Last Archival Blog

Today when working with my archival project I made a few discoveries in Gordimer’s work. I located the “lost folder” I had been searching for and in it found many ideas to continue with my question, also a couple of smaller questions that will aide me in my research. The folder contained two blue book type of documents both filled to capacity with mini book reviews. These were all the books Gordimer had read during the year of 1938. 

Beside each book she wrote the title, author, and her opinion of the book—which was either Bad, Good, Quite Good, or Very Good. I chose to take a closer look at the books which she titled “Very Good”. A couple of authors were traditionally children’s authors, as she was just 15 years old, but the majority were not. Her favorite book out of all of them was “Gone with the Wind”. She found Scarlett O’Hara’s character to be very captivating. Another favorite was “They seek a country” by an author that appears a few times on her list, Francis Brett Young. This is about a young man who comes over to South Africa from poverty, is forced into imprisonment and falls in love with an African girl. This has a very simlar theme as mnay of Gordimer’s works. 

My original question was, How is Gordimer’s work influenced by other authors? I will continue this question by looking more closely at the possible influences these other authors had on her work, but I now want to know specifically how they informed her interest in Apartheid? As a young white South African woman, why would she be so drawn to social injustice? Seems she was so young to be that passionate.

Phase 4: Hapgood

For my final investigative paper, I have decided to look into Hapgood and her approach to social and class issues in her writings. I would like to focus on the Sacco Vanzetti case, but utilize her shorter writings to emphasize her points and to exemplify her writing styles. Her involvment in politics outside her writings shows her obvious interest in social reform and other issues involving class and immigration topics. Hapgood's writings of the Sacco Vanzetti trial prove to canjole readers into a sypathetic state of mind for the immigrants that have been tried and found guilty of murder. I am undecided on which source I will use as a lens, but I have found outside sources to utilize in attempting to pick apart Hapgood's writings. The three sources I have found so far are from JSTOR and they are; The Legislation of Crime and Delinquency: A Review of Theory, Method, and Research by John Hagan, From "White Slave" to Labor Activist: The Agony and Triumph of a Boston Brahmin Woman in the 1910s by Stephen H. Norwood, and a book review done by Hapgood in the Industrial and Labor Relations Review. I think that all of these writings should provide insight into the social reform issues of the time and Hapgood's own thoughts on other writers divulging her review style and issues she finds relevant and style in which it is presented.

Phase 4: Contagious Disease Acts

For my final paper, I am going to use the pamphlets on the Contagious Diseases Act.

I am going to use the Pall Mall Gazetteand W. T. Stead's Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon (on childhood prostitution). Stead's document was instrumental to the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act and to the creation of the Criminal Law Amendment Act (raising the age of consent to 16). This is the refernce that Dr. Graban advised would be beneficial for the CDA.

I am going to look at the role of prostitution and how it was viewed fom all standpoints of the authors of each passage. I was going to look at the readings that Dr. Graban suggested and the 3 pamphlets from the contagious disease acts and compare their views on it. I also wanted to bring in Tompkins as a lens because it seems as if this will go well with the CDA topic.

Does this sound like a good idea to anyone else or am I way off? I haven't completely found or done all of my research that I will need to complete the proposal because the description of this final paper is still very unclear for me, so once again if anyone can help that would be awsome!

Phase 4 Haldeman

I want to take the "two mothers of Jane Addams" and many of the letters to Sarah Haldeman and put them into a conversation about how the industrial education is used more for the domestication of women than for the bettering of their social economic status. 

I can see in the Two mothers of Jane Addams that many of the lessons in which she thinks that woman need in their formal education were lessons that her mother gave her as a child. i want to go into the history that inspired her to work for this formalized education for women. we can see that both mothers gave her different types of an education and i want to see which lessons were more important to sarah, the household work or the aesthetic. these lessons can be backed up by finding the parallel in her inquiring letters to deans of preexisting female schools. i feel that using Campbel's feminine style will also be useful in perpetuating this argument. 

i am not exactly certain which author it was that we read in class but it talked about how women with an education make better wives and i want to put that into the conversation with her article in the news paper that says women should be able to manage finances in the home. i want to look at how the information was presented whether the women were able to be passionate about their stance or if they were forced to be docile. 

i feel that i can use all these texts to present the argument that women domestic lives were not dependent on their education but that their acceptance into the male society was dependent on them having some sort of liberal education.

my battery is dying 

The text that I have been investigating at the Lilly Library is Besant's "Is the Bible Indictable". What interested me most in this pamphlet was how Besant drew upon Christian values to make her argument that if the Bible can be published under current law than medical document should be published too. I am interested to see how other author's we have read have drawn upon Christian concepts in order to make their own arguments. In order to show how other women have drawn on Christian ideology to make various claims I will examine Fuller's Woman in the Nineteenth Century as well as Grimke's "An Appeal to the Christian Women of the South". My thesis will most likely be something like "Many women authors have called upon their audiences to make changes due to obligations as a Christian". For example, Besant calls upon her readers to object to the ruling that any book considered to excite its reader can be condemned, since under the current law the Bible can be indicted as well. Fuller reminds her readers that God created woman for man, but that man was not meant to be her master. Grimke informs her readers that slavery is a sin and that as good Christians they must speak out against it.

I think Killingsworth's "An Appeal to Times" will be an especially useful secondary source because the authors I focus on all appear to be writing as if addressing a crisis of the times. I also think that Campbell's idea of a feminine style will be useful in analyzing these texts. She writes that women were often considered to be morally superior to men and that this morality often manifested itself in the works of women authors. I also think that her idea of consciousness raising plays an important role in the texts I will investigate by Besant, Fuller, and Grimke.

Phase 4- Taking Stock and Moving Forward: Besant

 In the Lilly I have been consistently working with Annie Besant and the Free Thought Publishing Collection; more specifically with her text English Republicanism. While searching the Lilly for more resources within the Free Thought Publishing Collection I discovered that Besant wrote many pamphlets with Free Thought and that the two originally given to us at the Lilly were really just the tip of the ice burg pertaining to the information available. While searching those related sources I discovered that although many of her pieces within the Free Thought Group were related to a more republican society, there was one text that clearly stood out from the rest titled Modern Socialism. The plain dissonance between just the title and her other work interested me; Why would such a revolutionary woman want to enlighten her audience about the role of socialism and its benefits in modern society? 

From this question and some help from Dr. Graban I was able to come up with a tentative question for my paper. I plan to look at Besant's writing path throughout a specific number of years writing for Free Thought and the shifts that occurred throughout that time period based on three of her pamphlets within the Free Thought Collection. To unpack this question I plan to look at several different evidences that I can track throughout her pamphlets are: the structures of her argumentation, her consistency or inconsistency in her ideology, and the larger social context within the time of each pamphlet. 

My argument will center around Besant's English Republicanism and two other pamphlets within the Lilly collection, although I don't know specifically which two other articles I am going to use. In addition to three of Besant's works I plan to utilize outside sources from some of the resources within the class website. Again I don't know specific articles, but I will be looking for ones that will give me more information related to the social context surrounding each pamphlet I use. Hopefully though all these actions I can log Besant's rhetorical and political behavior in regards to what was happening in mainstream society. 

If anyone has any suggestions, questions or comments please tell me them! I am totally open to any help/knowledge given with a new set of eyes.  

Phase 4: Contagious Disease Acts

I am going to look at the pamphlets on the Contagious Diseases Act for my research paper. Comments, suggestions, or any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

I plan to look at the three pamphlets from the Pall Mall Gazette that were offered to the class and put them into conversation with each other regarding the role of men in prostitution.

My ideas are not yet fully developed on this as I have not had time to examine each piece as closely as I would like to, but I am having them copied currently and already have some ideas. It seems that each writer, Mrs. Malleson, Justina, and Anonymous have an opinion of the role men play in perpetuating prostitution. They all seem to think that men hold at least some (if not most) of the responsibility. One of the reasons is at this time men had more economic power than women and the lack of economic power forced women into this work. Another reason is that it was men who frequented the prostitutes so not only were they helping to continue employment as prostitutes but they were also then spreading disease to their wives and children.

I would like to explore this idea of men's responsibility and lack of accountability with regards to prostitution. I think my goal would probably be to answer the question: How do each of these writers differ in their opinion of the role of men (as clients) with regards to prostitution and the spread of diseases?

For this I would the only sources I have at the moment are the three pamphlets I looked at in class. For aditional sources it is a possibility to look further into the London Lowlife Collection, but I'm not sure how much I want to complicate my research with aditional opinions. One source I will look into, however, is "The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon." This is also from the Pall Mall Gazette and looks into the issue of what was called "white slavery" basically forced prostitution and child prostitution. This writing could help me find more about the way this issue was viewed at the time.

I have quite a bit more work to do before I can turn in a paper proposal, but I am hoping I can work with this question, because I find it highly interesting.

Phase Four- Taking Stock and Moving Forward- Nightingale

I have been working with Nightingale all throughout these exercises and have grown very interested in her texts. I have now had several opportunities to look at her "Notes on Nursing" and "Notes on Matters" and would like to use these two texts in developing my final paper. Previously, I had tried to uncover her use of audience construction in these texts, but her texts contain such profound arguments and ideas about medicine of her time that I would like to turn my focus to other issues.

To find out more about the ideas and topoi of the time, in order to possibly develop a better understanding of Nightingale, I looked at a different text from the Classical Works in History of Medicine and Surgery collection, William Charles Wells' "An Account of a Female of the White Race of Mankind..."; This text, published in 1818, uses a comparison of the races to demonstrate that evolution of the human species exists, involving natural selection of the most favorable traits, or in other words, "survival of the fittest." His ideas coordinate with those of Darwin, but he came before Darwin's time. However, Darwin then published his famous ideas in the 1860s, right around the time that Nightingale wrote many of her texts. A question that came to mind was, would Nightingale support this theory of survival of the fittest, or would she be more likely to support that everyone has an equal opportunity to survive, as long as they take the proper measures necessary for good health. Would Nightingale say that we, not nature, decide our health and our survival? I thought it would be interesting to investigate how she would respond to these ideas since she was writing right in the midst of this time period.

Overall, I am still yet to uncover some of Nightingale's deeper and more significant beliefs about human health and good healthcare. Is the goal of her texts simply to pass on her knowledge in order to create a healthier society? Clearly her ideas were effective, judging by her lifespan, which was unusually long compared to others of her time (1820-1910, lived to be 90 years old). I would like to investigate all of these ideas in my final paper to find out how Nightingale's beliefs corresponded to other beliefs of the time, and to gain a better idea of why she wrote her texts in the first place.

Phase Four: Gordimer

I have been working with the Gordimer collection all along, and have developed a question that I would like to turn into my essay.  I wrote down three possible things to explore, and I will share them with you since you might have more feedback and may persuade me to change my mind. 

1. How did Gordimer affect/change apartheid in South Africa? 

This would involve a lot of historical research about how it was before she began writing and what it is like now.

2. How were Gordimer's writings about apartheid influenced by other South African writers?

She began so early that there must have been someone who influenced her as a writer

3. Which piece from Gordimer's collection most greatly influence her winning the Nobel laureate prize? Why was it so effective?

I feel a little iffy on this question, but it would be interesting to know if there was one particular work that stood out and why it did. I could gather critics essays on her as well. 

After talking briefly with Dr. Graban, I believe I will try to elaborate on question number two. Obviously Gordimer is a leader in the field of writing, but some of her early works were from when she was 12. Prodigy yes, but someone somewhere influenced her writing then, and I am sure now as well. I know this from the correspondence I found between her and another playwright in South Africa whose manuscripts are also in the Lilly. Fugard had a wife who was an actress who performed in many plays about apartheid as well. They were not merely acquaintances but good friends--which you can see from the letters. She thoroughly enjoyed his work, and was equally upset when it was not given the attention she believed it deserved. She wrote one play that I read, and wonder if this was influenced by the playwright. 

Gordimer also wrote (for a class I believe) about all the things she read in a particular year. She was quite young and read  many things. She rated them, and I think it would be interesting to take a look at what she was reading. Maybe those are the clues to how she was influenced, and to also see if she had any types of relationships with those authors as well. 

*Gordimer is still alive and when this is all over I am writing her and telling her about it!

Phase Four: Hapgood

For my archival research project, I have decided to utilize Hapgood's work over the Sacco-Vanzetti trial. Though only two chapters of "No Tears for My Youth" are on hand, she explores a tremendously wide variety of ideas that extend beyond the trial. Some of the things that I feel would be most interesting for me to concentrate on in my paper would be the stance that she takes while she presents the information and how she positions herself to be a persuasive author while still presenting the facts. Also, I feel that really looking into her version of what "crime" really means would be a very interesting topic to explore. I feel that this woul be interesting because of the fact that the Sacco-Vanzetti case is so controversial and it seems that their guilty verdict depended mostly on their immigrant, poor status rather than their actual guilt. I think that exploring the class systems and what those social standings infer during that time period could be very enlightening.

Some of the sources that I found that are directly related to the case include: The Case that Will Not Die by Herbert B. Ehrmann and The Untried Case by William G. Thompson. I am having trouble deciding what lens I could use to really discuss these details in depth. I could possibly utilize Ong to discuss how Hapgood fictionalizes her audience as she takes positions on certain subjects. I'm not sure if Addams or Harper would be beneficial or not, but I could possibly incorporate them as well? I also found an article on JStore called "Social Hierarchy and the Death Penalty: A social Dominance Perspective" by Michael Mitchell and Jim Sidanius. This article looks into the social aspects of why individuals are put to death at a higher rate than in other areas. I feel like this could be an interesting attribute to my paper.

Phase Four: Answers in Nightingale

For the purpose of the final paper I have decided to work with Nightingale's "Notes on Matters" and "Notes on Nursing", suplimented by our Anthology and a few other sources through the Lilly. Throughout the semester I have stuck with Nightingale's texts as I always was left wanting to read more about her findings and the accomplishments and respect she gained during her years as a nurse, this curiosity has also left me with some burning questions which I would like to get to the bottom of-in steps my paper. The primary question I hope to find answers to through the paper is, "What made Nightingale such a force to be reckoned with that Generals and other very important men of the time saught her out and listened to her suggestions?" Women still were not looked on as all that capable at that time, yet these men saught after her advice and took it readily, producing models after her ideas and findings.

In order to investigate this question I hope, through further exaimination of her texts and those secondary texts available I can acquire a good background understanding of where Nightingale came from, why she (of all people) would be asked to overhaul the military hospitals, and get the larger picture of the common medical beliefs of the time through pictures, texts and diagrams.

The main points I hope to address would include a short background of where Nightingale came from, the history of how she came to be a nurse, what accomplishments she made in order to be saught after by military officials, and perhaps delve into what made her do what she did (or find what made her "tick" so to speak).

Phase Four: Mulock-Craik in Conversation with Barlee

I have chosen to investigate Dinah Maria Mulock-Craik's A Woman's Thoughts about Women. Her view of the importance of the self-dependence and education of women for personal enlightenment and social advancement greatly intrigues me. I have also chosen to put part of Ellen Barlee's Friendless and Helpless in conversation with my primary text. I believe that Barlee will offer insight into the flaws of women's education and employment.

Some critical questions that the text has led me to ask are: How is the commitment to oneself, commitment to the community, and commitment to God related? How does the education of women affect their self-reliance? According to Mulock-Craik and Barlee, what are the components of a proper and practical education for women? I believe some of my main points will be how Mulock-Craik's concepts of women's education and independence disrupt the status quo and complicate the subject of gender.

Both Mulock-Craik and Barlee rely on Biblical references to disrupt constructions of the complete subservience or the complete equality of men and women. They focus on more of the notion that men and women were made for each other, rather than exactly like each other or one subservient to the other. I would like to further explore the importance of this balance in Mulock-Craik's definition of a self-reliant woman.

As for secondary sources, I have explored the possibility of using Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor. The Reading Room attendant could only find a more recent, edited version called Mayhew's London which has excerpts from London Labour and the London Poor. It offers excellent insight into the education-based reasons for the prevalence of poverty, but I would have to explore this text further before deciding on its place in my final investigation.

Mulock-Craik makes frequent use of "feminine style," especially in the concepts of empowerment, consciousness-raising, and arguments from expediency. I believe that Campbell's "Man Cannot Speak for Her" will prove useful as the primary lens in my investigation. I am also considering using Killingsworth's "Appeals to Time" and Ong's "The Writer's Audience Is Always a Fiction."

Phase Four: Taking Stock and Moving Forward-- Haldeman

During our time in the Lily, I've had the chance to look at a lot of the materials for Sarah Haldeman. The driving force behind the tasks I completed involved questions about "industrial education" for women during the early 1900s. For the final paper, I intend to further investigate what "industrial education" for women at this time really meant and what role Haldeman really played in this education. 

Many of the letters that I found in this collection will help me with this task. What I find particularly interesting is the dissonance of the values seen the letters that Haldeman received from various girls' schools and the letter she received from her mother. The letters from the different schools expounded on the way the girls learned how to cook, iron, sew, decorate, etc. All of these letters seemed to be giving Haldeman advice for how to structure the curriculum of her own school. The values seen here seem to vary drastically from the values seen in the letter from her mother. Mrs. Addams praised Haldeman for the way she raised her daughter, Marcet. However, this praise did not come for Marcet's housekeeping abilities but more for her intelligence-- as seen with the compliments Addams gives concerning the girl's letter writing skills.

Major questions I would like to investigate: What do the letters from the school imply about what industrial education was? How do the values differ from Haldeman's values? How did Haldeman receive the suggestions for her school's curriculum? Based on the dissonance seen between the letters, what role did Haldeman play in regard to this education? What did industrial education mean to Haldeman?

In addition to the information I found in the letters, I would like to find the following things:

-More models of the different schools, perhaps including what happened with Haldeman's school and if Haldeman actually took the other schools' advice

-Information concerning Haldeman's role in society (especially as a banker) and how that might effect the way she intended to teach girls / her own daughter and what she believed "industrial education" was.

Phase Four: Mulock-Craik

I have been studying Mulock-Craik’s book, A Woman’s Thoughts about Women, and I am interested in how the book works within the model of “womanly” rhetoric as well as how Mulock-Craik invites audience participation.

When I looked at the preface through the lens of Campbell’s essay Man Cannot Speak For Her, I found examples of the balance that Mulock-Craik had to find between her rhetorical aims and her feminine positions. As an author in general, was Mulock-Craik successful in maintaining this balance? I would like to research some biographical information about her as well as some critiques or reviews of her work to help answer this question.

Another aspect of feminine rhetoric is inviting audience participation. How does Mulock-Craik invite readers to participate and interact with her ideas? Who is her intended audience? Much of her writing seems to be directed toward women, but she also appeals to men. She says that her thoughts are not original and that many women have had similar thoughts. How does she appeal to readers who already agree with her views and to readers who disagree with them? I will use Ong’s essay about audience construction to analyze how Mulock-Craik constructs her audience.

I looked at another work by Mulock-Craik to try to get another view of her writing. I looked at One Year: A Child’s Book, In Prose and Verse. The book is divided into twelve sections, one for each month, and there are illustrations. There are three stories in each section, and the third story in each is a description of the typical activities in the childhood of the author and two other children. Throughout the narration of these descriptions, Mulock-Craik uses first and second person in order to establish a dialogue with the reader. I was only able to skim through the descriptions of her year, but I saw some themes that relate to A Woman’s Thoughts about Women, such as the importance of being self-dependent and of being a good Christian.

At the end of her preface in A Woman’s Thoughts about Women, Mulock-Craik says that she is sure that her book will have a good effect. I wonder if there is some way for me to get an idea of what effect her book had at the time she wrote it. Through historical British newspapers and other online resources, I hope to find references to her book to help me better understand what effect her audience construction and feminine positioning may have had on society’s response to her writings.

Task 4 - CDA's: Taking Stock and Moving Forward

Throughout studying the three letters concerning the Contagious Disease Acts, several curiosities come to mind:

First, I am interested in gaining further information about the context surrounding the Acts. What other legislation was the British government writing and passing at the same time? Were there any other acts that dealt with public health? What about laws dealing with divorce rights? Were their other industrialized countries passing similar acts?

Second, how was medicine practiced? What where the newest advances in medicine? I'd like to read some of Nightingale's work, especially something about her views of the CDA's and women's health in general.

Third, how was the church/religious beliefs a part of writing, arguing for/against, and repealing the Acts?

Although these three questions deal mainly with historical content, and not the literary and rhetorical content, I believe that understanding the historical context of these Acts will allow me to formulate a deeper and more well-informed examination of the Acts through a rhetorical lens.

For my archival project, I would like to investigate the appeals to religion - perhaps religion as a trope - and look at how religion was used to argue for/against other public health legislation in the same time period. (Probably within the same decade.)

For further investigation, I will compare religiously based moral arguments to secular moral arguments.

The three critical essays that would possibly be helpful in this project are Killingsworth's "Appeals to Time" (to look at audience contruction, assigned sociatle roles, and time as a trope - since the arguments were specific to a certian piece of legeslation at a certain time), Campbell's "Man Cannot Speak for Her" (to examine women's letters to newspapers and other types of writing to see to what extent style is dependent on rhetorical situation), and Tompkin's "Sentimental Power."

Related materials from the Lilly Library, or one of the other Bloomington libraries, will include the original contents of the Contagious Disease Acts, Miss Garret and Mr. Hill's letters, and if available other public health legeslation, some of Florence Nightingale's writings and hospital records.

some archival hints

Hi, everyone.

I've been searching for some archival hints since today's class. During Phase Two, most of you realized that the Lilly website currently provides very limited access. Thus, your best bet is to determine the type of source you are searching for and look it up on the massive card catalogue wall and/or to ask the Reading Room attendant to help you identify the type of source you are seeking. If you're feeling a bit tentative at this stage, do not panic--that's all a part of this kind of archival exploration. Explore with a vengeance(!) and remember that you're doing one of the hardest things of all: letting a critical question emerge.

Here is the detailed scope and content note on the exhibition of books related to medicine and surgery. Scroll all the way down to see the full holdings, and you'll notice that only selected images have been uploaded. You'll want to request individual items according to call number. If you are working with Florence Nightingale, these may provide interesting and relevant cultural backdrops via their images and texts, especially helping us to know what arguments formed the basis of medical practice at the time that Nightingale wrote her "Notes."

Also, if you are working on Nightingale and don't know where to focus, you might try the excerpts I identified on the archival project overview and collection list. You do not need to limit yourselves to those passages, but I started there because they seemed to represent the kinds of arguments she made.

For anyone interested in "Beauty's Triumph," Professor Cape provided me with the call number: HQ1201 .B385. It is an illustrated manuscript dated 1751 (about 100 years earlier than Barlee, Mulock-Craik, and the London Lowlife materials) but it was featured as part of an artificial collection created by Professor Cape called "Freethinkers, Reformers, and Suffragettes."

An interesting document to read alongside Mulock-Craik may be Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor: A Cyclopedia of the Condition and Earnings of Those That Will Work, Those Than Cannot Work, and Those That Will Not Work (1861-1862). This is in Box 15 of the BBC MSS portion of the "Cleverdon MSS II" collection.

The London Lowlife collection does have an extensive collection list with an item-by-item description of all 8 boxes and 4 oversized folders. The call number for this collection is DA676. If you're working with the Contagious Diseases Act and/or other 19th century texts, I highly recommend this list. The visual ephemera are so unique! You may be able to request a copy of the list--or request a copy to look at--from the Reading Room attendant. That collection may also house the Pall Mall Gazette
and W. T. Stead's Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon (on childhood prostitution). Stead's document was instrumental to the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act and to the creation of the Criminal Law Amendment Act (raising the age of consent to 16).

If you're working with Annie Besant, feel free to request and look through any of her other leaflets. The call number information is: BL2727 Box 1 Freethought Publishing Co. Items 11-27. It is a nice set of materials, but they are quite fragile and difficult to handle.

If you're working with the Haldeman MSS, there is another folder of materials that might be useful (if it hasn't already been pulled and placed with our collection). The call number information is LMC 1447 (Haldeman, Mrs. S.A., mss), Box 1. There are some news clippings about Sarah Alice Haldeman dated April 18, April 20, and April 27 1916 about her motivation to go into social betterment, about housewives economizing, and about women in banking. There is also an article dated January 4, 1907 on Haldeman's views on money and business, and a small clip called "Women and Banking" dated January 10, 1903. These items will probably have to be requested by date, since the collection list I have doesn't indicate which folder contains them. You might also look to the Haldeman MSS lists and the Mrs. SA Haldeman MSS lists to get a fuller sense of genealogy so you know who is related to whom.

For Gordimer, here is the full guide and online finding aid, as well as a general collection description. I believe in Box 4, Folder 21 marked "Early Writings" there is a kind of diary in which Gordimer kept track of and reviewed all books she had read that year.

As you find things, feel free to share with the rest of us!

-Dr. Graban

Phase 3 Option 2

I looked at Box 4 folder 25 of Nadine Gordimer's early writings. The first story in the folder was an untitled story about WWII. This story was difficult for me to find anything that resembled her usual themes of social inequality and apartheid. However, in all of Gordimer's work she uses explicit metaphors, and lots of description. The story was of men who worked fixing the communication line during the war in Egypt. The men face a near death experience that eventually the come out of alive, however we get to witness first hand through Gordimer's writing what they were thinking and feeling and how they were preparing to die. Some of the men don't seem to care, others are concerned with strictly monetary things, and one said, "I am bitter, and I am afraid, because I know life, and i am loath to let it go" I thought that this was the most interesting statement of this short story. In my idea it breaks the norms of what Gordimer wrote about. She projects this unjust society in most of her work, but this main character seems to not want to let go of anything about it. He is constantly looking forward to getting out of the war and back to society, and wants to live his life.
The second short story I read was called "Babe". It had very obvious themes that related to apartheid. The story was of a young woman who was born from a black woman and a white Irish man in South Africa. Her mother died in childbirth and her white father raises her for awhile. The girl detests everything about her that is black. She dies her hair blond, powders her face, and paints her nails to hide their "blackness". She meets a man who treats her poorly but is none the less infatuated with her. While on vacation she catches him cheating on her with a white woman, and loses it for just a second. You hope that this is when she develops pride for herself, but she does not. The man sends her away calling her awful names. Eventually the girl finds another white man who has the same disgust/intrigue for her, and she tells herself in the mirror she isn't so bad. Gordimer uses the girl to show the horrible way some white people look upon the entire black population. They are intrigued. They need them to have a stable economy and do the work they do not wish to do--so they are intrigued by them. But a part of them despises them and believes they are all that is wrong with their society and put them down. It is an odd relationship that Gordimer has worked out perfectly between this woman and white men.

Phase 3: Option 2

In A Reply to Miss Garrett’s Letters on the Contagious Disease Acts, Mrs. W.T Malleson shows many blunt examples and arguments which show what was customary at this time. Socially, men were considered the “higher power” over women, regardless of their class, which is explicitly shown by the Contagious Acts itself. The Contagious Disease Act solely punishes women for their sexual misconduct without even looking at the fact that men, married men even are acquiring these services from these women, or prostitutes. She spoke in a very sarcastic tone on the very first page of her book, stating things such as “if the true work of our doctors is to make people, if possible, a little healthier, treating them as animals merely…; of our teachers to spread the not very satisfactory attainments of the so-called educated classes somewhat lower in the social scale; if this were so, Miss Garrett’s widely- read letter in defense of the “Contagious Disease Acts” might be as true and faithful, as it is clear and intelligent. ” Off hand, when I read this quote, I was drawn to believe that, in actuality, she was stating how ignorant and unfair the Act was, mainly to women as a whole. These are the morals in which women of their time were accustomed to.

Malleson also talked about in their days how it was considered bad taste to allude to religion out of the pulpit or the nursery, which she thought was an even more powerful operation than the CDA itself, which she obviously did not agree with and felt strongly about opposing. Malleson also pointed out how ironic Mrs. Garrett’s arguments were in so many words. She stated that Mrs. Garrett writes “In answer to the very obvious object that a law is unjust, which, in dealing with a crime necessarily common to women and men, lays its hand upon women only, Miss Garrett says “there would be force in this objection if there were any parallel class among men.” Mrs. Garrett was clearly saying that the women who receive money for prostituting form a class; conversely, she was saying that the men who give women the money for the same purpose do not! But the whole thing on both parts is an unjust act, and the object in question was to never be sold nor bought, which shows unequal legislation and adds to injustment and whose only sanction is the right of the strong to oppress the weak, meaning that men overpowered the women. Although the men and women makes the choice, in the end, women are punished but the men aren’t. Malleson appeals to the women in this situation, in this book because back then women were considered “precious” or “superior” beings and Malleson used this a lot to make it be known in her writings. Overall, she poses the women in this situation as victims by pointing out what was moral but never showing how, in the end, men and women should have both just been seen as immoral people for the acts that were occurring.

Phase 3-Nightingale

For the purpose of phase 3, I decided to work with Florence Nightingale's Notes on Matters chapter V, pages 152-162. In choosing one of the many chapters of this book of pamphlets, I first thumbed through the table of contents where each chapter is given a very descriptive title; through this I chose my chapter, which is entitled, "Further Hospital History-Notice of the first employment of nurses, of the employment of a Corps of male nurses, and of the arrival of the Sanitary Commission"-very telling title.

The organization of the chapter follows like bookwork the order in which the title tells, and the bulk (all but one page) of the chapter deals primarily with the first two years of female nurse employment abroad. In fact the chapter leads off with the breakdown of the first group of female nurses to go abroad at the orders of the War Department of Great Britain. This group of 40 women arrived abroad in November 1854 and were in compliance with the War Department's rule that Roman Catholic Nurses "should not exceed one third of the whole number" of nurses. The rules on how many nurses of certain religions had to be strictly followed and those in charge had to keep strict eye on each fleet of nurses taken abroad, as shown in the following breakdown of the first two groups of nurses:

The first 40:

• 10 Roman Catholic Nuns of two different orders, one cloistered, one not.
• 8 "Sisters of Mercy" of the Church of England, of two different Houses.
• 6 Nurses from St. John's Institution, under Bishop of London.
• 14 Nurses actually serving in different hospitals.
• 1 Mrs. Bracebridge, who undertook the Domestic Management.
• 1 Miss Nightingale, Superintendent.

The second 46, under the charge of Miss Stanley, Mr. Percy, and Dr. Meyer arrived December 15, 1854:

• 15 Roman Catholic Nuns.
• 9 Ladies.
• 22 Nurses.

These nurses took the helm of linens, providing skilled care, presenting great moral influences on the men of the regiments, and began the practice of providing "extra-diet" for those wounded. According to the chapter, much of the provisions ran low due to poor storage and shortage of the Purveryor's store, so Florence Nightingale decided to provide an "extra-diet" for her wards which she bought (with her personal funds) at market, and was prepared and distributed by her nurses.

Though these nurses provided much good care, many rules were set in place to ensure their morals not be strayed, such as, "only six women per 100 men were 'allowed' on foreign service, except in India where 12 would be 'allowed', and none in war." Yet, the chapter points out that the women found ways around, as some had come to be married while abroad to men in the regiments. This was rare, but at the discretion of the General, some nurses wed the men they nursed back to health. Because of this, the recruiting of female nurses back in England was turned to those of lesser education who would have little to offer in marriage outside their kindness and care, or to male nurses.

The chapter, more tells of the history of female nurses abroad, rather than raising any debates, but perhaps questions could be raised as to what the Britain War Department found so scandalous about marriageable nurses marrying single army personnel? As long as it were done honestly, what was the hurt in providing the comfort of marriage to those abroad during war?

Phase 3: Trying on an Investigative Lens--Besant, option 2

In Annie Besant's "Is the Bible Indictable," she addresses two main topics: social injustice and the unfair constraints placed on medical writers. She focuses less on social injustice, but this can be seen in the fact that the "common people" (i.e. the poor) are unable to purchase any medical books that would be useful to them, since the medical books that are allowed to be circulated are very expensive. As Besant critiques, "...wealthier people, who want knowledge less, are to be protected by the law in their purchases of medical works, but if poor people in sore need, finding an 'undoubted physician' ready to aid them venture to ask for his work...the law strikes down those who sell them health and happiness." The majority of this pamphlet, however, consists of a critique against the ruling of the present Chief Lord Justice that any book that can excite its reader is indictable, regardless of the good intentions of the author. Besant's argument draws strength from the way it is organized. She begins her essay by laying out the ground rules for what qualifies a book as obscene. These factors include the price of the book (only cheap books are deemed obscene) and whether "the affect of some of its passages is to excite and create demoralizing thoughts." Once she has established the criteria for a book to be considered obscene, she advances her argument by showing how the bible could be prosecuted under these same conditions. She then proceeds to list numerous passage from the bible that could corrupt a young person's mind. Finally she ties together her argument by stating that she does not wish to prosecute the bible. Rather, she wants the Christians community to help abolish a law used against medical writers that could also be used to condemn the bible.

Two prominent rhetorical strategies Besant uses in this work is an appeal to time as a crisis and an appeal to kairos, or shared values. The crisis she identifies is that, under current law, beloved and cherished books can be condemned. For example, she writes that much of Shakespeare's work causes excitement and could thus be identified as immoral. Also, by showing that even books as sacred as the bible could be prosecuted under the present ruling of the Chief Lord Justice, she maintains that no one, not even Christians, are safe and that they must join together to fight the rule that any material that could excite its reader is obscene. Besant's use of kairos enables her to unite her audience and gain support for her cause. On such evidence of this is the quote, "and I call on those who love freedom and desire knowledge to join with us in over-ruling by statute the new judge-made laws." Clearly, someone reading this would want to consider himself to be a freedom-loving, knowledge-desiring citizen, which requires that he accept Besant's claims.

In "Is the Bible Indictable" it appears that Besant is in a debate over whether the bible can be deemed obscene. However, her use of irony helps more fully explain her stance. Besant does not really wish to condemn the bible so much as she wants to demonstrate to the reader how ridiculous the current law being used to keep medical documents from circulating is. This idea is supported by Besant's use of sarcasm. For example, she writes, "as to the motives of the writers, we need not trouble about them. The law now says that intention is nothing, and no desire to do good is any excuse for obscenity." Based on the context of this statement, it can be assumed that Besant really means the opposite. She think that the intentions of the author are important and should be taken into consideration when determining whether a book is obscene. Rather than attacking Christians and the bible, she wishes to bring the Christian community over to the side of medical writers by demonstrating how easy it would be to prosecute the bible. In this way, she establishes medical writers and christians as a unit "we" against the "them"--anyone who supports a law that would go so far as to condemn the bible. Thus, it can be concluded that Besant does not intend to prosecute the bible, but is more interested in gaining support from the Christian community for the publication of medical documents.

Phase Three: Trying on an Investigative Lens-option one

After analyzing Hapgood's "Vanishing Virtue" and No Tears for My Youth, I found some very interesting sentiments concerning both crime and virtue. I feel that oftentimes people associate virtue with what is established as being correct and moral rather than abiding by their own methods of morality. She saw that when individuals lacked courage, they lacked the ability to be their own person. In "Vanishing Virtue," she points out that one must have "the daring of the gun-man, the defiance of laws by successful politicians and the fortitude and self discipline of the early monks" in order to be courageous (1). She also attributed these attributes to virtue. Her friend John Jackson was a communist trying to stand up for what he believed in. However, when he spoke on issues concerning the unjust treatment of his fellow workers and also the unjust treatment he received from the police and the vigilantes, he was once again arrested and had his life threatened for being Communist. Though he was simply trying to support his views and explore the ideas of what it could mean to be treated equally, he was punished by individuals of "virtue" who claimed him immoral because he was a Communist. This brings into question exactly who can be considered virtuous and what crimes can be considered just. Was it fair that he was punished for holding a peaceful speech simply because he was Communist? Did those police officers and vigilantes really meet the characteristics of a person that could be considered virtuous and courageous? It seems unlikely.

Likewise, Hapgood also explores these ideas of crime and virtue in No Tears for my Youth. Sacco and Vanzetti, the two individuals on trial, speak of their cases and plead that they are still not guilty of the crimes that are charged against them. They rightfully explore the divide between the poor and rich that separates them from death and potential freedom, realizing that if they were rich, they would most likely not be sentenced to death: "I know that the sentence will be between two classes...the oppressed class and the rich class and there will always be collision between one and the other. That is what I am here today, for having been of the oppressed class. Well, you are the oppressor" (No Tears 2-3). The reader begins to realize that like the Jackson case in "Vanishing Virtue," this case also resembles one in which those individuals in the upper class appear virtuous, and therefore feel righteous in establishing what it means to commit a crime. Following this idea, Vanzetti calls attention to the fact that this war they are in is not a war that is creating any of the benefits that the "virtuous" promised: "All that they say to you, all that they have promised you, it was a lie; it was an illusion; it was a cheat; it was a fraud; it was a crime. They promised you liberty. Where is the liberty?...(No Tears 5). I feel like Hapgood is concentrating on the notion that crime and virtue are defined solely by those individuals in power at the time. The individuals being punished might not be guilty of anything other than going against the grain of what is socially acceptable. We must take into consideration that just because an individual is a minority, it does not mean they are going to commit a crime.

I feel that Hapgood uses several very effective rhetorical strategies to explore the ideas of crime and virtue. I feel that she definitely develops an emotional appeal to the audience by exploring the deeper relationship she has with the individuals in the text. This makes us feel more connected to them and therefore more willing to hear their side of the story. Also, she uses very vivid desciption to depict the scene at hand. This makes the audience feel that they can see both the speech from the bench and the trial occurring. This feeling of connectedness makes us more open to the text and the ideas being discussed. Hapgood utilizes these methods extremely well to develop her interpretation of crime and virtue.

Phase 3: Exploring Related Materials - CDA Option 2

Mrs. W. T. Malleson's response to Miss Garret clearly demonstrates several customary rhetorical strategies common to women's rhetoric in the mid to late 1800s.

Perhaps the most obvious is Malleson's appeals to the moral character and the Christian beliefs of her audience and country. Malleson's opening question is, "What is the ultimate object of all efforts for the amelioration of human ills?" (Malleson 1) She argues that Miss Garret has asked the wrong question. In her opinion, "Is this legislation necessary?" must take a back seat to "Is this legislation right?" (Malleson 5). The Acts promote the right of the strong to oppress the weak - a belief that causes blaming of the victims of prostitution: young girls and women caught in poverty.

Malleson appeals to logic in an extended if-then statement as she opens her piece - if the world were a simple and human beings merely animals, then Miss Garret's defense of the acts would be correct. However, the topic is complicated by the fact that humans have souls, and are spiritual beings.

On page 19, Malleson appeals to what is called expediency by Campbell in "Man Cannot Speak For Her." Although Malleson is not specifically calling for equal rights for women, she points out that the Acts' unfairness to women in perpetuating the "rightful supremacy of men's sensual needs" (19) and supporting a "worldly and materialistic" view of marrige is preventing women from completing men's character within the bonds of sacred marriage. In effect, Malleson is arguing for women's equality for the good of the human race and the good of society and families, instead of what Campbell calls the "Natural rights argument." (Campbell 298)

Malleson's arguments demonstrate common values in women's rhetoric also in the "feminine style" described by Campbell. Campbell has three main points about feminine style - that is arises from women's domestic situations, and consists of two parts: the presentation of grievances (why the woman decided to write on a certain topic) and the justification (why it was important that the author enter the public sphere even though she is a woman). (Campbell 297-298) Malleson's grievances include the Acts' unfairness to women, its support of men as victims rather than perpetrators, the Acts' consideration only for the physical manifestations of the disease, rather than the moral manifestations, and the public's (and Miss Garret's) refusal to bring Christian values into the picture. Her first justification for writing comes in the middle of page 4: "And now that we are fairly challenged to give a logical reason for our strong feeling, or to hold our tongues and let our diseased population be cured by wiser heads than ours, it becomes necessary that we should lay aside the double reserve of women, who prefer to ignore sin as ugly, and Christians who prefer to ignore religion as inconvenient, and acknowledge that we are different from our opponents less as to the mode of attaining a common object that the object we have at heart." She further justifies her writing by arguing that the effect of the Acts on marriage, family, and spiritual well-being will be terrible. Pages 17-21 are spent exploring the relationship between marriage situations and prostitution. Malleson argues that the superiority of men in legal marriages as well as marriage for materialistic purposes. "Marriage, when regarded as a safe outlet for man's animal propensities, not only fails its object, but renounces it's own sanctification, its inalienable obligations of reverent and self-forgetting love." Page 21 contains further justification - several arguments in favor of women's rhetoric for the purpose of a moral society.

My favorite argument that Malleson makes is at the bottom of page 8: "One may be pardoned for doubting that mercy which has to be forced upon its recipients by a strong police force; and it is still more difficult to recognize Christianity in a law which is based on the belief of the necessity of prostitution."

Phase Three- Trying on an Investigative Lens- Nightingale

For this phase, I chose to complete option #2. Since I had already looked at Notes on Nursing, I tried to access Notes on Matters but they had a problem locating that text, so I decided to stick to Notes on Nursing since I had found it so interesting last time. I analyzed "Chapter XI. Personal Cleanliness," and got an even better grasp of the way Nightingale writes and presents her argument. This chapter discusses the need to be particularly aware of keeping the skin clean, especially while ill, by washing often and thoroughly. It also explains the importance of changing the clothes often, for the clothing of the sick quickly gets contaminated with their illness. Nightingale organizes the chapter by beginning with a few sentences broadly introducing the general argument she is making, and then going into more detail. She begins to discuss the specifics of washing, such as how hot water with soap is much more effective than cold water with soap, or water without soap. She discusses the importance of rubbing, rather than just soaking like people tend to do. A strategy Nightingale consistently uses is discussing the wrong ways to care for the sick and then comparing them to the right ways, demonstrating how the right method is much more effective.

Judging by the way Nightingale addresses these topics, she seems to be involved in two debates. One of these debates is that most people go halfway in caring for the sick, but do not go the extra mile that they need to in order to fully cure them. Another debate she seems to be involved in is the argument that people tend to think that once they are sick, all they can do is just wait it out. This is not the case, according to Nightingale- these people do not realize there are measures they can take for a much quicker and easier recovery.

A strategy from our class that is evident in Nightingale and helps to explain her argument is audience construction. Nightingale constructs her audience as those people who care for the sick or will have to at some point in their lives, particularly, it seems, parents who must care for their sick children. This is demonstrated by a lot of the ways in which Nightingale carries out her argument in this chapter, such as when she states, "Every nurse ought to be careful to wash her hands very frequently during the day." Clearly Nightingale is offering up this tip because she is writing for those who would actually be in that position.

Phase Three: Trying on an Investigative Lens-- Haldeman

For this phase of the project, I was able to read a letter from Mrs. A.H.H. Addams to her daughter, Sarah Haldeman. The letter was written on December 18th, 1908. It is handwritten by the elderly Mrs. Addams, so it is a little squiggly and hard to decipher. 

While most of the letter focuses an acquaintance who has gotten married, a friend who has died, and general concern for Haldeman's health, there are a couple sentences at the beginning of the letter that concern Haldeman's daughter, Marcet. It seems that Marcet has written Mrs. Addams a letter, which the elderly woman thoroughly enjoyed. She is also very pleased with how intelligent the girl sounds, saying, "It is remarkable in solid conclusion more like a mind of a 40 than tender twenties; you are a wise mother to have let her learnt." 

Based on this statement, it is obvious that Mrs. Addams supports education for women. Because she points out that she sounds like a woman of 40, she's praising the way Marcet wrote her letter (perhaps she used a good vocabulary, relayed intelligent information, sounded wise with the way she shaped the letter... we can't be sure). It is important to notice that she describes the minds of girls in their twenties as "tender." It seems that Marcet is not as invested in silly, frivolous things that other girls her age are typically presumed to be interested in. (Funnily enough, the first time I tried to read the messy handwriting, I thought that Addams said, "You are a wise mother to have let her love"... But clearly that didn't make sense in this context). 

Based on the reason she praises Marcet, it is clear that Addams does not necessarily value or support the idea of educating women only to be good housewives and mothers. She values solid education that will provide women with something other than the ability to clean and change a diaper. 

-Merey

Phase 3 - Mulock-Craik's preface

The preface to Mulock-Craik’s book, A Woman’s Thoughts about Women, serves as an example of a “womanly” rhetoric. She begins by saying that her thoughts are “only Thoughts” and continues to explain that they do not by themselves solve society’s problems (Mulock-Craik iii). She further says, “They do not even attempt an originality, which in treating of a subject like the present, would be either dangerous or impossible” (iii-iv). With this modest introduction, Mulock-Craik positions herself as a feminine writer by understating the persuasive power of her message. In Man Cannot Speak For Her: A Critical Study of Early Feminist Rhetoric, Karlyn Kohrs says, “speaking was competitive, energized by the desire to win a case or persuade others to one’s point of view” (295). By placing her opinions in a neutral position, Mulock-Craik is able to downplay the masculine qualities of powerful persuasion in her argument. According to Campbell, women writers had to balance their “masculine” rhetorical ideas with their feminine influence in order to create effective rhetoric (296).

Campbell also says that feminine style usually invites audience participation, which Mulock-Craik accomplishes by saying, “many women will find simply the expression of what they have themselves, consciously or unconsciously, oftentimes thought” (iv). Through this, she invites women to consider this statement and examine their own thoughts to decide whether or not they can agree. If they do agree, then they may feel that they are more than simply readers; if they have had similar thoughts as the author, then they also can view themselves as having a role in creating the writing. Mulock-Craik also connects the private roles of women with the public sphere by emphasizing the importance of “thinkers, talkers, and doers” working together (iv). In this manner, she persuades women that they can act without completely changing their lifestyles. Campbell says that with “the traditional concept of womanhood, which emphasized passivity, submissiveness, and patience, persuading women that they could act was a precondition for other kinds of persuasive efforts” (297). In her preface, Mulock-Craik sets up the premise that women can act, and act together, in order to set a persuasive foundation for the rest of her book.

In the end of her preface, Mulock-Craik both exemplifies her femininity and asserts the main purpose of her writing. Campbell says that women have been traditionally viewed as “pure, pious, domestic, and submissive” (294). Mulock-Craik says that she would not have published her book “Had it not been planned and completed, honestly, carefully, solemnly, even fearfully, with a keen sense of all it might do, or leave undone” (v). She also states that she believes it will “effect some good” and bring about a positive change; however, she says that she cannot predict how much good it will do, and she leaves it in the readers’ hands (v). Mulock-Craik’s personal, feminine tone throughout her preface positions her as a kind-hearted woman, but she is nevertheless able to assert her belief that the results of her book will be positive ones. In this manner, the preface serves as an example of the balance that women writers had to find between their rhetorical goals and their feminine positions.

Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs. Excerpt from Introduction.” In Man Cannot Speak For Her: A Critical Study of Early Feminist Rhetoric. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1998. 294-299.

Mulock-Craik, Dinah Maria. A Woman’s Thoughts about Women. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1858.

Phase II--Gordimer

How I found related manuscripts...

Step 1.
I located the Lilly Library Website. It is very helpful and although it doesn't list everything the Lilly has it has most of it. I went to the collections tab and did a search of "apartheid". This is the most common theme in Gordimer's work and figured would be my best chance at finding others writing about similar topics. This returned a search of lots of Nadine Gordimer papers, but one other author named Athol Fuggard. He is a playwright who is also from South Africa, and resided in Cape Town.
Step 2.
Went to the Lilly. I asked to speak with a "reference librarian". I told her about my previous research online. I asked her if she had any other suggestions. She told me to look in the Lilly guides for my keyword apartheid--she said that some general topics have guides to where and what authors in the Lilly. Sadly, they did not have mine. I continued on with my quest of Fugard MSS. I looked in the guides to the Fugard Mss. and found that he had correspondence with Nadine Gordimer. I pulled that folder and looked at the letters from Gordimer. They seemed to be very good friends, and Gordimer was a fan of his plays and found them to be very moving. There were two letters in total, but also letters from a woman named Mary Benson who wrote Nelson Mandela's biography and was a political activist.
Fugard's work illustrates the political and social dilemmas of living under the apartheid system in South Africa. This means that I have found related materials in the Lilly and thus succeeded in my task for Phase II.

In case anyone is interested. This was found in the Fugard MSS. Box 1, Folder 10. He was born in 1932 and lived in Cape Town. Gordimer considered him a close friend and ally in their struggle against apartheid.

Phase 3: Besant with an investigative lens

For phase three I chose option one- putting a passage from one of Besant's pamphlets into conversation with a passage from Cavendish , Astell, Wollstonecraft, or Fuller. Out of Besant's two available pamphlets I choose to work with English Republicanism and decided to put that pamphlet into conversation with Fuller's Women in the 19th Century. This decision was mainly fueled by the fact that during my initial meeting with Besant's texts I already noticed some very evident similarities and differences with Fuller. 

Beginning with a recap from Fuller, whom we discussed quite thoroughly  in class, Women in the 19th Century is a polemic essay for men and women alike with the premise that can be summed up in the quote, "There is no wholly masculine man, and no purely feminine woman." (Fuller 565).  Comparing Besant's aim to Fullers, Besant is speaking to men and women with a persuasive style exigence, but does not argue for feminine values. Instead she argues for the evolution of Republicanism within England. This claim can be supported by the quote "Republics should be born of thought, not suffering; of reason, not despair; they should be slowly evolved through Reform, not burst, like Minerva-like full formed and clad in mail, from the Jove of Revolution" (Besant 3). 

Considering Besant's piece is a pamphlet, and Fuller's is an essay there are obviously going to differ in construction, but what I find interesting is that both present cultural windows within their writing, possibly to appeal to a more intellectual audience. On page five of Besant's English Republicanism she makes reference to many different cultures and their forms of government which states "no countries are more fee from disorder or violence than those inhabited by the sober, thrifty, and industrious Danes and Swiss" (Besant 4-5). Besant continues to point out to her audience that if all these countries in Europe can have what she calls "Universal Suffrage" within a Republican government than why can't England? Fuller, not necessarily arguing for universal suffrage, is however arguing for the harmony of man and women with similar cultural references. Her references do not refer to European countries, but to the Bible, Greek Mythology, and the poets William Wordsworth and Ben Johnson. Fuller frequently places Wordswoth and Johnson into conversation with her own thoughts to support her argument for the the flight of the role of women like the passage "The god's approve, the depth, but not the tumult of the soul, A fervent, not ungovernable love" (Fuller 571) is used to refer to her argument claiming that women should be more of a soul in order to stand alone in love. 

In comparing Besant to Fuller I admit I saved my most interesting find for last. I stated in the first blog post for phase one that Besant mentioned the Roman goddess Minerva in her pamphlet. If we recall Fuller's text devotes a whole section to Minerva and the Muse! Coincidentally Minerva has different connotations within each text. In Fuller's text Minerva is one of the "two aspects of Woman's nature, represented by the ancients as Muse and Minerva" (Fuller 564).  I already mentioned the quote that Minerva was included in for Besant's English Republicanism, for space purposes I am not going to repeat it, but it is located at the near top of this post. Minerva in this case is referred to a violent, war like character which is used to contrast Besant's claim that a slow change in government is necessary for England to adopt Republicanism.

 

Phase Three: Victorian Women on Women

Option One:

Marie Mulock-Craik and Ellen Barlee seem to have similar ideas on why women are good advocates for the downtrodden. Mulock-Craik specifically addresses single women when she states that they have a desire to fill the “hopeless blank of idleness” and must find – as this chapter is aptly named – “something to do” (3, 9). In general, she claims women have “needless or unattainable” duties “lying very near at hand,” where as men’s vocations generally allow them to escape the sphere of domestic matters and search for his work (14). Here, it must be noted that Mulock-Craik does not promote the equality of the sexes; in fact she claims that it is not nature’s plan, but rather that man and woman were meant to help one another. Since typical gender roles don’t give the single woman much to do, she must spend her time by reaching out to those in the community, which Mulock-Craik claims has “never at any time so much needed the help of us women” (14). She believes that women possess the tenderness and wisdom to carry out the charities and duties that God has assigned them. She believes that “pleasure is the mere accident of our being, and work is its natural and most holy necessity” (17). Mulock-Craik also believes that women are endowed with a certain selflessness, rarely thinking about themselves, and will simply “[do] what it was her duty to do” (21).

Barlee serves as an excellent supplement to Mulock-Craik’s ideas in her own conversation of one’s higher duty in life. Mulock-Craik mentions how women will fulfill their duties, while Barlee discusses the lack of respect and hospitality to the downtrodden; therefore if women do not question their given duties from their Creator, then women would make good advocates for the less fortunate. Also, in order to awaken the spiritual life of the poor, Barlee believes that all are called to “prepare the arid ground of ignorance for the reception of truth, and to watch in hope for the seed of time and harvest to appear” (9). She also believed that mothers have a good amount of respect and influence in the home, giving them the power to avoid bringing up their children in “indolent indulgence” and “false gentility,” leaving them helpless when it comes to supporting themselves in the real world (131).

Task 2: CDA'a - Women and Public Health

Gwen C. and I (Rebekah) posted this together -

The two search options given by the Contagious Disease Acts task were looking for additional items through the London Lowlife Collection or looking into items published by the Pall Mall Gazette, with the object of finding materials on women and public health related to the three pamphlets in response to Miss Garrett.

Our first step was to do several basic keyword searches with the computerized catalog in the Lilly's Reading Room. We searched "Pall Mall Gazette" and came up with 11 items (incidentally, almost all were related to various social causes, including animal rights). Only one of the items was applicable to our topic - "Sketches from Shady Places" by John Rutherford (Pen name "Thor Fredur).

A second keyword search of "Contagious Disease Acts" lead to two applicable sources - two different government reports on the Royal administration and operation of the CDA's. Oddly enough, the earlier report, from 1871, was cataloged under "public health" as the primary topic, while a later report (1879) on the same topic, by the same people, for the same purpose, was cataloged under the primary topic of "Sexually Transmitted Diseases." This situation brings to light the importance of multiple searches, with different keywords or methods of searching, to find all the related and possibly relevant materials.

We also tried looking for the London Lowlife collection, however, nothing came up on the computer, so we may have been going about searching for this collection in the wrong way - next time we'll look in the card cataloug as well, under the subject heading "London Lowlife."

Our last, and best, result came after searching "public health" and "women" under the advanced keyword search option. We found the autobiography of Elizabeth Malleson, the author of ones of the pamphlets in the London Lowlife collection! The book included pictures, letter, and biographical information, with contributions from others as well as Malleson. It was written at the request of her children; however, it was not published until 1926 (10 years after Malleson's death), and only for private use. We looked for this same book in the card catalogs along the wall, and although we did not find any works by Mrs. Malleson, we found articles by her husband, Frederick a pastor, published in a Sabbath reading magazine.

Phase 2: Nightingale/Tuttle

Lauren Ellis and I completed this phase together.

Procedure for accessing the Tuttle Manuscript collection: 

1. Access a computer and go to the Lilly Library website and online collection lists.

2. Click on Guide to the Collections, which will appear on the left side of the computer screen.

3. Click on the category History, America.

4. A bunch of subcategories will come up on the right hand side of the screen--click on U.S. Civil War related collections.

5. The authors are listed alphabetically, so scroll down until you reach Tuttle.

6. This will take you to an information page about the Tuttle mss. collection.

-this collection is dated from 1838-1912. It includes letters from and to Elizabeth E. Tuttle (1823?-1896), who was a nurse and teacher in Colebrook, Ohio. She volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War, and a few of her letters address her experiences on the battlefield of Antietam. She also wrote about establishing hospitals at Harper's Ferry and at Gettysburg. The only other author in this collection is Ira Norris Noland, a physician who married Tuttle's niece. Among the materials concerning Noland is his certificate of membership in Company K (the 196th regiment Ohio infantry), social letters, and his diary, which includes information about his Civil War experiences.

7. Look to see how big the collection list is (119 items).

8. There is no call number because the collection consists of manuscripts, so it is necessary to request a manuscript collection form, which is pink and will be provided by the reading room attendant.

9. On the pink slip, indicate the author's name you are interested in and the collection list. If the collection list includes more than a couple hundred items, specify the particular items of interest.

10. Turn this slip into the attendant and wait patiently for him/her to bring you the requested manuscript collection.

 

Phase Two: Victorian Women on Women

Finding a related resource to the Victorian Women on Women collection:

Mulock-Craik mentions the Edinburgh Review, so we wanted to search for a resource related to that. We went to the IU Libraries webpage and clicked on IUCAT. We limited the search to the Lilly Library and put Edinburgh Review in the title. We found a book titled Critical and historical essays, contributed to the Edinburgh review by Thomas Babington Macaulay published in 1852. We found the call number, which is PR463.A1. We also looked in the card catalogue in the Lilly Reading Room. There are drawers with green labels for manuscripts and with white labels for books. We looked up Macaulay in a drawer with a white label to find the call number and information for the book we wanted. To access this book, we would then fill out a white request slip with the title, author, and call number to give to the reading room attendant. If we had found the book on IUCAT when we were not at the Lilly Library, we could have e-mailed liblilly@indiana.edu asking them to hold the book so that it would be available when we came to the reading room.

- Nicole and Mollie

Phase 3- Contagious Disease Acts

Option 2: Look more closely at “Mrs. Malleson’s Reply”

1) How can the topics and arguments she offers inform us of what was customary at the time?
Mrs. Malleson makes several arguments that show the reader what was customary and socially acceptable at the time. The overarching social problem seems to be, in Mrs. Malleson’s opinion, the unconditional power men have over all women. She points out several problems that come from this. The first is that the Contagious Disease Acts only punish the women who are prostitutes, not the men who use their services. She points out that men have so much power they can use these women and never suffer consequences. While the prostitutes may have a certain degree of responsibility for the spread of venereal disease the men who are their clients have more responsibility. Not only are they catching the diseases themselves, they have the potential to spread it amongst other prostitutes and they could also take the disease home to their innocent wives and children. Mrs. Malleson says that while prostitution is certainly immoral the men, not just the women, need to be held responsible.
According to her there were no real consequences for men who used prostitutes, not only could they not be punished by law, their wives could not leave them. At this time only men could ask for divorce and they could ask for it for one episode of infidelity by their wives. The women on the other hand could know of countless episodes of unfaithfulness and could not leave the situation. This posed a problem for them because they were essentially required to meet their husband’s sexual needs in marriage, but by doing this they were at risk of getting a venereal disease from their husbands.
This fact that upstanding women could end up with a disease because of unfaithful husbands probably helped to fuel another concern of those opposed to the contagious disease acts. This concern was that men in power would abuse their power over women and upstanding women would be punished for their disease as much as prostitutes. She said that so far this has not seemed to happen but the potential is there because the power men have over women is complete.
Mrs. Malleson does not believe the contagious disease acts are the best solution to the problem of prostitution and venereal disease. She believes that forcibly examining and treating these women is simply treating a symptom of the problem rather than the cause. She believe that women need to be educated so they can be independent from the power men have over them and consequently be free of the immoral influence of men. She also believes that women need to have more opportunities for honest work so that they can make a living without needing to rely on a man. She points out that this would not only help women who are considered prostitutes by society but also women who she believes participate in a form of socially acceptable prostitution. She believes that the way women must use themselves to get a man to marry them and provide for them is simply another form of women selling themselves.
2) How can the way she develops her critique demonstrate certain tropes or strategies that were valued in women’s public discourse?

Mrs. Malleson uses her position as a woman, and therefore a supposedly more pure and moral human to argue her points. She often says that the reader should not look at whether the legislation is necessary but whether the legislation is right (i.e. moral). At this time it seems that (most) women were considered morally superior beings and Mrs. Malleson uses this belief to her advantage. Not only does she paint herself as speaking from a position of morality, but she also paints prostitutes as victims of immorality by men rather than intrinsically immoral people. When she uses this position of speaking about morality it allows her to communicate in the public sphere without losing her femininity. If she were to argue this from a scientific standpoint with less discourse of morality she may have been considered un-feminine and therefore would have lost any credibility she had on the subject. She manages to maintain her identity as a woman throughout which allows her to discuss moral implications of prostitution with some authority because she is a woman and therefore a supposed guide to morality.

I find it interesting that Mrs. Malleson was able to voice this opinion and apparently be a married woman. I wonder if her husband had some objection to this or if maybe she had a rather untraditional sort of marriage for the time? I also wonder how difficult it was for her to attack men as immoral being without compromising herself?

Contagious Disease Acts Phase 2- RaQuell and Alex

Alex, and RaQuell
We got into the reading room, signed in and looked up the contagious disease acts in the catalog card. The card was in drawer 166 called “Loesser-Londres,” it was under the section “London (ENG.)—Poor.
Then we asked a man working in the reading room for the collection list and he found the list for us which has the texts listed by box, folder and name. We looked through the list and in box two there were many texts on the contagious disease acts.
We decided to ask to see item 21 which was called “The National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Disease acts, Fund for the Aid and Defense of Women. Attachment: Subscription form and Statements Why all Christian Men and Women Should Help the Cause of Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts.”
We filled out a request card with the call number DA676, box number 2, item 21, the title of the texts, and our names, and then gave the request card to the woman behind the desk. They found it brought it out to us and we were able to examine the text.

Phase 2 Haldeman

This phase of our archival work was interestingly confusing. My first goal was to find the manuscripts collection on Sarah Haldeman and then I had to find some sort of related material that was in a different collection. I utilized every aspect of the library from the cards to IUCAT this is my way to long process for finding the material.

1.) First I searched online on IUCAT thinking that I would find my collection right away, however it was not online. 

2.) Next I looked in the manuscript collections description book, which is located in the back left of the reading room, and found my collection, and every other person with the same last name, this helped me because I could get an understanding of what would be in each box which in turn allowed me to narrow my search for related material. The description book obviously described what was in each box making it easy to find related topics.

3.) next was locating the collection in the index cards, I wanted to be able to find anything just incase next time I come here the collections are not out I will be able to access the information.

4.) Once I found my collection I got on IUCAT and searched for my related material. I used an author search and found Jane Addam's "long road to women's memory"

 Getting started was probably the hardest part because at first everything seemed so overwhelming because of the sheer size and magnitude of this library, however once I had a handle on finding information everything was cake.

Charles Jeffrey

Phase Two: Exploring Related Materials-- HAPGOOD

For this phase of the assignment, we were "tipped off" to find information on materials called "Hapgood-- Sacco-Vanzetti". We used the Lily website to find this. Then, we needed to look up collections on local labor leaders for the 1930s. This is the process we used to find these materials:

1) We used the computer in the reading room to utilize IUCAT.

2) We proceeded to type in a few different search options, which produced irrelevant results.

3) We then narrowed our search down to include only materials found at the Lily, as opposed to ALL libraries.

4) We did a key word search of "The Works Progress Administration" and found pertinent materials. 

5) We then eliminated search results that weren't relevant (such as a document about Shakespeare)

6) We found a document about the WPA in the 1930s. The document was titled "Homeless, friendless, and penniless: the WPA interviews with former slaves living in Indiana" by Ronald L. Baker. Call Number: E444 .H66 2000. The "note" section says that the document is "from interviews conducted in the 1930s by fieldworkers of the Federal Writers' of the Works Progress Administration."

7) We wrote down the title, author, and call number; handed the slip to the individual at the reference desk. He then sent up for the material. 

-Merey Shell, Laura Strodtman, Cara Bushemi

Campbell Discussion option 2

Laura Mann's timeline was the most organized and thought out of the the three, even though it does not cover as much time as the "History of the American Suffrage movement". Based on our class discussion I felt that starting with Abigail Adams was the right approach because her attempts to help the movement seem ineffectual however they still made the federal government wary about making a law for or against it, therefore they left it up to the states. In 1807 women lose their right to vote in the state of New Jersey which had the most progressive views on allowing women's rights. 

Mann's timeline is useful because of the divisions she places within it to show how the movement switches its approach or appeal. Their first change is by making an alliance with the Quakers. This is smart because Quakers have strong views on equality before other groups.  They also utilize anti-slavery sympathizers because they argue that women and slaves a like are humans and should be allowed a voice (freedom). The next switch that they have is that women begin to organize nationally spreading their ideals about equality. In 1850 women are holding national conventions however by 1861 Susan B. Anthony declares the movement be put on hold until the end of the Civil war. The next change in their approach is when women who are not granted the right to vote while the freed slaves whom they were trying to help are. This sparks a division between black suffrage and women suffrage because blacks finally have their foot in the door and are trying their hardest to push it open so they can utilize the protection of the constitution. Some of the new territories are allowing women to vote while other states ignore ballots cast by women. Now it seems that women must act out of the ordinary to make a point since they have been ignored. Women speak out at conventions sign petitions and do things against the norms of their society to point out how they have been wronged. In the 20th century is when things come to a boiling point. Women are beginning to be put in prison while slowly states are beginning to grant suffrage. President Wilson brings the appeal to congress who pass it with 2/3 vote while the senate declines it by 2 votes. finally in 1920 the Susan B. Anthony amendment is ratified.

Reading Response:

Analyzing Campbell's description of the struggle for the women's right to speak in public we see a common threads that women who spoke publicly were unpious or masculine. Campbell argues that women faced many more difficulties when speaking than med were challenged with. Women who spoke publicly were "strong" women who must offer up an argument and be able to support it and appear knowledgeable. Since women were smaller and less stable, if a woman got excited or passionate about a topic she risked losing her credibility. Women's styles of writing could contradict because of this. This is why they were required to justify every claim that was made.  

Campbell Discussion

OPTION ONE:

Based on the text given, I could definitely tell that the "Declaration of Sentiments" document was meant to inspire women and be used as a source for the woman's rights movement. Many of the figures noted in the text were extremely important in facilitating the woman's rights movement. This document was a call to women to come and listen to both men and women fights for the fair and just treatment of other activists. The public, mainly ladies, were encouraged to join the convention (1). This text was certainly designed to inspire women, and sympathetic men, into action.

At the beginning of the text, the creators of the "Declaration of Sentiments" play off of the "Declaration of Independence" very wittily: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal..." (2). This insertion of this singular word completely changes the context of original piece and forces the reader to realize that it is absurd that women were not included in the assertions of equality. This document brings to light the unjust treatment of women and how they have been forced into subordination for far too many years. Also, they bring up the point that when a government is no longer appropriately working towards the common good of all mankind, it is the public's right to refuse allegiance to it (2). They make it clear that when the government is not including all of the people in fair treatment, it is politically incorrect and unjust. These individuals feel that it is time for women to no longer be second class to men in not only society in general, but also to the government.

The rest of the text concentrates mostly on the equal and fair treatment of women and the atrocities that have been forced upon them for years. They discuss all of the things that women have no been able to do simply because they are women. Basically, it lists all of the things that men have kept women from doing over hundreds of years, yet have allowed themselves to do for that same period of time. They are calling attention to the fact that this treatment is extremely unfair and that women deserve to have the same rights as men. This document was used to inspire individuals to realize that it is time for something new-for something better for women.

The word that I chose to look up was "woman." I Thought that it would be interesting to see how it was used in texts. In one specific text by Mrs. E. L. Rose, she uses woman in a very powerful way: "WOMAN is rising in the full dignity of her being to claim the recognition of her rights. And though the first public demonstration has been here, already has the voice of Woman in behalf of her sex been carried as it were on the wings of lightning to all parts of Europe, whose echo has brought back the warmest and most heartfelt responses from our sisters there" (Mrs. Rose's Address 4). I feel like this is a very empowering use of the word "woman" and definitely differs from the typical way it is inserted into texts in a negative way.

READING RESPONSE:

I feel that Karlyn Kohrs Campbell really took into consideration a variety of aspects in order to better understand women's speaking and writing. I think that she definitely understands that men were always the ones that are expected to speak, write, and be politically active. This means that because men are the ones that are supposed to be doing these things, it is odd and different when a woman wants to participate. Her place is supposed to be inside the home, taking care of the domestic problems of the household. She is not supposed to be speaking her mind through public displays of speaking and writing. We definitely have to look at how this notion affects the ways in which women spoke and wrote during that time period. For instance, Emma Hart Willard had to remain seated when she presented "A Plan for Impoving Female Education" to make sure that the men did not think she was trying to give a speech. It is incredible to think that just because she was sitting down, they would consider her, but if she stood up, they would immediately take offense to it. Women definitely had to walk the gender-fence in order to speak their minds, yet still be heard. I think Campbell was definitely aware of this.