Cal State Northridge pays tribute to those special ladies with an exhibit, "In Search of Our Mother's Kitchens: Women in the Domestic Arts, 1900-2000," as part of Women's History Month. Located in the Oviatt Library lobby and second floor west wing, the exhibit runs through March 30.

"What we're hoping to do with the exhibit is celebrate and appreciate all the women who made breakfast and peanut butter sandwiches without any compensation or recognition," said CSUN librarian Caroline Russom.

"This is not a judgmental exhibit. This is an exhibit for all the women who spend time in the kitchen doing things for others," Russom said. "Every year about this time we celebrate the first woman astronaut, the first woman Nobel laureate, women who do remarkable and incredible things. Those women in the kitchen, our mothers and grandmothers, also do remarkable things, and no one remembers."

The exhibit features a number of items from Russom's personal collection as well as several photographs of women at work in the kitchen - from bathing children in the sink to cooking the family meals.

In addition to the exhibit, author and CSUN librarian Virginia Elwood will lecture about the life of women's activist Caroline Severance at noon on March 22 in the library's Presentation Room. Elwood is currently working on a book about Severance and her talk is titled "Municipal Housekeeping: Caroline Severance and the Women's Club Movement." For more information about the exhibit, call (818) 677-2271.