Digital History--Prospectus

I propose to do my final project, the digital history proposal, on the topic of the “New Woman”—controversies and images of feminism in the fin-de-siecle period. I envision the structure as a series of linked essays, focused on providing context, with extensive hypertext links to contemporary primary materials, especially journalism and political statements, on the various aspects of the “woman question” as it was perceived at the end of the 19th century in Anglo-American culture. The essays provide the necessary context, focusing on the major aspects of women’s lives—legal status, economic issues (jobs, property ownership) etc.—and how these provide the framework to understand and interpret the materials. I hope to be able to illustrate it well, particularly with such ephemera as cartoons, caricatures, posters, etc, to illuminate public reactions to the these controversies and political movements, which were challenging some of the bedrock assumptions and legal foundations of Anglo-American social and political culture of the time.