Join us September 27th to Honor a Keeper of the Flame and Champion of the Mill Renovation Project: Jeanne Giovannini!
The National Women’s Hall of Fame (Hall) is pleased to announce that the “Keeper of the Flame” award is being presented to Jeanne Giovannini of Seneca Falls on September 27th, 2025.
Giovannini will receive the award in recognition of her many years of dedicated leadership to the ongoing renovation and restoration of the Hall’s permanent home, the Seneca Knitting Mill. Giovannini joined the Hall board in 2007 and served through 2025; she is also a past president of the board.
Giovannini has served as the chair and champion of the Mill Renovation Project since 2012 working with teams of fundraising and construction personnel responsible for the adaptive rehabilitation of the Mill. Her leadership, commitment, and tenacity have been instrumental in bringing what was once only a vision to reality.
Under her leadership, the once‑dilapidated 1844 Seneca Knitting Mill—located directly across the canal from the Wesleyan Chapel, site of the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention—was carefully and collaboratively rehabilitated into an accessible, vibrant museum and community space.
The project was honored with the Joan K. Davidson Award, the highest honor in New York State’s Historic Preservation Awards. The award recognized nearly a decade of shared vision, adaptive design, and community engagement—transforming the mill into a 16,000 sq ft landmark featuring exhibit space, meeting rooms, event facilities, and accessibility improvements recognized by New York State.
The organization will honor her at a special event open to the public on September 27 at the Hall. Learn more here.
About the Keeper of the Flame Award
Presented by the National Women’s Hall of Fame, The Keeper of the Flame Award has honored extraordinary women since 2005 who embody courage, leadership, and a steadfast commitment to the mission of elevating women’s stories and keeping the spirit of the women’s rights movement alive.
In 1977, a torch with a symbolic flame was relayed from Seneca Falls to Houston for the National Women’s Conference, a distance of 2600 miles, by over 1000 runners.
Millicent Brady Moore, a descendent of Susan Quinn Brown, the youngest attendee at the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention, started the relay race, handing the torch to Kathrine Switzer, the first official female competitor in the Boston Marathon.
Ms. Switzer raced a distance, then passed the torch to two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in swimming, Donna De Varona. (Both women are Hall Inductees!)
Past honorees include:
- Dorothy Wickenden, Executive Editor of The New Yorker
- Alexis Vogt, optics educator and innovator
- Ginny Ryan, award‑winning journalist and Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductee
- Veteran Feminists of America, second‑wave pioneers
- Dr. Susan Houde‑Walter, optics and national security leader
- Karen Jacobs, occupational health expert and academic
- Dawn Seymour, WWII Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP)
These women form a powerful legacy of leadership that we honor with each additional Torchbearer!
What’s more, the torch used for this historic run will be made available at the event for attendees to experience a true piece of history.
Tickets are now available, and sponsorship opportunities remain.