Biography & Career Of Sherill Redmon

1 month ago

Biography & Career Of Sherill Redmon

Sherill Redmon is a retired feminist scholar and the former director of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History Archives at Smith College.

She is also known as the first wife of Mitch McConnell, the U.S. Senate Republican leader.

She has been involved in various projects and initiatives to document and preserve the history of women’s movements and activism in the United States and worldwide.

Early Life & Education

Sherill Redmon was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in February 1943. She is the daughter of Charles and Doris Redmon, who were both educators.

She grew up in a middle-class family and attended public schools in Louisville. She graduated from Atherton High School in 1961 and enrolled at the University of Louisville, where she majored in history.

She received her bachelor’s degree in 1965 and continued her studies at the University of Kentucky, where she earned her master’s degree in 1967 and her Ph.D. in American history in 1974.

Her doctoral dissertation focused on the role of women in the Kentucky abolitionist movement.

Personal Life

Sherill Redmon married Mitch McConnell, a fellow student at the University of Kentucky, in 1968. They had three daughters: Eleanor, Claire, and Porter.

The couple moved to Washington, D.C., in 1970, when McConnell began his political career as an aide to Senator Marlow Cook.

Redmon was a research assistant at the Library of Congress and taught history at Northern Virginia Community College.

However, their marriage deteriorated, and they divorced in 1980. Redmon moved to Massachusetts with her daughters and settled in Northampton, where she became the director of the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College.

She has not remarried since her divorce and has maintained a low profile in the media. She has supported her daughters’ careers and interests, such as Eleanor’s work as a public health advocate, Claire’s involvement in the Democratic Party, and Porter’s activism for economic justice.

Career

Sherill Redmon has had a distinguished career as a feminist historian, archivist, and educator.

She joined the Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History Archives at Smith College in 1983 and became its director in 1985.

The collection is one of the oldest and largest repositories of women’s history materials in the U.S., containing over 700 collections of personal papers, organizational records, oral histories, photographs, audiovisual materials, and publications.

Redmon oversaw the acquisition, preservation, and access of these materials and the development of exhibitions, publications, and educational programs.

She also initiated and led several projects to document and celebrate the history of women’s movements and activism, such as the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project, the Women’s Liberation Movement Print Culture Digital Collection, the Women of Color Oral History Project, and the Gloria Steinem Papers Project.

She collaborated with prominent feminists, such as Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Angela Davis, Alice Walker, and bell hooks, to collect and share their stories and contributions.

She retired from Smith College in 2012 and received an honorary degree for her service and leadership.