Rhetoric, Politics, and Feminism in the Texts and Life of Annie Smith Peck Hannah Scialdone-Kimberly Old Dominion University
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Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons English Theses & Dissertations English Spring 2012 Woman at the Top: Rhetoric, Politics, and Feminism in the Texts and Life of Annie Smith Peck Hannah Scialdone-Kimberly Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_etds Part of the American Literature Commons, Rhetoric Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Scialdone-Kimberly, Hannah. "Woman at the Top: Rhetoric, Politics, and Feminism in the Texts and Life of Annie Smith Peck" (2012). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), dissertation, English, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/5jnc-x575 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_etds/65 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the English at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WOMAN AT THE TOP: RHETORIC, POLITICS, AND FEMINISM IN THE TEXTS AND LIFE OF ANNIE SMITH PECK by Hannah Scialdone-Kimberley B.A. May 1996, University of New Mexico M.A. August 1998, University of New Mexico A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ENGLISH OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY May 2012 Approved by: David Metzger Dana Heller [ember) UMI Number: 3510626 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent on the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT DitMriMtiofi AMMOQ UMI 3510626 Copyright 2012 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT WOMAN AT THE TOP: RHETORIC, POLITICS, AND FEMINISM IN THE TEXTS AND LIFE OF ANNIE SMITH PECK Hannah Scialdone-Kimberley Old Dominion University, 2012 Director: Dr. David Metzger The purpose of this focuses on the autobiographical rhetoric and public identity of Annie Smith Peck, a scholar, mountain climber and woman rhetor from the turn of the century. My qualitative case study of Peck examines how she worked as a woman rhetor to create a popular identity for herself in both mountain climbing and scholarship. I also focus on how Peck worked to identify herself with her audience; here, I use Burke's concept of "identification," as a way of adding to (rather than substituting for) traditional rhetoric. My project brings new findings in that I examine data on Peck (including her biographical notes, personal letters, and correspondence), which have not been previously used as a source of scholarship. These cultural artifacts not only echo societal and gender norms, but they also work to create these norms as well as break them. Peck inspired some of her public audience to question what it meant for women to step outside of the constrictions of feminine attire and the domestic sphere and into the professional realm and sphere of action. In fact, media outlets such as the New York Times used Peck's image as a springboard for examining societal and gender norms in general. From this perspective, Peck's life can be viewed as a series of performances or reputations built upon those performances, each containing different rhetorical possibilities. Because Peck left her own writings, letters, and biographical notes behind, she worked as a kind of rhetorical autobiographer, or someone whose life and identity were based on her own rhetorical shaping. Most significantly, Peck discloses that she used her image in the media to create a rhetorical stratagem for the advancement of women and used her climbing career as a way of challenging the traditional notions of sex and gender at the time. For j.h.r., a fan of gutsy, literate, and spunky women. From, another fan - thanks for everything. And for S.F.C.K, who has encouraged me always and will inspire me evermore. And, of course, for Annie, who insisted that this work finally be written. V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to gratefully and sincerely thank the members of my committee for their guidance during my writing process. Dr. Jeffrey H. Richards, with wisdom, generosity, and delight in research, lent me unwavering support and encouragement to tell Peck's story, and inspired this dissertation in the first place. I am indebted to Dr. David Metzger, for his willingness to entertain my ideas and my work as well as his mentorship and his expertise in rhetorical theory and practice. Dr. Jennifer Fish provided many thoughtful suggestions for this work. She also encouraged the feminist practice of talking to your subject, even when they are long since gone. I am also thankful to Dr. Dana Heller, who jumped in just when I needed her, and reminded me to "just keep swimming," or whatever it is that muskrats do. I would like to thank the staff at Brooklyn College Library's Archives and Special Collections for their interest in and help with my project. Anthony Cucchiara, College Archivist and Associate Librarian for Distinctive Collections, Edythe Rosenblatt, Archival Associate, Izabella Nudellis, Archival Assistant, Marianne LaBatto, Associate Archivist and Barbara Allier each had a hand in my many hours of archival research, and I could not have done this work without their help. Dr. Russell Potter of Rhode Island College was instrumental in not only pointing me toward the Brooklyn College Archive Collection, but also cluing me in to the idea of eBay as an archive. I would especially like to thank Jonathan Valentino for his generosity in sharing his personal collection on Peck with me. I am also grateful for his willingness to meet with me and discuss the life and times of Peck just for the sake of scholarship, history and vi insatiable curiosity. His collection and oral history of Peck's artifacts added much insight into my research and writing. I am also very grateful to my "research assistant" and dear friend, Kathryn O'Kane, who tirelessly combed through physical and digital archives with me and never grew weary from hearing or telling story after story about Peck and her adventures. Many thanks go out as well to Gregory Schneider, my good friend and fearless editor, who read each page of this work and offered suggestions without hesitation or complaint Finally, I would like to thank Craig Kimberley for his continued support and encouragement - we made it. What's next? vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. IDENTIFICATION OF A WOMAN RHETOR 12 III. "SHE OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN A BOY" 33 IV. THE UNMERITED NOTORIETY OF MISS PECK 68 V. PECK IN POLITICS 105 VI. PROFESSIONALIZATION OF PECK 134 VII. LESSONS FROM THE ARCHIVES 163 WORKS CITED 169 VITA 187 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION "A woman who has done good work in the scholastic world doesn't like to be called a good woman scholar. Call her a good scholar and let it go at that. Tracking the figures given for Mount Huascaran by the triangulation, I have climbed 1,500feet higher than any man in the United States. Don't call me a woman mountain climber." — Annie Smith Peck, quoted in The New York Times, June 3,1911 The above epigraph shows Peck's attempt to rhetorically shatter gender categories by arguing that that the public should not identify her based on her sex, but rather identify her by her accomplishments alone, as an individual that has surpassed the previous achievements of both man and woman. In a few sentences, Peck criticizes the notion of the categorization of gender, while, at the same time, points to the fact that she is a woman who has climbed higher than anyone in the United States. Here, she uses apophasis, reasoning based on denial, as a way identifying herself as an important female scholar and climber by denying that her gender is important. By explaining that she does not want to be known as a woman scholar or climber, Peck is describing herself in exactly these terms (woman, scholar, climber). This is useful in that it gives her credit not just for her feats, but also for her feats as a woman, which works to separate her from other accomplished scholars and climbers, and points to her as a prominent individual based on her accomplishments as well as her sex. This, in turn, allows Peck to show that she has not only climbed higher than any woman, but that she has climber higher than everyone. This usage of a rhetorical figurative language is the work of a woman rhetor. Note that the previous sentence holds a double meaning, as rhetoric is both the art of This paper follows the formal requirements of the Modern Language Association Handbook for Writers of Research Papers 7th edition. 2 persuasion and the study of the art of persuasion. On one side, it means that this is how Peck worked as a woman rhetor to create an identity for herself in the two areas of scholarship and mountain climbing. On the other side, it means that I too am a woman practicing rhetoric because I am working to examine Peck's language at work, or observing the available means of persuasion used by Peck. Work such as this is relatively new, not in terms of women doing rhetoric, but in terms of our study of women's rhetoric.