In the middle of the 18th century, at a time when the literacy rate for women in England was around 40 percent, author Sarah Fielding wanted a different future for women. She not only wanted girls to read, but also to organize that knowledge in their minds to their own benefit.

Pumpkin pie first appeared as a recipe in the 1796 cookbook American Cookery, published by New England writer Amelia Simmons, and was sold mainly in that region. When the dessert gained popularity, it was billed as a New England specialty. That connection to the North translated to the pumpkin being appropriated by abolitionists leading up to and during the Civil War, Ott says. Women who championed the anti-slavery cause also wrote poetry and short stories about pumpkins, praising them as a symbol of the resilient, northern family farmer.

"I am now devoting my entire life to the struggle against the vile Nazi creatures,” Yekaterina Budanova wrote to her sister in the early years of World War II. “If I am fated to perish, my death will cost the enemy dearly. My dear winged ‘Yak’ is a good machine and our lives are inseparably bound up together; if the need arises, we both shall die like heroes.”

After Bloomer included a print of herself in the reform dress in The Lily, hundreds of letters poured into her office. “As soon as it became known that I was wearing the new dress, letters came pouring in upon me by hundreds from women all over the country making inquiries about the dress and asking for patterns—showing how ready and anxious women were to throw off the burden of long, heavy skirts,” she wrote.

Created by researchers at Northeastern University in the fields of journalism, Jewish studies, history and computer science, the project seeks to illuminate the fraught journeys of scholars who fled persecution in Europe and hoped to come to the United States with assistance from the Emergency Committee. Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/forgotten-women-scientists-who-fled-holocaust-united-states-180967166/#dvWp0Uq2dTGJXdf5.99 Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter