Women's everyday lives in 18th-century northeastern America
Date
1977
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
My thesis on the everyday lives of women in 18th-century northeastern America comprises the first chapter of a 75,000-word book on the same subject to be published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., in 1898. As such, the thesis serves mainly to introduce the women whose diaries and letters have provided important primary source material, and to identify and describe their lives and writings (many of which appear for the first time in print.) Biographical notes in the Appendix provide further information on the forty women whose accounts I used extensively. ☐ The other chapters, which are not included in this thesis, establish home and the duties of housewifery as the dominant context of 18th-century American women. I deal with women's responsibilities in marriage and motherhood; their role in providing food, clothing, and medical service for their families; and their educational opportunities and leisure activities. ☐ Pencil illustrations (over 200 in the book) form an integral part of the text. Since material culture supplies much of the information unobtainable from written documents, I find it appropriate to use sketches of the artifacts to provide a more complete picture of the daily lives of these women. Inspired in most cases by actual diary reference, the drawings document the objects familiar to women in 18th-century America. A representative sampling of the illustrations is included in this thesis.