Have you ever encountered a photograph on the Municipal Archives digital collections platform, where a woman is only identified by her husband’s name or her title, such as Mrs. Julius Ochs Adler or First Lady of Republic of Upper Volta? By many standards, this practice is considered outdated and it limits access for researchers. Additionally, this practice centers Western naming standards, where it is more common for women to take their husband’s last names.

As part of larger diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives, the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) is embarking on a project to recover women’s names and engage with NYC communities. The first Research-a-thon to Recover Women’s Names coincided with Women’s History Month. It was held earlier this week with participants zooming in from all over the United States. Twelve volunteers and three staff members used a variety of genealogical and primary resources such as census data, marriage announcements, and obituaries to help remediate 64 photograph descriptions.  

One example is highlighted by participant Taryn Brymn, who also volunteers as an interviewer for the Neighborhood Stories Project. In a photograph from the Mayor Robert Wagner collection, Taryn was able to identify two women, the wife and daughter of President Adolfo Lopez Mateos, as Eva Sámano de López Mateos [nee. Bishop] and Eva/Avecita Leonor López Mateos Sámano. Traditionally, Hispanic women do not always take the surname of their husband and if they did, they might add “de” between the maiden name and husband’s name, as Eva Sámano did.

Taryn was able to locate Eva Sámano’s name and some of her accomplishments, such as the founding of the National Institute for Infants, in her New York Times obituary. 

Taryn initially drew limited results for Sámano and Lopez Mateo’s daughter, but then she did a little more digging in Spanish with the search term, “Eva samano de lopez mateos y su hija.” This search yielded many more results. Taryn discovered the nickname of the President and First Lady’s daughter was Avecita or Ave through images from National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH).  

Another resource used by participants was find a grave, a community-sourced website of over 238 million death memorials. Here, Taryn was able to confirm the name of President Adolfo Lopez Mateos and Eva Sámano’s daughter was Eva Leonor “Avecita” López-Mateos Sámano.  

This project was inspired by similar initiatives at  the Seattle Municipal Archives, Chicago History Museum, and Columbia University Libraries. While this project does provide researchers with more access points and clarity by updating photograph descriptions, it is important to acknowledge some of the drawbacks. The legacy of record-keeping means that the project may continue to increase access to women who already had a level of visibility in society such as wealthy, white women or wives of officials.

There is also an unknown factor regarding how these women preferred to identify. Perhaps, some of these women liked being introduced by their husband’s full names and others might not have wanted Mrs. in their title at all. Either way the DEIA initiatives at DORIS will continue to explore other opportunities to provide broader access to the Municipal Archives collections, highlight underrepresented communities in our collections, and garner participation from surrounding communities. 

 Thank you to all the staff members and volunteers who made this event possible!