About the National Women's History Museum

For nearly 30 years, the National Women’s History Museum has been working to illuminate the stories of women who have shaped our past and who continue to inform our shared future. Women’s history is not a footnote. It is foundational.

Our commitment to inclusion and equity is at the heart of our work. The NWHM is dedicated to telling authentic, nuanced histories that reflect the full spectrum of women’s experiences. We believe that a more complete understanding of the past can inform a more just and equitable future. As an independent organization that does not rely on federal funding for core operations, our work continues with clarity and resolve, shaped by our values and sustained by the communities we serve.

In 2014, NWHM helped fund, staff, and champion the creation of a bipartisan Congressional Commission to explore the feasibility of a national women’s history museum on the National Mall. The Commission’s findings confirmed what NWHM had long advocated: the American public strongly supports a dedicated women’s history museum. These efforts ultimately helped lead to the establishment of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, authorized by Congress in 2020. While that institution continues the vital work of building a collection-based museum, NWHM carries forward its original mission as a digital-first organization, engaging millions each year through dynamic storytelling and accessible, community-centered programming

Today, the Museum leads a unique, decentralized Museum-in-Residency model, partnering with cultural institutions across the country to co-create multi-year exhibitions and community-rooted programming. Our inaugural residency, We Who Believe in Freedom: Black Feminist DC, opened in 2023 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., illuminating the legacies of Black feminist activism in the nation’s capital. Our next major exhibition, Faith and Freedom: Women’s Social Justice Activism Through the Lens of Spirituality and Religion, will open in 2026 at the Fulton County Public Library’s Central Library in Atlanta, Georgia. Each residency integrates site-specific engagement and educational programming designed to reflect local identities while contributing to a broader national conversation on women’s history.

The Museum is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)3. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and visit us at womenshistory.org.

We preserve, educate and amplify  the diverse contributions and voices  of women through innovative content and experiences at a national level to drive action towards gender representation and inclusivity.