Intimate Inmates

Wives, Households, and Science in Nineteenth-Century America

Bibliographic Data

ID3301322
AuthorsDebra Lindsay (corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume89
Issue4
Pages631-652
Publication date1998-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueIsis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-1753 • E-ISSN: 1545-6994
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/384158
OpenAlexW1973559589
LanguageEN
Citations received9

Historians have found that during the nineteenth century many women were involved in the sciences; but regardless of their contributions they were usually denied formal membership in the scientific community. Looking at science as a culture, rather than as an intellectual activity, shows that some women were ensconced within a community that formally excluded them. In one sense the wives, sisters, mothers, and daughters of male scientists were held captive by a sociocultural context that recognized only the male participants; in another sense they were intimates of the scientific community, and as insiders they were able to use an exclusive and predominantly male institution to advance their family and personal goals

Context (archaeology · Criminology · Institution · Social science · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History

Tools

Open DOI