Girl's Stories of Great Women (1946)
Girl's Stories of Great Women (1946)
Elsie E. Egermeier, 1890-1986
The Ohio State University Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Part of the Emanuel Rudolph Children's Science Collection
CT3234 .E3476 1946
The lives of well-known women of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are chronicled for young girls in this book. A reader could read about the childhood and later lives of the famous Queen Victoria of England, Helen Keller, and Louisa May Alcott, as well as lesser known historical figures like poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning or Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S. A significant portion of these women, like Marie Curie, Elizabeth Blackwell, and Susan B. Anthony went against the traditional roles of women in society. Even those whose careers appear less radical, like Harriet Hosmer, who is listed as a “sculpturess,” went against societal regulations and norms of women in their time. The mid-twentieth century had more progressive ideals of the role of women in society than the previous one, so these women’s accomplishments were no longer as radical as they may once have been. However, the inspirational lives of these women still encouraged girls to stray from the idea of a traditional role in their society. This book was originally published in 1930, and its reprinting in 1946 is significant due to the disruption of the traditional roles of women brought about by World War II.