JOHNSTOWN - "Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination" will be the theme for next year's National Women's History Project.
The theme, suggested by city resident Debra Kolsrud, was selected from more than 100 entries for this national campaign, which will include developing educational materials for school and community use.
The National Women's History Project is a non-profit educational organization founded to recognize and celebrate women's diverse historic accomplishments.
In 1987, Congress declared National Women's History Month would be observed every year in March. Each year, NWHP chooses a focus area for honoring women and solicits theme suggestions from the public.
The 2013 theme will celebrate notable women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, known as STEM.
Kolsrud is restoring the home at 9 S.William St., where Susan B. Anthony lived in 1884 and where Anthony and Johnstown native Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote the third volume of their "History of Woman Suffrage," chronicling the journey toward women's voting rights in America.
In addition to teaching English at Fulton-Montgomery Community College, Kolsrud spends her time promoting cultural heritage tourism with a number of local and upstate New York groups, studying abolitionism and Underground Railroad sites, supporting the proposed Harriet Tubman National Historic Park in Auburn, Cayuga County, and advocating for a national trail of women's history sites.
Kolsrud has been a committee member for several local fundraising events and in 2010 spearheaded the sponsorship drive for the 34 purple Women's Equality banners displayed on lampposts in downtown Johnstown in honor of Stanton.
For more information about the National Women's History Project, see www.nwhp.org.