The P.J. Ahern Home hosts author Elizabeth Hill on Saturday for a free lecture and book signing about Arkansas women and World War I.
Hill's book "Faithful to Our Tasks: Arkansas's Women and the Great War" was just published. It focuses on the impact Arkansas women felt from World War I. At the time, women's roles were transforming from the Victorian era and becoming more active.
The author will sign books at the event, which starts at 1 p.m. and is held in celebration of Women's History Month.
The author is a researcher and writer whose work explores women's history in Arkansas. She works with the Arkansas Women's History Institute and earned her master's degree from the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
"She's a native of Little Rock who came back to the state to finish her degrees and she really saw that there was a void in Arkansas history, specifically dealing with the role of women," said Jamie Simmons, curator at the Texarkana Museums System.
Arkansas history in this respect includes Texarkana because the local Red Cross chapter was founded in 1917 as a response to the nation's World War I efforts, Simmons said. "It was started by women in the community," she said.
The lecture will include photographs that speak to these issues of World War I's impact on Arkansas women, the curator said. The book itself was just published at the beginning of the month.
"I'm very excited that we're able to get her this same month that the book came out," Simmons said about Hill's lecture and signing. Copies of the book will be available to buy, and Hill's visit comes via the Arkansas Humanities Council.
"They have a wonderful speakers program right now in commemoration of World War I," Simmons said. "The 100th anniversary of the United States entering World War I is this year." Look for more TMS programming that relates to WWI later this year.
This is one of the Texarkana Museums System's monthly Saturday programs at the P.J. Ahern Home. The TMS has begun holding events each Saturday at its four locations. Next month the P.J. Ahern Home will host a living history presentation related to WWI.
"Our plan is to have something going on at the museums every Saturday," Simmons said. Saturday events will rotate from museum to museum.
Hill's book is published by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. This is the author's second book and follows her "A Splendid Piece of Work."
(Admission is free. Seating is limited. The P.J. Ahern Home is located at 403 Laurel St. in Texarkana, Ark. For more information, contact the Texarkana Museums System at 903-793-4831.)