Women’s History Month began as a local celebration in Santa Rosa, California as a “Women’s History Week” in 1978, which corresponded with March 8, the International Women’s Day. In 1980, a consortium of women’s groups successfully worked together and lobbied for national recognition of Women’s History Week. Women’s History Week was celebrated in March until 1987, when Congress passed a law designating March as Women’s History Month. You can learn more about Women’s History Month through the National Women’s History Alliance or on WomensHistoryMonth.gov. To celebrate at the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers, we have complied this reading list of nonfiction books for all reading levels and films based on true events that celebrate many different aspects of women’s history.