Phase One: Mary Donovan Hapgood

For Phase One of the Exploring the Artifacts, I got the opportunity to look at Mary Donovan Hapgood's work. Though I did not get to study it in depth, I was able to get an idea of the type of person she was. The first material that I looked at was from her book about a trial concerning two Italians, Sacco and Vanzetti, that were put to death for crimes that they claim that did not commit. Though I did not get a chance read a great deal of it, I did get an idea as to her character. She seemed like a woman that would be in favor of fair treatment of all individuals and not satisfied until she saw that occur. This leads me to my next artifact that I got a chance to look at. Her essay entitled, "Why Do Intelligent Women Marry?" was extremely witty and interesting. She discusses quite a few very interesting points about politics, marriage, and womanhood. I was able to take down a few very clever quotes to demonstrate her witty way of writing. This quote is from a conversation she was having with her male neighbor about politicians and politics: "
-->Oh. You think women will do what men have failed to do in political life? They will give us clean government and all that, I suppose”. “No, I feel sure women will not do any better in politics than men will do—why should they? However, women should have every opportunity to muddle along with the men where we are all going.” I thought this quote really demonstrated something about her character. She was not afraid to be blunt and honest about what she felt.

Another issue that she tackled in "Why Do Intelligent Women Marry?" was just what the title indicated-marriage. She was married to her husband who was also involved in political affairs. She discussed their relationship and how she felt about relationships in general: " -->I am intensely interested in his success. I do not want him in any degree to subordinate himself to me—if he were the subordinating type of man, I would not have married him. But I, too, am an individual. I do not want to subordinate myself to my husband—nor does he wish it. It is custom and society that compels the wife to be subordinate to the husband." I think that this is a good indication of how she felt relationships should work. They should be equal and both parties should feel that they are important and intelligent. I think that her view definitely could be the same view as many other women. It is so important to realize that men and women both have to have power in the relationship and have an identity of their own. I didn't get a chance to look at her other work very much, but I thought that she seemed like a very interesting individual with new ideas delivered in a witty way.

WORKS CITED:

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Hapgood, M.D., mss. Writings Hapgood, M.D. Why Do Intelligent Women Marry? n.d.