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128 Hooton Rd
Mount Laurel, NJ 08054
P: (856) 231-1885
F: (856) 231-4223
Rhonda DiMascio
Director
rdimascio@alicepaul.org
The Alice Paul Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about the life and work of New Jersey’s most famous suffragist, Alice Stokes Paul (1885-1977), author of the Equal Rights Amendment, founder of the National Woman’s Party, and a lifelong activist for women’s equality. API’s mission is to educate the public about her life, preserve historic Paulsdale, develop future leaders, and work towards achieving women’s equality. Paulsdale, Alice Paul’s birthplace and family home in Mount Laurel, New Jersey is a National Historic Landmark and serves as a center for celebrating women’s history and leadership.
Cultural Education at the Alice Paul Institute
API's educational programs include the themes of women's history and girls leadership development.
API Heritage Programs are part of the organization's overall mission to educate the public about the life and work of Alice Paul, preserve her birthplace, historic Paulsdale and promote gender equity by encouraging the incorporation of women's history into educational curriculum. API Heritage Programs emphasize the overall message that one person can make a difference. API Heritage Programs include:
- Tours of Paulsdale: API offers tours of Paulsdale, Alice Paul’s birthplace and a National Historic Landmark. Toursfocus on Alice Paul’s life, the Paul family, Quaker farm history, Burlington County History and women’s history.
- Alice Paul: New Jersey’s Heroine for Equality: A slide presentation on Alice Paul’s life and work, suitable for school and adult audiences, takes place in the community and at Paulsdale as part of tours.
- Alice Paul Archives & Women’s History Library: The Alice Paul Archives includes original The Suffragist and Equal Rights newspapers, photographs, and Alice Paul's personal books. Paulsdale's growing Women’s History Library includes books on Alice Paul, suffrage, New Jersey history, and women's history.
- Informational Services: API serves as an information clearinghouse and as a referral service for inquiries about Alice Paul and her family, New Jersey history, and the struggle for women’s suffrage. API also maintains the unique New Jersey Women’s History website, www.njwomenshistory.org.
- Teacher Training Workshops: API offers one and two-day workshops for educators on topics such as the suffrage movement in New Jersey and the nation, New Jersey women who had an impact on the suffrage movement, plus strategies and resources for incorporating women’s history into curricula.
- Meeting Alice, a class field trip or group program for elementary school boys and girls that explores the life and legacy of New Jersey’s most famous Quaker and women’s rights activist, Alice Paul, as well as the Paulsdale farm.
- Celebrate New Jersey Women Day, an outdoor festival for children to meet Alice Paul and a host of notable New Jersey women who have contributed to science, medicine, education, government, the arts and many other fields. Includes games, art activities, and tours of the Paulsdale farm.
- Special Programs and Initiatives: Throughout the year, API offers public lectures, book signings, performances, workshops and study groups that highlight women’s history and contemporary issues.
Two Girl Scouts enjoy a game of "Homegrown Heroines Bingo," one station in the Celebrate New Jersey Women program at API. Photography courtesy of the Alice Paul Institute, Inc.
The goal of Alice Paul Leadership Programs is to introduce girls to successful women leaders from the past and present and to familiarize them with the skills they need to develop their own leadership style. APLP programs approach contemporary concerns through the example of women leaders, including Alice Paul, who can serve as role models to young women today. Alice Paul Leadership Programs include:
- Lead-A-Way: a series of ten workshops, focusing on women leaders and leadership skills, for up to 25 eighth-grade girls during the school day.
- Looking at Careers: Where Do I Go from Here?: a workshop for high school-aged girls and boys which features a panel of women leaders from various professions and offers opportunities for mentoring and on-the-job exposure to their professions.
- Girls’ Advisory Council: a council of girls(current members’ ages 14-18) who support API events, review and evaluate program developments, represent API at area girls’ meetings, and plan women’s history events for the community and in schools.
- Leadership A La Carte: a customizable workshop for girls ages 13-16 designed to provide practical leadership skills girls can use for life. Available workshop topics include: Alice Paul through the lens of leadership, communication skills, social activism, positive conflict resolution, building mentoring relationships, and creating a personal identity.
- Girlblazers: a ten day outdoor summer camp for up to 25 girls that includes leadership training, role model leaders, field trips, team activities, music and art, physical skills and games.
- Leadership Teachers' Institute: a professional development workshop for teachers that focuses on creating role models for leadership in the classroom, encouraging leadership development in students, and integrating more women's history into the curriculum.
Contact Kris Myers, Director of Heritage & Outreach, at kmyers@alicepaul.org or Dana Dabek-Milstein, Director of Leadership Programs, ddmilstein@alicepaul.org,for more information. Teacher Prep materials are provided and educational programming is core curriculum based.
Group Tours at Alice Paul Institute:
Tours begin with brief show about Alice Paul's life and work. Guests then go on an outdoor walk around the property to learn about the farm that once surrounded Paulsdale. Inside the house, tourists will learn about the Paul family's daily life in the house, the restoration/rehabilitation of the site and its present day use as a women’s heritage and girl's leadership center. Though the house has no period furnishings, there is plenty of history within its walls including dozens of historic photographs and documents.
Members of the Riverton Porch Club enjoy an afternoon tour of Paulsdale with API tour guide Bill Joyce. Photograph courtesy of the Alice Paul Institute, Inc.
There are two ways to visit Paulsdale. API offers Open House Tour Saturdays for “drop-in” tours once a month. The price for a tour is $5 per person ($4 for children).
Visit www.alicepaul.org/paulsdale.htm for a list of upcoming Open House Saturday dates.
Group tours can be arranged for any date of the week, Monday through Friday. Groups have the option of a tour alone (45 min) or a combination of a tour and slide show presentation on the life of Alice Paul (please plan for 1.5 to 2hrs for both). Group tours can be arranged for a minimum group of 10 people. Prices for a tour are $5 per person or $15 per person for a tour and slideshow combination.
For more information about scheduling a group tour at the Alice Paul Institute, contact Kris Myers, kmyers@alicepaul.org.