Westering Women and the Frontier Experience, 1800-1915Professor Myres gives frontier women a voice they never had. She uses extensive new material by and about women--letters, journals, and reminiscences from over 400 collections-- to study the impact of the frontier on women's lives and the role of women in the West. She offers a major reinterpretation of the experience of pioneer women, including that of Indian, Mexican, French, black, and Anglo-American women. The account recreates in detail the frontier experience of all these women, beginning with their physical and intellectual responses to the trek West, and concluding with their struggle for political suffrage and economic opportunity. Women moved from civilization to the frontier encumbered by more than baggage. They also had to overcome literary and social stereotypes. We learn their views on wilderness, Indians, race, and religion as well as how they reacted to the daily challenges of keeping house, raising a family, and gaining a measure of equality. "A strikingly original, highly readable, and informative history that will be used by scholars and lay readers alike."--Howard Lamar, from the Foreword |
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Page 168
... female companionship as on isolated farms and ranches . In Colorado , one woman recorded , there were twenty men for each woman in the settlement , and " I was the 8th white woman in Denver . " Another commented of her first impression ...
... female companionship as on isolated farms and ranches . In Colorado , one woman recorded , there were twenty men for each woman in the settlement , and " I was the 8th white woman in Denver . " Another commented of her first impression ...
Page 184
... female teachers , it was generally understood that female teach- ers would work for less than their male counterparts . All of these factors contributed to an increase in the number of women teachers ; and although most school districts ...
... female teachers , it was generally understood that female teach- ers would work for less than their male counterparts . All of these factors contributed to an increase in the number of women teachers ; and although most school districts ...
Page 346
... Female Society for Promoting the Diffusion of Christian Knowledge , " and a number of mis- sionary societies had female auxiliaries who helped raise funds to purchase Bibles , cate- chisms , and religious tracts for use in the mission ...
... Female Society for Promoting the Diffusion of Christian Knowledge , " and a number of mis- sionary societies had female auxiliaries who helped raise funds to purchase Bibles , cate- chisms , and religious tracts for use in the mission ...
Contents
Westward | 101 |
Acknowledgment of Sources | 271 |
List of Abbreviations | 283 |
Copyright | |
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Abigail Scott Duniway American women anti-Mormon areas Arizona BTHC California camp chores church clothing Colorado cooking Crossing the Plains dances described Doña dress economic Elizabeth experience farm fear female French friends frontier women girls Harriet Hispanic historian Historical Quarterly Historical Society History husband Idaho immigrants Indian women Indian-Pioneer Papers Interview Iowa Jane Journal journey Kansas ladies land Letters living Margaret Mary Mary Hallock Foote Mary Maverick Mexican Mexico Mormon Mormon women mother neighbors nineteenth century Oklahoma Oregon overland trails plural marriage political polygamy Prairie ranch Reminiscences reported role Salt Lake Salt Lake City Sarah savage settlements settlers sister social Spanish Story territory Texas tion took trip Utah vote wagon washing West Western women wife wild wilderness William Carr Lane woman recalled Woman Suffrage woman wrote Woman's Exponent women's diaries writers York young