Director’s College Event – Reading Their Way Through History: How Books Inspired a Generation of American Women

Celebrate Women’s History Month! On Wednesday, March 26, the Farmington Libraries will host a lecture entitled, “Reading Their Way Through History: How Books Inspired a Generation of American Women,” with Barbara Sicherman, Professor Emerita, Trinity College. This event will take place at 7:00 p.m. at the Farmington Main Library at 6 Monteith Drive.

One need look no further today than to the teenage girl immersed in her book at the dinner table or the popularity of women’s book groups to recognize the importance of reading in women’s lives. This special relationship is not new and was even more important in the past than it is today.  For the generation of women born in the years after the Civil War, a time of extreme gender stereotyping, reading often provided the key to their ability to leave an unparalleled record of achievement as intellectuals, educators, and social reformers.  Inspired by their reading (not only what they read but how and with whom), women as different as Jane Addams, Ida B. Wells, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and M. Carey Thomas often lost--and found--themselves in books and worked out a life purpose around them.  With Little Women's Jo March often serving as a youthful model of independence, girls and young women created communities of learning, imagination, and emotional connection around literary activities in ways that helped them imagine, and later attain, public identities.

Barbara Sicherman is William R. Kenan Jr., Professor Emerita, Trinity College, where she taught History, American Studies, and Women’s Studies.  Her most recent book, “Well-Read Lives: How Books Inspired a Generation of American Women,” was published in 2010 (and later in paperback) by the University of North Carolina Press. Professor Sicherman has traveled around the country to speak about “Well-Read Lives.” She has been a long-time board member of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center and is currently a tutor at Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford.  Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.

The Director’s College is an ongoing series at the Farmington Libraries, the aim of which is to present interesting and intellectual programs for the community. These events strive to cover a wide range of areas including, but not limited to, professorial lectures, performing arts events, travelogues, and music series.

These events are free and open to the public. Advanced registration is required for the Director’s College program. Please call 860-673-6791 for details or register using this link.

The Farmington Library is part of the Farmington Village Green and Library Association.  If you have special needs to attend library programs, contact the library in advance.