In 1995 she became James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History, and director of the Charles Warren Center of Studies in American History, at Harvard University. [8] [9] She was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2003. [10] She also served as President of the American Historical Association from 2009 to 2010, and of the Mormon History Association from 2014 to 2015. As of 2018, Ulrich is 300th Anniversary University Professor, Emerita at Harvard. [9] "Well-behaved women seldom make history" [ edit ] For anyone interested in American social politics, New York’s glorious Gilded Age and the private machinations of the city’s cultural elite, this novel is a treat. Fowler’s attention to period detail is both mesmerising and delicately drawn and the cast of recognisable characters such as the Astors, the Mandevilles and those from the British aristocracy are intriguing. The novel offers an unsentimental, thought provoking and nuanced examination of an extraordinary life during a time where women were grossly undervalued and oppressed. Alva demanded and achieved more, altering the course of women’s lives in unprecedented ways. Fowler has articulated her narrative in an utterly fascinating account of gender politics that still bears a deep resonance today. Alva’s story has been resurrected and made newly unforgettable. Helen Cullen Well-behaved Women Rarely Make History | Funny Candle Gift | 100% Soy Candle | Vegan | Clean | Gift For Friend To me, this material was pure gold. At the time, most historians who were interested in women were focused on the nineteenth century, and the few who cared about the colonial period concentrated on witch-hunting or the trial of the Puritan dissenter Anne Hutchinson. Not surprisingly, their portrayal of early New England was pretty grim. By teasing out little-known details from those tedious sermons, I was able to offer an account of Puritan piety that was much more complex and at least potentially hospitable to women. By spring, I had completed a draft that my professor thought might be publishable. Over the next few months, I managed to finish a series of revisions that satisfied the editor of the scholarly journal American Quarterly.

Things are improving somewhat, Buzzkillers. Professor Ulrich’s name often appears next to the quote on the inter-webs these days. And, indeed, she wrote a book not only about how this quote came about, but in it, she also shows how various important women have either been championed or ignored by history, and how those things come to be. Marshall, Megan (September 4, 2007), "Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History", SlateHow Betsy Ross Became Famous" in Common-Place Vol. 8, No. 1 (October 2007), American Antiquarian Society [ dead link] Stephens, Randall J. (2009). "Randall J. Stephens – "The Importance of Studying Ordinary Lives: An Interview with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich". Historically Speaking. 10 (2): 10–11. doi: 10.1353/hsp.0.0021. S2CID 161751483. Friends and former students passed on anecdotes and “sightings.” A reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education took pleasure in pointing out that I was a practicing Mormon and to all appearances pretty well behaved. At the time, I was busy navigating my life at Harvard while finishing The Age of Homespun, a book that built on years of work based on museum collections. I was pretty exhausted by the time that was published, and I decided it would be a good respite do something lighter.

I started reading this for Women's History Month in March. The book has been on my shelves for ages. A reading group friend sent a text on March 1, quoting the title. I decided it was a sign. The quote “Well-behaved women seldom make history” is very popular, especially in feminist circles. It’s seen as telling women that it’s okay to speak out and be heard, that being obedient won’t get your name in the history books.It reads in the same way my brain thinks. Lots of details and it goes everywhere. You start talking about Woolf and end up with the Great Chicago Fire. Now that's the kind of train of thought I can get behind! Of course because it goes everywhere, it's not going to give everything the most depth, but it didn't neglect the details. Gross, Terry (January 17, 2017). "How Mormon Polygamy In The 19th Century Fueled Women's Activism". www.NPR.org . Retrieved January 19, 2017. This intimate portrait of Alva Vanderbilt, the powerful socialite of New York’s Gilded Age in the late 19th century, certainly supports the theory. By modern standards, Vanderbilt’s behaviour was impeccable, despite the personal and societal challenges she faced. At the time, however, she was often considered scandalous and vilified for her feminist, antagonistic views and a staunch independence that unsettled the status quo. I used to think women's studies as a major was lame or that feminism was just crazy weirdos wanting to burn bras and are man haters. And then I grew older and realized two things: 1) how much I frequently search for, enjoy reading, and share about women in history, which is pretty much women's studies, duh; and 2) how much of a feminist I actually am. Perhaps it's time I find the quote on a magnet for my fridge... Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650–1750. (1982). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ISBN 978-0-394-51940-1. Reissued by Vintage (1991), ISBN 978-0-679-73257-0

Morgan, Katherine R. (2006). "Using Primary Sources to Build a Community of Thinkers". The English Journal. 91 (4): 69–74. doi: 10.2307/822460. JSTOR 822460. Humanities & Social Sciences > Interdisciplinary Studies > Women's and Gender Studies > Introduction to Women's Studies In this she has joined the "Inspirational Women" series — following, among others, Maya Angelou, Florence Nightingale, Frida Kahlo and her friend, aviator Amelia Earhart. (Whether she would have approved is another matter.) Since Professor Ulrich was not yet a well-known person in the late 1970s, it’s very likely that this quotation floated around at the time without attribution. But our modern culture hates what Ralph Keyes, the author of The Quote Verifier, calls “orphan quotes.” Like so many other quote orphans, “well-behaved women seldom make history,” not only got changed to “well-behaved women rarely make history,” but got attached to many famous women. That’s why Marilyn Monroe, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gloria Steinem, and Princess Leila get credit.

What does 'good behavior' look like? How do the ways it's different for men and women affect things? How do individual women reject being well-behaved? What foundation are they working from? What is history? What does it mean to 'make' history? Shape it? Mold it? Achieve the honor of being mentioned three generations down the road? Affect world events? Is making history the job of the women of the past or the scholars who study them? Is 'making history' really the goal? If well-behaved women don't make history, is it fair to blame that on them? Or should we expand history to respect and allow their stories to matter? Can we ever find our voices now, without a concerted effort to end the silences of the past? Is big, radical, political, effective, intentional change the only history that matters? How do the myths and the incorrect assumptions and rumors tell interesting stories alongside the truth of the matters? If a woman is well-behaved but is rumored to be ill-behaved, what then? a b c d e f Pearsall, Sarah; Sword, Kirsten. "Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Biography". General Meeting Booklet, 2010 AHA Annual Meeting. American Historical Association. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University. She is the author of Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Early New England, 1650-1750 (1982) and A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (1990) which won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1991 and became the basis of a PBS documentary. In The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Making of an American Myth (2001), she has incorporated museum-based research as well as more traditional archival work. Her most recent book is Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History (2007). Her major fields of interest are early American social history, women's history, and material culture. Professor Ulrich's work is featured on the web at www.dohistory.org and www.randomhouse.com.