The Monadnock Center for History and Culture, 19 Grove St., invites the community to the organization’s 121st annual meeting on Thursday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m.
The featured speaker is Jenna Carroll, education director at the Historical Society of Cheshire County, who will present “Jennie Powers: The Woman Who Dares.” Powers took a stand against social vices in New Hampshire and Vermont in the early 20th century. She was a humane society agent in Keene from 1903 to 1936 and one of the first humane society agents to become a deputy sheriff in New Hampshire.
Powers was known across the country as “The Woman Who Dares,” cited by the Boston Post newspaper in 1906 as having arrested more men than any other woman in America. As a photographic activist, she used her camera to document animal cruelty, family violence and widespread poverty in New Hampshire’s Monadnock region and beyond. This one-hour illustrated presentation introduces us to Powers’ life story, the work of humane societies at the turn of the 20th century and the politics of the Progressive Era from the 1890s to the 1920s from a local perspective.
Carroll has been managing historical societies and museums in New England for 25 years. She holds a master’s degree in historical administration from Eastern Illinois University and a bachelor’s degree in history and women’s studies from the University of New Hampshire. She has worked as both a curator and executive director, and currently serves as the director of education at the Historical Society of Cheshire County in Keene, where she coordinates over 150 public programs per year.
A short business meeting will be held before the presentation. This program is free and all are welcome. To learn more about this and other Monadnock Center programs, visit monadnockcenter.org.