Schedule Change and Symposium #4

Dear ENG L207 Class:

To be fair to Ida B. Wells-Barnett (and the tradition of anti-lynching journalism in which she participated) I think we'll need to work her back into our reading schedule for the fourth sphere "Social Evolution: Sex, Class, and Labor." She makes an interesting transitional figure by bridging some of our nineteenth-century feminist authors' use of gender or race as tropes in both sentimentalist and anti-sentimentalist fiction, with some of our twentieth-century feminist authors' calls to more explicit kinds of activism. So, I announce this change to our reading schedule for next week:

Thursday 3/31/11
Wells-Barnett -- classpak, "Lynch Law"
Truth -- anthology pp. 509-511, 512-513
Gilman -- classpak, "Women and Economics" but only pp. 360-366 (top)
Jones -- cancelled (although this makes a great piece to read on your own)

Additionally, I announce a schedule change for our fourth and final symposium. The symposium will be held on Tuesday 4/5/11 and Tuesday 4/12/11. I am making Thursday 4/7/11 an independent work day at the Lilly Library to work with your collections on the final project.

Many thanks,
Professor Graban

Consultations (Optional) on Critical Essay #3

Hello, everyone.

I post here the consultation schedule for Critical Essay #3, after the spring break. If you have a conflict with the time(s) you have chosen, or have not yet signed up, please let me know. There are still plenty of open slots.

Have a restful spring break,
Professor Graban

Monday 3/21/11
11:00-11:20
11:30-11:50 Emily Taylor
12:00-12:20
12:30-12:50 Katharine Yugo
1:00-1:20
1:30-1:50 Hannah May
2:00-2:20

Tuesday 3/22/11
4:00-4:20 Ariel Daugherty
4:30-4:50 Courtney Rishel
5:00-5:20 Deirdre Hutchinson

Thursday 3/24/11
10:45-11:15 Charlotte Martin
12:40-1:00 Sam Ostrowski
4:00-4:20 Lauryn Roberts
4:30-4:50 Belle Kim
5:00-5:20
5:30-5:50 Alyssa Kennedy

Friday 3/25/11
1:30-1:50
2:30-2:50
3:00-3:20

Deadlines Extended

Hello, everyone.

I am extending deadlines for the next two assignments to accommodate one more working and blogging session at the Lilly Library before April:

Short Critical Essay #3 - deadline extended until 5:00 p.m. Monday 3/28/11
Final Paper Proposal - deadline extended until 5:00 p.m. Monday 4/4/11

All changes are reflected on the documents linked to our "Assignments" page, but please make the changes to your own syllabus or daytimer.

new notice: Finally, to take some pressure off of Phase Three, you may visit the Lilly Library whenever convenient. We had originally suggested that you spend an individual working session there prior to 3/22 so as to ensure that the Reading Room wasn't overwhelmed the week following spring break. However, given the progress you all made last week, you should be fine to go whenever you can. Also, some of you are working with online collections that you can access from outside of the Lilly.

Many thanks,
Professor Graban

Productive Dilemmas in Sphere Three

Hello, everyone.

It seems we have a number of productive dilemmas to consider throughout the third sphere just based on today's class discussion (and we haven't even covered the "trope"!). Here are some of the questions I carry with me into next class:

1. If Campbell's feminist rhetor does not define herself exclusively according to what women are or are not (or according to how women should or should not act), then how else can she self-define?
2. How do we construct a feminist literary subjectivity based on something other than time, or based on something other than how women relate themselves to historical events or as historical subjects? (This is the question underlying Kristeva's "atemporal subjectivity," a term we see her discuss alongside "logic of identification.")

And I'll add some bonus questions for you to think about as you anticipate Thursday's quiz on tropes in Wheatley and Grimke:

1. As we read throughout this sphere, how will this concept of "feminine style" rely on, look past, or disrupt the trope?
2. Can race be a trope?
3. Can gender be a trope?
4. (For that matter, can moral superiority be a trope?)
   

As you can see, I'll be readily armed with questions!

See you Thursday,
Professor Graban

The Woman Behind the Socialist

The search for related materials started off to be a very promising one based on the Lilly’s extensive collections of manuscripts that could have possibly related to Ms. Hapgood and her ideas about social reform via the Sacco and Vanzetti trial, the Works Progress Administration, and more. We decided to delve into what might be the most fruitful of our searches first: the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. Knowing that this topic made up an entire manuscript collection by itself, we were able to go straight to the Lilly Library’s website to look up the manuscript collections list. Exploring the collection via the search tool under “The Collections: Manuscripts”, we found a collection to be entitled “Hapgood—Sacco-Vanzetti”. This looked promising as the online description mentioned it containing correspondence via letters between both Sacco and Vanzetti and Hapgood. From here we looked up the printed collection in the binders of manuscripts to see if there were any more details that might be of interest in the collection. Upon deciding to look at the collection, we requested the physical materials and were overwhelmed with all the items present.

It turns out that the Lilly Library had divided the collection into two parts: letters both written and printed, and newspaper/media about the trial. Both parts are extremely helpful and mention specifics about the trial, social reform, and Hapgood by name. It was fascinating to delve into the news articles about the Italians and the Mother Mary that they had in Hapgood. The articles became even more interesting when put in comparison with Hapgood’s own memoir, No Tears for My Youth. Within the text, Hapgood uses truly pathos-inducing speeches from Sacco and Vanzetti during the trial:

“‘I am suffering because I am a radical and indeed I am a radical. I have suffered because I was an Italian and indeed I am an Italian. I have suffered more for my family and for my beloved than for myself, but I am so convinced to be right that you can only kill me once, but if you would execute me two times and if I could be reborn two other times, I would live again to do again what I have already done. I have finished. Thank you’” (6).

However, the news does not create such a sympathetic view of the entire trial. Big-name news such as The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and more all included articles about “Reaffirming the Sacco-Vanzetti Verdict” or about how “Boston Police Stop Meeting for Sacco”, all portraying the two Italians and all those who support them as the enemy. So, we began to see just what the public saw at the time when the trial was going on. We saw just what Hapgood was up against as she led radical social reform.

The second folder in the collection provided a very intimate look into the thoughts of Sacco, Vanzetti, and many supporters. This was also interesting to juxtapose with the public perception of the trial/aftermath. It is in these letters that many ideas and themes of social reform begin to come out. These letters also introduced us to a variety of other supporters of Sacco and Vanzetti that may have collaborated with Hapgood. For example, there is extensive correspondence between both Italians and a Ms. Alice Stone Blackwell, who clearly advocates her support for Hapgood’s efforts. Overall, this collection was a wonderful addition to our Hapgood research providing both public, and private looks into the well-known trial that our subject was so dedicated to.

Looking into Hapgood’s work with the Works Progress Administration in Indiana, we found an exclusive online exhibit from the Lilly Library. Like before, we simply used the search tool on the Lilly Library’s website to look for information on the WPA. One of the first results that the search yielded was this exhibit (http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/wpa/wpa.html). While it does not mention Hapgood specifically, we do know that she was directly linked to the Works Progress Administration in Indiana, so we can use this exhibit to further our general knowledge of Hapood’s goals and reasoning. The exhibit provides a multitude of descriptions of projects in the Indian area, and photographs of those projects. If the rest of the exhibit is found to be unimportant, at least it gives us a general knowledge of who was inspiring Hapgood, and of what some of her broad ambitions were.

Staff at the Lilly Library let us know that they have a manuscript collection entitled “Labor and Left Wing Related Collections”. Deciding that this could yield some good results, we looked into the collection. Again, returning to the Lilly Library’s website, we searched for “Labor and Left Wing”. Finding it to be the first search result, we clicked on the online manuscript description and found a multitude of collections. Each collection had a date range and a small description of generally what the collection was about. Using these two pieces of information under each collection, we narrowed our search to items that might be relevant to Hapgood. One very interesting collection ended up being the “Columbia Conserve Company MSS” collection. While this does not necessarily apply to Mary Donovan Hapgood directly, it has extremely important indirect affiliation with our subject. This collection tells all about the socialist workings of a cannery where Powers Hapgood (Mary Donovan’s spouse and cohort through the Sacco-Vanzetti trial) was a main stockholder with his two brothers. The collection is housed at the Auxiliary Library Facility and was not present for us to physically look at, but depending on where we decide to take our research, it could be of great benefit to put in a request at the Lilly Library to have the collection delivered there.

Sam and Belle

A Search for Nightingale

How we went about locating the collection list:

We started our search with the Lilly Library website. From the website there are a number of ways to locate the information on Elizabeth Tuttle's manuscript collection that we were looking for. For example an alphabetical search, topics search (Medicine & Science), or simply, a search bar. Each of there search options led us to the information page that presented us the Lilly Library's offerings: a folio collection of 119 items. Because this collection is available in physical form, we would have needed to fill out a pink slip available at the information desk in the reading room with the collection name (Tuttle MMS) on it. Since this is a small collection, we would be able to gain access to the whole collection at once. However, for larger collections, specific boxes may be requested one at a time. If we had not been looking for a specific collection, the topics search in Medicine & Science would have been, and will be, very helpful for discovering and locating related materials.

Next we were able to search IUCat for additional resources. Here, title, author, and keyword search boxes may prove helpful. This is particularly beneficial because all IUCat resources are available online, at any time. However, there are numerous in-house procedures for locating materials at the Lilly Library. These include searching the shelf list and card catalogue, by request, with the help of a Lilly Library reading room staff member. The card catalogs are very helpful locating books within a certain subject. Searching for resources by subject allows you to look for every book that could benefit your research. The shelf lists are also helpful in identifying books categorized around the same region as the book you were looking for. These sources could end up being just as helpful as the book you were originally looking for.

by: Meaghan Ternik, Hannah May, and Deirdre Hutchinson

Phase 2: A Discovery...Of Sources!

Luckily for us, the Lilly Library in a stroke of genius placed the collections list for the London Lowlife collection online. By going to the Lilly library’s home page, you can find almost anything you might need. For us we started by looking under collections but if you just search London lowlife nothing comes up. So what we did was back on the main page under collections we clicked IUCAT, once there we logged in and in the key word box we typed in London Low Life and in the library section be put all Bloomington libraries. They then gave us this link and it took us right where we needed to be. Here’s the link to the web site: http://www.londonlowlife.amdigital.co.uk/Default.aspx Once there we clicked on documents and then entire London Lowlife collection was in front of us. Another, easier, way is to Google search London Lowlife and Lilly library and it will come up.

This possess of finding the collections list is the same that can be used to find any other sources in this collection. But we decided to use IUCAT as well. When we started to look for more information on The London Low Life Collection we used IUCAT and looked up the phrase "Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Great Britain." One result we found useful was the Report from the Select Committee on the Contagious Diseases Acts : together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, and appendix. We think this is worth looking at because the three letters we have read so far regarding The Contagious Diseases Acts have been from women from the general public. Their insights and opinions regarding the acts certainly is important to analyze because they are speaking on behalf of the population most affected by the legislation, and this helps to round out our understanding of the acts themselves. Written in 1879 it follows suit with the letters we have read in terms of publication dates, which helps us to see what the discourse was between government and the general public at this time.

http://www.iucat.iu.edu.ezproxy.lib.indiana.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/UCegjVb01G/B-WELLS/118201459/9

The second document we looked at, a pamphlet written by Mrs. Hume-Rothery and published in 1871 titled "Women and doctors; or, Medical despotism in England," was found using the Lilly Library's London Low Life Online Database. We first went to the database homepage (http://www.londonlowlife.amdigital.co.uk.ezproxy.lib.indiana.edu/) and started a search by clicking on "Documents" and looking at pamphlets, essays, and other literature from England in the mid to late 1800's.
This pamphlet may prove to be helpful in better understanding the relationship between doctors, the government, and the common people. Just from reading the first few pages it is apparent Mrs. Hume-Rothery sees an unjust disparity in the amount of power doctors have over the general public. For example, parents have been arrested for not getting their children vaccinated, which Rothery sees as being a decision the parents should make, not the government. This may prove to be helpful in understanding other primary sources even if it does not deal directly with The Contagious Diseases Acts, because it examines broader issues that would affect how the legislation would be received by the public.

Here is a link to the pamphlet:http://www.londonlowlife.amdigital.co.uk.ezproxy.lib.indiana.edu/Contents/DocumentDetails.aspx?documentid=18853&prevPos=18853&sort=date|asc&docF=13,16,17,18,21,24&view=all&vpath=contentsπ=1


Lauryn & Katharine

Gordimer, Fugard and South African Connections

For phase two, I decided to stay with the works of Nadine Gordimer. I went to online to the Lilly Library website and clicked manuscripts under “The Collections”. I figured that was a good place to start to see if there was anything else in the Gordimer collection that had not been pulled for our class. On the next page I clicked “G” for Gordimer which brought me to a long list of ‘G” authors. I found Gordimer’s name which took me to a page of information on her. I clicked the “guide” option on the bottom of the page and it gave me the table of contents to her collection which has over 6700 pieces. I thought “Diaries and Notebooks” sounded interesting so I clicked that link and it took me to a list of the folders, specifically box 15 folders 81-87 containing her notebooks and a description of what each folder held. I found that the notebooks ranged from many different years and that it would be easy for me to find whichever era of her writing that I wanted.

I then decided to try to find out more about the apartheid and other people who wrote about it. I went back to the Lilly Library home page and in the search box typed “apartheid”. The search brought up six different links but all of them were Gordimer except for one. I clicked the link that brought me to a biography of Athol Fugard. I found out that he was a South African playwright and that his collection at the library has over 1200 items. I clicked the link for “inventory” and it gave me a list of the whole collection broken down by box then folder. Through my web browser I searched for “apartheid” on the page but it was not in the title of any of the works. Then I searched “South Africa” and that returned six items. I found in box four, folder 48, a New York Times article from September 1964 that I thought looked interesting. I decided to have it pulled.

I went into the reading room and a staff member gave me a slip of red construction paper that I used to write what I wanted pulled. I wrote “Fugard Mss. Box 4, Folder 48. New York Times Article” and returned it to the staff member. I little later she came and brought the folder to my table. I skimmed over the article and it was about how African theatre was making an impact on the rest of the world. I also learned that Fugard used to be a professor at IU. It could be something that I could use later for my longer paper. This was the first time I had tried to get a resource from the Lilly Library but I thought it was pretty easy and simple to find something useful to my research.

Exploring Materials Related to Annie Besant, Freethought, and Little Blue Books

Before trying to access physical resources in the Lilly Library, we attempted to search the Lilly Library website and IUCAT for any results relating to Annie Besant. After putting "Annie Besant" in the search field of the Lilly Library website, we came across two resources. The first directed us to a manuscript collection called the Woodward, S.C. MSS. This collection contains correspondences, autographs, and photographs of people connected to theater. It was quite a long list of names, so we hit control + f in order to find where Besant's name was. It turns out there exists a photograph of Besant form a newspaper or a periodical. We also found this when browsing through the card catalogues at the Lilly Library. We looked up the last name Besant and found the same information listed on the card that was found online. Considering phase two asks specifically for a visual resource, this was pleasing to find.

The other search result discovered when searching the Lilly Library website for Annie Besant was a piece she had written featured in the Peter & Iona Opie Collection of Folklore and Related Topics. In order to quickly find where exactly her work was listed on the page, we again hit control + f and put in Besant. The work was titled "The Ancient Wisdom. An Outline of Theosophical Teachings" and was listed under Occult Folklore. It was published in 1922, several decades after Is the Bible Indictable? and English Republicanism.

After noticing the hint about "Blue Books", we talked to Rebecca Cape in order to discover the relation between this phrase and Annie Besant. She directed us to the website www.haldeman-julius.org that featured the pocket-sized series of little blue books. In the search bar, we typed in Besant to see if there would be any results. It turns out she wrote in little blue book #83 a piece called "Marriage: Its Past, Present and Future".

In order to see where else Besant could be found, we asked one of the employees at the Lilly Library for any collections relating to Freethought, and they gave us a list of Freethought pamphlets that included works by Annie Besant, Charles Bradlaugh, G.W. Foote, George Holyoake, Robert Ingersoll, Joseph McGabe, and Joseph Symes, and others. To request any materials from this list, you need to use a Lilly charge card indicating the collection and specific box item and number. The collection is BL2747, and there are 11 boxes in total. Listed by the work you wish to call up will be the number it is in the collection.

The inspiration for Besant to write Is the Bible Indictable? was a trial in which she and her publishing partner Charles Bradlaugh were tried for publishing a book on contraception by Charles Knowlton, called Fruits of Philosophy. A miniature copy of this book is kept in the Lilly Library. To see it, you need to fill out a charge card with the title, author, and call number (RG136.K73). You should also write on the card that the book is in the miniature vault. In the book, there is a note from the publishers that is a very interesting read. It includes an apology for the book, but also states that the great deal of good this book will do is grounds for its publication.



Tessa and Courtney

Phase Two: The London Lowlife Collection

We started our search with the IUCAT to find related materials with similar subject matter. Since the second phase asked us to mainly focus on finding textual and visual ephemera, we focused our search around illustrations or books with illustrations. First, we went to IUCAT website, which can be found by navigating to the libraries section of IUB’s main website. After making sure to choose Bloomington as our campus, we entered in “venereal diseases” into the “keywords or anywhere” bar of the search box. We also made sure the Bloomington’s Lilly Library was selected to ensure that our search results were refined. This search produced 11 results, and from there we started exploring our options.

The ninth entry interested us because it was full of information and pictures related to venereal diseases. It’s called, “A manual of venereal diseases: being a condensed description of those affections and their homoeopathic treatment” Edward Carroll Franklin. The manual was published in 1883 in Chicago. Since it was published in Chicago and written about thirteen years after the pamphlets in the London Lowlife Collection, we thought that this resource could give us a look into the situation and public opinion about venereal diseases in America, thereby giving us a transatlantic understanding of the general outlook of the diseases. The link to further information about this resource is: http://www.iucat.iu.edu.ezproxy.lib.indiana.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/8CRJmeX0ud/B-WELLS/301921447/9

We were also intrigued by the fifth entry produced by our search. This material also included illustrations, but the main reason why it interested us was because it was published in 1916 and provided follow up information on the success of The Contagious Diseases Acts. It is entitled: “Final report of the Commissioners / Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases.” It was printed in London and could provide insight as to whether or not the letters written in response of the acts were ever listened to or not. This link to further information about this resource is: http://www.iucat.iu.edu.ezproxy.lib.indiana.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/dwn4DdA3AP/B-WELLS/301921447/9

Beyond using IUCAT to find resources, we also looked at the Lilly Library’s illustrated medical books. In particular, the book that we looked at was “Notable Medical Books.” It included authors and subjects from various time periods. We found an entry written by Philippe Ricord on page 191 that was published in 1851 and included a picture of a man suffering from syphilis. The entry also included information about the disease, along with others.

As well as searching for visual ephemera, the second phase also suggested looking at the Pall Mall Gazette, an evening newspaper and review. We went back to the IUCAT website and did a periodical search, typing “Pall Mall Gazette” into the keywords search. This gave us three results, the Pall Mall Gazette as an electronic resource, on microfilm, and in its original state, which was located at the Lilly library. We felt that seeing the material for ourselves would enable us to get the most out of the experience, so we noted down the call number and went to the reading room at the Lilly Library to request the material. We were required to fill out a card indicating what we wanted to see, and then we waited for them to bring the material out for us.

The newspaper was bound together into two books and contained numerous issues from 1885. While this was fifteen years after the material we had already read from the London Lowlife Collection, the newspapers offered interesting material on our topic. We found a story entitled “Babylon” which ran for a number of days in July 1885. The story addressed the issue of child prostitution, looking at who was responsible for protecting children from entering into prostitution, as well as the how to prevent the spread of disease within the industry.

The articles were from Tuesday July 7^th 1885 No.6337 Vol xlii and Wednesday July 8^th 1885. For more information on this source, please see:

http://www.iucat.iu.edu.ezproxy.lib.indiana.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/z8UDXAPo55/B-WELLS/293211418/9

We also found an article called “The church and the new crusade” which focused on the Church of England purity society, which was involved with helping manage the issue of prostitution. The article was from the August 7^th 1885 issue No.6364 Vol. Xlii and was written by E.D.W. Cantuar.

We both felt we had found a number of interesting sources that were related to topics within the London Lowlife Collection. We found the experience of learning to locate the materials we wanted to see, and eventually seeing them first hand, extremely beneficial.

Alyssa and Charlotte

Gordimer to Fugard

Phase Two:

My search for related articles started with select Nadine Gordimer folders, which, for the most part, covered the major topic of apartheid in South Africa. The prompt told me there were a series of diaries in the Gordimer collection, which I traced through the Lilly Library's website. From the homepage I clicked on "manuscripts" and then "G" for Gordimer, than located her name on the list and clicked. After reaching her page I clicked on the "guide" to the collection, and then selected "diaries and notebooks." Once on this page I used the "find in page" tool on the search bar of the browser and searched for "South Africa," which highlighted the following the diary entries located in Box 15 Folders 81-87.

After finding additional resources from Gordimer, I decided to search for information on apartheid from another author. To do this, I returned to the Lilly Library Home Page, and searched "apartheid" in the search field. This yielded six results, the fourth of which I chose, clicking on "Fugard." After arriving at the Fugard page, I clicked "inventory," which brought me to a comprehensive list of the Fugard materials, in which I just sort of scrolled through and looked for the themes of South Africa and apartheid in the descriptions. I identified three resources that I thought would be most applicable to the subjects covered in Gordimer. The first was a play, "Orestes," First Production: Castleman Auditorium, Cape Town, 21 March 1971, Published: Theatre One: New South African Drama, Johannesburg: Donker 1973, located in Box 4 Folders 13-16. The second was a New York Times article published 20 September 1964, "African Stages: South Africa is Likely to Offer Most Valuable Contribution to Theatre," located in Box 4 Folder 48. The last resource I identified as potentially useful was a lecture Fugard gave at NYU on October 16, 1990 titled "Some Problems of a Playwright from South Africa," located in Box 4 Folder 49.

The third resource, the lecture, I actually was able to physically call up and look at. I did this by entering the Lilly Library reading room, and requesting to call up a resource. The librarian handed me a red slip on which I wrote the collection, "Fugard," the Box and Folder numbers, "Box 4 Folder 49," and the name of the piece, "Some Problems of a Playwright from South Africa." I returned the slip to the librarian, who requested that I have a seat until she could it bring it to me at the table. A few moments later she laid the folder in front of me and I was able to do a firsthand examination of the transcript of Fugard's lecture.

After skimming the lecture, which was rather lengthy, I did identify a few passages that were applicable to the topics addressed in Gordimer.

"I write my plays in the first instance for fellow South Africans, for myself in the briefest instance, and for fellow South Africans." (p. 12)

- The passage containing this quote identifies some of the issues of personally being exposed to apartheid, and the feelings harbored because of it.

"If anybody in an audience for one of my plays sits there expecting that I am going to make a political statement, or give a message, or lay out a blueprint for a better and juster South Africa, they are going to be disappointed. What is more, because of this expectation, and because they are looking in the wrong direction (this I think has happened to a lot of critics in their reactions to my work), they will most probably miss what I have got to offer, which is a story." (p. 3)

- I think this quote would be incredibly applicable to Gordimer in that she wrote a play specifically about South Africa, and comparing her agenda in writing to Fugard, as both of them being activists against apartheid, would cultivate an interesting argument about the role of arts and literature in social reform.

And that was the extent of my search for related resources in the Lilly Library.

Archival Project Phase Two

Hello, everyone.

You made great use of today's class session at the Lilly Library, and I was pleased with how thoughtfully you worked together to find related materials. And, because a few of you reminded me that this Phase Two blog post comes so close on the heels of the second Short Critical Essay, I agree that we should extend the deadline. Consider the Phase Two deadline extended to Tuesday, March 1, in time for class (11:15 a.m.).

Many thanks,
Professor Graban

Venereal Disease and Sexual Equality

First learning about the Contagious Diseases Acts of 1866 via women’s written responses of disapproval provides a unique perspective into the importance of the legislation. The reader does not know all the provisions of the act and cannot interpret the law because they do not know the specific language used. This is helpful in some ways, because it allows the reader to simulate how people of that time period may have learned and reacted to the acts. As noted by the letter In Answer to The Papers of Miss Garrett and Mr. Berkeley Hill, the Contagious Diseases Acts were not widely published for the public to see, so published letters and other papers being circulated about the acts may have been the closest some ever got to seeing the legislation for themselves. Women’s various reactions to the Contagious Diseases Acts show many points of contention. The two letters and paper that I read showed a clear agreement between the three women about whether the legislation should pass, but for different reasons. The consensus is that while venereal disease is a nation-wide problem needing to be addressed, this particular solution would not be helpful.

The writer of A Few Words on the Contagious Diseases Act: In Answer to the Papers of Miss Garrett addresses first the issue of access. Miss Garrett published in The Pall MallGazzette her support of the legislation while the general public did not have access to the acts themselves. The writer thinks the public should be able to read the documents since they pertain directly to them. This is worth noting because we live in a current day and age that allows greater access to our politicians and political debates, so this helped me to better contextualize the discourse.

The writer points out something all three writers agree on, which is that the Contagious Disease Acts punish women who actively participate in prostitution and they do nothing in terms of punishing the men who purchase these services. She argues that while many, including Miss Garrett, say these laws are meant to help eradicate VD they are really rooted in beliefs about the immorality of women. Women would be required, if the law is passed, to be under surveillance if they are determined to be a prostitute, and would have to undergo medical screenings and treatment to ensure they will not pass on VD to the men they interact with. The focus is on the health of women in only as it affects the health of men.

The writer also sees the roots of prostitution to be much farther spreading than just morality. She briefly gives an overview of the problems facing women who need to support themselves, namely that they are unskilled, not properly educated and will not be hired. She emphasizes, “For we must not forget that the women do not adopt this evil life merely for pleasure or sensual indulgence, as the men who share it do, but for hire, for profit, as Miss Garrett observes,” (3). The writer complicates the morally-based argument of Garrett and others by humanizing the women these acts affect. Other strategies such as this are used by the other two writers as well.

Justina echoes many of the first writer’s sentiments saying the acts would be an “outrageous violation of women for the sake of the health of men,” (Justina’s Letters in Reply to Miss Garrett’s Defense of the Contagious Disease Acts, 28). She sees the acts to be implicitly supporting prostitution as it only requires half of the participants in prostitution to be under surveillance and forced to be examined for VD: women. The blame for prostitution is placed on women and not the men who also participate. Justina also notes the inaccuracy of Miss Garrett’s arguments based on so-called statistical analysis of the effectiveness of similar laws in France, and writes about the messages the legislation would be sending to young girls. She argues the government would be allowing systematic degradation of women, and would perpetuate the image of sex without affection.

Rounding out the three pieces is Mrs. W.T. Malleson’s A Reply to Miss Garrett’s Letter in the “Pall Mall Gazette.” She points out issues with the acts similar to the ones proposed by the other women, but is different from them because she recognizes two positive effects of the passing of the acts: they would put prostitutes into contact with “kind” people, perhaps for the first time in their lives, and the acts give provisions for women to be treated for VD, because many hospitals at the time were not equipped to treat women. She sums up the sentiments presented in all three arguments when she asserts that legislation will not make a society moral, social change will only come after public opinion changes. All three women acknowledge the need to address prostitution and venereal disease, but they disagree with Miss Garrett in that they believe the solution should not come from governmental force, but rather a change in commonly held values. All three would certainly agree 19^th century Englishmen and women need to focus on the root of the problems: sexual inequality.

Questions to Consider:

Why would it be difficult to define what prostitution was, as W.T. Malleson suggests?

What were sexual relationships like between men and women, whether married or single?

What repercussions were there in the Contagious Diseases Acts for the men who paid for sex, if any?

What were options for women who had to support themselves? What type of work and pay would be common?

Mary Hapgood's Works

Mary Donovan Hapgood (1886-1973) was a politically-active woman and writer who involved herself in some of the most controversial issues of her time. In the 1920s, she acted as corresponding secretary for the Sacco-Vanzetti trial. She later dedicated a chapter of her autobiography to Sacco and Vanzetti, describing how strong anti-immigration sentiment and a biased judge led to an unfair trial that ultimately led to their death. In 1932, the Socialist Party nominated Hapgood for the position of US vice president. She wrote in “Why Do Intelligent Women Marry?” that she felt obligated to decline the offer, as her husband had also been nominated for the position. Eight years later, she became the first woman to run for governor of Indiana for the Socialist Party and eventually helped to form the Indiana Civil Liberties Union. Her indignation at the treatment workers received while working at mines was clearly shown in her stories, “Jerry, the Mine Mule” and “Big Tim’s Daughter.” She supported workers who were courageous enough to rebel from “destructive” industrial conditions in an essay titled “The Vanishing Virtue.”

The Sacco-Vanzetti Trial

In 1920, Italian-born laborers and anarchists Ferdinando Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were accused of murdering a security guard in Braintree, Massachusetts. Even though there was more than reasonable doubt that they were innocent, and despite many attempts made by supporters to prevent their execution, Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced to death. Hapgood wrote about the strong anti-immigration feelings that pervaded the court during their trial, noting that “only the Italians were likely to be prevented from entering…they and I” (Hapgood 1). She uses pathos when she gives a touching recount of Sacco and Vanzetti’s appeals to the judge, who wouldn’t even look at them: “‘I never knew, never heard, never read in history anything so cruel as this court…This is why I am here today, for having been of the oppressed class…I have suffered because I was an Italian and indeed I am an Italian,’ [Vanzetti said.]” (Hapgood 1). Such appeals were made while bloodthirsty mobs gathered outside and called out, “’Hang them all! Hang all the anarchists!’” (Hapgood ?)

Hapgood remains far from an objective and passive narrator. She takes active part in the proceedings of the trial: “Back at headquarters, we debated what to do next” (Hapgood 3). She decides to appeal to Governor Fuller, who asks Joe Moro, a member of the defense committee, how much she is being paid. When he is told that she has never received a cent from the committee for all her services, “he found these facts hard to believe” (Hapgood 4). No matter how hard she tries, the governor refuses to see her. Hapgood then organizes debates, marches, protests and petitions with the rest of the committee, doing anything she could think of to try to save the Italian pair. They eventually discover critical evidence that could free Sacco and Vanzetti, but it is denied admittance into the trial. When Sacco’s alibi proved to be true by two witnesses, the judge had it stricken from records. He then took the testimony of an insane woman because it was against Sacco and Vanzetti. Her attempts to recount the statement the next day were ignored.

Hapgood uses an appeal to logos by showing how she and the committee used reason and evidence to prove Sacco Vanzetti’s innocence. She lays out all the evidence and compares this method of approach with the judge, who obstinately clings to his resolution that the two Italians are guilty and must die. Hapgood makes it clear how utterly biased and contaminated the trial was. Not only was the judge inhumane and unwilling to listen, but most of Massachusetts supported the execution of the Italians because they were “anti-Italian and anti-Radical.” She condemns such anti-immigration and anti-radical sentiments by emphasizing the complete innocence, humanity and honorability of Sacco and Vanzetti.

Why Do Intelligent Women Marry?

“Why Do Intelligent Women Marry?” was published after Hapgood was nominated by the Socialist Party for the position of US vice president. She “had to withdraw” because her husband had also been nominated (Hapgood 2). In this essay, Hapgood states that while she attains satisfaction from being “a successful wife and mother,” she is “also interested in other things (Hapgood 2). She questions why “women who are married to men with interests the same as their own find that marriage is considered a substitute or a compensation for all else” (Hapgood 2). She is “interested in politics and in political life quite as much as” her husband, but is “expected to be interested, not in politics, but in my husband’s success in politics” (Hapgood 3). While it is true that two become one in a marriage, “that one they become is usually the man” (Hapgood 1). She points out the unfairness of such expectations, stating, “I, too, am an individual. I do not want to subordinate myself to my husband” (Hapgood 3).

Hapgood dedicates this entire essay to the topic of feminism. She calls for equal rights in a marriage and scorns the fact that married women are expected to take interest in nothing but their husband and children. She believes they should be able to pursue any interests they want, as they, too, are individuals who have something to offer to the world. She is unwilling to give up her individuality and believes she shouldn’t be called upon to give it up in the first place.

Jerry, the Mine Mule

Hapgood wrote this short story to convey to readers the terrible living conditions a mine worker suffered from during this time period. The story begins with a mule named Jerry, who lives in a farm surrounded by loving owners and a loving mother. When he comes of age, he is taken away from his home to become a mine mule. He is forced to work in terrible conditions—long hours in semi-darkness with no time to rest. Hapgood writes, “It seemed to Jerry that no matter how hard a mule worked, some drivers were never satisfied” (Hapgood 4). He suffers mistreatment from impatient and cruel drivers, who mercilessly beat and overwork Jerry. One of his drivers “cursed insanely when Jerry, straining with all his strength, was unable to move the string of cars.” He is seen as a machine, not a mule. Even though Jerry is diligent and patient and tries his hardest to satisfy his drivers, he is shown no love, sympathy or humanity. His workmate, Bird, is a “wiser mule. She refused to draw more than three cars at any time…She usually won her point” (Hapgood 4-5). Hapgood shows here the animalistic representation of a strike and how effective it can be, encouraging the idea of protesting for more rights and better treatment.

One day, Jerry is taken away from the mine and led to a “pasture that had little grass or shade” (Hapgood 6). He is given a break from hard work for six months, due to a strike that is going on. When he returns, he finds that he has a new driver, who has only ever driven a mule on the farm before. Expecting to be pinched and maltreated, Jerry draws away from him. The new driver is extremely gentle to him, however, and Jerry realizes suddenly that he is the very same boy he used to play with back when he lived in a farm.

In this story, Hapgood shows her indignation at the poor conditions a mine worker suffers from. Jerry symbolizes a mine worker and all the suffering he endures is equivalent to that of a mine worker’s. This shows that mine workers suffer from long hours under the hands of merciless bosses who care very little about their comfort, safety and health. As we discussed in class, a method of pathos is used in this story, which evokes sympathy and compassion for her characters. Interestingly, Hapgood chooses to make the main character an animal and creates a fable that might be read to a child as a bedtime story. She is very direct in her language. She clearly states her points without an attempt at softening anything. This approach makes her work easy to relate to and easy to read. It also makes her story available to a wide variety of audiences.

Big Tim’s Daughter

In this short story, Hapgood shows readers how destitute the life of a mine worker and his family can be, as well as how few rights or privileges a woman has to live for. She assures the reader that “The whole mining camp was sordid enough” (Hapgood 1), but the quality of living these miners had were even worse. Big Tim’s daughter, Nellie, notes how his shoes and stockings are “heavy with coal dust and perspiration” and thinks, “’Poor father…how hard we works” (Hapgood 1). One night, he stays out late to attend a union meeting. Nellie uses this opportunity to meet up with a man she is infatuated with, who convinces her to engage in sexual relations with him. He tells her that it’s safe and that nothing will happen, but she ends up becoming pregnant. Hapgood here seems to question the value of a man’s word, who will suffer no consequences for being sexually independent. Nellie pities the “poor little baby who was coming whether or not [she and Big Tim] wished it” (Hapgood 3). This shows that when a woman cannot be sexually active or independent as a man can. If she becomes pregnant, she has no choice but to give birth to the baby, who will then be a fatherless bastard.

In the midst of all this, Hapgood informs us that “the wage agreement, that kept the union meeting session so late that fateful night for Nellie, had not been signed. A strike was imminent” (Hapgood 4). On the day that Nellie gives birth to her child, 300 men go on strike against the recent wage reduction. In this one sentence, Hapgood masterfully combines the issue of women’s rights with the issue of unions. She coincides the union meeting with Nellie’s sexual experience; then, she again coincides the strike with Nellie’s giving birth to show how the unfair treatment miners receive destroy their family lives and how few freedoms women have. Because the men went on strike on the day that the baby was born, there will not be enough income to sustain everyone. Nellie’s boy grows up with his uncle and returns to his mother toward the end of the story. He thrives upon her love and attention, but delights in acting naughty because there isn’t a man’s presence to check his attitude. By the end of the story, he is taken back to the uncle’s, where he was utterly miserable, because Nellie cannot afford to take care of him by herself.

Hapgood uses subtlety while telling this story to show readers how the two issues interconnect. She shows us that women have few rights; that they cannot enjoy the same kind of freedom men can, and must thus suffer for it all their lives. Hapgood employs pathos by drawing sympathy from the readers towards Nellie, who is both helpless and hopeless and must suffer for the rest of her life because of a man who had no qualms about taking advantage of her. She also shows how unions attempt to improve the lives of miners, which are frequently destroyed when companies decide to lower their pay and worsen their working conditions.

The Vanishing Virtue

In this essay, Hapgood writes about courage. She defines it as being defiant of an oppressive force that is in the wrong, brave and authoritative. She then brings up the issue of the unions and the mines again, stating that “Industrial conditions are perhaps the most destructive of individuality” (Hapgood 1). She states that to stand up to such conditions is to be courageous. She enumerates the consequences a rebellious worker must face—deprivation for himself and his family, being beaten, being placed on the blacklist—and states that anyone who can muster up the strength to stand up for himself and his fellow workers, despite such dangers, is one who can be called truly brave. Throughout it all, she utilizes an appeal to ethos, calling upon one’s sense of morality and ethics and encouraging workers to take a stand for themselves. Like Queen Elizabeth, she seems to be rallying up her troops for an upcoming battle.