Notable American Women, 1607–1950 Explained
Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary is a three-volume biographical dictionary published in 1971. Its origins lay in 1957 when Radcliffe College librarians, archivists, and professors began researching the need for a version of the Dictionary of American Biography dedicated solely to women.[1]
Significance
Notable American Women was the first major modern reference book of women's biographies, although the genre was common in earlier eras, such as the 1804 A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women Of Every Age and Country by Matilda Betham. It appeared when Women's studies in U.S. universities had created great interest in understanding women's past.[2] Upon its publication it was viewed by scholars as a magnificent contribution to understanding the role of women in U.S. history.[3]
Writing of the changes in perspective on biography inspired by Notable American Women, 1607–1950 Susan Ware observed, "1,359 entries showed the range and depth of women’s contributions to American life, a pointed correction to women’s near-total exclusion from existing biographical dictionaries at the time and a dramatic spur to further research."[4]
Updates
Notable American Women: The Modern Period : a Biographical Dictionary updated the set for subjects who died between 1951 and 1976. The work for the fourth volume was a joint project of Radcliffe College and Harvard University Press funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and edited by Barbara Sicherman and Carol Hurd Green.[2] [5]
In 2004 volume 5 was issued: Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century.[6] The fifth volume in the series and was edited by historian Susan Ware who was assisted by Stacy Braukman. The women who were included had to have died prior to 2000. The volume differed from its predecessors because first ladies were not automatically included. Fame was not a factor, rather those chosen for inclusion had to have been influential or have contributed innovations or pioneering work in their area of expertise in their era.[7]
Reception
A 1973 review of Notable American Women, 1607-1950 by Mary Elizabeth Massey in The American Historical Review describes the work as "the most scholarly of all female reference works yet published", and notes, "As might be expected in a work of this kind, special attention is given to political activists, feminists, and suffragists, but the opponents of feminism and woman suffrage have not been ignored."[8] In a 1973 review for The William and Mary Quarterly, Barbara Welter writes, "Although white middle-class women who were reformers and authors predominate, women of other ethnic groups, holding diverse occupations, also appear. The sources consulted for even the most obscure of the lives are impressive - manuscripts, archives, collateral accounts, as well as exhaustive secondary material."[9]
Accordng to Marjorie F. Gutheim in a review for New England Quarterly, "There is someone here to interest everyone. If the longest articles seem a bit overpowering, or the more familiar ones too well known, turn to Mary Peck Butterworth, counterfeiter of colonial days; Margaret Hardenbrook Philipse, who carried on a mercantile business in her maiden name [...]; Kate Kennedy, who in the late 1860's fought for "equal pay for equal work"; Ellen Demorest who developed paper dress patterns; Alice Kober who helped decipher Linear B; Ida Lewis, a lighthouse keeper renowned for her rescues; Annie Peck, the mountain climber; Ann Eliza Young, a disaffected wife of Brigham Young; Emma Edmonds who served for two years in the Army of the Potomac disguised as a man."[10]
In a review of the fifth volume, Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing The Twentieth Century, P. Palmer writes for Choice Reviews, "The entries emphasize achievement rather than fame. Ware selected knowledgeable authors to write the alphabetically arranged, signed entries; e.g., Ruth Bader Ginsburg writes about Burnita Shelton Matthews, the Mississippi native who was the first woman to become a lifetenured federal trial court judge. Throughout the work, writing is balanced and detailed."[11] A review in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education states "Often historical compendiums assembled by white historians and editors tend to shortchange the contributions of members of minority groups. But this is not the case in the publication of Notable American Women", and 69 of the 442 biographies in the fifth volume are Black women, including "Black women from the fields of art, literature, sports, music, government, and entertainment", as well as "some of the most notable black women educators of the period".[12] In a review for Feminist Collections, Mary Hitchcock writes, "One potential drawback to the structure of the books in this series is that without a comprehensive index to all the volumes, it could prove time-consuming to locate an entry for a particular woman if one is not certain when she died. Overall, however, the series and this volume in particular are very valuable resources, providing useful information about women whose lives might be glossed over or ignored completely by more general biographical dictionaries."[13]
Women included in Volumes 1-3
Authors (by literary period)
1900-1950
Political Figures
Propagandists
Religious Founders and Leaders
See also Ministers and Evangelists; Missionaries
Social and Civic Reformers
See also Health Reform Advocates; Laborers; Settlement House Leaders
Welfare Work Leaders
See also Social Workers
Women's Club Leaders
Women included in Volume 4
Agriculture and Rural Life
Anthropology and Folklore
Architecture
See also Landscape Architecture
Art
See also Photography
Astronomy
Aviation
Biology
Birth Control
Chemistry
See also Medicine: Researchers; Nutrition
Botany
Broadcasting
Children's Literature
Civil Liberties
Civil Rights
Classics and Archaeology
Community Affairs
Conservation
Cookery
Dance
Demography
Economics
Education
College Founders and Administrators
School Founders and Administrators
Writers and Researchers
Other
See also Physical Education
Engineering and Industrial Design
Entertainment
Exploration
Fashion
Feminism
Film
Geology
Government and politics
Appointees
Congresswomen
Other Elected Officials
Party Workers and Officials
Wives of Presidents
History
Home Economics
Housing Reform
Journalism
Labor
Landscape Architecture
Law
Librarianship
Literature
Editors and Publishers
Scholars
Translators
Writers
Magazine and Journal Editing
Mathematics
Medicine
Physicians
Researchers
Military
Music
Nursing
Nutrition
Peace
Penology and Criminology
Philanthropy
Philosophy
Photography
Physical Education
Physics
Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis
Public Health
Religion
Settlements
Socialism and Radicalism
Social Reform
Social Research
Social Welfare
Social Work
Sociology
Sports
Suffrage
Antisuffrage
Temperance and Prohibition
Prohibition Repeal
Theater
Women's Organizations
Other
Women included in Volume 5
Advertising/Public Relations
Anthropology/Folklore
Archaeology/Classics
Architecture
Art
Art Collectors/Dealers
Astronomy
Aviation
Biochemistry
Biology
Birth Control/Family Planning
Botany
Business/Entrepreneurship
Chemistry
Child Advocacy/Education
Children's Literature
Civil Rights
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Community Activism/Local Government
Computer Science
See Mathematics
Conservation/Environmentalism
Conservatism
Consumer Affairs
Crafts/Decorative Arts
Dance
Economics
Education: General
Engineering/Technology
English/Literary Theory
Fashion/Textile Design
Feminism
Film
Food
Gardening
Government: Appointed Officials (State and Federal)
History
Home Economics
See Nutrition
Housing Reform
Journalism
Labor
Law and Judiciary
Librarians/Archivists
Mathematics/Statistics/Computer Science
Medicine: Physicians and Health Care Activists
Military
Museums/Curators
Music: Classical
Music: Popular
Nursing
Nutrition/Home Economics
Peace
Penology and Criminology
Philanthropy
Philosophy
Photography
Physics
Politics: Elected Officials/Activists/Volunteers
Psychiatry/Psychoanalysis/Psychiatric Social Work
Psychology
Public Health/Women's Health
Publishing/Editing
Radicalism/Socialism
Radio/Television
Religion/Spirituality
Social Work
Socialite/Hostess
Sociology
Sports/Physical Education/Recreation
Theater/Vaudeville/Comedy
Women's Health. See Public Health
Women's Organizations
American Association of University Women
League of Women Voters
National Consumers' League
National Council of Negro Women
National Federation of Business and Professional Women
National Organization for Women
National Women's Political Caucus
Other
Writers/Poets
Zoology
Bibliography
- Notable American Women: a biographical dictionary completing the twentieth century. (2004). Ware, Susan (editor), Stacy Braukman, assistant editor. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass. .
References
- Book: James . Edward T. . Janet Wilson . James . Paul S. . Boyer . Notable American Women, 1607–1950; A Biographical Dictionary . registration . Cambridge, MA . Belknap Press of Harvard University Press . 1971 .
- Book: Sicherman . Barbara . Carol Hurd . Green . Notable American Women: The Modern Period: A Biographical Dictionary . Cambridge, MA . Belknap Press of Harvard University Press . 1980 . 978-0-674-62733-8 . 834112895 . registration .
- Miller . Roberta Balstad . Women and American history . Women's Studies . 2 . 1 . January 1974 . 105–113 . 10.1080/00497878.1974.9978340 .
- Ware . Susan . Writing Women's Lives: One Historian's Perspective . Journal of Interdisciplinary History . 40 . 3 . Winter 2010 . 413–435 . 10.1162/jinh.2010.40.3.413 . 145478898 .
- Rothman . Sheila M. . Biography as Prescription . . September 1981 . 9 . 3 . 415–421 . 10.2307/2701975 . 16 October 2023 . 0048-7511.
- Book: Susan . Ware . Susan Ware . Braukman . Stacy Lorraine . 2004 . Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century . Cambridge, MA . Belknap Press . 937332808 . 978-0-674-01488-6 .
- News: Farrell . Joelle . A Woman of Notable Achievement: Susan Ware Helps Shape Women's History . 25 January 2023 . . March 27, 2005 . Concord, New Hampshire . B1, B8 . Newspapers.com.
- Massey . Mary Elizabeth . Review of Notable American Women 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Volume 1, A-F; volume 2, G-O; volume 3, P-Z . . 1973 . 78 . 1 . 144–145 . 10.2307/1854029 . 4 November 2023 . 0002-8762.
- Welter . Barbara . Review of Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary . . 1973 . 30 . 3 . 518–522 . 10.2307/1918498 . 4 November 2023 . 0043-5597.
- Gutheim . Marjorie F. . Review of Notable American Women, 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary . . 1972 . 45 . 2 . 281–283 . 10.2307/364762 . 4 November 2023 . 0028-4866.
- Palmer . P. . Notable American women: a biographical dictionary completing the twentieth century . . July–August 2005 . 42 . 11/12 . 1954, 1956.
- The Esteemed Sisterhood of the Late Twentient Century . . 2005 . 48 . 126–127 . 10.2307/25073263 . 1077-3711.
- Hitchcock . Mary . Susan Ware, ed., Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary Completing the Twentieth Century . Feminist Collections: a Quarterly of Women's Studies Resources . Winter 2005 . 26 . 2/3 . 22 . University of Wisconsin . 0742-7441.
