Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (born July 11, 1938) is a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning American historian specializing in early America and the

history of women Women's history is the study of the role that women have played in history and the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of women's rights throughout recorded history, personal achievements over a period o ...

, and a professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Her approach to history has been described as a tribute to "the silent work of ordinary people". Ulrich has also been a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient. Her most famous book, ''A Midwife’s Tale'', was later the basis for a PBS documentary film.

Early life and education

Laurel Thatcher was born July 11, 1938, in Sugar City,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, to John Kenneth Thatcher, schoolteacher and superintendent as well as state legislator and farmer; and Alice Siddoway Thatcher. She graduated from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, majoring in English and journalism, and gave the

valedictory Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

speech at commencement. In 1971, she earned a master's degree in English at

Simmons University Simmons University (previously Simmons College) is a private university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1899 by clothing manufacturer John Simmons. In 2018, it reorganized its structure and changed its name to a ...

, and subsequently a doctorate in history from the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

, in 1980.

Career

After completing her Ph.D., Ulrich joined the faculty at the University of New Hampshire, gradually working her way up from graduate assistant to tenured faculty member. She remained on the faculty at UNH through 1995. In 1991, Ulrich received both the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize for her work of history, '' A Midwife's Tale''. In 1992, the MacArthur Foundation chose Ulrich as a MacArthur Fellow.Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Biography, Sarah Pearsall, Oxford Brookes University, and Kirsten Sword, Indiana University. From the General Meeting Booklet, 2010 AHA Annual Meeting, https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/presidential-addresses/laurel-thatcher-ulrich/laurel-thatcher-ulrich-biography Access 5 September 2018Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Historian, Class of 1992, https://www.macfound.org/fellows/481/ In 1995 she became James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History, and director of the Charles Warren Center of Studies in American History, at Harvard University."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich - Biography" Great Authors of World Literature, Critical Edition Ed. Frank Northen Magill. eNotes.com, Inc. 1997 eNotes.com September 5, 2018 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich 300th Anniversary University Professor, Emerita, Harvard Faculty Biography, https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/laurel-thatcher-ulrich She was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 2003. She also served as President of the American Historical Association from 2009 to 2010, and of the Mormon History Association from 2014 to 2015. As of 2018, Ulrich is 300th Anniversary University Professor, Emerita at Harvard.

"Well-behaved women seldom make history"

In a 1976 scholarly article about little-studied

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

funeral services, Ulrich included the phrase "well-behaved women seldom make history." In its original iteration, Ulrich meant the quote to indicate that well-behaved women were not studied by historians, not to encourage contemporary women to rebel or be less "well-behaved". The phrase was taken out of context and picked up and soon went viral, being widely quoted and printed across the country. It continues to be seen on greeting cards, T-shirts, mugs, plaques, and bumper stickers. She recounted how her now-famous quote has taken on a life of its own in an October 2007 interview: "It was a weird escape into popular culture. I got constant e-mails about it, and I thought it was humorous. Then I started looking at where it was coming from. Once I turned up as a character in a novel—and a tennis star from India wore the T-shirt at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

. It seemed like a teaching moment—and so I wrote a book using the title." ''Well-Behaved Women'' examines the ways in which women shaped history, citing examples from the lives of

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, which sparke ...

Christine de Pizan Christine de Pizan or Pisan (, ; born Cristina da Pizzano; September 1364 – ), was an Italian-born French court writer for King Charles VI of France and several French royal dukes, in both prose and poetry. Christine de Pizan served as a cour ...

Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton ( Cady; November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 ...

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...

, and

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

''A Midwife's Tale''

''A Midwife's Tale'' examines the life of Northern New England

midwife A midwife (: midwives) is a health professional who cares for mothers and Infant, newborns around childbirth, a specialisation known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughou ...

Martha Ballard Martha Moore Ballard (February 20, 1735 – May 7, 1812) was an American midwife, healer, and diarist. Unusual for the time, Ballard kept a diary with hundreds of entries over nearly three decades, which has provided historians with invaluabl ...

, and provides a vivid examination of ordinary life in the early American republic, including the role of women in the household and local market economy, the nature of marriage and sexual relations, aspects of medical practice, and the prevalence of violence and crime. In this book, Ulrich effectively and simultaneously builds historical knowledge of the colonial world and Martha Ballard's biography. Ulrich's revelatory history was honored with the

. ''A Midwife's Tale'' also received the

Bancroft Prize The Bancroft Prize is awarded each year by the trustees of Columbia University for books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas. It was established in 1948, with a bequest from Frederic Bancroft, in his memory and that of his brother, d ...

(prompting a speech by Ulrich which compares her own diary and life to Ballard's), the

John H. Dunning Prize John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

, the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize, the

Berkshire Conference of Women Historians The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians (also known as the "Little Berks") is an organization for female historians. The Conference welcomes women historians from all fields and historical eras, not just the history of women and gender. The Be ...

Book Prize, the Society for Historians of the Early Republic Book Prize, the

William Henry Welch Medal The William H. Welch Medal is an annual award given by the American Association for the History of Medicine (AAHM) to the author or co-authors of an outstanding book in medical history. According to the current rules, the award is not for editorial ...

of the American Association for the History of Medicine, and the New England Historical Association Award. ''A Midwife's Tale'' was later developed into a docudrama film for the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series ''

American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...

'' by producer Laurie Kahn-Levitt and director Richard P. Rogers. The film was based upon both Ulrich's book and her archival process, and Ulrich served as a consultant, script collaborator, and narrator. The book also helped her secure a "Genius Grant" from the

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

. The book became a landmark in women's labor history since it provides scholars with rich insights into the life of a lay American rural healer around 1800. It rests not on the observations of outsiders, but on the words of the woman herself. At first glance, Ballard's encoded, repetitive, and quotidian diary often appears trivial, but as Ulrich found, "it is in the very dailiness, the exhaustive, repetitious dailiness, that the real power of Martha Ballard's book lies... For her, living was to be measured in doing." By knitting together "ordinary" sources to produce a meaningful, extraordinary socio-cultural narrative, Ulrich shows how a skilled practitioner functioned within the interstices of the private and public spheres. The book, divided into 10 sections, takes the "dailiness" of Ballard's diary and transforms it into a rich historical source. ''A Midwife's Tale'' was not only methodologically influential for scholars, but also theoretically important. By showing clearly the economic contributions that midwives made to their households and local communities, and demonstrating the organizational skill of multitasking as a source of female empowerment, the book revises the understanding of prescribed gender roles. While ''A Midwife's Tale'' is obviously limited in terms of time (1785–1812) and place (rural Maine), it has attracted sustained attention of historians—especially those interested in gender relations and wage-earning, the economic value of domestic labor, and women's work before industrialization. Ulrich invokes these contributions to historical knowledge in a 2009 interview, stating, “I don’t think anonymous people need to be included in the historical record just because of fairness or justice. Studying them more carefully makes for more accurate history,” highlighting the potential for work like hers on historically non-dominant voices. The book has also been taught as an exemplar of archival and historical work and explored in conjunction with Ulrich's own life as a historian, writer, and activist.

Summary

The first entry in ''A Midwife's Tale'' puts midwifery in a broader medical context within the Kennebec region, beginning to put Ballard's diary in context of other primary sources at the time. This chapter establishes the relationship between doctors and midwives during this time period. Ulrich also introduces the concept of “social medicine” in this chapter, referring to the sharing of information among midwives and doctors. This is evident in midwife manuals that Ulrich cites. Section 2 shows the separate economy among women in Hallowell. Ulrich describes this economy as facilitated by the 'social webs' of production and consumption. Section 3 follows an important rape trial in Hallowell. A Mrs. Foster accused Judge North of raping her while her husband was away. Historians are able to contrast Martha's account of the trial with Henry Sewall's account. Henry Sewall opposed the Fosters' religious beliefs whereas Martha Ballard felt sympathetic toward the Fosters because others judged them for their religious beliefs. Section 4 is concerned with the three Ballard family marriages which occurred in 1792, in which Ulrich explores the understanding of marriage and sex at this time. The mid-eighteenth century is seen as a turning point in history when children began only then to choose their own partners and Ballard's diary entries support this. It seems as though all the Ballard marriages in 1792 were courtships chosen by the children as opposed to arrangements proposed for economic benefits. Additionally, there is pre-marital sex. Section 5 details the fifty-three deliveries of babies Ballard performed in 1793. Ulrich emphasizes that an average of one baby a week seems easy, but Martha often sat for weeks doing nothing, and for others, facing multiple births in a short time during poor weather. 1796, the focus of section 6, is a physically taxing year for Ballard and her husband. She is traveling to deliver babies in flea-infested cabins while her husband works in swamps swarming with mosquitos. Their children also have some health issues that year. In November, her husband Ephraim is at muskie-point and all of his instruments were stolen at the outset of a planned extended surveying journey - canceling the trip, he returned five days later. On the same day, consequently (or around the same time), Martha delivered her 600th baby, a milestone. Ephraim's work continues to be difficult. Martha prays for strength to continue faring through her difficult and laborious life. Section 7 follows the death and autopsy of John Davis, the son of John Vassall Davis in Kennebec. Ulrich fleshes out the significance of Martha Ballard's presence at the autopsy. Ulrich discusses that in 1820, a Harvard Medical School professor published a treatise stating that women should no longer be midwives as they are not educated enough to practice medicine. Section 8 tracks Martha's entries while her husband, Ephraim Ballard, is in jail for debt. During this time, Martha's son, Jonathan, takes over Martha and Ephraim's house. These entries highlight Martha and Jonathan's rocky relationship. Additionally, Martha experiences a pseudo-widowhood during this time, acknowledging Ephraim's role in the household that now must be filled by her son. This entry gives important information regarding jail time in Kennebec, as Ephraim is allowed to continue working during the day and only has to sleep at the jail at night. There is flexibility regarding cases of debt. Section 9 is centered around a mass murder that occurred in Hallowell. James Purrinton, one of Martha's neighbors, murdered his wife and all of his children but one, who escaped. Martha's entry adds another viewpoint on this historic event. Ulrich writes, “The economy of Martha’s telling contrasts with the more self-conscious narrative published (and probably composed) by Peter Edes, editor of Augusta’s Kennebec Gazette.” In Section 10, Ulrich discusses the importance of women in field agriculture, as characterized by Martha's garden and her records of the flowers and vegetables she planted in her time. As Martha grows older, her diary recounts fewer births. Ulrich hypothesizes that this decrease in births is due to another midwife taking over Ballard's work.

Other work

In January 2017, Ulrich's book '' A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870,'' was released. This text explores Mormon women living in Utah during the 19th century who had entered into plural marriages. Ulrich argues that this system was both complicated and empowering for the women in these relationships. In 2001, Ulrich wrote ''The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth'', published by Alfred Knopf. Historian John Demos praises the book in his review, "Venturing off in a new and highly original direction, she has put physical objects ― mainly but not entirely textiles ― at the center of her inquiry. The result is, among other things, an exemplary response to a longstanding historians' challenge ― to treat objects, no less than writings, as documents that speak to us from and about the past."

Personal life

While she was an undergraduate student, she married Gael Ulrich, now emeritus professor of chemical engineering at the University of New Hampshire. Together they had five children: Karl (b. 1960), Melinda (b. 1963), Nathan (b. 1964), Thatcher (b. 1969), and Amy (b. 1975).

Religion

Ulrich self-identifies as an active

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and

Latter-day Saint The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded b ...

(Mormon), and has written about her experiences. She also co-edited (with

Emma Lou Thayne Emma Lou Warner Thayne (October 22, 1924 – December 6, 2014) was a poet and novelist. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and counted as one of the 75 most significant Mormon poets. Thayne graduated from the Uni ...

) ''All God's Critters Got a Place in the Choir'', a collection of essays about the lives of Mormon women. Ulrich was a co-founder, with

Claudia Bushman Claudia Marian Lauper Bushman (born June 11, 1934) is an American historian specializing in domestic women's history, especially as it relates to the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). She helped found, and was ...

Judy Dushku Judith Ann Rasmussen Dushku (born 30 March 1942) is an American academic political scientist, journalist, writer, and humanitarian. An active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and well known as a Mormon f ...

, Sue Paxman and others, of

Exponent II ''Exponent II'' is a quarterly periodical that publishes essays, poetry, and art created by women and gender minorities on the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Latter-day Saint spectrum. ''Exponent II'' was founded in 1974, "pois ...

, an independent publication on the experience of Latter-day Saint women. In late 1992,

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

's board of trustees vetoed without comment a BYU proposal to invite Ulrich to address the annual BYU Women's Conference. Ulrich did give addresses at BYU in 2004 and 2006. At

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

, Ulrich is actively involved in

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

. She is the adviser for the undergraduate

Latter-day Saint Student Association LDS Student Association (also known as the Latter-day Saint Student Association or the LDSSA) is an organization established under the direction of the Seminaries and Institutes of Religion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS C ...

and the Latter-day Saint campus club, and teaches an

Institute of Religion An Institute of Religion is a local organization that provides religious education for young adults (ages 18–30) who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), with those of other religions also welcome to partic ...

class.

Publications

;Books *'' A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835–1870.'' (2017). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. *''Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History.'' (2007). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. * Editor, ''Yards and Gates: Gender in Harvard and Radcliffe History.'' (2004). Palgrave Macmillan, * ''The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth.'' (2001). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. * ''All God's Critters Got a Place in the Choir,'' a collection of essays coauthored with the Utah poet

. (1995). Aspen Books, * ''A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard based on her diary, 1785–1812.'' (1990). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. . Reissued in Vintage paperback, * ''Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650–1750.'' (1982). Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. . Reissued by Vintage (1991), ;Online articles
"How Betsy Ross Became Famous"
in ''Common-Place'' Vol. 8, No. 1 (October 2007),

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

"An American Album, 1857"
2009 Presidential Address to the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

References

External links

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
faculty, History Department,

dohistory.org
– an online version of Martha Ballard's diary and information about ''A Midwife's Tale'', a joint project of

and

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher 1938 births 21st-century American historians Latter Day Saints from Massachusetts Feminist historians Harvard University Department of History faculty Women's historians Historians of the Latter Day Saint movement Historians of the United States Living people MacArthur Fellows Microhistorians National Humanities Medal recipients People from Madison County, Idaho Bancroft Prize winners Pulitzer Prize for History winners Simmons University alumni University of New Hampshire alumni University of Utah alumni Historians from Idaho Mormon feminists Church Educational System instructors American women historians Historians of Maine University of New Hampshire faculty 21st-century American women Members of the American Philosophical Society