Category: 19th century

19th century, Arts

Registering Desire: Spousal and Appetitive Imagery in the Religious and Devotional Poetry of Christina Rossetti

BluestockingOxford

By Alice Theobald In a period noted for its ostensible conservatism and censorship of linguistic taboos, Christina Rossetti is often taken as paradigmatic of this aversion towards the open expression of sensuality and female sensation. However, her religious poetry in fact displays a marked tendency towards images of physical desire, appropriating the language of erotic… Continue reading Registering Desire: Spousal and Appetitive Imagery in the Religious and Devotional Poetry of Christina Rossetti

19th century, 20th century, Science

A Life in the Stars: Henrietta Swan Leavitt

BluestockingOxford

 by Estelle Cheuk  The remarkable mind who pushed the limitations of her time to make outstanding contributions to the field of astronomy Although largely unknown outside the fields of astronomy and astro-physics, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, made one of the most important and pioneering discoveries of the disciplines to date. Her findings turned the contemporary view… Continue reading A Life in the Stars: Henrietta Swan Leavitt

18th century, 19th century, 20th century, Science

Scientific Women: Finding ‘a way in’ through the centuries

BluestockingOxford

By Professor Ruth Watts.Science, a vast field of knowledge so important in the modern world, has traditionally been perceived as ‘masculine’, and women have generally been excluded or pushed to the periphery. Modern studies have explored the reasons for this and have found many examples of women who managed to break through the barriers. The… Continue reading Scientific Women: Finding ‘a way in’ through the centuries

19th century, 20th century, Interviews

Recovering Lost Voices: An Interview with Professor Jane Martin

BluestockingOxford

 Click here to read the extended version of this interview.   On behalf of Bluestocking, Ali Nihat interviewed Professor Jane Martin, of the Institute of Education in London, whose work focuses on the relation between education and politics. Professor Martin spoke to us about her recently published work Making Socialists: Mary Bridges Adams and the Fight… Continue reading Recovering Lost Voices: An Interview with Professor Jane Martin

19th century, Arts

Rossetti’s Other Woman: The silent contribution of models and muses

BluestockingOxford

By Rebekah Lee.The concluding decades of the Nineteenth century marked a series of major developments for the growing political voice of English women. Events such as the female-led Campaign Against the Contagious Diseases Acts and the establishment of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage in 1897 provided ample evidence to suggest the emergence of a… Continue reading Rossetti’s Other Woman: The silent contribution of models and muses

19th century, Humanities

A Life’s Work: Minnie James and Images of the Woman Librarian

BluestockingOxford

By Mona Sakr Minnie Stewart Rhodes James (1865 – 1903) was appointed Head Librarian in the People’s Palace Library, East London in 1889. She was a respected member of the Library Association, and presented a number of papers to the Association, some of which discussed opportunities for women to take up paid positions in libraries.… Continue reading A Life’s Work: Minnie James and Images of the Woman Librarian

19th century, Arts, Humanities

Education and Social Change in George Eliot’s Middlemarch

BluestockingOxford

By M. S. Lovelace The rapid educational and social developments of the late 19th century were underpinned not just by policy and public documentation but by the 'unrecorded but resourceful improvisations’ (Donald, 1992, p. 2) of the everyday. The latter occur in the physical spaces in which education operates and these spaces and improvisations can… Continue reading Education and Social Change in George Eliot’s Middlemarch

19th century, Science

‘I do like a contest with the bigwigs’: How Mary Anning Struck Scientific Gold

BluestockingOxford

By Jack Coombs Mary Anning is a name little known, even in the fields of palaeontology, and geology, which she so influenced. Born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, Dorset, she was conveniently placed, both in an era when these early sciences were set to undergo a renaissance of advancement, and beside a three-mile long stretch… Continue reading ‘I do like a contest with the bigwigs’: How Mary Anning Struck Scientific Gold

19th century, Arts

Where Loss Resides

BluestockingOxford

The Relationship Between Space and Loneliness in the Poetry of Christina Rossetti By Mona Sakr and Ali Nihat Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) is perhaps best known for her religious poetry. And yet, her work is often an exploration of the ultimate loneliness of human existence, mourning the absence of all others, including God, in the innermost… Continue reading Where Loss Resides

19th century, Humanities

A Buried Woman of Egyptology

BluestockingOxford

By Megan Price Sarah Belzoni was an extraordinary woman. Between 1815 and 1819 she travelled to Egypt, supporting her husband Giovanni Battista Belzoni who was attempting to find employment in Cairo. Their voyage to Egypt was a symptom of the early nineteenth century 'gold-rush' to North Africa where a new and exotic world was being… Continue reading A Buried Woman of Egyptology