Women's History Commons^™

Dr. Ignác Semmelweis’S 19th-Century Cure For Deadly Childbed Fever Ignored In Vienna’S Maternity Wards: His Sympathy For Women Victims And Their Newborns Costs Professional Standing, Anna Lisa Ohm

Headwaters

No abstract provided.

Behind The Shadows, Selena Ramirez Ahilon

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

The nineteenth century is classified as the Victorian era, a period in which the middle class rose in power as a result of industrialization. As the middle classes living standards rose the middle class became reliant on utilitarianism values. This ideal appeared to offer a more comfortable life for both men and women, however, by classifying the position of women as the “heart” and men as the “head” of the house, women were hindered to a society in shadows. Women were restricted in every aspect of life because men were in power, and the ideal Victorian woman became the one …

Naturalized Women And Womanized Earth: Connecting The Journeys Of Womanhood And The Earth, From The Early Modern Era To The Industrial Revolution, Maggie Rose Berke

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Evolving The Genre Of Empire: Gender And Place In Women's Natural Histories Of The Americas, 1688-1808, Diana Epelbaum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the eighteenth century, “natural history” was a capacious genre designation that alluded to conventions as diverse in their cultural and political resonances as they were in their applications within the New Science. My project is a genre study of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century natural history text and art produced by women scientists, explorers, colonists, and early Americans writing the New World; it destabilizes rigid notions of genre that exclude women, suggesting that genre is by nature fluid, inclusionary as well as exclusionary. To this end, I return into conversation understudied naturalists Maria Sybilla Merian, Jane Colden, and Eliza Pinckney, who …

Stellar Works: Searching For The Lives Of Women In Science, Jennifer Elizabeth Woodman

Dissertations and Theses

While women have had a profound impact in the world of science, they struggle to gain an equal foothold in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields today. This has led to considerable public and private sector efforts to recruit women into these arenas. In order to understand how schools and nonprofits engage today's young women in STEM studies, this account includes time spent both in high school science classrooms and with ChickTech -- a Portland-based organization that works to provide a pathway into tech careers for high school-aged girls.

A historical perspective reveals that modern women aren't treading …

Heavy Expectations: Reading Pregnancy In The Victorian Novel, Livia Arndal Woods

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation articulates the tendency of Victorian novels to make legible only the pregnant bodies of immodest characters who transgress gendered ideologies while the pregnant bodies of modest characters tend to go undescribed. Tracing the medicalization of pregnancy and childbirth over the course of the long nineteenth century, my chapters demonstrate the function of moralizing narrative conventions in the representation of pregnancy in mid-Victorian novels, of a self-conscious use of free indirect diagnosis in high-Victorian fiction, and a shift at the fin-de-siècle from pregnancy as a signifier of morality to a symptom of unstable minds. The novels I read closely …

Femininity And Higher Education: Women At Ontario Universities, 1890 To 1920, Marilla Mccargar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the experiences of women studying at six institutions of higher education from 1890 to 1920. The universities include Queen’s University in Kingston, The University of Western Ontario in London, the University of Toronto and its affiliates Victoria University, University College, and Trinity College in Toronto. While pioneering women who attended universities in the 1880s were opposed by people who believed a belief that women’s intellects were inferior to men’s, women in this study faced the belief that by engaging in the “masculine” pursuit of higher education they risked their future as wives and mothers and thus jeopardized …

On Emmy Noether And Her Algebraic Works, Deborah Radford

All Student Theses

In the early 1900s a rising star in the mathematics world was emerging. I will discuss her life as a female mathematician and the struggles she faced being a rebel in her time. I will also take an in depth look at some of her contributions to the mathematics and science community . Her work in algebra and more specifically, ring theory, are said to be foundations for much of the work done since then. Her developments in abstract algebra helped to unify topology, geometry, logic and linear algebra. Also, Noether's theorem is a widely used theorem in physics along …

What Would Florence Do?, Ian A. Isherwood

Civil War Institute Faculty Publications

Mercy Street has no shortage of nineteenth century medical trivia. Dr. Foster repeatedly invokes his stellar medical education, which includes not only study in Philadelphia, America’s medical Mecca of that time, but also a grand tour abroad where he learned all kinds of fancy techniques from some of the great medical minds of the era. Similarly, we have been introduced to Anne Hastings, the alleged Crimean War nurse, her character no doubt causing many to brush up on their nineteenth century European history. [excerpt]

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2016

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.

Patient-Prisoners: Venereal Disease Control And The Policing Of Female Sexuality In The United States, 1890-1945, Evelyn A. Sorrell

Theses and Dissertations--History

Sexual politics were central in the United States’ venereal disease control movement in the early decades of the twentieth century. This dissertation analyzes the evolution of the venereal disease control movement from the Progressive Era reformers focus on creating a single standard of morality to the Public Health Service’s (PHS) concern over maternal and economic health during the Great Depression. I examine the intersections of public health, gender, sexuality, and citizenship through reactions and policies addressing venereal disease. In particular, the United States’ entry into World War I heightened fears of moral and health crises, as military physicals uncovered a …

Prescribing The American Dream: Psychoanalysts, Mass Media, And The Construction Of Social And Political Norms In The 1950'S, Daniel P. Kamienski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This paper surveys how and why psychoanalysis during the 1950s—its “Golden Age” in the United States—emerged as a highly respected professional discipline with great public currency. The prevalence and popularity of psychoanalysts in public culture is substantiated by an extensive survey of primary print sources featuring psychoanalysts opining on many of the major social and political issues of the decade. Combining these opinions with those expressed in professional journals and publications, this paper reveals how psychoanalysts used their growing public currency to shape debates about which social identities and behaviors, cultural values, and political ideals were appropriate and legitimate for …

Review Of Marjo Kaartinen, Breast Cancer In The Eighteenth Century, Marie Mulvey-Roberts

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830

No abstract provided.

Weed Women, All Night Vigils, And The Secret Life Of Plants: Negotiated Epistemologies Of Ethnogynecological Plant Knowledge In American History, Claudia Jeanne Ford

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation critiques the discourse of traditional ecological knowledge described as embedded in indigenous peoples' longevity in location, for the purpose of understanding the embodiment of ecological knowledge in culture. The aim of this research is to examine the historical and epistemic complexity of traditional ecological knowledge that may be both established from the length of time people reside in a specific ecosystem and constitutive of negotiations between and among different cultures. I choose the specific case of the negotiation of plant knowledge for women's reproductive health among Native, African, and European groups as those negotiations unfolded on the American …

Revolutionary Decade: Reflections On The 1960s, Booth Library

Booth Library Programs

Photo galleries and supporting exhibits can be found on the REVOLUTIONARY DECADE exhibit page.

Exhibit Dates

This exhibit was displayed at Booth Library September 9 - November 20, 2014

World War I Volunteer Nursing, Megan L. Schmedake

The Purdue Historian

In spite of the hardships of World War I, women volunteered as nurses out of patriotism and because of their desire to fulfill their traditional roles as caregivers. Due to the thousands of women who volunteered as nurses throughout the war, the idea that war was primarily a male experience was challenged. Many women made a conscious effort to support the war, and they pushed for equality by seeking to share the same wartime experiences as men. Women experienced the gruesome conditions of war alongside men and learned the best surgical practices of the time by assisting doctors. Because of …

When Harvard Said No To Eugenics: The J. Ewing Mears Bequest, 1927, Paul A. Lombardo

Faculty Publications By Year

James Ewing Mears (1838-1919) was a founding member of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery. His 1910 book, The Problem of Race Betterment, laid the groundwork for later authors to explore the uses of surgical sterilization as a eugenic measure. Mears left $60,000 in his will to Harvard University to support the teaching of eugenics. Although numerous eugenic activists were on the Harvard faculty, and who of its Presidents were also associated with the eugenics movement, Harvard refused the Mears gift. The bequest was eventually awarded to Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. This article explains why Harvard turned its back …

Griswold V. Connecticut: A Study Of Resistance To Sexual Revolution In Connecticut, 1961, Natalie Pearson

Young Historians Conference

In 1965, the last remaining anticontraceptive law in the United States was made unconstitutional in Griswold v. Connecticut. Despite widespread acceptance of the use of contraceptives, Connecticut legislatures put up incredible resistance to the sexual revolution of the 1960s and subsequent demand that the statute--outlawing individual use of contraceptives--be removed. This paper asserts Connecticut's foundation as a haven for Protestant values as the reason for this determined resistance to the acceptance of contraceptives.

Enlightenment And Catholicism In Europe. A Transnational History, Ulrich Lehner, Jeffrey Burson

Ulrich L. Lehner

No abstract provided.

Quantitative Literacy And The Humanities, Rachel Chrastil

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Taste Of Mathematics: Caroline Herschel At 31, Laura Long

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The poem brings to life how Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) learned mathematics from her brother William as they began to work as professional astronomers.

'A Triumph Of Brains Over Brute': Women And Science At The Horticultural College, Swanley, 1890-1910, Donald L. Opitz

School of Continuing and Professional Studies Faculty Publications

The founding of Britain's first horticultural college in 1889 advanced a scientific and coeducational response to three troubling national concerns: a major agricultural depression; the economic distress of single, unemployed women; and imperatives to develop the colonies. Buoyed by the technical instruction and women's movements, the Horticultural College and Produce Company, Limited, at Swanley, Kent, crystallized a transformation in the horticultural profession in which new science-based, formalized study threatened an earlier emphasis on practical apprenticeship training, with the effect of opening male-dominated trades to women practitioners. By 1903, the college closed its doors to male students, and new pathways were …

'A Triumph Of Brains Over Brute': Women And Science At The Horticultural College, Swanley, 1890-1910, Donald L. Opitz

Donald L. Opitz

The founding of Britain's first horticultural college in 1889 advanced a scientific and coeducational response to three troubling national concerns: a major agricultural depression; the economic distress of single, unemployed women; and imperatives to develop the colonies. Buoyed by the technical instruction and women's movements, the Horticultural College and Produce Company, Limited, at Swanley, Kent, crystallized a transformation in the horticultural profession in which new science-based, formalized study threatened an earlier emphasis on practical apprenticeship training, with the effect of opening male-dominated trades to women practitioners. By 1903, the college closed its doors to male students, and new pathways were …

The Road To Gaining Acceptance And Status For Women In American Medicine, Terrie S. Ahn

Honors College Theses

For my honors thesis, I discuss the history of women in American medicine during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, I focus on how the social and cultural time periods affected women’s efforts in pursuing further medical education, how these women were perceived and treated by not only their male colleagues, but also the outside world, how it affected their future career choices in medicine, and finally, how their efforts ended up changing the medical career path for future female generations.

It begins with a discussion of the variety of obstacles, both private and public, that hindered …

The End Of Nowhere: The History Of Tuberculosis In Ri, Emma G. Sconyers

Senior Honors Projects

The World Health Organization estimates that approximately one third of the word's current population had been infected with tuberculosis. Prior to the 1940's TB was considered an incurable, chronic affliction. Historically, many people were forcibly detained in tuberculosis sanatoria to lessen the spread of the disease; my great granfather being one of them. In 1939, without warning, he was taken from his pregnant, jobless wife and one-year-old daughter, who were left to fend for themselves for two years without government planning or assistance. He spent those two years at Wallum Lake Sanitorium in northern Rhode Island, a place my great-grandmother's …

Eugenothenics: The Literary Connection Between Domesticity And Eugenics, Caleb J. True

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This is an analysis of the connection between the domestic science and eugenics. While it is made clear by historians such as Megan Elias and Kathy Cooke that there is ample connection between eugenics and euthenics, there has not been as comprehensive an analysis of the direct connections between domestic science and eugenics. Close examination of literature from the domestic science movement reveals the shared goals of domestic science and eugenics. The domestic science movement was also a necessary precursor to the euthenics movement, not simply a “re-envisioning” of home economics by Ellen Richards. When Richards died, her euthenic ideals …

Gay And Lesbian Elders: History, Law, And Identity Politics In The United States, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

The approximately two million gay and lesbian elders in the United States are an underserved and understudied population. At a time when gay men and lesbians enjoy an unprecedented degree of social acceptance and legal protection, many elders face the daily challenges of aging isolated from family, detached from the larger gay and lesbian community, and ignored by mainstream aging initiatives. Drawing on materials from law, history, and social theory, this book integrates practical proposals for reform with larger issues of sexuality and identity. Beginning with a summary of existing demographic data and offering a historical overview of pre-Stonewall views …

Rochester 'Over There': Gender And Medicine In World War I, Ellen S. More

Ellen S. More

No abstract provided.

Women In Railroading, Linda Niemann, Shirley Burman

Linda G. Niemann

No abstract provided.

Boomer In A Boom Town, Linda Niemann

Linda G. Niemann

Presents an article about a woman working as a brakesman/switchman on the Southern Pacific Railroad in Houston, Texas. Events that led her to Houston; Her function as railroad woman; Challenges faced by workers on the railroad.