![Girlhood.](/sites/default/files/styles/exhibit_header_mobile_375x208/public/2024-07/25_gc_web_header_mobile.jpg?h=1d41d617&itok=n-dd3xHo)
![Girlhood.](/sites/default/files/styles/exhibit_header_mobile_375x208/public/2024-07/25_gc_web_header.jpg?h=04e7bc20&itok=b53uCuX4)
Girlhood (It’s complicated)
Ticket price includes admission to all Minnesota History Center exhibits. MNHS Members get in free.
See how girls have spoken up, challenged expectations, and been on the front lines of social change throughout US history.
Explore the ever-evolving concept of girlhood in the United States and how young women have influenced politics, education, work, health, and fashion.
Girlhood (It’s complicated) features interactive displays, over 100 objects from the Smithsonian collection, and a Minnesota History Center exclusive section on women’s basketball in Minnesota that highlights the many ways players have supported and empowered each other, both on and off the court.
Minnesota (where girls shoot hoops)
For girls, life on the court is a lot like life in general.
Take a shot. Rebound. Assist. Pivot. Cross the line. Score.
Girls played Minnesota’s first recorded basketball game in 1893. Ever since then, girls have shaped—and been shaped by—the game.
Through stories of individual players and teams, this section of the exhibit, developed by the Minnesota Historical Society, will demonstrate how girls who make a difference grow into women committed to supporting the next generations of female athletes as coaches, mentors, friends, and allies.
![1920 Photo by Louis F. Dworshak.](/sites/default/files/2024-08/gv3_12-p94-600x473.png)
Villa Sancta Scholastica High School Department of The College of St. Scholastica, 1920. Photo by Louis F. Dworshak.
Girlhood (It’s complicated) related resources
Shop for related books
From contemporary classics to urgent dispatches, Minnesota Historical Society Press offers a rich array of books that explore the truly complicated—and joyful, and poignant, and dramatic—aspects of girlhood.
![Color logo for the Smithsonian.](/sites/default/files/2024-07/si_logo-primary-clr-copyx50.png)
Girlhood (It’s complicated) was created by the National Museum of American History and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. The exhibition is supported by the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative, a program of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.
![Color legacy logo height 75.](/sites/default/files/2024-07/legacy_logo-h_rgbx75.png)
Funding provided by the State of Minnesota's Legacy Amendment, through the vote of Minnesotans on Nov. 4, 2008, and our generous donors and members.
MNHS Sponsors
![UHC blue logo.](/sites/default/files/2024-08/uhc_primary_reg_blu_rgbx280.png)
MNHS Presenting Sponsor
![Securian financial logo color.](/sites/default/files/2024-08/sf-logo-rgb-bkx300.png)
MNHS Presenting Sponsor
![Judy Schwartau wordmark.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/logos/judy-wordmark.png?itok=mQI1Q-Oi)
![The Women's Organization of MNHS wordmark.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/logos/womensorg-mnhs.png?itok=gEXKg9-g)
![The Star Tribune color logo.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/logos/theminnesotastartribune_logo_lockup_vt_2stack_rgb.png?itok=WamaCd4J)
![WCCO black logo.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/logos/wccox200.png?itok=4Uil28AQ)
![MPR news color horiz logo.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/logos/mprnews_horz.jpg?itok=IbgoeN_i)