The Geneva Historical Society's 2014 Fall Lecture Series concludes on Friday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m. with the lecture "From Rosie the Riveter to Harriet the Happy Homemaker: Women on Screen During and After World War II," presented by Rob Edelman. Edelman will explore how the role of women in American society changed during World War II, as seen through film clips of the era. This lecture is free and open to the public and is made possible through the New York Council for the Humanities' Speakers in the Humanities program with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
 
Before the Second World War, women were expected to marry and remain at home to keep house and raise children, while their husbands were the breadwinners. During the war, however, women worked assembly lines, entered the military, and experienced personal and economic freedom that previously had been the exclusive domain of men. Peacetime meant a return to “normalcy,” and the expectation that women would cheerfully exchange their paychecks for aprons, regain their lost “femininity,” and return to their traditional roles within the American family. Clips from the era's Hollywood movies will illustrate the manner in which women were expected to act during and after the war.
 
Speaker Rob Edelman is a Lecturer in film history at the University at Albany. He offers film commentary on WAMC Public Radio, is a longtime contributing editor of Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide, and has written books and articles on freedom of the press and film.
 
Since its launch in 1983, the New York Council for the Humanities' Speakers in the Humanities program has brought distinguished scholars on a wide range of humanities topics to audiences across New York State.  All Speakers events are free and open to the general public. Each year, hundreds of non-profit organizations and community groups take advantage of this program, including community centers, religious organizations, museums and historical societies, and libraries. The Speakers program is an easy, affordable way for organizations to bring top humanities programming to their community.