Free seminar explores the role of pioneer women

“Pioneer Women of the Santa Monica Mountains” will be the subject of a free lecture presented by Patty Colman at 2 p.m. Sat., Sept. 10 at the National Park Service Visitor Center, 401 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks.

Colman is a contract historian with the National Park Service and an instructor in American history, American Indian history and women’s history at Moorpark College.

Among the topics she will explore are the following: What were the experiences and the challenges that faced early homesteaders? Who were those pioneers that moved into the rugged Santa Monica Mountains? Who were these people who built homes and roads, raised crops, and created a life for their families and a community for their neighbors? About 12 percent of all land patents in the mountains were granted to women; who were they?

Colman will shed light on the lives of women who homesteaded in the mountains between 1885 and 1908, including an immigrant teacher in Topanga, an African-American mother of two, a mother-daughter team from the Midwest and a 70-yearold widow.

For further information, call the National Park Service at (805) 370-2301.