A Reevaluation and Reinterpretation of the Association for the Advancement of Women, 1873-1897

Presenter Information

Claire Payne, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A155

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-24-2015 2:45 PM

End Date

4-24-2015 3:45 PM

Abstract

The Association for the Advancement of Women (AAW) was an ideologically diverse late 19th-century American women’s group. Over the last few decades, general interest in women’s history has increased—yet historians still tend to overlook or dismiss the AAW. Using published papers from the organization’s annual congresses and contemporaneous newspaper accounts as evidence, my research first questions why the few authors who have considered this association have treated it so simplistically. I then argue that the AAW’s work, which led to important network-building and idea-sharing among early feminists, should instead be read as significant and progressive.

Notes

Session 2, Panel 9 - Discipline and Power: The Amusement Park, the Bicycle, and the Association for the Advancement of Women
Moderator: Pablo Mitchell, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Major

History

Advisor(s)

Carol Lasser, History

Project Mentor(s)

Clayton Koppes, History

April 2015

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Apr 24th, 2:45 PM Apr 24th, 3:45 PM

A Reevaluation and Reinterpretation of the Association for the Advancement of Women, 1873-1897

Science Center, A155

The Association for the Advancement of Women (AAW) was an ideologically diverse late 19th-century American women’s group. Over the last few decades, general interest in women’s history has increased—yet historians still tend to overlook or dismiss the AAW. Using published papers from the organization’s annual congresses and contemporaneous newspaper accounts as evidence, my research first questions why the few authors who have considered this association have treated it so simplistically. I then argue that the AAW’s work, which led to important network-building and idea-sharing among early feminists, should instead be read as significant and progressive.