I’ve been doing a bit of reading on the development of the political and economic thought of nineteenth century Illinois residents, where diverse peoples from New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the upcountry South came together with very different ways of thinking about family, work, agriculture, land use, and politics. For all the usefulness of theseContinue reading “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free… Women?”
Author Archives: jennybarkerdevine
Historic Ginger Snaps
Meet Rachel, our Illinois College intern, who is pre-selling copies of her summer project: a cookbook shared across three generations of women between 1810 and 1890 – Hannah Odgen, her daughter Elizabeth Duncan, and her granddaughter Julia Kirby. Order yours today by clicking here!
Finding Rural Women
As historian Joan Jensen likes to point out, until quite recently most American women were rural women living on farms and in small towns. Yet somehow, historians of American women have chosen to either focus more on urban areas or remove geography from the equation all together.
Tour the JFA
The Jacksonville Female Academy was located on the 400 block of College Avenue. I say “was” because it was demolished to make way for the Jacksonville High School gymnasium in the 1950s.
Chapter Breakdown
I’ve decided to tell this story in eight chapters, each focusing the life of an individual and their interaction with a specific institution or role in the community. Here’s a general summary:
Decluttering the Data
Starting a new project is a lot like deciding to declutter your basement. The idea is to take a jumble of information, keep some, throw some out, and begin to make sense out of the whole. So my first research goal in this project is simply to figure out who the women of Jacksonville were.
Historical Overview of Jacksonville, IL
Today’s post is an introduction to Jacksonville’s early days and demographics. It is not comprehensive but will acquaint you with the world of American Athena.
It starts with a ghost story…
One of the central questions this site will address is: What inspires an author?For American Athena, inspiration began in the classroom.
American Athena 