City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2017 Féminisme Oblige: Katharine Susan Anthony and the Birth of Modern Feminist Biography, 1877-1929 Anna C. Simonson The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1992 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Féminisme Oblige: Katharine Susan Anthony and the Birth of Modern Feminist Biography, 1877-1929 by Anna Simonson A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2017 © 2017 ANNA SIMONSON All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in History in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. David Nasaw Date Chair of Examining Committee Helena Rosenblatt Date Executive Officer Kathleen D. McCarthy Blanche Wiesen Cook Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract Féminisme Oblige: Katharine Susan Anthony and the Birth of Modern Feminist Biography, 1877-1929 By Anna Simonson Advisor: David Nasaw Féminisme Oblige examines the life and work of Katharine Susan Anthony (1877-1965), a feminist, socialist, and pacifist whose early publications on working mothers (Mothers Who Must Earn [1914]) and women’s movements in Europe (Feminism in Germany and Scandinavia [1915]) presaged her final chosen vocation as a feminist biographer. Between 1920 and 1958, Anthony published nine biographies of women, all of which in some way challenged the assumptions behind established gender norms and the status quo. Perhaps most importantly, Anthony’s biographies, grounded in the exciting new theories of Sigmund Freud, challenged women themselves to think differently about their prescribed roles, encouraging them to discard contrived definitions and prejudices in favor of sex emancipation and equality. Anthony’s life studies took seriously “the emancipation of woman both as a human-being and as a sex-being,” as she wrote in Feminism in Germany and Scandinavia, and evinced a new way to write about women’s lives just as suffrage was coming to an end and feminism and the New Woman were coming under increasing fire. This dissertation argues that Katharine Anthony was the progenitor of a new form, modern feminist biography, which was both akin to and separate from the development of New Biography in the wake of World War I. While other people and organizations iv were producing important histories of women at the same time, no individual or group was writing the lives of women just as Anthony was writing themas complex, active, intelligent, sexual agents and human beings. Anthony’s work is significant to anyone who seeks to understand the grounding of modern feminism, the development of modern biography, or the vastly understudied group of women writing history in the first half of the twentieth century, and contributes an important narrative of feminist action in the decades between suffrage and the 1960s, the years traditionally believed to be the “doldrums” of modern feminism. This dissertation does not cover Anthony’s life and work from cradle to grave, but rather from cradle to career. The period covered most fully is 1877, the year of her birth in Roseville, Arkansas, to 1920, the year she published her first biography, Margaret Fuller: A Psychological Biography, over a decade after she had moved to New York City with the “urge to write.” While all of Anthony’s biographies deserve individual attention for their literary, historical, and feminist merit, the birth of modern feminist biography and the trajectory of Anthony’s career can be understood by ending the discussion with the conception and completion of her first life study, and with a conclusion that points to the future. v Acknowledgements The best part of writing a dissertation is finishing it, which I wouldn’t have been able to do without the help and encouragement from numerous individuals and organizations. First and foremost, this dissertation could not have been written without the gracious support of Tony and Suzanne Whedon, Katharine Anthony’s only living relatives. They took me in like an old friend, letting me stay at their house, sort through their papers, and ask them question after question in an effort to get to know the remarkable woman they were so fortunate to know. They are the relatives that every biographer dreams of finding. Their stories, time, humor, willingness, and energy made writing this dissertation not only possible, but also truly enjoyable. I was surrounded at The Graduate Center by the very best teachers of both women’s history and biography. Carol Berkin, Blanche Wiesen Cook, Julie Des Jardins, Gary Giddins, John Matteson, Nancy Milford, David Nasaw, and Barbara Welter were all tremendously influential throughout my time as a graduate student, and I am indebted and grateful to all of them. My advisor, David Nasaw, is not only an inspiration as a biographer and historian, he is an amazing advisor as well. He walked that fine line between encouragement and pressure with skill and tact, and I always felt more capable after hearing his sage advice. He saved me on numerous occasions from making embarrassing mistakes. And he responded to emails faster than anyone I know, for which I am very, very thankful. Any merits of this dissertation are due in no small part to him. Any flaws are most definitely my own. Kathleen McCarthy taught my very first seminar in graduate school, where she advised me on my first original research paper, which turned into my first publication. Her counsel was always spot on, and she influenced me more than she probably knows. She makes time for her students, encourages their work, and she is an outstanding and productive scholar herself. Her extraordinary example is something I strive for in my own life and work. Blanche Wiesen Cook was a tremendous inspiration as I undertook to write about the life and work of Katharine Anthony. She is one of the best scholars, best biographers, and best professors I have ever known, and I was fortunate to get her on my dissertation committee so soon after her third volume of the life of Eleanor Roosevelt came out. It was in her seminar on Writing Women’s Lives, co-taught with Barbara Welter, that I first thought about combining women’s history and biography into a dissertation. The final product is in no small part due to her. It was from Barbara Welter that I first heard the name Katharine Anthony, when I was fumbling about for a dissertation topic and suggested to her that I write about two other women biographers. Her perfectly witty responsethat if I insisted upon doing that “procrustean” form of dual-biography I ought to look at Katharine Anthonychanged vi entirely the course of my research, and all for the better. Professor Welter was a consistent and encouraging presence in my life throughout graduate school, and I am tremendously grateful for her support. She regularly met me for coffee, rushed over to see the exciting sources I found in the barn in Vermont, and wrote more letters on my behalf than almost anyone (David Nasaw excluded). Julie Des Jardins had no obligation to help me with my dissertation; yet she read draft after draft of my writing, and patiently pointed me in the right direction, without ever once making me feel like a nuisance. To the contrary, she always responded with just the right amount of critique, encouragement, and energy to push me forward. Any mistakes are my own. Any merits I owe to her. Perhaps most inspiring is the example Julie set when she defended all women in academia by publicly exposing and denouncing the sexist hold that still grips universities and colleges across the country and around the world through unequal pay, unequal opportunities for advancement, and unequal recognition of achievements. Julie is a person who, like Katharine Anthony, lives what she teaches, and I am fortunate to be able to call her a friend. The Graduate Center is a wonderful place for someone with an interest in biography to study. The year I started graduate school saw the formation of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the GC, one of the only centers for the study of biography in the United States, where I was fortunate to have a dissertation fellowship. As an unknown Ph.D. student in history, writing about an unknown feminist biographer, I was surrounded by some of the best biographers in the world, a truly unforgettable, rewarding experience. The executive and program directors of the Levy Center, Gary Giddins and Michael Gately, and the President of the GC, Chase Robinson, continually foster a lively scholarly space that engages with the outside community through the study of biography, and have built a vibrant, unique environment at the GC because of it. The Graduate Center Library has, I am convinced, the best Inter-Library Loan service in the country. I could not have written this dissertation without the help of J. Silvia Cho, who is truly a god-send for any researcher who needs numerous out-of-print or obscure sources. Librarians and archivists are indispensable to the research process, and I was fortunate to work with several excellent people while writing this dissertation, including Thai Jones at Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library; Shaun Hayes and Ali Dzienkowski at the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming; and Laurie Ellis at the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.