AMERICAN WOMEN IN SCIENCE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR Elizabeth Wagner Reed, Ph. D. University of Minnesota 400 Church Street S. E. Minneapolis 55455 Copyright 1992, Elizabeth Wagner Reed, Ph. D. 2 The first physics laboratory in a women's college was established by Professor Sarah Frances Whiting at Wellesley College, 1878. In this photograph, astronomer Annie Jump Cannon is the third student from the left. Her career was largely inspired by Prof. Whiting who, Cannon wrote, wanted her students ''to become not only good scholars, but women of influence in their communities." The only other physics lab at an undergraduate college before this was at MIT, where Prof. Whiting visited, finding it "nerveracking to be in places where women were really not expected to be, and to do things which women had not done before." 1 Table of Contents Preface, 3-4. Acknowledgements, 5. Part I. The activities of women as members of scientific societies, donors of money and of specimens to museums; collectors, teachers and artists; volunteer data collectors, 6-25. Part II. Twenty-two women who published in science before 1861 with brief life histories and an analysis of their publications. Introduction, 28-39. Agassiz, Elizabeth Cary. 1822-1907. "Valuable contributions to diverse branches of natural science," 28-39. Beecher, Catharine Esther. 1800-1887. "Arithmetic simplified," 40-48. Colden, Jane. 1724-1766. "First American woman to be distinguished as a botanist," 49-52. Cutter, Eunice Newton. 1819-1882. Writer on physiology and anatomy for children, 54-56. Dix, Dorothea Lynde. 1802-1887. Butterflies, flowers and "common things," 57-63. Foote, Eunice Newton. 1819-1888. Experimenter on gases, 64-68. Fowler, Lydia Folger, M.D. 1823-1878. Anatomy and physiology for women, 69-74 Herrick, Sophie Bledsoe. 1837-ca. 1900. Microscopist and writer, 75-85. Jacobi, Mary Putnam, 1842-1906. Physician, wife and mother, 86-104. Johnson, Laura H. ca. 1798-ca. 1870. "Lady Professor" of botany, 105-109. McDougall, Frances Green. 1805-1878."Renders science attractive without diluting it," 110-113. Mitchell, Maria. 1818-1889. Astronomer, mathematician and college professor, 114-124. Morris, Margaretta Hare. 1797-1867. "Une entomologiste," 125-135. Peterson, Hannah Bouvier. 1811-1870. "A complete treatise on astronomy," 136-139. Phelps, Almira Lincoln. 1793-1884. Influential teacher and writer in science, 140-152. Swift, Mary A. ca. 1800-ca. 1870. Her elementary physics book was translated into Burmese, 2 153-157. Taylor, Charlotte de Bernier. 1806-1861. Microscopist, entomologist and artist, 158-166. Taylor, Jane. ca. 1800-ca. 1870. "Physiology for Children," 167-170. Townsend, Mary. ca. 1790-1851. Entomologist, "treat them [insects] with kindness," 171-174. Tupper, Ellen Smith. 1822-1888. "Queen Bee of Iowa" - apiarist, 175-182. Welsh, Jane Kilby. 1790 ca. 1850. "Catechism of Botany," 183-188. Willard, Emma Hart. 1787-1870. Influential teacher and writer on science, 189-198. Summary, 199-204. Biography of Elizabeth W. Reed and Afterword by Catherine C. Reed, 205. 3 Preface In the last few years there have been quite a few scholarly publications on the roles of women in literature, art, social reform and politics. Many heretofore unknown women finally have been credited with important contributions to society. Missing from this array have been the similarly undocumented but substantial contributions of early American women to science. It is hoped that this review will induce others to undertake further research in this field. Much remains to be learned. The period chosen for this survey is the time from Colonial America to the onset of the Civil War. There was something of a hiatus during this war, when at least one scientific organization, the American Association for the Advancement of Science stopped meeting. After the war there was a rapid increase in women's participation in science as academic opportunities developed and some professional occupations became available to them. The term active in science is here used in its broad sense to include any promotion of science. This can come in many forms, experimental data, textbooks, teaching, donations of money, time and collections to institutions, and memberships in scientific societies. The actual designation as scientist is not used. It is an indefinable one at best, varying with the times, and sometimes related to the bias of the writer and the professional status of the individual under consideration. As in any other activity there is a hierarchy of status which this writer does not undertake to evaluate. Considering the handicaps under which many of these women labored, often denied entry to colleges and unable to attain professional status, one wonders why they continued to pursue this sort of work at all. It is a testimony to the interest that these women had in science that they continued to study, work and participate in science. Perhaps Ellen Tupper, an expert on the physiology and behavior of bees put it most clearly when she wrote in one of her columns on bee keeping that her reason for studying bees was that there was always something to think 4 about,some experiment to try, something to investigate. In short, she wrote, she had an intellectual as well as a physical employment. Perhaps she speaks for all these women (Part II, Tupper, 1:101). An incentive to do this work was provided by Mozans' 1913 book, Woman in Science (1), Hanaford's Centennial volume Daughters of America (2) and Meisel's Bibliography of American Natural History (3). The varied activities and range of interests of these early women are well described in Kohlstedt's article in Signs (4). Warner reviews the early educational opportunities for women in her paper in Isis (5) and Woody's two-volume history of women's education in the United States provides a comprehensive view of the subject (6). Rossiter's book describes the academic and social milieu in which these women worked (7). The contributions of these women before the Civil War range from writers on scientific subjects through volunteer collectors of weather data for the Smithsonian Institution to a girl's botany class which furnished a list of spring flowers for a museum. From this distance in time the contributions of these women are as difficult to measure as the women are to classify, but any contribution can favor an increase in knowledge for subsequent workers in the field. The following material is divided into two parts. Part I is a report on the activities of women who were engaged in scientific pursuits but left no written records of any work in science. These are the women who were members of and donors to scientific societies, the collectors, the teachers, the artists. Part II includes biographical and bibliographical data on 21 women who had some published writings in science before the Civil War. Some of course continued publishing after that date. Their later work is included. It is important in establishing the credibility of these women's achievements to have as complete a bibliography of their publications as possible and to have an evaluation of these writings from the standpoint of a scientist. The evaluation is included in the write up. The list of sources searched for the above information is in the appendix. 5 Acknowledgements It is impossible to list all the librarians and archivists who helped in searches, answered letters and gave encouragement for the project. Special acknowledgement must be made of the invaluable, personal assistance and helpful advice of Dr. Beatrice Smith, a longtime friend and colleague. The expert and cheerfu1 assistance of Bertha Storts was indispensable to the completion of this project as was also the advice and help of Sally Hogan in preparing the illustrations and help with the bibliography from my daughter, Catherine Reed. 6 Part 1 MEMBERSHIPS A survey of the membership lists and secretaries' reports in the transactions, journals, and proceedings of scientific societies shows a substantial amount of participation by women. Two years after the American Association for the Advancement of Science was organized in 1848, Maria Mitchell and Margaretta Morris became members. In 1856 the name of Bernice D. Ames was added and in 1859 Almira Lincoln Phelps joined. This organization did not meet during the years 1861-1866. Women members rapidly increased until by 1875 there were 80 (8). (Membership lists must be taken as approximate since they depend on the accuracy of the secretary's records. Women's names, however, were almost invariably preceded by Miss or Mrs. in the early records so the identification of sex was generally possible.) Scientific organizations recognized women for their achievements also. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences made Maria Mitchell an associate fellow in 1848, apparently in recognition of her achievement in astronomy, the first discovery of a telescopic comet (Memoirs, Vol. IX pt. 2 p xii 1848, p. 52). The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Science elected its first woman member, Lucy Say, in 1841. Mrs. Say illustrated her husband's volume on shells and gave a large collection of his materials including books and the original plates to this organization. The second member elected to this prestigious group was Margaretta Morris, an internationally known entomologist, in 1859 (See Part II for Morris). By 1875 there were 26 female members a1though only the two named were members before 1861 (9). A list of members of the Essex Institute showed the names of five women in the first group of 84 members in 1834. This Natural History Society was organized in 1833 to promote the study of natural history in Essex County and to procure a library and a cabinet of specimens (10). In 1847 this organization was joined to the Essex Historical Society and was renamed the Essex Institute.