Waterbury Women's History Project

The Waterbury Women's History Scrapbook

This past winter, as we were thinking about what the Library might do to celebrate Women's History Month in March, Library Commissioner Margaret Luce suggested we look to the Vermont Commission on Women's History Project for inspiration and "go local." At the a planning meeting a few weeks later, Jan Gendreau recalled a scrapbook project that she had seen on display at the Glover Historical Society's booth at the Vermont History Exposition. We loved the idea. It was simple, allowed for creativity and lots of community involvement, and best of all, it could be ongoing.

Enthusiasm for this project has been remarkable. We’ve heard stories of extended family members getting together to share memories and photographs of loved ones as they created their pages. Girls Scouts have taken the opportunity to honor a woman in their lives who is a model and inspiration to them. Some of the pages were produced with the full knowledge of the women who are honored on them; others were created as a surprise and will be a gift to share with a very special woman.

This scrapbook is a gift to our community. It will remain in the Waterbury Public Library so that anyone may have access to it whenever the Library is open. We hope that this public display of the pages contributed thus far will inspire others to think about the remarkable Waterbury women, past and present, whom they might honor. We have already filled one scrapbook with pages and another is on order. May there be many more!

Scrapbook pages have been contributed for the following women:

Delia (Duprey) Abair

C. Elizabeth (Duprey) Abare

Florilla (Perkins) Ames

Dorise (Haskins) Ayers

Alice Bailey

Barbara Butterfield

Elizabeth Perley Carr

Freya Chaffee

Rosalie Emory (Gill) Chase

Madeline Cook

Roxanna (Quimby) Crossett

Janet DiBlasi

Sally (Coffey) Dillon

Mildred (Breen) Eldredge

Trish Feld

Doris (Davis) Flanders

Phyllis Guptil

Eileen Harvey

Winona (Ayers) Hoffman

Cornie M. (Abare) Hough

Alice (Ryan) Howard

Frances Bergen (Hall) Janes

Madalene Aleda (Demeritt) Kaiser

Gladys LaFayette

Patricia (Donahue) LaRock

Margaret Luce

Kathleen LeBaron Luce

Marjorie Ellinwood Luce

Barbara Lunge

Myrtle (Gibbs) Marden

Lila Mae Shephard Marshall

Emily Marie (Carroll) Metayer

Evelyn (Fasnet) Minter

Orrilla “Ollie” (Somerville) O’Clair

Kathy O’Dell

Emma Wennberg Ottolenghi

Laura Parette

Phobe Pelkey

Reverend Elizabeth (Thurber) Sanborn

Pauline Martha (Buck) Sayah

Guila (Rowell) Squier

Ivis (Pike) Stearns

Mary Alice (Minott) Sweet

Eileen Touchette

Gladys (Pike) Wallace

Bernice Sarah White

Pearl T. Williams

Teresa May (Collins) Woodard

Gladys (Gilmour) Wrisley
Winifred Wrisley