My Research…

A little while back, I had a new post asking you what you wanted to see here on the blog. (Want to see something? Read about something? Comment here.) One of the comments I received was asking me to share what I am currently working on, researching, and now writing.

Well, I feel like should start with the big picture and then I’ll share the project I’m currently buried in. For me, narrowing down my focus for graduate school was the most difficult task. As an undergrad, all those years ago, I loved multiple periods of US history. But I’ve finally found my love in nineteenth-century US. I focus on gender and religion during that period. And I love what I study, I find both the development and reinforcement (and challenging of) gender roles and religions during this period fascinating. I also find that they work extremely well together. Women tended to outnumber men in Christian churches, and while this space tended to reinforce the male-dominated hierarchy, it also provided a safe space for women to act as leaders and pioneers. I also find them the most exciting topics to teach because early students to history tend to overlook the importance of both women and religion in American history.

In my current research, and really what I’ve been studying off and on for the past five years, I study Mormon women in the nineteenth century. This began with the thesis I wrote while pursuing my Masters degree. That thesis looked at how polygamy and missionary work intersected in the late nineteenth century, using the Hawaiian mission field as a case study. Now I have shifted to looking more specifically women in the Mormon benevolent organization, the Relief Society (also known as the Female Relief Society). I am looking at the period in the organization’s history before incorporated into the Church. I have been working on this specific project for just under a year. I consider the Relief Society in the same vein other historians have looked at other benevolent organizations of this period (Mary Ryan, Nancy Hewitt, Lori Ginzberg, Anne Boylan). I have my argument, but I’ll save that until after I have submitted the thesis and the thesis committee and approved it. So this might be a “to be continued” post…

At this point I both love and hate my project. I love the information I found and I love the research work. But I hate that place after writing first and second drafts of the paper. Now I’m working on my fourth draft, reading through again trying to fix the problem spots (there are many!) and make all the sections come together to form a whole. Oh the art of writing! Do you have any tips for writing that helps you construct your papers, essays, articles, or even books?  Trust me, I could use the suggestions!!

And I want to know what you are currently researching! It could be a scholarly project or such a random search on the internet trying to understand something. It may be historical or not. Share your interests, your process, and what you plan to do with what you find here!

A Blog Dedicated to Women’s Suffrage

Hey all! I just stumbled upon a new blog (thanks to the H-Net list serv) and as a historian specifically interested in women I had to share this with all the Fun with History readers.

Votes for Women appears to be the blog for Suffrage Campaign Wagon website. This website is dedicated to recalling the history of the “Spirit of 1776″ wagon used by Edna Buckman Kearns in her efforts toward suffrage in New York state. From their website:

It was donated by I.S. Remson, a Brooklyn carriage maker, to the New York State Woman Suffrage Association in 1913. The presentation to the state organization made big news at the time, including an article in the New York Times. Part of the attention given to the old wagon stemmed from the belief that it had been built by a revolutionary patriot on Long Island in 1776. This was part of its appeal when it traveled from town to town on Long Island and when it was featured in New York City suffrage parades. The legend about the wagon’s origins no doubt was responsible for the fact that the wagon was preserved and it has survived to the present day. Other horse-drawn suffrage wagons were used on trips and in suffrage organizing, but most –if not all– reverted to other uses after their missions were fulfilled. Only in the past decade has it become known for certain that the “Spirit of 1776” was built later, perhaps after 1820, and not in 1776 as the wagon donor company, I.S. Remson believed. The wagon is important as a symbol of grassroots campaign organizing of the period. The suffrage campaign wagon is in the permanent collection of the New York State Museum in Albany, New York.

The blog is filled with brief posts about moments in the suffrage movement’s history. I’ve included in my blogroll listed to the right. I recommend taking a gander and taking a quick tour of women in history.

Thinking Grad School?

Hello fellow History lovers!

I know that its been a while since the last post and I’m preparing a good about what is history for when hit 2000 hits. But it’s been a busy August, so again this is a short post. I know there is a good chance that some of you reading this are fellow grad students or prospective grad students. I wanted to share a great Open Letter to New Grad Students. This has some excellent advice for those of you applying or going into your first year of graduate school. It can also be a reminder for some of us already in the middle of it.

Today is the 90th anniversary of women’s suffrage! That’s right after over 70 years of women fighting for more rights and the vote, they finally succeeded with the 19th Amendment in 1920. A great post about suffrage can be found at Suffering for Suffrage, 90 Years Since. You can also read about one of the first women’s conventions, Seneca Falls, on an older post here at Fun with History.

Finally, if you haven’t already – comment or message me about what you think history is and why we study it! I have heard some great things, but I’m hoping to hear some more before the post is up.

Today We Celebrate Our Independence

Hello fellow history lovers. Instead of a usual today in history type blog, since you all know what happened today, I thought instead I would share some of my favorite links to historical sites & articles relevant to Independence Day, including former posts here. Enjoy & have a Happy 4th of July!!

Read the Declaration or listen to it here, The Declaration of Independence Read Aloud.

Learn about the process of independence on former Fun with History posts, Moving Toward Independence, and the declaration of independence here, Declaring Independence.

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson apparently wrote subjects instead of citizens when writing the Declaration? The AP had a recent article about it: Thomas Jefferson made slip in Declaration.

A piece on how far we’ve come and how far we have to go to achieve a nation that is truly racially independent, Fourth of July, 1776, 1964, 2010.

Myths about the Fourth of July: The Fourth of July and Other Myths of Independence.

Adrian Tinniswood’s piece on the impact of the English Civil War on its American colonies and how it shaped a people that 130 years later fought for independence here, America’s Revolution: The Prequel.

NPR’s suggestions to create the perfect music list to celebrate our independence, A Mix for America.

We are a nation of immigrants and the NY Times has a great Room for Debate blog post on how immigrants proclaim their love of the US in How We Adopted the Fourth of July.

How could we forget about Betsy Ross today, when we hold our flag most dear? The Historiann writes about her in Stars & Stripes Forever.

The History Channel has a video today-in-history about our independence, This Day in History.

How about some fun facts about the Fourth of July? These are great to share while waiting for the fireworks to start:  Facts for Features: The Fourth of July.

And finally, a historical round up of America’s Independence, July 4th.

Crises in Masculinity

As a historian, or an aspiring one, I see time and time again men experiencing crises in their masculinity throughout American history.

In the Puritan era, men’s concerns with masculinity and their relationship with Christ led them to believe in a dual gender in each person (the soul as feminine and the body as masculine). The Salem Witch Trials played out these concepts through members of the community.

In the late 18th century, early Republican men again grew concerned about their masculinity. This played a role in the creation of the Republican Mother and eventually the cult of domesticity. Their fears of what it meant to be a man led to a simple definition: a man is not a woman. A woman stays at home, therefore a man does not. A woman cares for the children, a man does not. You get the idea. This continued throughout the century, playing into American imperialism and ending the century with the Spanish-American War… the ultimate manly war.

In the early 20th century this trend continued. Propaganda efforts for both wars explained in not-so-subtle terms that real men fought the enemy and saved the eternal damsel in distress. Often this also included the enemy feminized. This of course also helped to define gender roles in the 1950s and women responded to this in the 1960s.

Until tonight, I naively believed that contemporary men had finally overcome this fear for their own masculinity. Wrong. Super bowl commercials demonstrate that men still need to define and demonstrate what it means to be a man… a manly man. A man who wears pants and drives a Dodge.