Theme

Women's History

Featured Items

Detail of title page shows red and black printed text reading "Oronoko, traduit de l'anglois, de Madame Behn."

Oronoko

Aphra Behn
1745
Detail of a printed book shows a portrait frontispiece of Phillis Wheatley sitting at a table with a quill in her hand in the process of writing.

Poems on various subjects, religious and moral

Phillis Wheatley
1773
Detail of a printed book shows an illustration of a nun holding a cross to her chest.

La vie de la venerable mere Marie de l'Incarnation premiere superieure des ursulines de la Nouvelle France

Claude Martin
1677
Detail of a printed newspaper shows headline "Negro Slavery" and other text in English.

[Album]

Female Society...for the Relief of British Negro Slaves.
1828-1829
Detail of a printed book shows worn papers and header text reading "An Anagram. Anna Bradestreate" and other text in English.

The tenth muse lately sprung up in America

Anne Bradstreet
1650
Detail of a printed book shows a full-page colored illustration of a plant with insects on it. On the opposite page, text in Latin is visible.

Dissertatio de generatione et metamorphosibus insectorum Surinamensium

Maria Sibylla Merian
1719
Detail of a printed book shows title page with manuscript notations at the top of the page.

A summary history of New-England

Hannah Adams
1799
Detail from the binding of a manuscript codex shows text in Spanish "3. Soledad."

Spiritual autobiography

María de San José
1703-1710

Related

image of an open book with a colorful image of insects on a tropical plant and printed text

By a Lady: Women and Natural History in the Americas, 1650-1830

September 2019

See Also

Indigenous Languages

Ethnography