Hoosier Women at Work Conference and Overlooked Keynote Presentation

Hoosier Women at Work History Conference at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library

& the Keynote Presentation at the Madam Walker Legacy Center

Join us in Indianapolis for the sixth Hoosier Women at Work history conference on Saturday, October 5, 2024. Presented by the Indiana Historical Bureau and the Indiana Association of Historians with funding from Indiana Humanities, the Women's Fund of Central Indiana, the Indiana Commission for Women, and the Indiana State Library Foundation. Other partners include the Crown Hill Foundation, the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, and the Madam Walker Legacy Center.

Conference

The Hoosier Women at Work Conference is an energetic day of presentations, networking, and idea exchange. Its welcoming atmosphere makes it an ideal conference for students, emerging scholars, and citizen historians. Academic historians, journalists, librarians, archivists, genealogists, and museum professionals are also encouraged to participate. This year's theme is "Peace and War," but all scholarship on Hoosier women's history is eligible. Learn more about how to submit your scholarship here.

We couldn't be more excited to have this dynamic day hosted at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library. Attendees will listen to speakers, engage in discussion, and have access to this unparalleled museum. The Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library champions the literary, artistic, and cultural contributions of the late writer, artist, teacher, and Indianapolis native Kurt Vonnegut. The library and museum serve as a cultural and educational resource unique to the nation.

After lunch, HWW attendees will walk across the street to the historic Madam Walker Legacy Center for the keynote presentation. The general public is also encouraged to attend the keynote presentation.

Keynote

HWW is proud to welcome Amisha (Amy) Padnani, an award-winning senior staff editor at The New York Times and creator of the Overlooked project, to the Madam Walker Legacy Center.

Overlooked tells the stories of remarkable women and people of color whose deaths were never reported by The New York Times in its 168-year history.  After joining The Times's obituaries desk as an editor, Padnani noticed that the section was dominated by white men and sought ways to balance its coverage. Overlooked launched in 2018 with the stories of 15 women, and has since included people of color and subjects from the LGBTQ and disability communities. A book, published in November 2023, features 66 Overlooked obituaries, about two dozen of which never appeared in The Times. Get your copy of the Overlooked book via Penguin Random House here.

Padnani's speaking engagements have included TED, Creative Mornings, the National Museum for Women in the Arts, the Dead Ladies Show, Dropbox, Button, and other organizations. She has been interviewed on NPR, Democracy Now, CBC, CBS, and the BBC.

She was named Incredible Woman of the Year by Porter Magazine in 2018 and has won a number of other awards since. (Bio from Padnani’s website: https://www.amypadnani.com/)

The Madam Walker Legacy Center is the only surviving iconic building on Indiana Avenue, a significant piece of Indiana and U.S. history, and an integral part of the Indianapolis community. Thanks to the Walker Center's donation of their beautiful space for this event, along with generous funding from Indiana Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Women's Fund of Central Indiana, the keynote presentation is free to HWW attendees.

HWW Conference and Keynote Ticket

Registration for the HWW conference is $15, which includes lunch.

Thanks to the Indiana Commission for Women for providing the morning coffee and bagels at check-in.

The keynote presentation is made possible by generous grants from Indiana Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Women's Fund of Central Indiana.

Free student conference attendance is made possible by grants from Indiana Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Lunch for the conference speakers is provided by the Indiana State Library Foundation.