WILLMINGTON –The Wilmington Historical Society invites community members to the program “Votes for Women!” on Friday, Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Wilmington Community Center.

Presented by historian and author Margaret Bartley, the lecture will focus on the role of Adirondackers in winning women the right to vote.

In the quest to celebrate the centennial of the women’s right to vote (1917-1920), Adirondack women were in the thick of the struggle. One prominent example is Inez Milholland of Lewis, Essex County, who became a prominent leader and lecturer in the national movement. What began as a tea party in Waterloo on July 13, 1848, with such leaders as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, grew to a crusade for women’s rights that ushered in the 19th Amendment in 1920, which granted the right for citizens to vote, regardless of gender (but not regardless of race). Adirondack women took part in that pursuit and made their mark in many ways, their legacy taken up by women who have made their mark in politics, the arts, the workplace and more. Bartley will also examine the role women played in the Great War (WWI), and the effect it had on winning the right to vote.

Bartley is a trustee with the Essex County Historical Society. She is a historian, author and teacher, and wrote a biography of the famous Russian American cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, titled “GRISHA,” which won the 2005 Adirondack Literary Award. She is a former Elizabethtown supervisor and is currently working with historian Sharp Swan to create a comprehensive history of the Civil War’s 118th New York Infantry, known as the “Adirondack Regiment.” Bartley spent 26 years teaching history and government, and has a master’s degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University. Her popular slide shows, which cover many aspects of Essex County history, are offered every summer at the Adirondack History Museum in Elizabethtown.

“Votes for Women!” is free and open to the public, made possible, in part, by the Essex County Arts Council Cultural Assistance Program Grant with funding provided by Essex County. Refreshments are provided by the Country Bear Bakery in Wilmington. For further information, go to www.wilmingtonhistoricalsociety.org or contact the Wilmington Historical Society at whs12997@hotmail.com or 518-420-8370.