Doris Weatherford's first book was FOREIGN AND FEMALE: IMMIGRANT WOMEN IN AMERICA, 1840-1930. Published in 1986, it was revised and expanded in 1995. KIRKUS REVIEWS said of it, “absorbing chapters full of quotations from original letters and diaries…meticulous research, vibrant reading.”

That book grew out of her questions in a course on immigration at Harvard, and her second book, AMERICAN WOMEN AND WORLD WAR II (1990), grew out of an argument between a WAC and a WAVE at an early NOW meeting in the Boston area. Both were written after Weatherford moved to Florida, where she has lived more than thirty years.

The World War II book also won good reviews, including this comment from LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Fascinating and immensely readable…General readers will enjoy…and will be amazed.” Weatherford has found the most amazing thing about this book to be the fact that it was translated into Japanese.

Later books were AMERICAN WOMEN’S HISTORY: AN A-Z (Prentice Hall, 1994), which has some 700 brief essays on individuals, organizations, issues, and events. MILESTONES: A CHRONOLOGY OF AMERICAN WOMEN’S HISTORY (Facts on File, 1997) places women in the context of the nation's development, beginning in 1492 with the fact that Columbus used maps that he obtained from his mother-in-law.

Weatherford alsohas  managed political campaigns and chaired the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame. Governor Lawton Chiles appointed her as a trustee of Hillsborough Community College, and she taught a course called "Legacies:  Women in America" at the University of South Florida. Also a member of the advisory board of the Center for Florida History at Florida Southern College, she received grants from the Florida Humanities Council and other organizations.

Her late husband, Roy Weatherford, was a philosopher and academic union leader; the multiplicity of his interests can be seen in his publications, which range from PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PROBABILITY THEORY to WORLD PEACE AND THE HUMAN FAMILY. Both grew up in Arkansas, although Doris lived the first decade of her life in Minnesota. Roy went on to Harvard, where he earned his doctorate in 1972; Doris remains grateful for a graduate fellowship from Brandeis University. They loved to travel and spent leisure time gardening. Their daughter, Margaret Weatherford Prater, has a degree in European history from Harvard and is an attorney and law librarian for the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. She married Jeff Prater, also a librarian, in 2009.

MAJOR PUBLIC SERVICE:

Volunteer historian/archivist for the Suncoast Girl Scouts; Tampa's is the second-oldest troop in the nation and has artifacts that date to 1912

 

Only woman on the selection committee for historical statues on Tampa's Riverwalk; Authorized by City Council, 2010-

 

Florida Advisory Board, Ruth’s List (affiliate of national Emily’s List), 2008-2015; Treasurer, 2012-2015

 

Editorial Board, Tampa Bay History Journal, 2006-

 

Advisory Board to Hillsborough Community College Foundation, 2004-2012

 

Advisory Board, Center for Florida History, Florida Southern College in Lakeland, 2002-

 

Board of Trustees, National Women’s History Museum, Washington, DC, 2005-09; Vice President for Program, 2007-09

 

Executive Board, National Women’s History Project, California (founders of Women’s History Month), 2004-2007

 

Board of Trustees, Hillsborough Community College, appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles, 1996-1999; Vice-Chair, 1999

 

Florida Commission on the Status of Women, 1991-99

 

Chair, Florida Women's Hall of Fame, 1992-1999

LISTED IN:

• The World Who's Who of Women, 1996 and subsequent editions

• Who's Who in America, 1990 and subsequent editions
• Contemporary American Authors, 2000

 

AWARDS:

• League of Women Voters Lifetime Achievement Award

 

• American Library Association 2013 Outstanding Reference Source

 

• D.B. McKay Award from the Tampa Historical Society

 

• Book Award Finalist, American Association for State and Local History

 

• International School Librarians Honor Book

 

• Suncoast Girl Scout Council "Woman of Distinction"

 

• Florida Commission on Human Relations Award

 

• National Order of Women Legislators Hall of Fame Award

PAST PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

• 2014 keynote speaker at The American Forum; University of Bialtystok, Poland

 

• Speeches for the U.S. State Department to women from the Middle East, 2007

 

• Paid managerial roles in nineteen political campaigns between 1978 and 2000

 

• American history teacher, Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School; Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 1968-72

 

• Researcher, US News & World Report; Washington, DC, 1966-68

OTHER CURRENT AFFILIATIONS:

• Athena Society

 

• Authors Guild

 

• League of Women Voters

 

• East Hillsborough Democratic Club

 

• Harvard Club of the West Coast of Florida

 

OTHER VOLUNTEERISM:

Doris says "the most rewarding thing I've ever done was to lead a reading group for girls; we read and discussed literary classics. I bought paperback editions of books such as Black Beauty and Little Women that the girls could keep, and we went on field trips related to the books’ topics. Several girls stayed with the biweekly group from elementary school through high school, and I still consider myself a mentor. I’ve also mentored girls on their National History Day projects, as well as women who wanted academic credit for a special project.  Choosing the subjects of the statues on Tampa's Riverwalk also was very rewarding.  The city required that these honorees be dead for at least fifteen years, so it was a good opportunity for research and public education.  The women inlcude African American educators and health leaders, a Cuban revoluntionay who worked with Jose Marti, and a Jewish woman who founded Tampa's first orphanage, a leader in the suffrage movemen,  and more. "