Loosening the bonds: Mid-Atlantic farm women, 1750-1850 - Hardcover

Jensen, Joan M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300033664 ISBN 13: 9780300033663

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1986

Synopsis

The first book to investigate the rich and complex lives of rural women during the late colonial and early national periods. Jensen focuses on women in the Philadelphia hinterland and shows how they became an essential part of that area's rise to agricultural prominence. Examining not only the Quakers, who formed the dominant group in the region, but also black and other ethnic groups, Jensen offers fascinating details on the ways farm women functioned in the varied spheres of their lives. Her book makes a major contribution to women's history.

About this title

From Library Journal:

In this stunning addition to women's studies, Jensen presents a previously unseen picture of rural families' success in becoming integral producers and consumers in a changing economy. Concentrating on the rural area southwest of Philadelphia, her unique study documents the contributions of farm women to the growth and development of the mid-Atlantic region. Jensen utilizes diaries, folklore, material objects, and public records to demonstrate how women occupied a central place in creating a viable rural economy based on butter production. Over the course of the century, women moved from household to economic to public leadership roles, "loosening the bonds" of domestic subjugation, broadening their connections, and laying the groundwork for the 19th-century women's movement. This should serve as a model for future studies. It belongs in all women's studies collections and in most large history collections. Susan E. Parker, Tufts Univ. Lib., Medford, Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0300033664
• ISBN 13: 9780300033663
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 271
• Illustrator: 15 Illustrations In The Text