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Women's History Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Women's History

Leap Year: Chance, Chase, Or Curse?, Sue Lynn Mcdaniel Jan 2016

Leap Year: Chance, Chase, Or Curse?, Sue Lynn Mcdaniel

SCL Faculty and Staff Publications

Based on a popularized legend in which St. Patrick granted to St. Bridget the right for all single women to propose marriage during leap years, the custom has produced ephemera as evidence of stereotypical old maids and bachelors and created vinegar valentines, ball invitations, dance cards, sheet music and calling cards. Between 1904 and 1916, at least 54 publishing houses created Leap Year postcards illustrated by more than 17 of the most talented artists of the day. Despite possible good intentions, the majority of the ephemera stereotypes single women as so desperate to marry that even unsuitable spouses, including alcoholics, …


Fannie’S Flirtations: Etiquette, Reality, And The Age Of Choice, Sue Lynn Mcdaniel Jan 1995

Fannie’S Flirtations: Etiquette, Reality, And The Age Of Choice, Sue Lynn Mcdaniel

SCL Faculty and Staff Publications

The 1890s were, for bright young females, an age of choice. Despite admonitions that flirting would ruin their reputations, many south central Kentucky adolescents enjoyed courtship rituals and remained highly respected in their communities. For every Charlotte Perkins Gilman with a mission set on advancing the status of women within our society, numerous females existed simply to enjoy life’s fullness and frivolity. Fannie Morton Bryan’s life story, as told through her diaries and newspaper accounts, gives readers a glimpse of the many rather than the few, the fun-loving rather than the serious-minded, and the old maid flirt in the largest …


The Little Colonel: A Phenomenon In Popular Literary Culture, Sue Lynn Mcdaniel Apr 1991

The Little Colonel: A Phenomenon In Popular Literary Culture, Sue Lynn Mcdaniel

SCL Faculty and Staff Publications

Written by Annie Fellows Johnston (1863-1931), a set of twelve novels published between 1895 and 1912, influenced thousands of readers to emulate the main character, Lloyd Sherman, and her chums. As the rise of the “New Woman” found multi¬tudes of southern women fearful that such change would threaten the stability of the home, impressionable young readers idealized the Old South and accepted the selfless values which Johnston taught through the Little Colonel series. Drawing upon both her own experiences and those of her devoted audience, Johnston recorded life as she knew it and provides modern read¬ers with insight into the …