Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Women's History Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Women's History

Working Witches: Fortune Tellers, Clairvoyants, And Astrologers In The Golden Age Of Spiritualism, Grace Kredell Dec 2022

Working Witches: Fortune Tellers, Clairvoyants, And Astrologers In The Golden Age Of Spiritualism, Grace Kredell

Women's History Theses

Scholars of Spiritualism have long held that the movement grew spontaneously, forming around the Fox sisters as news of their novel “spirit-rapping” spread through New York in 1849. My thesis argues that a wide spectrum of occult workers, already active in New York City, paved the way for these genteel celebrities and their followers. These working women were already refashioning their trade before Spiritualism’s arrival, evident by the myriad new professional identities they claimed. Through newspaper advertisements, public commentaries, and popular occult literature, I closely examine several professional monikers common in New York City at the time. Chapter One chronicles …


The Immigrant Nannies Of New York City: An Examination Of The Friendships Between Nannies And Mother-Employers, Esmeralda Paula Jan 2022

The Immigrant Nannies Of New York City: An Examination Of The Friendships Between Nannies And Mother-Employers, Esmeralda Paula

Senior Projects Spring 2022

This ethnography focuses on the emotions of the women of color who elaborated on their experiences working for wealthy, white families in ethnographic interviews. This project is interested in the connections formed between nannies and mother-employers with the goal of better understanding the positionalities of female domestic workers of color. Immigrant populations are frequently depicted by news outlets as overworked, underpaid, and poor. When interacting with nannies, I realized that these women did not consider themselves impoverished despite working in a role that is identifiable with servanthood. The labor that nannies perform calls back to a long tradition of women …


'Once Famous In An Odd Way': Curiosity And Queerness In Late 19th-Century American Male Impersonation, S.C. Lucier Jun 2020

'Once Famous In An Odd Way': Curiosity And Queerness In Late 19th-Century American Male Impersonation, S.C. Lucier

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis depicts the emergence of one particular iteration of the popular female actor within 19th century performance, the male impersonator, and identifies the ways in which this theatrical expression was related to and affected by similar amusements of the period. Public amusements of this period include a diversity of experiential entertainment that was primarily geared toward working and lower-middle class males. Included in these types of illegitimate theater is the variety hall. Male impersonators were the height of theatrical fashion not only in New York City, which is the focused landscape of this paper, but this type of …


Clara Lemlich Shavelson: An Activist Life, Sarah B. Cohn Jun 2017

Clara Lemlich Shavelson: An Activist Life, Sarah B. Cohn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Clara Lemlich Shavelson is primarily known for her impassioned speeches during the 1909 Uprising of 20,000. The majority of histories written about her address her involvement in organizing women garment workers in New York’s Lower East Side from her arrival in New York in 1903 up through the eleven-week general strike in 1909. After this, the literature would have you believe she fades into obscurity, for there is only one book that addresses her life post 1909. Shavelson did not give up organizing after 1909. She got married, moved to Brooklyn, and started a family. In Brooklyn, she organized women …


An Alliance Of Ladies: Power, Public Affairs, And Class Construction In Early National New York City, Alisa J. Wade Sep 2016

An Alliance Of Ladies: Power, Public Affairs, And Class Construction In Early National New York City, Alisa J. Wade

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The dissertation studies elite women’s political consciousness in New York City between 1783 and 1815, contextualizing women’s position within the city’s social strata and the rise of market capitalism in the post-Revolutionary era. In a period of deferential politics, women within the leadership class played a unique role in remodeling the structure of republican government and determining who belonged within it. Building on the foundation of learned femininity, they constructed the etiquette that undergirded men’s political careers and oversaw the marriage market. They mediated divisions between new merchant capital and more established landed wealth, reinforcing dynastic stability. Moreover, they were …


From “Destroying Angel” To “The Most Dangerous Woman In America”: A Study Of Mary Mallon’S Depiction In Popular Culture, Claire Sandoval-Peck Jun 2016

From “Destroying Angel” To “The Most Dangerous Woman In America”: A Study Of Mary Mallon’S Depiction In Popular Culture, Claire Sandoval-Peck

History Undergraduate Theses

My paper examines the life of "Typhoid Mary" Mallon, and looks at how she has been depicted and vilified in popular culture. It asks why and how she has been remembered in history as the infamous “Typhoid Mary” and how her portrayal has been influenced by the attitudes and beliefs of the time and place of her life. I discuss her historical legacy through the lens of her three identities as a healthy carrier, Irish immigrant, and a working woman, researching both primary and secondary sources. Through exploring those subjects, I have concluded that the convergence of these three identities …