• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

On the Shelf

Header Right

  • Library Home
  • My Account
  • How Do I?
  • Contact Us
  • Get a Library Card!

Header Right Social

FacebookInstagramYoutubeMeetupOn the Shelf Blog

Header Right Search

  • Read, Listen, Watch
    • Search the Catalog
    • eBooks and Audiobooks
    • Streaming Movies and Music
    • eMagazines
    • Search MD Libraries
    • Check Out a Hotspot
    • Check Out a Ukulele
    • Suggest a Title for Purchase
    • Recommended Reading
    • On the Shelf
    • Local Newspaper Archive
  • Library Services
    • Get a Library Card
    • Using Your Library Card
    • SMART Card
    • Curbside Pickup
    • Computers and Printing
    • 3D Printing
    • Meeting and Study Rooms
    • Makerspace at Leonardtown Library
    • Donate to the Library
    • Exam Proctoring
    • Notary Service
    • Tell Us Your Library Story
  • Research and Learn
    • All Online Resources
    • Genealogy and Local History
    • Language Learning
    • LinkedIn Learning
    • Cisco Networking Academy
    • Job Seeker’s Toolkit
    • Resources for Grant Seekers
    • Computer and Technology Instruction
    • Homework Help
    • Local Newspaper Archive
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Kids Events
    • Teen Events
    • Adult Events
    • Book Discussions
    • Computer and Technology Instruction
  • Kids
    • Kids Events
    • Virtual Storytime
    • Homework Help
    • Recommended Reading
    • Tumble Book Library
    • 500 by Five
    • Ready to Read
    • Resources for Parents and Educators
  • Teens
    • Teens at the Library
    • Teen Events
    • Homework Help
    • SMART Card
    • Recommended Reading
    • Resources for Parents and Educators
  • About Us
    • Locations and Hours
    • Library Policies
    • Library Administration
    • Board of Library Trustees
    • Strategic Plan
    • Libraries Stand Against Racism
    • Donate to the Library
    • Jobs at the Library
    • Volunteer at the Library
    • Friends of the St. Mary’s County Library
    • St. Mary’s County Library Foundation
    • Community Partners

Women in History

All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake

June 29, 2021 by Joan Bauk Leave a Comment

All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake
Format:  Book, Digital Audiobook, Ebook
Who It’s for:  Adults

In the year 1850, a slave named Rose gave her nine-year-old daughter Ashley this sack the evening before they were separated by auction.  The two never saw one another again. The sack was found in 2007 at a flea market by a woman who purchased it to sell on eBay.  The woman noticed the embroidered inscription on the sack that read:

My great grandmother Rose
 mother of Ashley gave her this sack when
she was sold at age 9 in South Carolina
it held a tattered dress 3 handfulls of
pecans a braid of Roses hair. Told her
It be filled with my Love always
She never saw her again
Ashley is my grandmother
Ruth Middleton 1921.

Rather than sell the sack, the woman donated it to Middleton Place Plantation Museum, where it currently resides.   In 2015, author Tiya Miles heard about the sack and began her research for All That She Carried, which describes the journey the sack followed between three generations of enslaved Black women.

By researching their customs, crafts, and culture, Miles reveals not only the journey that the sack took but more importantly the experiences of the Black women who passed this object down through four generations.  Very little can be found about these enslaved women in written archives other than their names on plantation property lists.  But through intense research, Miles has succeeded in piecing their stories together and sharing them with us in her book.

If you love history, you will appreciate all that Tiya Miles shares in her book about the experience of slaves, the talents and skills that they passed on to their children, the importance of the “things” they held onto, and most all, the love for their families that they never let anyone take away from them. All That She Carried is a must-read.

Find All That She Carried in our catalog.

Filed Under: New for Adults, Recommended for Adults Tagged With: African American, Environment, History, History of Textiles, Nonfiction, Slavery, Women in History

On the Basis of Sex

May 27, 2019 by Joan Bauk Leave a Comment

On the Basis of Sex Directed by Mimi Leder
Format: DVD
Who it’s for: Adults

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the second female to become an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. There have only been four women in this position in our great country’s history. This in itself is remarkable.

What is also remarkable, as On the Basis of Sex highlights, is the fact that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of the only women in her law school class at Harvard. Before starting law school, Ginsburg earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and became a wife and mother. Ginsburg’s husband Martin, also attended Harvard Law School (in a class ahead of hers) and became ill during his final year. While Martin Ginsburg recovered from his illness, Ruth attended her husband’s classes, as well as her own, and helped him study so that he could earn his law school degree. When he graduated and took a job in New York City, Ruth Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School and earned her law degree there.

Having trouble landing a job in early 1960’s New York, in a male dominated profession, Ruth turned to academia. What is remarkable here is that Ruth did not give up. She became a professor at Rutgers Law School and Columbia Law School where she was a strong supporter of women’s rights and gender equality.

On the Basis of Sex, tells this small portion of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s professional story. The movie highlights her strength of character as she fights to end not “sex” discrimination, but the more favorable term “gender” discrimination. The movie presents a strong woman role model, but also reveals how much Ruth’s husband Martin loved her and supported her career.  As a supportive married couple, the Ginsburgs were an important part of our country’s legal history.  This is an excellent movie! Find it on DVD.

 

Filed Under: Recommended for Adults Tagged With: Historical, Legal History, Motivational, Women in History

The Spymistress

April 3, 2019 by Carla Leave a Comment

The Spymistress by Jennifer Chiaverini
Format: Book
Who’s It For: Teens and Adults

Elizabeth Van Lew is true to her southern roots. Yet when delegates in Richmond, Virginia vote to secede from the Union, Elizabeth cannot bear to contribute a stitch to Confederate sewing circles. How can Lizzie aid President Lincoln?

After hearing of bloodied battles, Lizzie discovers that local prisoners of war live in squalid conditions. The food is inadequate. Blankets are nearly nonexistent. Wounds are often left to fester and worsen. Intrepid and creative, Lizzie and her mother bake their way into the prison, bribing guards to reach those behind bars. Soon Lizzie is smuggling messages to and from imprisoned leaders.

As the war continues, Lizzie must protect her family from possible deadly repercussions.  She holds dinner parties for Confederate leaders to obscure her true allegiance.  She enlists the help of a freed black woman to ferret out military secrets within the Confederate president’s home. Lizzie and her mother have a secret room built in their mansion.  They temporarily house runaway prisoners and slaves. Also, Elizabeth is introduced to a network of other spies in Richmond.  Together, they smuggle, confound, and plot for the sake of the Union.

Although this is a fictionalized account, Elizabeth Van Lew was an actual person in history. Through her eyes, the reader experiences this unique time in which our country was fiercely divided in its loyalties and devastatingly bloody in its consequences.

And look!  It’s in our catalog!

Filed Under: Recommended for Adults, Recommended for Teens Tagged With: Historical Fiction, Women in History, Women Spies

Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World

January 9, 2019 by Josie Leave a Comment

Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World by Vashti Harrison
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Kids

Little Dreamers is a collection of true stories about the women creators, inventors, scientists, artists, and thinkers who changed the world with their ideas. From computer programmer Ada Lovelace to activist Wangari Maathai, this book tells the inspirational tales of those women whom perhaps were previously left out of history’s spotlight. The contributions of these women had profound influence in their respective cultures and ultimately helped to shape our world as we know it today.

The recognition given to each of these women’s accomplishments is presented by Vashti Harrison in a format that is both informative and succinct which would appeal well to the younger, targeted age group. However, I do believe that this could be an enjoyable book for readers of all ages. Harrison’s stories paired with her charming illustrations create a visually appealing timeline; one can flip through the book noting the distinct changes to the illustrations for each woman. While each woman is artistically rendered to represent her unique self, there is a standard stylistic format the author uses for her illustrations which implies that these women are of a strong and singular power. I found this book important because it reminds young audiences us that even the visionary, trail-blazing women of history were all once little dreamers, who dared to dream big.

Find it in our catalog.

Filed Under: New for Kids Tagged With: Biographies, Book, Juvenile Literature, Nonfiction, Women in History

Varina

October 24, 2018 by Joan Bauk Leave a Comment

Varina by Charles Frazier
Format:  MP3 Audiobook
Who it’s for:  Adults

This book, written by the author of Cold Mountain, is the story of Varina Howell Davis, the wife of the only president of the Confederate States of America.  At 17, Varina Howell marries Jefferson Davis who is 19 years her senior.  Years after their marriage (based on an arrangement rather than love), Davis becomes the president of the Confederacy.  The book transports you to a time in our nation’s history when the Confederacy rises and then takes a catastrophic fall.

As an older woman, Varina reflects upon her young married life, her life as the wife of a politician, and her life as a young mother who grieves the loss of several of her children who died at young ages.  She explains in detail her escape from Richmond with her surviving children, as Union soldiers pursued her for being the wife of the treasonous Confederate president.   Varina details the resulting captivity of herself and her children, and what her life was like during the imprisonment of her husband.  Through Varina’s story, the reader is able to see the harsh reality of what life would have been like at the end of the Civil War.

I listened to Varina through our library’s Overdrive app.  Although I felt like the very beginning of the book took some time to get into, I quickly found myself wanting to listen continuously, in order to see what would happen to Varina and her family next.  When the book was finished, I felt compelled to research many of the events and characters mentioned in the story and their significance in our nation’s history.  I would highly recommend the book.  You can find Varina in book, book on CD, ebook and audio book form.

Find it in the catalog.

Filed Under: Recommended for Adults Tagged With: Civil War, Historical Fiction, History, Women in History

Primary Sidebar

On the Shelf Home

 

Welcome to On the Shelf! Find reviews and recommendations for books, movies, music, library resources, and more. All posts from the Kid’s Book Blog have been brought over to On the Shelf, so your old favorites are still here!

Subscribe so you don’t miss a post!

Recent Posts

  • Chunky
  • Light of the Jedi
  • The Guest List
  • The Passover Guest
  • The Silent Patient

Categories

Tags

Adventure African American Animals Audiobook Award Winner Bears Bedtime Being Different Birds Book Cats Classic Clothes Colors Counting Dogs Emotions Family Fantasy Fiction Food Foreign Culture Friendship Go Green History Holidays Humour Interactive Jobs Libraries or Books Mice Monsters Music Mystery Nonfiction On the Farm Picture Book Rhyming Romance School Seasons Things That Go Tough Stuff True Stories Weather

Archives

St. Mary's County Library

Monday – Thursday: 9 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Friday – Saturday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday: 1 – 5 p.m. (Lexington Park Library only)

 

Friends of the St. Mary’s County Library

St. Mary’s County Library Foundation

Locations

Charlotte Hall Library
37600 New Market Rd., Charlotte Hall, MD
301-884-2211

Leonardtown Library
23630 Hayden Farm Ln., Leonardtown, MD
301-475-2846

Lexington Park Library
21677 FDR Blvd., Lexington Park, MD
301-863-8188

Quick Links

  • My Account
  • Search the Catalog
  • eBooks and Audiobooks
  • Streaming Movies and Music
  • Search MD Libraries
  • Online Resources
  • Events
  • Meeting Rooms
  • Mobile Print Service
Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Accessibility
FacebookInstagramYoutubeMeetupOn the Shelf Blog