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Happy Is the Woman Who Has No History : an Historical Discourse Analysis of Women, Their Changing Roles and Society's Changing Perceptions, 1890-1920 in America

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Happy Is the Woman Who Has No History : an Historical Discourse Analysis of Women, Their Changing Roles and Society's Changing Perceptions, 1890-1920 in America Smith ScholarWorks Theses, Dissertations, and Projects 2013 Happy is the woman who has no history : an historical discourse analysis of women, their changing roles and society's changing perceptions, 1890-1920 in America Sarah E. Pulver Smith College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Pulver, Sarah E., "Happy is the woman who has no history : an historical discourse analysis of women, their changing roles and society's changing perceptions, 1890-1920 in America" (2013). Masters Thesis, Smith College, Northampton, MA. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/986 This Masters Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations, and Projects by an authorized administrator of Smith ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sarah Elizabeth Pulver HAPPY IS THE WOMAN WHO HAS NO HISTORY: AN HISTORICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF WOMEN, THEIR CHANGING ROLES AND SOCIETY’S CHANGING PERCEPTIONS 1890-1920 IN AMERICA ABSTRACT This analysis examines the historical mental health needs that emerged for women at the turn of the 19th century as a result of drastic changes in the tenor of the United States. The research explores literature pertaining to women from 1890-1920 in the United States and relates to four main topic areas as a way to examine trends and patterns in mental health needs and supports at the time in history. The Historical Research approach is well suited for this research as the specific goal of the study is to examine the historical sources for patterns and trends to better inform the present (Rubin and Babbie, 2013, p. 247). As an historical study, use of primary source journals, magazines, newspapers and other communication sources provide information about how the study subject was treated during the historical time of interest. Women’s changing roles and the perceptions that society had of them created challenges that lead to necessary mental health treatments and support. The literature is used to further explore the patterns and trends found in the primary sources. Through an examination of primary source literature of Presidential Election 2012, connections are made between two significant periods of time sighting the implications for the importance of social work practice. HAPPY IS THE WOMAN WHO HAS NO HISTORY: AN HISTORICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF WOMEN, THEIR CHANGING ROLES AND SOCIETY’S CHANGING PERCEPTIONS 1890-1920 IN AMERICA A project based on an independent investigation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Social Work. Sarah Elizabeth Pulver Smith College School for Social Work Northampton, MA 01063 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I would like to thank my thesis advisor Elaine for her never ending positive support, encouragement and willingness to work creatively with me and of course her wisdom of organization. Sara Fudjack, I would have never survived this project, let alone this year without you, your support, green eggs, and dominos, you are my ggxoxo. This project would not have been possible without the Smith Library Archives; it was truly an amazing experience to have the opportunity to work with such special materials as well as such a lovely staff. Julia, so happy to have found you in the Archives as well! I would like to thank the Smith Library Staff, especially Ella, for humoring me every time I came in talking about this project and picking up the key to the “Tibetan Scroll Room.” Now that I mention it, I should thank that special little room where pretty much all this writing happened, thank you Tibetan Prayer Scrolls for your entire good juju. Thank you to my family, you have been wonderfully supportive and great sports during this journey, I love you and can’t wait to come home. Thank you to my friends in Philly and New York who allowed me to talk about this work even when there were probably more pressing issues at hand, although I sure couldn’t see them! Alyssa, thank you for letting me come over and feeding me and letting me do my laundry and watch tv and be mistaken for your girlfriend, best cousin ever- thank you for moving here. RJ, you are amazing to me in lots of ways, most recently for being able to paginate this project. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... i TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................................... ii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 II LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY ....................................................... 4 III PATTERNS AND TRENDS............................................................................................ 14 IV PRESENT IMPLICATIONS............................................................................................ 37 V DISCUSSION REMARKS .............................................................................................. 44 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................... 49 ii CHAPTER I Introduction As the 19th century came to a close women’s roles in the United States began to dramatically change. The atmosphere in the United States preceding the new century was one of major cultural and historical shifts. The country underwent major political change with the election of Lincoln, experienced financial upheaval with the market revolution, and entered into a war on home land with the Civil War to end slavery, after which came the Reconstruction and the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution (Foner,1997, p. 5). In the later part of the 1800’s, at the turn of the century, the country again went through drastic changes. In the 1890’s there was a major influx of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, a great migration from rural America into the cities and a new Progressive movement which was motivated by women for the most part (Foner, 1997, p. 5). With these dramatic cultural changes came a shift in society’s perception of women. The different and changing perceptions that society had about women resulted in challenges to women. These challenges ranged from combating society’s negative views, domestic stressors, pathology of gender, gaining access and rights, respect in family and relationships, education, etc. Women’s challenges gave way to women’s needs, and this historical study will examine specific types of needs presented in mental health treatments. The writer argues that many realms of our society continue to view women’s roles as such today. While many aspects of women’s lives have changed as a result of the 19th Amendment, the 1 Women’s Liberation Movement, Equal Rights Movement, education etc., there are ways in which our independence, sexuality and gender continue to be pathologized today. In order to understand the changes, roles and consequences that this time period encompassed this historical study will examine primary source data during this time for patterns that represent this time for women. The Purpose of this study was to examine the historical mental health needs that emerged for women at the turn of the 19th century as a result of drastic changes in the tenor of the United States. The research examined literature pertaining to women from 1890-1920 in the United States and related to four main topic areas as a way to examine trends and patterns in mental health needs and supports at the time in history. The four main topic areas that were examined were be women’s changing roles, society’s changing perceptions of women, challenges, and mental health needs and supports that emerged as a result of the three previous topics. The topic was examined through careful reading of primary sources that were sourced from the Sophia Smith Collection and Smith College Archives at Smith College. In the examination of the primary sources the study looked for how women’s behaviors of independence were pathologized by society at large and what the impending treatments were at this time. This study examined the new and existing roles of women in the later part of the 19th century in the United States, how societal perceptions of culture influenced women’s lives and th affected their roles, what were the causes for the changes in dramatic role changes in late 19 century women in the United States, how did the change affect their mental health and what were the treatment needs and further what treatments emerged. Finally, attention was paid to diversity amongst women at this historical time based on primary sources specifically targeting women of color. 2 The implication of this study in terms of clinical social work practice is the importance familiarity with historical events as well as present events. Although there have been improvements in the treatment of women in the field of mental health, this study illustrates some of the ways in which independence, sexuality and gender have continued to be pathologized in women. What better way to understand our current lives and move forward to a more positive future than to understand our past more clearly; and with this sentiment the writer would encourage clinicians to delve into the historical treatments of the populations they are working with as it provides us the key to understanding our present and
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