Gender Studies at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

The Clark Library collects many rare books and archival materials on the history of rights for Euro-American white women. Key texts in the collection are by Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), British writer and women’s rights advocate; Fanny Burney (1752–1840) and Hester Chapone (1727–1801), Wollstonecraft’s contemporaries; social reformer Hannah More (1745–1833); and twentieth-century suffragettes like Sara Bard Field (1882–1974) and Grace Raymond Hebard (1861–1936). Many of the early modern texts in the Clark Library collection were originally published anonymously to protect the authors’ identities in a violently misogynistic era. Most early feminist writers and advocates in these circles fought for the rights of white women, not for women of color. The following subsections are a sampling of the collections.

Examples:

• Books by Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), a British author and advocate for women’s social reform, and her Bluestocking contemporaries 
  • Burney, Fanny. Evelina, ou, L’entrée d’une jeune personne dans le monde  / ouvrage traduit de l’anglois. Paris: Chez D.J. Changuion, 1780. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR3316.A4 E9F 1780 *: The French translation of Evelina: Or the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World. 
  • Chapone, Hester. Lettres de Mistress Hester Chapone  / traduite de l’anglais par Melle. S.U. Trémadure. Paris: Langlumé et Peltier, c. 1830. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR3339.C935 L65 1830 *: The French translation of the original. It includes themes of religion; the Old and New Testament; pride and vanity; generosity; friendship; and more. 
  • Wollstonecraft, Mary. Défense des droits des femmes : suivie de quelques considérations sur des sujets politiques et moraux  / ouvrage traduit de l’anglais de Mary Wollstonecraft. Paris: Buisson, 1792. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR4719.G5 V7F *: A French translation of Wollstonecraft's famous A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects. It is a critical text in the history of feminist writing. 
  • Wollstonecraft, Mary. Letters to Imlay. Mary Wollstonecraft ; with Prefatory Memoir by C. Kegan Paul. London: C. Kegan Paul, 1879. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR4719.G5 Z7i *: Letters to her lover, Gilbert Imlay (1754–1828), who left Wollstonecraft after she gave birth to their child, Frances Imlay (1794–1816). 
  • Wollstonecraft, Mary. Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1796. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR4719.G5 L6 *: This is a travel narrative including 25 letters from her trips to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. 

• Drake, Judith, and Mary Astell. An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex : In Which Are Inserted the Characters of a Pedant, a Squire, a Beau, a Vertuoso, a Poetaster, a City-Critick, &c. : In a Letter to a Lady  / Written by a Lady. London: Printed for A. Roper and E. Wilkinson, 1696. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR3291 .E78 *: Judith Drake (active 1696–1707) and Mary Astell (1666–1731), British feminist intellectuals, argue for equality between women and men. 
• Sofia. Woman Not Inferior to Man, or, A Short and Modest Vindication of the Natural Right of the Fair-Sex to a Perfect Equality of Power, Dignity, and Esteem, with the Men  / by Sophia, a Person of Quality. London: Printed for J. Hawkins, 1739. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; HQ1596 .S71 *: A women’s rights treatise by an anonymous author covering topics like the derogatory ways men think about women; women’s intellect; women’s capacity for governing; women’s fitness for public offices; and women’s qualifications for military offices. 

Examples:

• Field, Sara Bard. The Speech of Sara Bard Field, Presenting to Congress on Behalf of the Women of the Nation, the Marble Busts of Three Suffrage Pioneers, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Stanton Cady [Sic], Susan Brownell Anthony. 1921. Clark Library Press Collection; Press coll. Nash 069: Sara Bard Field (1882–1974) was a poet and suffragette based out of Portland. 

Hebard, Grace Raymond. How Woman Suffrage Came to Wyoming. Laramie: University of Wyoming, 1920. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; Mont. Coll. H44h: Grace Raymond Hebard (1861–1936) was a historian who studied the American West, particularly Wyoming. Her books include The History and Government of Wyoming (1904) and The Pathbreakers from River to Ocean (1911).

Hannah More (1745–1833) was British social reformer and religious writer born near Bristol, England. Her father was a schoolmaster who educated his five daughters. More’s elder sisters founded a boarding school for young ladies, and she joined their venture when she was a teenager. Around 1774, she moved to London and joined prominent literary and political circles, befriending actor and playwright David Garrick (1717–1779) and his wife Eva (1724–1822), a dancer. Garrick produced her plays The Inflexible Captive (1775) and Percy (1779). Upon Garrick’s death, More swore off playwriting and dedicated her time to moral and spiritual works influenced by Evangelical Christianity. In 1785, she moved to Cowslip Green, Wrington, Bristol and became engaged in social reform, including the abolitionist movement and founding Sunday schools for the poor. In 1802, she moved to Barley Wood near Cowslip Green with her sisters. Her social treatises include Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the Great to General Society (1788); Village Politics (1792), a direct response to Thomas Paine’s (1737–1809) Rights of Man; and Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1799). 

The Clark Library’s Hannah More Collection is a compilation of correspondence, manuscripts, and visual materials related to Hannah More and her contemporaries. The collection includes: 

• Outgoing correspondence to Ann Kennicott (? –1831) from 1777–1817 (Box 1, Folders 1, 3–102; Box 2, Folder 86): Ann Kennicott was the wife of Benjamin Kennicott (1718–1783), a Hebrew scholar. Ann learned Hebrew to assist with her husband’s scholarship. Ann and Hannah were close correspondents throughout their lives. 
• Outgoing correspondence to Alexander Knox (1757–1831) from 1802–1806 (Box 2, Folders 20–26): More was close friends with Knox, an Irish theological writer. 
• Outgoing correspondence to couple François Huber (1750–1831) and Marie-Aimee Lullin (1751–1822) from 1809–1827 (Box 2, Folders 8–19): Huber was a Swiss naturalist and the father of modern beekeeping and Lullin was a Swiss entomologist and her husband’s transcriber and observer. 
• Outgoing correspondence to Zachary Macaulay (1768–1838) from c. 1796–1827 (Box 2, Folders 27–65): Macaulay, a life-long abolitionist, was close friends with More. His son, Thomas, was More’s godson. 
• Outgoing correspondence to Thomas Cadell (1742–1778) and William Davies (?–1820) from 1778–1822 (Box 4, Folders 4–10): Cadell and Davies were More’s publishers. 
• Pocket book, after 1794 (Box 3, Folder 36): A small, 80-page notebook which contains various religious thoughts in diary form. 
• Pencil Drawing of Barley Wood, October 20, 1826 (Box 4, Folder 56): The inscription reads, “A Faithful Portrait of my Cottage of Barley Wood,” and is signed “Hannah More” 

The Clark Library’s Mary Alden Hopkins Collection on Hannah More consists of original correspondence, copies and transcripts of More’s letters. The material was collected by Mary Alden Hopkins (1876–1960), an American journalist and activist who wrote about women’s suffrage, labor, dress reform, birth control, pacifism, and vegetarianism. Hopkins gathered the sources for research on the book Hannah More and Her Circle (1847). The collection also includes correspondence between Hopkins and various scholars and librarians, as well as three early works by More. Some examples from the collection include: 

• Letters from Hannah More and invoices from Martha Lintorn to Hannah More, from 1777–1783 (Box 1, Folder 1).
• Typescripts of unpublished verses of Hannah More, 1943 (Box 1, Folder 3).
• Abstracts of the wills of Hannah More and her sister Martha More (Box 1, Folder 7).
• Hopkins’ correspondence concerning Hannah More, from 1938–1941 (Box 2, Folder 1): Correspondents include Thomas O. Mabbott, E. Ball, S.A. Ball, Blanch S. Linton [Orman], Charles L. Simmons, Christine Gibson, Michael Sadleir, Douglas Cleverdon, Wilmarth Sheldon Lewis, Elizabeth Scott, Frederic G. Ludwig, Anne S. Pratt, Bernhard Knollenberg, L. Herman Smith, Lyle Wright, Goodspeed's Book Shop, Victor H. Paltsis, Allyn B. Forbes, Ann Mosher, Robert F. Metzdorf, William Reitzel, University Library Cambridge, Society of Antiquaries of London, Reginald Wright, Winifred H. Dunman, Dobell's Antiquarian Bookstore, and The New York Public Library.<

Examples of Hannah More’s books: 

• More, Hannah. Essays on Various Subjects, : Principally Designed for Young Ladies. London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1785. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR3605.M6 E785 1785 *: Topics include how to have conservations; envy; sentimental connections; true and false meekness; education, religion; and wit. 
• More, Hannah. Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education : With a View of the Principles and Conduct Prevalent among Women of Rank and Fortune. Dublin: Printed for P. Wogan and W. Porter, 1799. Clark Library Rare Book Stacks; PR3605.M6 S91 1799ic *: Topics include changes to the education of women; the dangers that arise from cultivating the arts too strongly; selfishness and inconsiderate actions; filial obedience; cultivating judgment over imagination; religious and moral use of history and geography; and public amusements.

To find pamphlets, printed books, manuscripts, and fine press books go to UC Library Search. Click on “Advanced Search,” select the Subject field, and type either “Women – Education,” “Hannah More,” “Feminism,” “Women authors,” “Women’s rights,” “Femmes – Droits,” or “Women – Conduct of life.” To find works by specific authors, select the “Author” field and type “More, Hannah, 1745–1833” for example. You can also do a keyword search either in the simple search or in the “Any field” field of the “Advanced Search.” Once you have search results, you can limit to the Clark Library by selecting it from the “UCLA Locations” facet. 

For detailed inventories of archival collections related to Hannah More please consult the Clark Library's page on the Online Archive of California (OAC).