[HER]story: Women's Roles Through History
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Pequot Library Special Collections | On view February 17 - May 8, 2022
[HER]story:Women’s Roles Through History
Pequot Library presents an exhibition on the evolution of the roles of women in society from the 1700s forward. Selected items from the Library’s Special Collections will reveal the impressive accomplishments of women over time, highlighting local and national figures such as Virginia Monroe, Mary Hull Wakeman, and Amelia Earhart. Join Pequot Library for a walk through Colonial America, the Gilded Age, the Women's Suffrage movement, World War employment, and into modern life. Exploring through text, visual representations, and fashion, follow visionary women through [her]story and bear witness to their strength and resilience, as they move from pedestals to protests, from boredom to boardroom, to lead and to love. Kelly Marino, Ph.D., Coordinator of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Sacred Heart University will deliver the opening presentation on February 17, 2022, at 6 p.m.. The exhibition can be viewed in person during library browsing hours and via this digital version. This exhibition is made possible in part through the Constance C. Baker Rare Book Fund with additional support from the Jennifer Crosby Cargill Art Fund.
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Click on an image to learn more.
I. Pequot Connections
III. Juliet as Eternal Female
II. Then and Now
IV. The Christie Girl
V. In the Cases
VI. Women in the Stacks
Click here for Interviews and other resources related to the exhibition.
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I. Pequot connections
INTRODUCTION
To help trace women's role through history, the first place to look is in the stunning materials collected by Pequot Library. Here, in this virtual representation, you will see images and text from the Perkin Gallery to show how women have distinguished themselves over time. These fierce, feisty, and faithful women represent philanthropy, history, the Arts, cooking, and science. Also at play are women in politics, literature, and libraries. And one was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. An interactive menu of the women highlighted follows this slide.
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CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO LEARN MORE.
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virginia marquand monroe
Mary Virginia Tompkins Marquand Monroe was born in Brooklyn, NY, on April 28, 1837, the daughter of Erastus Osborne Tompkins and Mary Penfield Marquand Tompkins. Sadness as well as privilege colored Viriginia's life. Her parents died when she was a young child. Frederick Marquand, her uncle, had made his fortune in the silver trade in Manhattan. Frederick formerly adopted Virginia as his daughter and brought her to his Southport home. Among the many benefits of her Southport life, Virginia took seriously her uncle's beliefs in philanthropy and civic duty. With her husband, Elbert Brinckerhoff Monroe, she hired New York architect Robert H. Robertson to build a library in the backyard of the Marquand-Monroe mansion on Pequot Avenue in Southport. The Monroes presented the library, as a gift to the Town of Fairfield and the Village of Southport, to the newly established Pequot Library Association in memory of Frederick Marquand. In April 1894, Pequot Library opened to the public, though sadly one month after Elbert's sudden death. Mrs. Monroe then razed the mansion so that the focus would rest on the library. The first book Virginia donated to the library was Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Many more were to follow.
Audubon'sAMERICAN FLAMINGO
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VIRGINIA MONROE
The Monroe's were advised by the Rev. William Holman, pastor for over 30 years of the Southport Congregational Church. Holman, in turn, consulted the eminent Justin Winsor, first president of the American Library Association. Virginia and Elbert Monroe benefited from both; Elbert choosing Early Americana as a collecting trend, and Virginia preferring literature and natural science. This example from the natural science collections at Pequot shows how Audubon depicted the American Flamingo. Audubon wanted to portray each species in its adult size. Even with the massive size of the double elephant folio, approx. 39”x26 ½”, the American Flamingo would not fit fully erect. To compensate, Audubon cleverly depicts the bird extending its elegant neck downward to dredge for food. Virginia Monroe purchased all the subscriptions for the Bien edition and had them bound for posterity. Birds of America, Bien Edition, Plate #50. Also called Red Flamingo, Phoenicopterus Tuber.
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Gould'scalypte annae
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VIRGINIA MONROE
Another example from Mrs. Monroe's natural history acquisitions is the very delicate images of hummingbirds in John Gould's A Monograph of the Trochilidae: Family of Hummingbirds. The monograph comprises an introduction, five volumes plus a supplement, totaling 416 color lithographic plates, and an index to the specific names of hummingbirds. Gould or his colleague, W. Hart, would draw with pencil or watercolor. A team of artists used the sketches as a guide as they applied gold and silver leaf underneath the watercolors, a technique which gives an iridescent quality. Gould worked on this project for almost 20 years. It was not finished until after his death. He painted from the preserved skins of the birds showing the detail, beauty, and color of the remarkable birds. Calypte Annae (Anna’s Calypte), Plate 135.
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hannah adams
Hannah Adams (1755 –1831) is considered the first woman in the U.S. who worked professionally as a writer. Adams focused on comparative religion and early American history. With the decision by Elbert B. Monroe to collect Early Americana for Pequot Library, Hannah Adams was a logical choice. Adams spent her life in Massachusetts in humble circumstances. Her father had a small country store and also boarded some students studying Divinity, from whom Hannah learned Greek and Latin, which she subsequently taught. She was of poor health and precarious means, but a rare being for her day in that she was an educated woman. Hannah’s first publication, A View of Religions (1784), provided her with sufficient compensation to live more comfortably and to pay debts previously incurred stemming from her illnesses and those of her sister.
As Hannah published more, her fame and connections grew. Adams was the first professional author to be a member of the Boston Athenæum, where some of her letters and books are held. Her friends came to her legal aid when the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, author of the first geography of the U.S., challenged the authenticity of Hannah's important work: A Summary History of New England from the First Settlement at Plymouth, to the Acceptance of the Federal Constitution. Dedham: H. Mann and J. H. Adams, 1799.
A Summary History of New England from the First Settlement at Plymouth, to the Acceptance of the Federal Constitution
HANNAH ADAMS
Published in 1799, this work is a remarkable accomplishment for a woman like Hannah Adams, whose life was precarious because of health and financial difficulties. Hannah studied authoritative resources of the day. In the pictured excerpt, one reads: “Actuated by the most inveterate hatred to the Colonists, the Pequods surprised and killed several of the settlers on Connecticut River.” The perspective evidenced in the tone of this statement reflects the source materials Adams would have used, i.e. biased towards the colonists, settlers, and those military figures she discusses in continuation.
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MAYA ANGELOU
Born Marguerite Annie Johnson, Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014) touched American and world culture as a poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. A myriad of jobs in her young adulthood provided material that Angelou imbued in her poems and memoirs. In her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), Angelou brought great detail to the narration of her coming of age experiences and garnered critical acclaim. In the Civil Rights Movement, Angelou worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Then, in 1982, Angelou was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At the first inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning". In her book Letter to My Daughter (2008), Angelou speaks to women everywhere: “I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native Americans and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all.”Fiercely inclusive and direct, Maya Angelou surely spoke for Black people and women as well as for all her countrymen, whom she called to task to take responsibility for their actions.
the heart of a woman
Angelou’s works are used in schools, though in some parts of the country her books have been scrutinized and at times banned. Her memoirs tell of her life and in broad strokes offer a look at how life can be for those not welcomed by their communities. For example, this except from The Heart of a Woman (1981), the fourth of seven autobiographies, relates the difficulties a Black single mother had in securing a rental. Thanks to the support of white friends, Angelou moves into rental housing in a segregated neighborhood. Along with background on apartheid in South Africa and race relations in the U.S., this memoir stands out for its focus on motherhood, as Maya Angelou narrates her experiences while bringing up her son on her own. The narrative arc, in this memoir, closes as her son moves away to attend college. This book came to Pequot Library thanks to an anonymous donor.
MAYA ANGELOU
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AMELIA EARHART
Amelia Mary Earhart was born in 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. She disappeared on disappeared July 2, 1937 and was declared dead January 5, 1939. In 1928, she acquired celebrity status by becoming the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic in an airplane. Four years later, celebrity status was surpassed by true grit and accomplishment as Earhart piloted a Lockheed Vega 5B in a solo nonstop transatlantic flight. Her achievements did not stop after this historic event. Earhart, ever the pacesetter, encouraged commercial air flights. She organized other female pilots of her day to form the Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, which today boasts 155 chapters worldwide that provide mentoring and scholarships to female pilots. Earhart was also a member of the National Woman's Party, the American women's political organization formed in 1916, to support women's suffrage. Just weeks before her fortieth birthday in an attempt to become the first female to complete a circumnavigational flight, she and co-pilot Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean somewhere near Howland Island, an island halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Two years later in 1939, both were declared dead.
Earhart’s legacy lives on. Investigations into her disappearance as well as memorial flights continue.
the FUN OF IT
In The Fun of It (1932), Amelia Earhart provides a memoir of her experiences in aviation. The book is the second Earhart published in a successful career as a writer. She served as aviation editor for Cosmopolitan magazine from 1928 to 1930, while writing articles for magazines and newspapers about her life of flying. The Fun of It includes technical descriptions of some of the airplanes she flew. Earhart’s writing shines as she describes her contemporaries, female pilots who may had not received similar renown.
Unlike other titles highlighted among the Pequot Connections in this exhibition, The Fun of It came to the library via an anonymous donor. The gift is a notable one indeed. A fierce woman wrote and signed it. Patrons of the Library now can enjoy it.
AMELIA EARHART
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Josephine S. Heydrick
Miss Josephine S. Heydrick (1873-19 ) was Pequot’s first official librarian. The Library opened to the public in April 1894. Josephine was hired in June of 1894 at a salary of $50.00 per month. She received her degree from the Pratt Institute of Library Science. Josephine, seen here presumably around the time she began her library career, wears a dress that would probably be used for special occasions or for sitting for a portrait as is shown here. Her hair is sensibly coifed, suggesting a level of formality in her behavior. Along with the regular duties of librarianship, Josephine maintained a busy correspondence with book dealers of the day in which she described sought-after volumes to complete a series or enquired for a particular title on behalf of a patron. In 1917, Josephine, then in her early 40s, married the Rev. William Henry Holman, minister of Southport Congregational Church and advisor to Pequot founders, Virginia and Elbert Monroe, and to philanthropist Mary Hull Wakeman. Rev. Holman was then 65. Josephine was his third wife. She resigned from her position as Librarian after the wedding and took up the duites of a married woman.
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MISS WERREY
Miss Edna Werrey is remembered today by many current patrons of Pequot Library. Miss Werrey -- nobody called her by her first name! -- worked during the tenure of Librarian Stanley Crane. Here she is pictured for a LIFE magazine article titled "Pequot's Treasure". She is facing the safe, a mammoth piece of secured furniture that defied easy access. At the time of the article's publication in 1952, Pequot Library had entered into a long-term agreement with the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University in New Haven, CT. Many of the books that Miss Werrey shelved in the safe now reside at the Beinecke. (The safe was decommissioned in 2018.) Miss Werrey lives on. It was said that she suffered no fools but was a wonderful educator. -- the best of legacies.
A Librarian's task
From the archives of Pequot Library, this "Record of Work" dated July 1894 is an example of a librarian's many tasks. Along with noting the number of books checked out in August as well as the increase in membership, Josephine Heydrick tracked the activity in the Reading Room, which, at the beginning, was for men only. The high number of Reading Room visitors probably can be explained by the fact that most came to Pequot Library to read the various newspapers available. Under the heading “Cataloguing” three common library tasks are included. First, accessioning is the receipt of a new book or item into a library’s collection. During accessioning, the basic information about the book is recorded. Pequot Library has the Accession books from these early days. The first book accessioned was Bleak House by Charles Dickens, a gift from Virginia Monroe, founder of Pequot. The next step noted is the preparation of a card for the catalog, which at this time were large pieces of furniture that held a card for each book’s title, author, and subject in long narrow drawers. So, imagine a database in oak. Finally, after accessioning and cataloging, the book was added to the appropriate shelf based on the Dewey Decimal System begun in 1876.
Finally, looking closely, we see that Pequot Library made a profit of $0.49 in August 1894.
PEQUOT LIBRARIANS
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CLARE LEIGHTON
Clare Leighton (1898 – 1989), born in London, realized early that her mother preferred her brother Roland. Fortunately, her father and uncle encouraged Clare’s artistic interests by arranging sketching trips to Europe. Clare then studied at prestigious art schools in England where she focused on wood engraving.
After visiting the U.S. multiple times, Leighton emigrated in 1939 and became a citizen in 1945. She also was a member of the Department of Art, Aesthetics, and Music at Duke University. In 1949, she was made a full member of the National Academy of Design.
Leighton’s work highlights the countryside and the sea as well the people who lived and worked in these spaces. Her first book, Wood-Engraving and Woodcuts (1932) in the "How to do it" Series, sparked popular interest in wood engraving and prints.
Along with her own published engravings, Leighton illustrated many classic works; for example, two from 1929: Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native and Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey.
Pequot Library holds the personal papers and beautiful wood cuts in the Clare Leighton Collection as a result of Rev. William Fletcher’s bequest received in 1988.
WHERE THE SEA MEETS THE LAND
CLARE LEIGHTON
Two examples from the Clare Leighton Collection show her focus on rural settings and people. First, from her own Where Land Meets Sea, the Enduring Cape Cod (1954), a sketch destined for the front cover of the book. Second, Leighton’s illustration facing the title page of Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native is captioned with a quote from Hardy’s text: “He musingly surveyed the scene, as if considering the next step that he should take.” The tone and gentle pace of Hardy’s words could be applied as well to Clare Leighton’s beautiful and quiet contemplations engraved in wood.
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Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell (1900 – 1949) published her one and only novel in 1936 for which she was awarded the National Book Award for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. Despite its cultural prejudices, her narrative's characters and settings have become part of the fabric of Civil War era fiction. Mitchell received early encouragement for her writing skills before and during attending Smith College. She confessed to being a flirt and tested the norms of society. Mitchell was a reporter for The Atlanta Journal and published articles in other periodicals. Her first marriage ended early. John Robert Marsh, her second husband, worked for Associated Press and became Margaret's stalwart supporter. An ankle injury quickly led to Mitchell’s leaving The Atlanta Journal and becoming a stay-at-home wife. Marsh brought countless library books to Mitchell during her convalescence as well as a Remington Portable No. 3 typewriter. Thus, Mitchell spent her time at the typewriter creating a story about Pansy O’Hara, later to be called Scarlet. Margaret Mitchell was struck by a speeding car in Atlanta on August 11, 1949. She died in the hospital five days later without regaining consciousness. Without George Platt Brett Jr. (1893 – 1984), who as president of the Macmillan Publishing Company secured the rights to Margaret Mitchell’s narrative, Pequot Library would not today hold the last four typescript chapters of Gone with the Wind with Mrs. Mitchell’s edits.
GONE WITH THE WIND
MARGARET MITCHELL
Here pictured are pages from the last chapter. Chapter 63 Section 1 Page 16 ends with Rhett Butler’s words: “My dear, I don’t give a damn.” In the page marked Chapter 63 Section 2 Page 2, Scarlet sums up her views on Rhett, life, and love: “…After all, tomorrow is another day.” Isn’t this a good time to salute as well: Vivian Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel, and Butterfly McQueen.
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ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962) married her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1905. The marriage, by any criteria, was complicated. Nevertheless, Eleanor forged a life and career for herself that marks her as a role-changer and role-model for women from all walks of life. One of the many decisions that distinguished Mrs. Roosevelt was her weekly press conferences for women only. The first was held in 1933 shortly after her husband took office. The goal involved discussing issues related to women, politics aside at least at the outset. These press conferences accomplished many objectives, such as providing Mrs. Roosevelt with a national audience and helpful publicity while at the same time helping the female reports to keep their jobs. Mrs. Roosevelt also wrote newspaper and magazine columns and hosted a radio show. For her time, these activities qualified Eleanor as not only unconventional but also controversial. On this point, her alleged contentious behavior extended to disagreement with President Roosevelt’s handling of the New Deal program. Mrs. Roosevelt had witnessed less aid given to African Americans in the South and insisted that New Deal benefits should be shared equally by all Americans. In her later years, Eleanor held many offices, such as 1st United States Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights under Harry S. Truman, as well as 1st Chair of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women during President John F. Kennedy’s administration.
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ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
On view is a speech dated September 10, 1948 related to upcoming elections. The typescript shows Mrs. Roosevelt’s edits done in pencil. Mrs. Roosevelt begins by citing Chester Bowles (1901 – 1986) who was running for Governor of Connecticut. (Bowles won in 1948 and served one term.) She praises Bowles at a liberal and clear thinker. Mrs. Roosevelt also mentions other Democrats of note such as Hubert Humphrey, Paul Douglas, and Adlai Stevenson. This wonderful record comes to Pequot Library thanks to Alan Neigher Esq., of Westport.
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MARGARET RUDKIN
Margaret Rudkin (1897-1967) was the founder and CEO of the Pepperidge Farm bread company. In 1928, she and husband Henry bought property near Fairfield and called it Pepperidge Farm, named for the black-gum trees that grew on the property. In 1937, at age 40 and on doctor’s orders, Margaret baked her first bread at home to counteract her son’s allergies. Her son’s condition improved dramatically. She brought the bread first to his doctor, then to a local grocer, and then via her husband’s train ride to Grand Central to a New York grocer; within a year Margaret produced 4,000 loaves. She expanded production to a barn on the Rudkin property and later rented a warehouse in Norwalk, CT. From there, in 1947 she set up full bread making production in a purpose-built facility in Norwalk for the family-based business, which at the time of her death realized $50 million per year. In 1960, Pepperidge Farm merged with Campbell Soup Company where Margaret served on their Board of Trustees. She died of cancer in 1967 at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
ANCIENT RECIPES
Margaret published a best-selling cookbook in 1963 titled The Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook, with witty and attractive illustrations by Erik Blegvad. During her baking days, Margaret nourished an interest in early cookbooks, first that of her Irish grandmother and the then popular Boston Cookbook by Fannie Farm (1896). Probably the most important in her collection of early cookbooks found its way to Pequot Library when in 1967 Margaret donated Platina’s De honesta voluptate et valetudine ("On honourable pleasure and health"). Near Messina, Italy. 1474.
This is an edition of probably the first printed cookbook. Bartolomeo Platina (1421-1481) was a humanist and Vatican Librarian who presented recipes with a balanced and measured commentary on health.
In Margaret’s cookbook, she praises Platina’s approach towards food and its relationship to a person’s health. She highlights a few of his recipes, provides translations from the original Latin, and gives modernized versions, for example: Chicken in a Pungent Sauce.
In 1967, Margaret donated the Platina cookbook along with several other books from her personal library. Stanley Crane, Pequot’s Librarian from 1959 – 1989, referred to the Platina as “a thing of joy” when he acknowledged the donation and thanked Margaret for choosing Pequot as the Platina’s new home.
MARGARET RUDKIN
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NATIVE WOMEN: TSHUSICK
In the amazing study conducted by McKenny and Hall, their description of Tshusick includes:
“Her manners had the unstudied grace, and her conversation the easy fluency, of high refinement. There was nothing about her that was coarse or common-place. Sprightly, intelligent, and quick, there was also a womanly decorum in all her actions, a purity and delicacy in her whole air and conduct that pleased and attracted all who saw her. So agreeable a savage has seldom, if ever, adorned the fashionable circles of civilized life.” In all ways, the demeanor and actions of Tshusick presented a formidable woman, who, according to legend or rumor, had lost her husband leaving her in dire straits to survive. How she did is part of legend, but like other strong Native women, Tshusick found a way. What is her connection to Pequot? First, this three-volume collection of Native American biographies and lithograph portraits was a gift of Virginia Marquand Monroe. Next, As an Ojibway (also spelled Ojibwe) woman, Tshusick is part of the second-largest First Nations population in Canada whose language is from a branch of Algonquin. The peoples of the Pequot Nation suffered a massacre first in Mystic and later in the Southport area where the Library now stands. It was the women and children who were captured and enslaved during these skirmishes with colonists and collaborating indigenous people. Like Tshusick, these Native women learned to survive.
McKenny, Thomas & Hall, James & Todd, Hatherly & Todd, Joseph. History of the Indian tribes of North America: with biographical sketches and anecdotes of the principal chiefs. Embellished with one hundred portraits from the Indian Gallery in the War Department at Washington. Philadelphia: D. Rice & Co. 1872.
NATIVE WOMEN: THE PEQUOT NATION
A brief history of the Pequot War: especially of the memorable Taking of their Fort at Mistick in Connecticut in 1637.
by Major John Mason
Boston: Printed & Sold by S. Kneeland & T. Green in Queen-Street, 1736. Pequot's copy was damaged at some time in its life since publication. Despite this, readers will be fascinated by Mason's version of the Pequot War. Mason emigrated from England with a group of Puritans and settled in Massachusetts where he worked with Roger Ludlow. Mason later moved to Connecticut and served as Magistrate in Windsor. Mason and Underhill are best known for leading the massacre of the Pequot in Mystic in 1637. Newes from America, or a late and experimentall discovery of New England. [including] The figure of the Indian fort or Palizado in New England and the manner of destroying It by Captayne Underhill and Captayne Mason.
by John Underhill
London: 1638 The work contains a pictoral impression of the Indian fort under siege by Captains Underhill and Mason and collaborating tribes from the region.
NATIVE WOMEN
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MARY HULL WAKEMAN
On December 26, 1898, Mary Catherine Hull Wakeman (1813–1908) wrote to the Executive Committee of the Pequot Library Association (today’s Board of Trustees) in which she said: “I take pleasure in presenting to the Pequot Library Association a small collection of books and autographs relating to America.” In that small collection Mrs. Wakeman included the Epistola de insulis nuper inventis, Christopher Columbus’ 1493 letter to the Catholic Kings of Spain. From Henry Beale Spelman’s introduction to the Catalogue of the Monroe, Wakeman, and Holman collection of the Pequot Library, Southport, Connecticut, deposited in the Yale University Library (1960), patrons learn that in 1898 Mary Wakeman donated the funds to build the much-needed stacks adorned with Tiffany windows in honor of her daughter Eliza Hull Wakeman Taintor. Like Pequot’s founders, Virginia Marquand Monroe and Elbert B. Monroe, Mary Wakeman and her husband Captain William Webb Wakeman demonstrated their generosity in philanthropic works to benefit their community. Spelman quotes from Mrs. Wakeman’s correspondence: "I have enlarged and furnished the stack-room, sparing neither pains nor expense to make it as perfect as possible. My desire has been strengthened by the knowledge of the number and the character of the valuable books which Mrs. Monroe has given to the Association. In the construction of the addition, in all its details, I have sought to give these treasures, and others which may hereafter be secured, a safe and permanent home." Spelman adds that Mary Wakeman charged the Rev. William Holman to conduct all business dealings regarding the donations so that she could avoid drawing attention to herself.
tHE COLUMBUS LETTER
MARY HULL WAKEMAN
The Epistola de insulis nuper inventis, Christopher Columbus’ 1493 letter to the Catholic Kings of Spain, pictured here in the original Latin and shown with an English translation, might today be thought of as similar to hearing “The Eagle has landed” spoken by Neil Armstrong and announcing the landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon’s surface. While Apollo 11’s news arrived in real time, Columbus’ letter took months to reach the Catholic Kings and a year or more to be translated into Latin and distributed to important recipients of the day.
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PHYLLIS WHEATLEY
Born in West Africa and brought to the United States as a young child, celebrated poet Phillis Wheatley was enslaved in Boston by John and Susanna Wheatley. Boston pamphlets and newspapers first published her writings around 1767 when she was a teenager. Her 1773 publication of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral established her as the first African American woman poet and second woman to publish in the United States. Her poeps display a knowledge of Biblical allusions, the Classics, and British literature, including the writings of poet John Milton. Phyllis married John Peters, a free black man, in 1778, Wheatley died at just 31 years old in 1784.
Poems of an unwilling migrant
PHILLIS WHEATLEY
Pictured here, from the 1804 edition of Poems on Various Subjects, is her poem "On being brought from Africa to America", a deft and subtle declaration of identity. Note that Phillis and her fellow Africans are ‘refined’ and just as worthy of the ‘angelic train’ as are her enslavers. “On Virtue” begins: Oh thou bright jewel, in my aim I strive To comprehend thee. Thine own words
declare Wisdom is higher than a fool can reach… As the poem proceeds, Wheatley declares that virtue is necessary to save the soul and so temptation should be resisted.
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INTRODUCTION
II. Then and now
II. Then and Now
AN ARCHIVAL COLLAGE
AN ARCHIVAL COLLAGE
From Pequot Library's extensive archival collection, several images have been chosen and arranged into a large Then and Now collage for display in the Perkin Family Gallery. Also, In the Dollhouse stand-up figures from children’s books show changes in depictions of young female characters. Following several items are highlighted.
II. Then and Now
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Wedding Announcements
WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wouldn't be fun to read similar announcements today! These two mention money and religion, two topics affianced couples either should or should not discuss prior to tying the knot. This announcement first appeared in The Visitor on April 20, 1805. The social editor of The Visitor clearly wanted to emphasize the success of Count Rumford. The same editor is equally impressed that the elderly couple would finally say 'yes'. This and similar articles can be found in The Visitor 1805.
II. Then and Now
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mores of the past
ADVICE COLUMN
The New York Daily News provides a look at advice columns directed to young women. Here the mores or customs of the 1960s are reflected in the advice as well as in the posed picture. Elinor Ames, the advice column author, points to what the young woman should do. One wonders why similar columns were not published for young men! Also in this example from "Then" is the practice of sending a SASE -- a self-addressed stamped envelope -- for a response or a request, in this case, for a copy of a booklet called "Personality Check List". The New York Daily News, April 11, 1968.
II. Then and Now
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school
Photos from the 1850s do not necessarily show happy faces on the children pictured. In one example, the children attend a racialized public school. The near example shows young women sent to a "school for girls", that is, one for orphans or those deemed incorrigible. Regardless of the inherent bias, not too many happy faces appear. Fortieth Annual Report of the Free Home for Young Girls (1907) Five Hundred Years of Woman's Work, The Lisa Unger Baskin Collection (2019)
SCHOOL
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library
LIBRARY
From Pequot Library's retired card catalog, three cards bring to mind some ideas of the past. The top card was considered a Subject card, showing possible subjects present in the catalog. The next two cards are shelf cards, providing the Dewey Decimal number used to find a book on the shelf.
II. Then and Now
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GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
Cyndi Lauper's award-winning song from 1983 continues to be a rallying cry for girls and women. Recently, as seen in this photo, Ms. Lauper agreed to produce a T-shirt with a line from the song, modified to reflect 21st century issues: girls just want to have fundamental rights. “I come home, in the mornin' light My mother says "When you gonna live your life right?" Oh momma dear, we're not the fortunate ones And girls, they wanna have fun Oh girls just wanna have fun... The phone rings, in the middle of the night My father yells "What you gonna do with your life?" Oh daddy dear, you know you're still number one But girls they wanna have fun Oh girls just wanna have “
Cyndi Lauper. Album: She's So Unusual
Released: 1983.
GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
II. Then and Now
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IN THE DOLLHOUSE
in the dollhouse
Stand-up figures from children’s books show changes in depictions of young female characters over time. Betty Fairybook, Eloise, or Ladybug Girl: Illustrations of these girl heroines (heroes?) in Children’s literature appear to follow the evolution of women’s roles. Less frilly, more feisty?
II. Then and Now
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INTRODUCTION
III. Juliet: the eternal female?
III. Juliet: the Eternal Female
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Why Juliet?
WHY JULIET?
In 2022, a new production of West Side Story will open on Broadway in New York. First appearing in 1957, the musical conceived and choreographed by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim was based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Countless productions based on the same Shakespearean play have appeared in various media and in multiple interpretations since the play was first performed around 1597. It can be argued that Juliet is the catalyst for all the joy, tears, and death that take place over the course of the play. At least two statements by Juliet point the reader to her powers.
First, in Act I, scene 3, 68-71: LADY CAPULET
Marry, that “marry” is the very theme
I came to talk of.—Tell me, daughter Juliet,
How stands your disposition to be married? JULIET
It is an honor that I dream not of. Juliet, probably 13 or 14 years old, is quite clear that she does not haveplans to be like her mother or other “ladies of esteem” who had married and given birth by her age. Next, in Act II, scene 2, 149-155 – on the balcony: JULIET
Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed.
If that thy bent of love be honorable,
Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow,
By one that I’ll procure to come to thee,
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite,
And all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay
And follow thee my lord throughout the world. With these words, Juliet sets in motion the honorable love and miserable fortunes that will face the star-crossed lovers.
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Juliet: Who's who?
- 1. Gwyneth Paltrow (Viola portraying Juliet) in Shakespeare in Love (1998), a film directed by John Madden.
- 2. Condola Rashad in Romeo and Juliet (2013), on stage (Broadway), directed by David Leveaux.
- 3. Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961), a film directed by Robert Wise /Jerome Robbins.
- 4. Dame Margot Fonteyn in Romeo and Juliet (1965), a ballet (Royal Ballet, London), Kenneth MacMillan.
- 5. Theresa Palmer in Warm Bodies (2013), a film directed by Jonathan Levine.
- 6. Carol Lawrence in West Side Story (1957), on stage (Broadway), directed by Jerome Robbins.
- 7. Olivia Hussey in Romeo and Juliet (1968), a film directed by Franco Zefferelli.
- 8. Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet (1996), a film directed by Baz Luhrmann.
- 9. Emily Blunt (voice) is Juliet in Gnomeo & Juliet (2011), an animated film directed by Kelly Adam Asbury.
- 10. Hailee Steinfeld in Romeo and Juliet (2013), a film directed by Carlo Carlei.
- 11. Fumie Mizusawa (voice) is Juliet Fiammata Arst de Capulet in Romeo X Juliet, an Animé film, directed by Fumitoshi Oizaki, Studio Gonzo.
- 12. Norma Shearer in Romeo and Juliet (1936), a film directed by George Cukor.
- 13. Nina Dogg Filippusdottir in Romeo and Juliet, on stage at Vesturport Theater (Reykjavik, Iceland), directed by Gisli Örn Gardarsson.
- 14. Peggy Ashcroft in Romeo and Juliet (1935), on stage (New Theatre, London), directed by John Gielgud.
WHO'S WHO?
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INTRODUCTION
IV. THE CHRISTIE GIRL
IV. THE CHRISTIE GIRL
A certain woman
A CERTAIN WOMAN
Howard Chandler Christy (1873-1952) was a combat artist during the Spanish-American War, when his ink drawings were published in the biggest American magazines such as Scribner’s, Harper’s, Century, and Leslie’s Weekly. He became famous for the “Christy Girl”, a romantic and elegant society girl, who was a redefinition of the modern American woman and the successor to the “Gibson Girl”. In between wars, Christy became known for exploring “women’s themes”. He was considered a trendsetter in fashion and was asked to judge the inaugural Miss America Pageant in 1921. Christy produced patriotic posters for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, the Red Cross, and the civilian government; his most famous poster was entitled “Gee I Wish I Were a Man!” His portraits emphasize the delicate beauty of the woman pictured. When depicted in couples, the woman's gaze often reveals her inner thoughts.
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IV. THE CHRISTIE GIRL
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INTRODUCTION
v. IN THE CASES
V. IN THE CASES
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19th CENTURY FANS
19th Century Fans
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From the Collection of Henry Arms, three fans accompany the selected books in the display cases in the Perkin Gallery at Pequot Library. From left to right:65: Painted Fan, early 20th c. signed C. Tutin. 54: Feather fan, 1890s. Natural ostrich-feathers.57: Palm fan on lacquerd wood; 19th c.
V. IN THE CASES
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A SAMPLING
A Treatise on dress.: Intended as a friendly and seasonable warning to the daughters of America (1783) was printed in New Haven by Thomas and Samuel Green. :Five lines of Scripture texts inspire the commentary written by an unnamed man who cautions American women of the day to dress more modestly. This is item #742 in the Catalogue of the Monroe, Wakeman, Holman Collection of the Pequot Library, listing items from Pequot held on long-term loan to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University Library. Such items are regularly retrieved from the Beinecke for exhibitions so that patrons and visitors may view Pequot treasures. Please find a listing of all titles on display in the Exhibition Guide.
A SAMPLING
V. IN THE CASES
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A SAMPLING
More to view
The Ladies' Diary: or, The Almanack, for the Year of our Lord, 1710. London: Printed by J. Wilde, for the Company of Stationers, 1710. Almanacs were a commonplace in households. Curiously, the "fair sex" managed said households. Please find a listing of all titles on display in the Exhibition Guide.
V. IN THE CASES
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A SAMPLING
Also on display
Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy? Barbie, too. Nancy Drew solves a mystery and Willa Cather creates A Lost Lady. What would happen if Ayn Rand met Kate Millet? Please find a listing of all titles on display in the Exhibition Guide.
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V. IN THE CASES
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INTRODUCTION
The problem with lists, as will be seen, results in those not listed. For example, in the case of Women of Music, a host of talented women is lacking. Where are Annie Lennox, Grace Slick, Annie and Nancy Wilson, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, Adele, Joni Mitchell, Tina Turner, Etta James, Koko Taylor, Kiri Te Kanawa, Leontyne Price, Krista Ludwig, and Kristen Hersh? The women shown on the following pages have touched the world significantly and continue to do so, along with so many others not pictured.
vI. WOMEN IN THE STACKS
VI. IN THE STACKSe
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WOMEN in the arts
WOMEN IN THE ARTS
- Gwendolyn Brooks (1917 – 2000) African American poet and author, First African American recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Annie Allen
- Misty Copeland (1982 – ) American Ballet Theatre dancer, First African American principal dancer
- Toni Morrison (1931 – 2019) African American novelist, Pulitzer Prize winner for Beloved (1987), recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993
- Georgia O’Keefe (1887 – 1986) American modernist artist; a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Edith Wharton (1862 – 1937) the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, for her novel The Age of Innocence
- Virginia Woolf (1882 – 1941) English modernist writer, stream of consciousness pioneer, known especially for her essay A Room of One’s Own
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WOMEN OF BUSINESS
- Coco Chanel (1883 – 1971) French fashion designer, business woman, founder of Chanel
- Katharine Graham (1917 – 2001)
American newspaper publisher, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, National Women’s Hall of Fame inductee
- Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (1953 – )
Indian Entrepreneur, Founder of Bicon India, Indian biotechnology industry pioneer
- Martha Stewart (1941 – )
Founder of Martha Steward Living Omnimedia, American retail business woman, bestselling author
- Vera Wang (1949 -- )
American fashion designer
WOMEN OF BUSINESS
VI. IN THE STACKS -
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WOMEN IN MUSIC
- Beyoncé (1981 –) Professional name of Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, American singer, songwriter, and actress, the most-awarded female artist of all time including 28 Grammy Awards
- Maria Callas (1923–1977) Professional name of Sophie Cecilia Kalos, American-born Greek soprano, an influential opera singers of the 20th century known especially for her bel canto technique
- Ella Jane Fitzgerald (1917 – 1996) American jazz singer, called the First Lady of Song, collaborated with greats such as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington
- Aretha Franklin (1942 – 2018) American singer, songwriter, and pianist, awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, life-long involvement in the struggle for civil rights and women's rights
- Janis Lyn Joplin (1943–1970) American singer-songwriter, her range covered blues, rock, and soul, praised by critics and fans alike for her original voice and performances
- Madonna (1958- ) Professional name of Madonna Louise Ciccone, American singer-songwriter and actress, known for reinvention, pushing boundaries, and striking a pose
- Nina Simone (1933 – 2003) Professional name of Eunice Kathleen Waymon, American singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist, her songs, such as "To Be Young, Gifted and Black", resonated with her African-American heritage
- Patti Smith (1946 –) American singer-songwriter, poet, and international activist, her debut album Horses has been considered the first punk rock album, won the National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids (2010)
WOMEN IN MUSIC
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WOMEN IN SPORTS
- Simone Biles (1997 -- )
African American gymnast, advocate for black gymnasts
- Billie Jean King (1943 --)
American tennis player, winner of 39 Grand Slam titles, Federation Cup U.S. captain, World number 1 ranked tennis player
- Katie Ledecky (1997 --)
American swimmer, Olympic Gold medalist
- Rebecca Lobo (1973 -- )
Basketball player, Women’s National Basketball Association, Basketball analyst
- Megan Rapinoe (1985-- ) American soccer player, 2019’s Best FIFA Women’s Player
- Wilma Rudolph (1940 – 1994)
African American sprinter, the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympiad, the 1960 Summer Olympics
- Serena Williams (1981--)
African American tennis player, Winner of 23 Grand Slam single titles
WOMEN IN SPORTS
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women in television
- Lucille Ball (1911 – 1989) First Lady of Television; first woman to run a major television studio, Desilu Productions
- Gwen Ifill (1955 – 2016) the first African-American woman to host a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program
- Mindy Kaling (1979 – ) Professional name for Vera Mindy Chokalingam; actress, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and director
- Laverne and Shirley: Penny Marshall (1943 – 2018) actress, director and producer; Cindy Williams (1947 – ) actress and producer
- Mary Tyler Moore (1936 –2017) actress, producer, and social advocate
• Nichelle Nichols (1932 – ) the First African-American to hold a major role in a television series
- Sandra Oh (1971 – ) Canadian-American actress, winner of two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards
- Samira Wiley (1987 – ) American Actress in Orange is the New Black and The Handmaid’s Tale
- Oprah Winfrey (1954 – ) American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist
WOMEN IN TELEVISION
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leaders under 30
LEADERS UNDER 30
- Quannah Chasinghorse (2002 –) Hän Gwich’in of Eagle Village, Alaska, on her mother's side and Sicangu-Oglala Lakota of the Rosebud Indian Reservation on her father’s; Fourth-generation land protector for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
- Mari Copeney (2007 –) Youth activist from Flint, Michigan, and fundraiser for poor children in her community
- Amanda Gorman (1998 –) Youngest Inaugural poet, the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate
- Emma Gonzalez (1999 –) American advocate for gun control, 2018 survivor of Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida
- Greta Thunberg (2003–) Swedish climate change activist, Youth activist, addressed United Nations in 2018 and 2019
- Malala Yusafazi (1997–) Pakistani women’s education activist, youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate
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women innovators
- Madeleine Albright (1937 –) Czechoslovak-American diplomat and writer, First female secretary of state in U.S. history, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
- Ursula Burns (1958 –) American businesswoman, first African-American woman to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company, a leader of the STEM program of the White House from 2009 to 2016
- Ella Grasso (1919 – 1981) American politician, First woman to be elected governor of a U.S. state, Governor of Connecticut 1975- 1980
- Norma McCorvey (1947 – 2017) American woman also known as “Jane Doe”, a life of difficulty and controversy led to Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) protecting a pregnant woman’s right to have an abortion
- Rika Nakazawa (1974—) Japanese CEO & Founder BoardSeatMeet, Inc., encourages women to build and leverage social capital with modern technology, author of Dear Chairwoman (2019)
- Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005) American activist, boycotted Montgomery Alabama buses, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her struggle for racial justice
- Sally Ride (1951 – 2012) American astronaut and physicist, the first American woman in space in 1983, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously
- Marie Stopes (1880 – 1958) British author and advocate for women's rights, founded the first birth control clinic in Britain, published Married Love or Love in Marriage (1918) to discuss birth control openly
WOMEN INNOVATORS
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VII. INTERVIEWS AND OTHER RESOURCES
Head to our YouTube Channel to view all of the videos created in conjunction with this exhibition, including page-turnings, presentations, and further exploration of materials.
Want to read more on [Her]story? Book Recommendations are listed here. Click on the glasses to see a PDF of these great books including Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Young Readers.
The Exhibition Guide is available as a PDF. Click on the glasses to download.
CONTACT
For more information about this exhibition, or to arrange a viewing, please email specialcollections@pequotlibrary.org.
THANK YOU
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[Her]story: Women's Roles through History was curated by Elizabeth A. S. Beaudin, Ph.D., Special Collections Consultant. The virtual and gallery exhibitions were curated by Dr. Beaudin. Jennifer Prat, Marketing and Communications Manager, designed the virtual layout and assembled the video interviews. [Her]story: Women's Roles through History Copyright Pequot Library, 2022, all rights reserved. No portion of this presentation may be replicated. If you wish to use this presentation for educational purposes, please contact info@pequotlibrary.org.
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[HER]story: Women's Roles Through History
Enter
Pequot Library Special Collections | On view February 17 - May 8, 2022
[HER]story:Women’s Roles Through History
Pequot Library presents an exhibition on the evolution of the roles of women in society from the 1700s forward. Selected items from the Library’s Special Collections will reveal the impressive accomplishments of women over time, highlighting local and national figures such as Virginia Monroe, Mary Hull Wakeman, and Amelia Earhart. Join Pequot Library for a walk through Colonial America, the Gilded Age, the Women's Suffrage movement, World War employment, and into modern life. Exploring through text, visual representations, and fashion, follow visionary women through [her]story and bear witness to their strength and resilience, as they move from pedestals to protests, from boredom to boardroom, to lead and to love. Kelly Marino, Ph.D., Coordinator of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Sacred Heart University will deliver the opening presentation on February 17, 2022, at 6 p.m.. The exhibition can be viewed in person during library browsing hours and via this digital version. This exhibition is made possible in part through the Constance C. Baker Rare Book Fund with additional support from the Jennifer Crosby Cargill Art Fund.
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Click on an image to learn more.
I. Pequot Connections
III. Juliet as Eternal Female
II. Then and Now
IV. The Christie Girl
V. In the Cases
VI. Women in the Stacks
Click here for Interviews and other resources related to the exhibition.
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I. Pequot connections
INTRODUCTION
To help trace women's role through history, the first place to look is in the stunning materials collected by Pequot Library. Here, in this virtual representation, you will see images and text from the Perkin Gallery to show how women have distinguished themselves over time. These fierce, feisty, and faithful women represent philanthropy, history, the Arts, cooking, and science. Also at play are women in politics, literature, and libraries. And one was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. An interactive menu of the women highlighted follows this slide.
I. Pequot Connections
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CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO LEARN MORE.
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virginia marquand monroe
Mary Virginia Tompkins Marquand Monroe was born in Brooklyn, NY, on April 28, 1837, the daughter of Erastus Osborne Tompkins and Mary Penfield Marquand Tompkins. Sadness as well as privilege colored Viriginia's life. Her parents died when she was a young child. Frederick Marquand, her uncle, had made his fortune in the silver trade in Manhattan. Frederick formerly adopted Virginia as his daughter and brought her to his Southport home. Among the many benefits of her Southport life, Virginia took seriously her uncle's beliefs in philanthropy and civic duty. With her husband, Elbert Brinckerhoff Monroe, she hired New York architect Robert H. Robertson to build a library in the backyard of the Marquand-Monroe mansion on Pequot Avenue in Southport. The Monroes presented the library, as a gift to the Town of Fairfield and the Village of Southport, to the newly established Pequot Library Association in memory of Frederick Marquand. In April 1894, Pequot Library opened to the public, though sadly one month after Elbert's sudden death. Mrs. Monroe then razed the mansion so that the focus would rest on the library. The first book Virginia donated to the library was Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Many more were to follow.
Audubon'sAMERICAN FLAMINGO
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VIRGINIA MONROE
The Monroe's were advised by the Rev. William Holman, pastor for over 30 years of the Southport Congregational Church. Holman, in turn, consulted the eminent Justin Winsor, first president of the American Library Association. Virginia and Elbert Monroe benefited from both; Elbert choosing Early Americana as a collecting trend, and Virginia preferring literature and natural science. This example from the natural science collections at Pequot shows how Audubon depicted the American Flamingo. Audubon wanted to portray each species in its adult size. Even with the massive size of the double elephant folio, approx. 39”x26 ½”, the American Flamingo would not fit fully erect. To compensate, Audubon cleverly depicts the bird extending its elegant neck downward to dredge for food. Virginia Monroe purchased all the subscriptions for the Bien edition and had them bound for posterity. Birds of America, Bien Edition, Plate #50. Also called Red Flamingo, Phoenicopterus Tuber.
I. Pequot Connections
Gould'scalypte annae
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VIRGINIA MONROE
Another example from Mrs. Monroe's natural history acquisitions is the very delicate images of hummingbirds in John Gould's A Monograph of the Trochilidae: Family of Hummingbirds. The monograph comprises an introduction, five volumes plus a supplement, totaling 416 color lithographic plates, and an index to the specific names of hummingbirds. Gould or his colleague, W. Hart, would draw with pencil or watercolor. A team of artists used the sketches as a guide as they applied gold and silver leaf underneath the watercolors, a technique which gives an iridescent quality. Gould worked on this project for almost 20 years. It was not finished until after his death. He painted from the preserved skins of the birds showing the detail, beauty, and color of the remarkable birds. Calypte Annae (Anna’s Calypte), Plate 135.
I. Pequot Connections
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hannah adams
Hannah Adams (1755 –1831) is considered the first woman in the U.S. who worked professionally as a writer. Adams focused on comparative religion and early American history. With the decision by Elbert B. Monroe to collect Early Americana for Pequot Library, Hannah Adams was a logical choice. Adams spent her life in Massachusetts in humble circumstances. Her father had a small country store and also boarded some students studying Divinity, from whom Hannah learned Greek and Latin, which she subsequently taught. She was of poor health and precarious means, but a rare being for her day in that she was an educated woman. Hannah’s first publication, A View of Religions (1784), provided her with sufficient compensation to live more comfortably and to pay debts previously incurred stemming from her illnesses and those of her sister. As Hannah published more, her fame and connections grew. Adams was the first professional author to be a member of the Boston Athenæum, where some of her letters and books are held. Her friends came to her legal aid when the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, author of the first geography of the U.S., challenged the authenticity of Hannah's important work: A Summary History of New England from the First Settlement at Plymouth, to the Acceptance of the Federal Constitution. Dedham: H. Mann and J. H. Adams, 1799.
A Summary History of New England from the First Settlement at Plymouth, to the Acceptance of the Federal Constitution
HANNAH ADAMS
Published in 1799, this work is a remarkable accomplishment for a woman like Hannah Adams, whose life was precarious because of health and financial difficulties. Hannah studied authoritative resources of the day. In the pictured excerpt, one reads: “Actuated by the most inveterate hatred to the Colonists, the Pequods surprised and killed several of the settlers on Connecticut River.” The perspective evidenced in the tone of this statement reflects the source materials Adams would have used, i.e. biased towards the colonists, settlers, and those military figures she discusses in continuation.
I. Pequot Connections
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MAYA ANGELOU
Born Marguerite Annie Johnson, Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014) touched American and world culture as a poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. A myriad of jobs in her young adulthood provided material that Angelou imbued in her poems and memoirs. In her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), Angelou brought great detail to the narration of her coming of age experiences and garnered critical acclaim. In the Civil Rights Movement, Angelou worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Then, in 1982, Angelou was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At the first inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning". In her book Letter to My Daughter (2008), Angelou speaks to women everywhere: “I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native Americans and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all.”Fiercely inclusive and direct, Maya Angelou surely spoke for Black people and women as well as for all her countrymen, whom she called to task to take responsibility for their actions.
the heart of a woman
Angelou’s works are used in schools, though in some parts of the country her books have been scrutinized and at times banned. Her memoirs tell of her life and in broad strokes offer a look at how life can be for those not welcomed by their communities. For example, this except from The Heart of a Woman (1981), the fourth of seven autobiographies, relates the difficulties a Black single mother had in securing a rental. Thanks to the support of white friends, Angelou moves into rental housing in a segregated neighborhood. Along with background on apartheid in South Africa and race relations in the U.S., this memoir stands out for its focus on motherhood, as Maya Angelou narrates her experiences while bringing up her son on her own. The narrative arc, in this memoir, closes as her son moves away to attend college. This book came to Pequot Library thanks to an anonymous donor.
MAYA ANGELOU
I. Pequot Connections
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AMELIA EARHART
Amelia Mary Earhart was born in 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. She disappeared on disappeared July 2, 1937 and was declared dead January 5, 1939. In 1928, she acquired celebrity status by becoming the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic in an airplane. Four years later, celebrity status was surpassed by true grit and accomplishment as Earhart piloted a Lockheed Vega 5B in a solo nonstop transatlantic flight. Her achievements did not stop after this historic event. Earhart, ever the pacesetter, encouraged commercial air flights. She organized other female pilots of her day to form the Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, which today boasts 155 chapters worldwide that provide mentoring and scholarships to female pilots. Earhart was also a member of the National Woman's Party, the American women's political organization formed in 1916, to support women's suffrage. Just weeks before her fortieth birthday in an attempt to become the first female to complete a circumnavigational flight, she and co-pilot Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean somewhere near Howland Island, an island halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Two years later in 1939, both were declared dead. Earhart’s legacy lives on. Investigations into her disappearance as well as memorial flights continue.
the FUN OF IT
In The Fun of It (1932), Amelia Earhart provides a memoir of her experiences in aviation. The book is the second Earhart published in a successful career as a writer. She served as aviation editor for Cosmopolitan magazine from 1928 to 1930, while writing articles for magazines and newspapers about her life of flying. The Fun of It includes technical descriptions of some of the airplanes she flew. Earhart’s writing shines as she describes her contemporaries, female pilots who may had not received similar renown. Unlike other titles highlighted among the Pequot Connections in this exhibition, The Fun of It came to the library via an anonymous donor. The gift is a notable one indeed. A fierce woman wrote and signed it. Patrons of the Library now can enjoy it.
AMELIA EARHART
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Josephine S. Heydrick
Miss Josephine S. Heydrick (1873-19 ) was Pequot’s first official librarian. The Library opened to the public in April 1894. Josephine was hired in June of 1894 at a salary of $50.00 per month. She received her degree from the Pratt Institute of Library Science. Josephine, seen here presumably around the time she began her library career, wears a dress that would probably be used for special occasions or for sitting for a portrait as is shown here. Her hair is sensibly coifed, suggesting a level of formality in her behavior. Along with the regular duties of librarianship, Josephine maintained a busy correspondence with book dealers of the day in which she described sought-after volumes to complete a series or enquired for a particular title on behalf of a patron. In 1917, Josephine, then in her early 40s, married the Rev. William Henry Holman, minister of Southport Congregational Church and advisor to Pequot founders, Virginia and Elbert Monroe, and to philanthropist Mary Hull Wakeman. Rev. Holman was then 65. Josephine was his third wife. She resigned from her position as Librarian after the wedding and took up the duites of a married woman.
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MISS WERREY
Miss Edna Werrey is remembered today by many current patrons of Pequot Library. Miss Werrey -- nobody called her by her first name! -- worked during the tenure of Librarian Stanley Crane. Here she is pictured for a LIFE magazine article titled "Pequot's Treasure". She is facing the safe, a mammoth piece of secured furniture that defied easy access. At the time of the article's publication in 1952, Pequot Library had entered into a long-term agreement with the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University in New Haven, CT. Many of the books that Miss Werrey shelved in the safe now reside at the Beinecke. (The safe was decommissioned in 2018.) Miss Werrey lives on. It was said that she suffered no fools but was a wonderful educator. -- the best of legacies.
A Librarian's task
From the archives of Pequot Library, this "Record of Work" dated July 1894 is an example of a librarian's many tasks. Along with noting the number of books checked out in August as well as the increase in membership, Josephine Heydrick tracked the activity in the Reading Room, which, at the beginning, was for men only. The high number of Reading Room visitors probably can be explained by the fact that most came to Pequot Library to read the various newspapers available. Under the heading “Cataloguing” three common library tasks are included. First, accessioning is the receipt of a new book or item into a library’s collection. During accessioning, the basic information about the book is recorded. Pequot Library has the Accession books from these early days. The first book accessioned was Bleak House by Charles Dickens, a gift from Virginia Monroe, founder of Pequot. The next step noted is the preparation of a card for the catalog, which at this time were large pieces of furniture that held a card for each book’s title, author, and subject in long narrow drawers. So, imagine a database in oak. Finally, after accessioning and cataloging, the book was added to the appropriate shelf based on the Dewey Decimal System begun in 1876. Finally, looking closely, we see that Pequot Library made a profit of $0.49 in August 1894.
PEQUOT LIBRARIANS
I. Pequot Connections
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CLARE LEIGHTON
Clare Leighton (1898 – 1989), born in London, realized early that her mother preferred her brother Roland. Fortunately, her father and uncle encouraged Clare’s artistic interests by arranging sketching trips to Europe. Clare then studied at prestigious art schools in England where she focused on wood engraving. After visiting the U.S. multiple times, Leighton emigrated in 1939 and became a citizen in 1945. She also was a member of the Department of Art, Aesthetics, and Music at Duke University. In 1949, she was made a full member of the National Academy of Design. Leighton’s work highlights the countryside and the sea as well the people who lived and worked in these spaces. Her first book, Wood-Engraving and Woodcuts (1932) in the "How to do it" Series, sparked popular interest in wood engraving and prints. Along with her own published engravings, Leighton illustrated many classic works; for example, two from 1929: Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native and Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Pequot Library holds the personal papers and beautiful wood cuts in the Clare Leighton Collection as a result of Rev. William Fletcher’s bequest received in 1988.
WHERE THE SEA MEETS THE LAND
CLARE LEIGHTON
Two examples from the Clare Leighton Collection show her focus on rural settings and people. First, from her own Where Land Meets Sea, the Enduring Cape Cod (1954), a sketch destined for the front cover of the book. Second, Leighton’s illustration facing the title page of Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native is captioned with a quote from Hardy’s text: “He musingly surveyed the scene, as if considering the next step that he should take.” The tone and gentle pace of Hardy’s words could be applied as well to Clare Leighton’s beautiful and quiet contemplations engraved in wood.
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Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell (1900 – 1949) published her one and only novel in 1936 for which she was awarded the National Book Award for Most Distinguished Novel of 1936 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937. Despite its cultural prejudices, her narrative's characters and settings have become part of the fabric of Civil War era fiction. Mitchell received early encouragement for her writing skills before and during attending Smith College. She confessed to being a flirt and tested the norms of society. Mitchell was a reporter for The Atlanta Journal and published articles in other periodicals. Her first marriage ended early. John Robert Marsh, her second husband, worked for Associated Press and became Margaret's stalwart supporter. An ankle injury quickly led to Mitchell’s leaving The Atlanta Journal and becoming a stay-at-home wife. Marsh brought countless library books to Mitchell during her convalescence as well as a Remington Portable No. 3 typewriter. Thus, Mitchell spent her time at the typewriter creating a story about Pansy O’Hara, later to be called Scarlet. Margaret Mitchell was struck by a speeding car in Atlanta on August 11, 1949. She died in the hospital five days later without regaining consciousness. Without George Platt Brett Jr. (1893 – 1984), who as president of the Macmillan Publishing Company secured the rights to Margaret Mitchell’s narrative, Pequot Library would not today hold the last four typescript chapters of Gone with the Wind with Mrs. Mitchell’s edits.
GONE WITH THE WIND
MARGARET MITCHELL
Here pictured are pages from the last chapter. Chapter 63 Section 1 Page 16 ends with Rhett Butler’s words: “My dear, I don’t give a damn.” In the page marked Chapter 63 Section 2 Page 2, Scarlet sums up her views on Rhett, life, and love: “…After all, tomorrow is another day.” Isn’t this a good time to salute as well: Vivian Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel, and Butterfly McQueen.
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ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962) married her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1905. The marriage, by any criteria, was complicated. Nevertheless, Eleanor forged a life and career for herself that marks her as a role-changer and role-model for women from all walks of life. One of the many decisions that distinguished Mrs. Roosevelt was her weekly press conferences for women only. The first was held in 1933 shortly after her husband took office. The goal involved discussing issues related to women, politics aside at least at the outset. These press conferences accomplished many objectives, such as providing Mrs. Roosevelt with a national audience and helpful publicity while at the same time helping the female reports to keep their jobs. Mrs. Roosevelt also wrote newspaper and magazine columns and hosted a radio show. For her time, these activities qualified Eleanor as not only unconventional but also controversial. On this point, her alleged contentious behavior extended to disagreement with President Roosevelt’s handling of the New Deal program. Mrs. Roosevelt had witnessed less aid given to African Americans in the South and insisted that New Deal benefits should be shared equally by all Americans. In her later years, Eleanor held many offices, such as 1st United States Representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights under Harry S. Truman, as well as 1st Chair of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women during President John F. Kennedy’s administration.
cOMMUNICATing
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
On view is a speech dated September 10, 1948 related to upcoming elections. The typescript shows Mrs. Roosevelt’s edits done in pencil. Mrs. Roosevelt begins by citing Chester Bowles (1901 – 1986) who was running for Governor of Connecticut. (Bowles won in 1948 and served one term.) She praises Bowles at a liberal and clear thinker. Mrs. Roosevelt also mentions other Democrats of note such as Hubert Humphrey, Paul Douglas, and Adlai Stevenson. This wonderful record comes to Pequot Library thanks to Alan Neigher Esq., of Westport.
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MARGARET RUDKIN
Margaret Rudkin (1897-1967) was the founder and CEO of the Pepperidge Farm bread company. In 1928, she and husband Henry bought property near Fairfield and called it Pepperidge Farm, named for the black-gum trees that grew on the property. In 1937, at age 40 and on doctor’s orders, Margaret baked her first bread at home to counteract her son’s allergies. Her son’s condition improved dramatically. She brought the bread first to his doctor, then to a local grocer, and then via her husband’s train ride to Grand Central to a New York grocer; within a year Margaret produced 4,000 loaves. She expanded production to a barn on the Rudkin property and later rented a warehouse in Norwalk, CT. From there, in 1947 she set up full bread making production in a purpose-built facility in Norwalk for the family-based business, which at the time of her death realized $50 million per year. In 1960, Pepperidge Farm merged with Campbell Soup Company where Margaret served on their Board of Trustees. She died of cancer in 1967 at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
ANCIENT RECIPES
Margaret published a best-selling cookbook in 1963 titled The Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook, with witty and attractive illustrations by Erik Blegvad. During her baking days, Margaret nourished an interest in early cookbooks, first that of her Irish grandmother and the then popular Boston Cookbook by Fannie Farm (1896). Probably the most important in her collection of early cookbooks found its way to Pequot Library when in 1967 Margaret donated Platina’s De honesta voluptate et valetudine ("On honourable pleasure and health"). Near Messina, Italy. 1474. This is an edition of probably the first printed cookbook. Bartolomeo Platina (1421-1481) was a humanist and Vatican Librarian who presented recipes with a balanced and measured commentary on health. In Margaret’s cookbook, she praises Platina’s approach towards food and its relationship to a person’s health. She highlights a few of his recipes, provides translations from the original Latin, and gives modernized versions, for example: Chicken in a Pungent Sauce. In 1967, Margaret donated the Platina cookbook along with several other books from her personal library. Stanley Crane, Pequot’s Librarian from 1959 – 1989, referred to the Platina as “a thing of joy” when he acknowledged the donation and thanked Margaret for choosing Pequot as the Platina’s new home.
MARGARET RUDKIN
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NATIVE WOMEN: TSHUSICK
In the amazing study conducted by McKenny and Hall, their description of Tshusick includes: “Her manners had the unstudied grace, and her conversation the easy fluency, of high refinement. There was nothing about her that was coarse or common-place. Sprightly, intelligent, and quick, there was also a womanly decorum in all her actions, a purity and delicacy in her whole air and conduct that pleased and attracted all who saw her. So agreeable a savage has seldom, if ever, adorned the fashionable circles of civilized life.” In all ways, the demeanor and actions of Tshusick presented a formidable woman, who, according to legend or rumor, had lost her husband leaving her in dire straits to survive. How she did is part of legend, but like other strong Native women, Tshusick found a way. What is her connection to Pequot? First, this three-volume collection of Native American biographies and lithograph portraits was a gift of Virginia Marquand Monroe. Next, As an Ojibway (also spelled Ojibwe) woman, Tshusick is part of the second-largest First Nations population in Canada whose language is from a branch of Algonquin. The peoples of the Pequot Nation suffered a massacre first in Mystic and later in the Southport area where the Library now stands. It was the women and children who were captured and enslaved during these skirmishes with colonists and collaborating indigenous people. Like Tshusick, these Native women learned to survive. McKenny, Thomas & Hall, James & Todd, Hatherly & Todd, Joseph. History of the Indian tribes of North America: with biographical sketches and anecdotes of the principal chiefs. Embellished with one hundred portraits from the Indian Gallery in the War Department at Washington. Philadelphia: D. Rice & Co. 1872.
NATIVE WOMEN: THE PEQUOT NATION
A brief history of the Pequot War: especially of the memorable Taking of their Fort at Mistick in Connecticut in 1637. by Major John Mason Boston: Printed & Sold by S. Kneeland & T. Green in Queen-Street, 1736. Pequot's copy was damaged at some time in its life since publication. Despite this, readers will be fascinated by Mason's version of the Pequot War. Mason emigrated from England with a group of Puritans and settled in Massachusetts where he worked with Roger Ludlow. Mason later moved to Connecticut and served as Magistrate in Windsor. Mason and Underhill are best known for leading the massacre of the Pequot in Mystic in 1637. Newes from America, or a late and experimentall discovery of New England. [including] The figure of the Indian fort or Palizado in New England and the manner of destroying It by Captayne Underhill and Captayne Mason. by John Underhill London: 1638 The work contains a pictoral impression of the Indian fort under siege by Captains Underhill and Mason and collaborating tribes from the region.
NATIVE WOMEN
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MARY HULL WAKEMAN
On December 26, 1898, Mary Catherine Hull Wakeman (1813–1908) wrote to the Executive Committee of the Pequot Library Association (today’s Board of Trustees) in which she said: “I take pleasure in presenting to the Pequot Library Association a small collection of books and autographs relating to America.” In that small collection Mrs. Wakeman included the Epistola de insulis nuper inventis, Christopher Columbus’ 1493 letter to the Catholic Kings of Spain. From Henry Beale Spelman’s introduction to the Catalogue of the Monroe, Wakeman, and Holman collection of the Pequot Library, Southport, Connecticut, deposited in the Yale University Library (1960), patrons learn that in 1898 Mary Wakeman donated the funds to build the much-needed stacks adorned with Tiffany windows in honor of her daughter Eliza Hull Wakeman Taintor. Like Pequot’s founders, Virginia Marquand Monroe and Elbert B. Monroe, Mary Wakeman and her husband Captain William Webb Wakeman demonstrated their generosity in philanthropic works to benefit their community. Spelman quotes from Mrs. Wakeman’s correspondence: "I have enlarged and furnished the stack-room, sparing neither pains nor expense to make it as perfect as possible. My desire has been strengthened by the knowledge of the number and the character of the valuable books which Mrs. Monroe has given to the Association. In the construction of the addition, in all its details, I have sought to give these treasures, and others which may hereafter be secured, a safe and permanent home." Spelman adds that Mary Wakeman charged the Rev. William Holman to conduct all business dealings regarding the donations so that she could avoid drawing attention to herself.
tHE COLUMBUS LETTER
MARY HULL WAKEMAN
The Epistola de insulis nuper inventis, Christopher Columbus’ 1493 letter to the Catholic Kings of Spain, pictured here in the original Latin and shown with an English translation, might today be thought of as similar to hearing “The Eagle has landed” spoken by Neil Armstrong and announcing the landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon’s surface. While Apollo 11’s news arrived in real time, Columbus’ letter took months to reach the Catholic Kings and a year or more to be translated into Latin and distributed to important recipients of the day.
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PHYLLIS WHEATLEY
Born in West Africa and brought to the United States as a young child, celebrated poet Phillis Wheatley was enslaved in Boston by John and Susanna Wheatley. Boston pamphlets and newspapers first published her writings around 1767 when she was a teenager. Her 1773 publication of Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral established her as the first African American woman poet and second woman to publish in the United States. Her poeps display a knowledge of Biblical allusions, the Classics, and British literature, including the writings of poet John Milton. Phyllis married John Peters, a free black man, in 1778, Wheatley died at just 31 years old in 1784.
Poems of an unwilling migrant
PHILLIS WHEATLEY
Pictured here, from the 1804 edition of Poems on Various Subjects, is her poem "On being brought from Africa to America", a deft and subtle declaration of identity. Note that Phillis and her fellow Africans are ‘refined’ and just as worthy of the ‘angelic train’ as are her enslavers. “On Virtue” begins: Oh thou bright jewel, in my aim I strive To comprehend thee. Thine own words declare Wisdom is higher than a fool can reach… As the poem proceeds, Wheatley declares that virtue is necessary to save the soul and so temptation should be resisted.
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INTRODUCTION
II. Then and now
II. Then and Now
AN ARCHIVAL COLLAGE
AN ARCHIVAL COLLAGE
From Pequot Library's extensive archival collection, several images have been chosen and arranged into a large Then and Now collage for display in the Perkin Family Gallery. Also, In the Dollhouse stand-up figures from children’s books show changes in depictions of young female characters. Following several items are highlighted.
II. Then and Now
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Wedding Announcements
WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wouldn't be fun to read similar announcements today! These two mention money and religion, two topics affianced couples either should or should not discuss prior to tying the knot. This announcement first appeared in The Visitor on April 20, 1805. The social editor of The Visitor clearly wanted to emphasize the success of Count Rumford. The same editor is equally impressed that the elderly couple would finally say 'yes'. This and similar articles can be found in The Visitor 1805.
II. Then and Now
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mores of the past
ADVICE COLUMN
The New York Daily News provides a look at advice columns directed to young women. Here the mores or customs of the 1960s are reflected in the advice as well as in the posed picture. Elinor Ames, the advice column author, points to what the young woman should do. One wonders why similar columns were not published for young men! Also in this example from "Then" is the practice of sending a SASE -- a self-addressed stamped envelope -- for a response or a request, in this case, for a copy of a booklet called "Personality Check List". The New York Daily News, April 11, 1968.
II. Then and Now
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school
Photos from the 1850s do not necessarily show happy faces on the children pictured. In one example, the children attend a racialized public school. The near example shows young women sent to a "school for girls", that is, one for orphans or those deemed incorrigible. Regardless of the inherent bias, not too many happy faces appear. Fortieth Annual Report of the Free Home for Young Girls (1907) Five Hundred Years of Woman's Work, The Lisa Unger Baskin Collection (2019)
SCHOOL
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library
LIBRARY
From Pequot Library's retired card catalog, three cards bring to mind some ideas of the past. The top card was considered a Subject card, showing possible subjects present in the catalog. The next two cards are shelf cards, providing the Dewey Decimal number used to find a book on the shelf.
II. Then and Now
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GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
Cyndi Lauper's award-winning song from 1983 continues to be a rallying cry for girls and women. Recently, as seen in this photo, Ms. Lauper agreed to produce a T-shirt with a line from the song, modified to reflect 21st century issues: girls just want to have fundamental rights. “I come home, in the mornin' light My mother says "When you gonna live your life right?" Oh momma dear, we're not the fortunate ones And girls, they wanna have fun Oh girls just wanna have fun... The phone rings, in the middle of the night My father yells "What you gonna do with your life?" Oh daddy dear, you know you're still number one But girls they wanna have fun Oh girls just wanna have “ Cyndi Lauper. Album: She's So Unusual Released: 1983.
GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
II. Then and Now
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IN THE DOLLHOUSE
in the dollhouse
Stand-up figures from children’s books show changes in depictions of young female characters over time. Betty Fairybook, Eloise, or Ladybug Girl: Illustrations of these girl heroines (heroes?) in Children’s literature appear to follow the evolution of women’s roles. Less frilly, more feisty?
II. Then and Now
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INTRODUCTION
III. Juliet: the eternal female?
III. Juliet: the Eternal Female
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Why Juliet?
WHY JULIET?
In 2022, a new production of West Side Story will open on Broadway in New York. First appearing in 1957, the musical conceived and choreographed by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim was based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Countless productions based on the same Shakespearean play have appeared in various media and in multiple interpretations since the play was first performed around 1597. It can be argued that Juliet is the catalyst for all the joy, tears, and death that take place over the course of the play. At least two statements by Juliet point the reader to her powers. First, in Act I, scene 3, 68-71: LADY CAPULET Marry, that “marry” is the very theme I came to talk of.—Tell me, daughter Juliet, How stands your disposition to be married? JULIET It is an honor that I dream not of. Juliet, probably 13 or 14 years old, is quite clear that she does not haveplans to be like her mother or other “ladies of esteem” who had married and given birth by her age. Next, in Act II, scene 2, 149-155 – on the balcony: JULIET Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed. If that thy bent of love be honorable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow, By one that I’ll procure to come to thee, Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite, And all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay And follow thee my lord throughout the world. With these words, Juliet sets in motion the honorable love and miserable fortunes that will face the star-crossed lovers.
III. JULIET -
Juliet: Who's who?
WHO'S WHO?
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INTRODUCTION
IV. THE CHRISTIE GIRL
IV. THE CHRISTIE GIRL
A certain woman
A CERTAIN WOMAN
Howard Chandler Christy (1873-1952) was a combat artist during the Spanish-American War, when his ink drawings were published in the biggest American magazines such as Scribner’s, Harper’s, Century, and Leslie’s Weekly. He became famous for the “Christy Girl”, a romantic and elegant society girl, who was a redefinition of the modern American woman and the successor to the “Gibson Girl”. In between wars, Christy became known for exploring “women’s themes”. He was considered a trendsetter in fashion and was asked to judge the inaugural Miss America Pageant in 1921. Christy produced patriotic posters for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, the Red Cross, and the civilian government; his most famous poster was entitled “Gee I Wish I Were a Man!” His portraits emphasize the delicate beauty of the woman pictured. When depicted in couples, the woman's gaze often reveals her inner thoughts.
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IV. THE CHRISTIE GIRL
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INTRODUCTION
v. IN THE CASES
V. IN THE CASES
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19th CENTURY FANS
19th Century Fans
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From the Collection of Henry Arms, three fans accompany the selected books in the display cases in the Perkin Gallery at Pequot Library. From left to right:65: Painted Fan, early 20th c. signed C. Tutin. 54: Feather fan, 1890s. Natural ostrich-feathers.57: Palm fan on lacquerd wood; 19th c.
V. IN THE CASES
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A SAMPLING
A Treatise on dress.: Intended as a friendly and seasonable warning to the daughters of America (1783) was printed in New Haven by Thomas and Samuel Green. :Five lines of Scripture texts inspire the commentary written by an unnamed man who cautions American women of the day to dress more modestly. This is item #742 in the Catalogue of the Monroe, Wakeman, Holman Collection of the Pequot Library, listing items from Pequot held on long-term loan to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University Library. Such items are regularly retrieved from the Beinecke for exhibitions so that patrons and visitors may view Pequot treasures. Please find a listing of all titles on display in the Exhibition Guide.
A SAMPLING
V. IN THE CASES
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A SAMPLING
More to view
The Ladies' Diary: or, The Almanack, for the Year of our Lord, 1710. London: Printed by J. Wilde, for the Company of Stationers, 1710. Almanacs were a commonplace in households. Curiously, the "fair sex" managed said households. Please find a listing of all titles on display in the Exhibition Guide.
V. IN THE CASES
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A SAMPLING
Also on display
Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy? Barbie, too. Nancy Drew solves a mystery and Willa Cather creates A Lost Lady. What would happen if Ayn Rand met Kate Millet? Please find a listing of all titles on display in the Exhibition Guide.
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V. IN THE CASES
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INTRODUCTION
The problem with lists, as will be seen, results in those not listed. For example, in the case of Women of Music, a host of talented women is lacking. Where are Annie Lennox, Grace Slick, Annie and Nancy Wilson, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, Adele, Joni Mitchell, Tina Turner, Etta James, Koko Taylor, Kiri Te Kanawa, Leontyne Price, Krista Ludwig, and Kristen Hersh? The women shown on the following pages have touched the world significantly and continue to do so, along with so many others not pictured.
vI. WOMEN IN THE STACKS
VI. IN THE STACKSe
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WOMEN in the arts
WOMEN IN THE ARTS
VI. IN THE STACKS -
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WOMEN OF BUSINESS
WOMEN OF BUSINESS
VI. IN THE STACKS -
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WOMEN IN MUSIC
WOMEN IN MUSIC
VI. IN THE STACKS -
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WOMEN IN SPORTS
WOMEN IN SPORTS
VI. IN THE STACKS -
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women in television
WOMEN IN TELEVISION
VI. IN THE STACKS -
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leaders under 30
LEADERS UNDER 30
VI. IN THE STACKS -
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women innovators
WOMEN INNOVATORS
VI. IN THE STACKS -
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VII. INTERVIEWS AND OTHER RESOURCES
Head to our YouTube Channel to view all of the videos created in conjunction with this exhibition, including page-turnings, presentations, and further exploration of materials.
Want to read more on [Her]story? Book Recommendations are listed here. Click on the glasses to see a PDF of these great books including Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Young Readers.
The Exhibition Guide is available as a PDF. Click on the glasses to download.
CONTACT
For more information about this exhibition, or to arrange a viewing, please email specialcollections@pequotlibrary.org.
THANK YOU
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[Her]story: Women's Roles through History was curated by Elizabeth A. S. Beaudin, Ph.D., Special Collections Consultant. The virtual and gallery exhibitions were curated by Dr. Beaudin. Jennifer Prat, Marketing and Communications Manager, designed the virtual layout and assembled the video interviews. [Her]story: Women's Roles through History Copyright Pequot Library, 2022, all rights reserved. No portion of this presentation may be replicated. If you wish to use this presentation for educational purposes, please contact info@pequotlibrary.org.