Memory-Craft: the Role of Domestic Technology in Women's Journals
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University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2006 Memory-craft: The Role Of Domestic Technology In Women's Journals Tammy Powley University of Central Florida Part of the Women's Studies Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Powley, Tammy, "Memory-craft: The Role Of Domestic Technology In Women's Journals" (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 846. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/846 MEMORY-CRAFT: THE ROLE OF DOMESTIC TECHNOLOGY IN WOMEN’S JOURNALS by TAMMY JANINE LYNCH POWLEY B.A. University of Central Florida, 1984 M.A. University of Central Florida, 1987 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Texts and Technology in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2006 Major Professor: Dr. Craig Saper © 2006 Tammy Janine Lynch Powley ii ABSTRACT The term “memory-craft” refers to arts and crafts media where personal memorabilia and journaling are combined and assembled into book form. Examples of memory-crafts include scrapbooks, art journals, and altered books. Traditionally, women have been the primary assemblers of memory-crafts, using this form as a method of autobiography and genealogical archiving. Memory-crafting is often associated with the amateur home-crafter, and while historians have long understood its cultural significance, academia has not properly considered memory-craft as a type of alternative discourse. The purpose of this study is to examine the use of memory-crafting as a non- traditional method of writing, especially among women who use it to record personal and familial narratives. Just as women are usually the primary care-takers of the family, through memory-craft they also become responsible for collecting and preserving memories, which would otherwise become lost. These memories of the everyday – birthday parties, family vacations, and wedding anniversaries – grow to be culturally significant over time. Through the use of domestic technology, which today includes both paper scraps and home computer systems, memory-crafts assist in the interpretation of the present and provide insight into the past. To help explore the connection between domestic technology and memory- crafts, I have organized this study into four themes: history and memory-craft; women and domestic technology; feminist literary autobiography and memoir; and feminism and iii hypermedia. My approach is a mixture of fictionalized personal narrative and analysis loosely modeled after Writing Machines by N. Katherine Halyes and Alias Olympia by Eunice Lipton. Just as I discuss experimental methods of writing in the form of memory- crafting, I also use an experimental writing technique which gathers from personal memories in the form of a persona named Tess and from the life of my Great Aunt Mamie Veach Dudley. Mamie’s journals and letter to her sister document the memories of the Dudleys including a tragic double suicide, which still haunts the Dudleys almost 100 years later. As narrator and storyteller, my stories connect to those documented by Mamie and link the past to the present. Along with Mamie’s family records, I consider other memory-related works by women during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries including Jane Austen, Anne Bronte, and Emily Dickinson, and I also examine contemporary memory-crafters such as those constructed by altered book artists Tom Phillips and Judith Margolis. Digital memory-craft is another source of support for my argument, and I look at web groups and bloggers. For example, I discuss the Wish Jar Journal, a weblog written by illustrator Keri Smith, where she journals her life and creative process and often mixes textual and visual elements in her blog posts. Writer and blogger Heather Armstrong from Dooce.com is another case study included in this project as her blog is an example of documenting familial events and memoir. Because of their fragmented formats and narrative elements, hardcopy and digitally-based memory-crafts become artifacts which combine text and visual elements to tell a story and pass on knowledge of the everyday through the mixture of text and domestic technology. Memory-craft construction does not follow conventional writing iv models. Therefore, this provides opportunity for experimentation by those writers who have traditionally been removed from established rhetorical writing methods. v This dissertation is dedicated to Minnie E. Dudley and Mamie Veach Dudley, who deserve to be remembered. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I must first thank my aunt, Mamie Veach Dudley, whose work as the Dudley family archivist sparked the original idea for this dissertation. Without her letter and journals, many of my family’s memories would have been lost. Another member of the Dudley family I want to thank is my cousin, Roger Dudley, who provided me with much of the family research documentation used in this project. I owe much to the faculty and staff at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Craig Saper, my dissertation advisor, encouraged me to take chances and also have confidence in my research direction. Other members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Karla Kitalong, Dr. Anthony Grajeda, and Dr. Kristin Congdon, were supportive and provided me with constructive criticism during the development of this project. Benita Black, Admissions Specialist for UCF’s Text and Technology, assisted me numerous times over the years while navigating through the program. Thank you to the talented artists, bloggers, and memory-crafters, too numerous to mention individually but who include Keri Smith, Heather Armstrong, Miriam Schaer, and Christine Gooding for providing me with helpful information and beautiful images. Fellow student, April Vancamp has been a good friend and colleague, offering much appreciated moral support and practical advice. Thank you to my husband, Michael, for his patience, understanding, and continual support. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................ix LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION................................................................................. 1 Review of Related Literature ....................................................................................... 1 History and Memory-craft......................................................................................... 2 Women and Domestic Technology .......................................................................... 6 Feminist Literary Autobiography and Memoir........................................................... 9 Feminism and Hypermedia .................................................................................... 14 Project Overview........................................................................................................ 17 Theory and Methodology ........................................................................................... 21 Justification................................................................................................................ 24 CHAPTER TWO: A HISTORY OF COLLECTING MEMORIES .................................... 27 CHAPTER THREE: MEMORY-CRAFT AS DOMESTIC TECHNOLOGY ..................... 56 CHAPTER FOUR: COMPOSING PERSONAL NARRATIVES THROUGH MEMORY- CRAFTS........................................................................................................................ 85 CHAPTER FIVE: CYPERSPACE AND MEMORIES: A SPACE OF ONE’S OWN...... 117 CHAPTER SIX: MEMORY-CRAFT AS WRITING CRAFT .......................................... 160 APPENDIX: PERMISSION LETTERS......................................................................... 195 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 200 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Cover of Florrie Hanks’ Scrapbook ................................................................ 46 Figure 2: A Valentine from Florrie Hanks’ Scrapbook.................................................... 46 Figure 3: Elijah Dudley; Amelia Leddon Dudley; Minnie E. Dudley ............................... 69 Figure 4: Elijah Dudley; Minnie E. Dudley; Amelia Leddon Dudley ............................... 70 Figure 5: Minnie E. Dudley ............................................................................................ 71 Figure 6: Mamie Veach Dudley; Riley Dudley ............................................................... 72 Figure 7: Zola Dudley; Riley Dudley; Virgil Dudley; LaVerne Dudley; Mamie Veach Dudley; Loren Dudley; Dixie.......................................................................................... 73 Figure 8: CreativeXpression Specialty Theme Album Layout ..................................... 128 Figure 9: Monthly Newsletter: Month Twenty-six......................................................... 137 Figure 10: Coin Image from Wish Jar