Hilary Rosenthal Glenbrook South High School

Some years ago I attended a regional social studies conference in Naperville. One of the sessions, on gender issues in history, was given by Jackie di Fazio. At the time, she was the national president of the American Association of University Women, which had done some groundbreaking research on gender in the classroom. During the question and answer session following her talk, a high school history teacher attending the session talked about her eighth grade son's U.S. history class. This teacher (a woman) questioned why her son should have to study women in the Revolutionary period, since they had done nothing of importance at that time. This was profoundly discouraging to me, since it reflected the attitude of someone who had chosen to attend a gender related topic session. Clearly, this was the tip of the iceberg. Her conviction that only the Revolutionary War and political leadership was worthy of study reflects a widespread belief among students as well as teachers. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's readable and informative volume should help to convince those audiences that the standard textbooks are missing a significant segment of the reality of life in the early days of the United States. I believe that the emergence of strong works of social history, coincident with the increased participation of women in the writing of history, is a necessary trend. This both complements and enriches more traditional approaches to the time period.

Martha Ballard's life and diary provide essential information about where we began as a nation. The Maine community illustrated and interpreted by Ulrich can provide details of a life that is both unique and representative. This work gives context to the larger events that were happening during this time period, serving as a supplement to the larger picture of the beginnings of our nation. The span of 1785 to 1812 was certainly groundbreaking in political terms, yet Martha Ballard's diary illustrates how little impact these events had on the life of the average citizen. Births, deaths, accidents, debts, purchases, conflicts, and celebrations within Hallowell are highlighted as giving definition to the people who live there.

Ulrich's work supports a trend in the classroom toward incorporating primary source documents into studies of particular times and cultures. This rich resource would probably not be used in its totality in a precollegiate setting. Its utility would be in background information for teachers as well as selected chapters which could be read by students. Because Martha Ballard's diary is not as accessible as some (apparently not even to the earlier historians who had known about it without recognizing its potential), Ulrich performs an important role as "translator." This translation is both literal and figurative. The updated terminology, along with the corrections necessitated by the noted casual attitude toward spelling, is indispensable to extend the audience beyond a scholarly few. The more sophisticated inferences include those made possible by painstaking understanding of the characters and details that surround the everyday minutiae of Ballard's existence.

As "decoded" by Laurel Ulrich, there are certain aspects of Martha Ballard's life that are striking to me. One insight gained by reading her diary is the degree to which women represented a shadow economy in early America at least in New England. Historians who have relied on more traditional forms of documentation have missed or underplayed this aspect. Diary notations of the level and types of payment to and among women surprised me, but led me to an appreciation of the fact that the two income household is indeed nothing new. Another way the lives of Ballard's contemporaries can illuminate issues still relevant to modem American women is found in the concepts of varying roles at varying points in the life cycle. A midwife's career began after the time when she was occupied with her own children. While Martha Ballard continued to do an enormous amount of household work in addition to her profession, she was not attempting the current role of "supermom." The importance of female friendship and support is also a theme in Martha Ballard's life that resonates with women in the 21st century. Although we might not gather at each other's homes for each life changing event such as the birth or death of a child, women today network and serve as resources for one another.

Much credit should go to Martha Ballard herself for her tenacity in maintaining a diary for the span of twenty seven years. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich recognized the information available in this mundane chronicle and was able to make Ballard's world come alive, even for readers without a concentrated background in this era. The production of such social histories, including the lives of those who are relatively anonymous, enriches our understanding of time and place and connects us to those who preceded us.

Return to Reactions to Assigned Readings index