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Reading Between The Lines; Or, The Literary Lives Of The Davis Family, Amelia Benner, '09
Reading Between The Lines; Or, The Literary Lives Of The Davis Family, Amelia Benner, '09
Honors Projects, History
The books that the Davises read provide an insight into their personal lives while also reflecting the cultural ideologies in which they believed. Although they lived on the Illinois frontier, David and Sarah Davis were clearly products of the literate, Eastern ' middle class. Although David Davis was a voracious reader, most of the books that appear in the letters 'are mentioned by women, in an interesting parallel to the "feminization" of literature that occurred during the first half of-the 19th century. Meanwhile, many historians have pointed out that "middle-class values," such as the cult of domesticity and the idealization …