Academy of Sciences, Moscow and Leningrad, USSR, March 17-27, 1990.
"German Ideas and Practice in American Natural History Museums, 1814-1880," Conference on German Influences on Education in the United States to 1917, Madison, Wisconsin, September 15, 1990.
"Power through Persuasion: The AAAS and the Federal Government in the Nineteenth Century," American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., February 16 and 17, 1991.
"Education to Popularization: Natural History Museums in the Nineteenth Century," International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, Northwestern University, Illinois, July 13, 1991.
"Boundaries, Bypasses, and Bridges," 1991 Bush Summer Institute on College Teaching and Learning, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, June 17 and 18, 1991.
Commentator, "Home Economics: More Than Glorified Housekeeping" at Conference on Rethinking Women and Home Economics in the Twentieth Century, Cornell University, October 4, 1991.
"Early History in the Smithsonian Institution: Perceptions of George Brown Goode," Smithsonian History Forum, June, 1993.
"'The Irrepressible Woman Question': Women's Responses to Darwin" at Conference on Responding to Darwin, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, May 14, 1994.
"Exhibitionism: Nature on Display in Nineteenth-Century Museums," Berkshire Conference on Women in History, North Carolina State University, 1995.
"Museums in Nineteenth Century America: The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences," American Association for the Advancement of Science, Baltimore, February 1996.
Chair and Comment, "Zoos and Museums in the 19th and 20th Centuries" History of Science Society, Atlanta, November 1996.
"Nature Study in North America and Australasia, 1890-1945," Plenary Address at the Conference on Scientific Savants in Honor of the Centenary of Ferdinand von Mueller, Melbourne, Australia, September 1996.
"Exhibitionism: Gender on Display in Nineteenth-Century Natural History Museums," Amerika-Institut, University of Munich, July 29, 1997.
Chair and Comment, "Joseph Henry Commemorative" History of Science Society, November, 1997.
"Scientific Literacy in Mid-Nineteenth Century America" at American Association for the Advancement of Science, February 14, 1998.
Chair and Comment, "Urban Jungles: Zoological Parks in the United States," American Historical Association, January 10, 1999.
Commentator for session and conference, "Where the Biological and Social Converge," Mellon Foundation funded program at the University of Oklahoma, April 16-18, 1999.
"Women Scientists as Travelers," Conference on Gender and the Technologies and Narratives of Travel," University of Minnesota, May, 1999.
Chair and Comment, "Museums: Papers in Honors of Susan Sheets-Pyenson," International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, Oaxaxa, Mexico, July, 1999.
"Antoinette Brown Blackwell and the Rhetoric of Evolution," at Challenging Rhetorics: Cross-disciplinary Sites of Feminist Discourse, Second Biennial Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) Conference, October 8, 1999.
Chair and Comment, "Retrospective on Historical Writings on American Science" at the History of Science Society meeting, November 5, 1999.
"Nature by Design: Gender Representation in Museum Display," York University Conference on Figural Configurations of Gender in Science, May 17-19, 2002.
"Reflections on Women in Science and Technology in the Twentieth Century," Plenary lecture for NSF sponsored "Conference on Recruiting and Retaining Women in Science, Medicine, Engineering and Technology," Iowa State University, October 19, 2002.
"Nature by Design: Masculinity and Animal Display in Nineteenth-Century Museums," History of Science Society, November 21, 2003.
[Numerous other presentations regarding women in science and technology while serving as Associate Dean and developing a Program for Women in the Institute of Technology, 1989-1995; intermittent lectures on related topics in classes and for workshops on campus and neighboring campuses; frequently chair/commentator of general sessions at History of Science Society not noted above]