Uncovering Women’s Everyday Lives

As discussed women’s historians often have to refer to unconventional sources to uncover the lives of women who left little written record. Analysis can include the examination of artifacts, archaeology, the layout of a home, cookbooks, images, letters, diaries and more. All of these sources can be used to provide a rich history of women’s lives.

For this activity, you will examine some of these sources and describe how they add to our knowledge of women’s lives in American history.
By choosing from a set of primary sources and conducting an initial search for relevant journal articles and other sources.

To begin, choose one of the following sets of primary sources. After examining the sources and jotting down notes in response to the set of questions for each, locate and read two scholarly journal articles from the Excelsior Library that deal with the same topic as the primary sources. Once you have done this, return to the primary sources and see how the secondary sources have enriched your understanding.

Describe how the primary sources you examined enrich our understanding of women’s lives. What do they tell us about women? Do they confirm or contradict what you found in the journal articles?

Your response should reference at least 2 scholarly journal articles that cover the same general themes as your primary sources (e.g, colonial women for the Salem Witch Trial Transcripts or slave women for the Slave Letters). You can also pull in other primary and secondary sources from within or outside the class, as desired.

READ ALSO : Ethics

To get started, you can view Excelsior Library’s History Research Guide.

1) Salem Witch Trial Transcripts: http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html

Analyze at least three cases dealing with women. Consider the following questions as you read:
What were the accusers trying to prove?
What can you learn about both the accusers and the accused?
What can you learn about socially acceptable and unacceptable behavior?
Does anything surprise you?

2) Revolutionary Letters: http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/
Examine two letters by Abigail Adams and two letters by John Adams in a one-year time frame. Consider the following questions as your read:
What can you glean about their marriage and roles?
What can you learn about their expectations?
How did their perspectives and emphases differ?
Does anything surprise you?

3) Slave Letters: http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/campbell/
Examine the four letters by Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson. Consider the following questions as your read:
Who wrote the letters?
How would you characterize the intended recipients?
How do the letters change when addressed to different recipients?
Why were the letters being written?
What can you glean from the image of the original letters?
What can you learn about slave relationships?
Does anything surprise you?

4) Civil War Letters: http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/choosepart.html
Read at least two letters from Mary Anna Sibert and two letters from a male family member in either the Civil War or post war period. Consider the following questions as you read:
How do their letters differ?
What do they tell you about women’s lives at this time?
What do they tell you about women’s expectations?
What do they tell you about women’s views of the war?
What surprises you?

5) Homestead Letters: http://theautry.org/explore/exhibits/sod/documents.html
Compare the three letters from Mattie with the four letters from Uriah. Consider the following questions as you read:
How do their letters differ?
What do they tell you about women’s lives at this time?
What do they tell you about women’s expectations?
What do they tell you about women’s views of homesteading?
What can you glean from the images of the original letters?
What surprises you?

6) Housekeeping Artifacts (from New England and the West): http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awmusic8/music_scores.html
http://collections.theautry.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=keyword;keyword=women%20in%20the%20west;dtype=i
Compare the items from nineteenth-century New England to those from the nineteenth-century West. For the Western artifacts in particular, you will need to sift through all the images to find artifacts like dishes and clothing. Consider the following questions as you examine them:
How are they similar?
How are they different?
What do they tell you about women’s lives?
What do they add to conventional knowledge gleaned from other sources?
What can they not tell you?
What surprises you?

7) Music Scores: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awmusic8/music_scores.html
Examine these three examples of sheet music cover art. Consider the following questions as you examine both the images and secondary sources on the topic:
What subject matter is depicted?
What messages are they meant to convey?
How are women represented?
Who is the intended audience?
Who produced the music and the artwork? What do we know about them?
How well was the music received?
How do these examples fit into the music popular at the time?
To see an example of how to analyze primary sources, visit Scholars in Action: Analyze Abolitionist Speeches.http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/sia/speeches.htm
NOTE: PLEASE SEE THE LINKS PROVIDED BY EACH AREA. PLEASE READ, READ AND UNDERSTAND WHAT IS BEING REQUESTED. I HAVE INCLUDED THE LINK FOR EASY REFERENCE/RESEARCH AS NEEDED.