Love the passage listing all of the rigorous work that women do while being thought too "feeble" for the vote. Echoes of Franklin's "The Speech of Polly Baker"? If I ever return to my Am Lit series, Franklin's short fiction will get a nod.
You're also making me think of the late Patrick McManus, an outdoor humorist who I read aloud to my daughters (while squinting at some very outdated gender tropes). He was a favorite of my grandmother's, also the most resilient person I've ever known, also a homemaker who could have been an executive.
It's a fun side note that writing like she did, is how we know how ancient languages sounded like. When we see intentional, and unintentional misspellings, we can use those to get a better idea of how words were spoken.
I've always been terrible at spelling, the fact that misspelling things adds to our understanding of the world makes me feel better.
Tara - thanks for the introduction to this author. I had never heard of her previously. Always amazed at the number of phenomenal writers that we never get to know! I enjoyed reading about her.
I've seen these books in vintage stores and never known what they were! This was so interesting; thank you for taking the time to share all of this. Now hoping I come across another one soon.
You've introduced us to such a gem in Marietta Holley. Her first noel - "My Opinions and Betsey Babbet's," needs to find its way to the top of my book pile.
" Holley’s persona used humor for a new end: it made accessible and palatable the ideals of the temperance and suffrage movements . . . . Whereas the earlier comedians had made the woman, particularly the woman’s rights advocate, the butt of their comedy, Holley created characters of both genders who embodied the absurdities of intemperance and antisuffrage.7"
Marietta Holly was no Emily Dickinson but her poetry is still worth reading. Thanks for the link.
Women’s history is of enduring interest, as is the history of suffrage, given the conscious development by the Enlightenment of classical thought on governance and the development of representative legislatures. Despite the geographically different pace of emerging mass urban populations, a lot of different nations seem to have ended up in a similar place at roughly the same time (1). America it seems was largely a rural population for longer, an agrarian medley of certain kinds, but 1926 was close to my mother getting the vote in 1928 Britain. (We are still 'subjects', by the way.)
A few thoughts came to mind before I fell asleep last night. There were until recently remnants of different rural cultures having more collective work patterns. I think of 'sisterhoods of work’ in the Gaeltacht of Scotland. The songs seem very different from the 'work songs' in American history. Neighbours, men and women, shared farming activities without the jurisdiction of an employer, and the function of a landlord remained different for a while. I am no anthropologist, but the balance between men and women seems an enduring matter beyond our personhood?
1. Google discovered for me a conversation the Clayman Institute had with Karen Offen in 2020.
Prompted an interesting thought exercise for me. Obviously writing needs some structure, but it's fairly remarkable how little control we have over what actually comes out, which is pretty cool.
These books sound amazing Tara, thank you so much for sharing Marietta with us. Interestingly these books would still be very relevant in some areas today with the contrast of opinions on women's rights. A most appropriate topic Dr. Penry, well done!
This is brilliant! Thanks for sharing your knowledge here about this inadvertently best selling author. It's all part of the ongoing inquiry about publishing trends from the past and how they relate to the present day - and I love it!
This is fascinating, Tara! I'd never heard of Marietta Holley before.
Love the passage listing all of the rigorous work that women do while being thought too "feeble" for the vote. Echoes of Franklin's "The Speech of Polly Baker"? If I ever return to my Am Lit series, Franklin's short fiction will get a nod.
You're also making me think of the late Patrick McManus, an outdoor humorist who I read aloud to my daughters (while squinting at some very outdated gender tropes). He was a favorite of my grandmother's, also the most resilient person I've ever known, also a homemaker who could have been an executive.
Love a sneaky proto-feminist
It's a fun side note that writing like she did, is how we know how ancient languages sounded like. When we see intentional, and unintentional misspellings, we can use those to get a better idea of how words were spoken.
I've always been terrible at spelling, the fact that misspelling things adds to our understanding of the world makes me feel better.
Tara - thanks for the introduction to this author. I had never heard of her previously. Always amazed at the number of phenomenal writers that we never get to know! I enjoyed reading about her.
Have any of her books been reprinted recently?
I've seen these books in vintage stores and never known what they were! This was so interesting; thank you for taking the time to share all of this. Now hoping I come across another one soon.
Thank you. At least now I know there was something of a precedent for some aspects of female written humor in the 20th and 21st centuries in the 19th.
You've introduced us to such a gem in Marietta Holley. Her first noel - "My Opinions and Betsey Babbet's," needs to find its way to the top of my book pile.
" Holley’s persona used humor for a new end: it made accessible and palatable the ideals of the temperance and suffrage movements . . . . Whereas the earlier comedians had made the woman, particularly the woman’s rights advocate, the butt of their comedy, Holley created characters of both genders who embodied the absurdities of intemperance and antisuffrage.7"
What a great profile. Are her books still in print anywhere? I vote we change the spelling of "women" to "wimmin."
Great read Tara. I love learning about these unknown to me writers from back in the day.
Marietta Holly was no Emily Dickinson but her poetry is still worth reading. Thanks for the link.
Women’s history is of enduring interest, as is the history of suffrage, given the conscious development by the Enlightenment of classical thought on governance and the development of representative legislatures. Despite the geographically different pace of emerging mass urban populations, a lot of different nations seem to have ended up in a similar place at roughly the same time (1). America it seems was largely a rural population for longer, an agrarian medley of certain kinds, but 1926 was close to my mother getting the vote in 1928 Britain. (We are still 'subjects', by the way.)
A few thoughts came to mind before I fell asleep last night. There were until recently remnants of different rural cultures having more collective work patterns. I think of 'sisterhoods of work’ in the Gaeltacht of Scotland. The songs seem very different from the 'work songs' in American history. Neighbours, men and women, shared farming activities without the jurisdiction of an employer, and the function of a landlord remained different for a while. I am no anthropologist, but the balance between men and women seems an enduring matter beyond our personhood?
1. Google discovered for me a conversation the Clayman Institute had with Karen Offen in 2020.
I'm captivated by this portrait of a Marietta Holley! I had never heard of her or Bliss, but this is truly fascinating.
Prompted an interesting thought exercise for me. Obviously writing needs some structure, but it's fairly remarkable how little control we have over what actually comes out, which is pretty cool.
These books sound amazing Tara, thank you so much for sharing Marietta with us. Interestingly these books would still be very relevant in some areas today with the contrast of opinions on women's rights. A most appropriate topic Dr. Penry, well done!
This is brilliant! Thanks for sharing your knowledge here about this inadvertently best selling author. It's all part of the ongoing inquiry about publishing trends from the past and how they relate to the present day - and I love it!