Assemblymember Didi Barrett (D-Hudson) has released the fourth volume of “Women’s History in the Hudson Valley: Ten Stories from Columbia and Dutchess Counties” in celebration of Women’s History Month. The booklet shares the stories of 10 regional women from the past three centuries and the significant contributions they made. The booklets are distributed in collaboration with the Mid-Hudson Library System.

“This year marks the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in New York State,” Barrett said. “It was an extraordinary accomplishment resulting from ordinary women coming together to form a grassroots movement for suffrage. Too often women’s history and women’s stories are forgotten; my office has published these volumes each year to ensure that in our region they are forgotten no more.”

The booklet features activists, scientists and educators who broke down barriers. Among the women included are Gail Webster, an affordable housing advocate from Dutchess County; Ida Helen Ogilvie, a pioneering geologist; and Lucretia Coffin Mott, a leading abolitionist and suffragist. It also highlights Flavia Marinda Bristol, a business-savvy philanthropist who supported local efforts in Hillsdale, Poughkeepsie community leader Earline Patrice and Susan Nye Hutchison, an Amenia woman who received acclaim as a teacher up and down the East Coast. You can learn more about these women and others in this year’s booklet.

Visit your local library to pick up the 2017 “Women’s History in the Hudson Valley: Ten Stories from Columbia and Dutchess Counties” booklet. You can also visit Barrett’s website at nyassembly.gov/Barrett to read more about these women.