Lowell’s Forgotten House Mothers
As vital to the success of industrial New England as the mill girls who toiled in the factories were the women who oversaw their lodging.
Hoosier Cabinets and the Dream of Efficiency
Out of Indiana came a beloved wooden innovation that helped change the status of the kitchen in the American home.
Sui Sin Far, the Chinese Canadian-American Sentimentalist
The short story collection Mrs. Spring Fragrance should be read in the context of nineteenth-century sentimentalism, which was shaped by Christian morality.
Finding Lucretia Howe Newman Coleman
Once a powerful voice in the Black press, Coleman all but disappeared from the literary landscape of the American Midwest after her death in 1948.
“Tell Me about a Complicated Man”: A Homer Reading List
The amount of scholarship on Homer and his works can be daunting. We've created this introductory reading list to help guide your explorations.
13 Ways of Looking at Edna St. Vincent Millay
Poet, lover, outspoken political activist. Vincent, in all her complicated glory.
The Charities That Gave Flowers to the Poor
Presenting impoverished city dwellers with a fresh bouquet might seem condescending. On the other hand, flowers are awesome.
The “Tragic Mulatta” of Bridgerton
While colorblind casting increases opportunities for diverse casts, colorblindness after casting can result in the perpetuation of stereotypes.
The Rhythms of Shaker Dance Marked the Shakers as “Other”
The name Shaker originally comes from the insult “Shaking Quakers,” which mocked the sect’s use of their bodies in worship.
Voltairine de Cleyre: American Radical
She was a notable anarchist thinker and speaker, but history has largely forgotten Voltairine de Cleyre.