Linda Kaufman Kerber (born January 23, 1940, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

) is an American

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 ...

, a political and

intellectual historian Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual hist ...

, and educator who specializes in the history and development of the democratic mind in America, and the history of women in America.

Early life and education

The daughter of Harry Hagman and Dorothy Haber Kaufman, Kerber graduated from Forest Hills High School in Queens, New York, and married Richard Kerber in 1960. She received a BA from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

(1960), an MA from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

(1961), and her PhD from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

(1968) under the supervision of

Richard Hofstadter Richard Hofstadter (August 6, 1916October 24, 1970) was an American historian and public intellectual of the mid-20th century. Hofstadter was the DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University. Rejecting his earlier historic ...

Career

Kerber joined the faculty at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

in 1971, and is currently the May Brodbeck Professor in Liberal Arts & Sciences, and also lecturer in the College of Law. Kerber published her first book, ''Federalists in Dissent: Imagery and Ideology in Jeffersonian America,'' in 1970. One of the first historians to interpret the history of the early United through the lens of women's history, she published ''Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America'' in 1980. In this path breaking book, Kerber introduced the concept of "

Republican Motherhood "Republican motherhood" is a 20th-century term for an 18th-century attitude toward women's roles present in the emerging United States before, during, and after the American Revolution. It centered on the belief that the patriots' daughters shou ...

." In 1998, Kerber published ''No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship,'' a political history of women and the law that spans the history of the United States from the early Republic to the late twentieth century. She also published essays and books on the feminism and history and on women's intellectual history. From the beginning of her career, inspired by the women's movement, Kerber played an active role in enhancing the status of women in the historical profession. An early member of 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 ...

, she began to attend meetings of the newly formed Coordinating Committee for Women in the Historical Profession. In 1969, she played an instrumental role in founding the West Coast History Association, now known as the Western Association of Women Historians. In the early 1970s, when 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 ...

appointed a Committee on Women Historians to provide recommendations as to how to improve the professional positions of women, she was among its first members and also served as its chair. Kerber served as the president of the

American Studies Association The American Studies Association (ASA) is a scholarly organization devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture, U.S. culture and American history, history. It was founded in 1951 and claims to be the oldest scholarly organization d ...

in 1988, the

Organization of American Historians The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad incl ...

in 1996–97, and the

in 2006. She was the

Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Visiting Professor of American History The Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professorship is an endowed chair in American history at the University of Oxford, tenable for one year. The Harmsworth Professorship was established by Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere (1868–194 ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 2006–2007, delivering the Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Memorial Lecture at Oxford on November 16, 2006. She has received fellowships from, among others, the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

three times, the National Humanities Center, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the

Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, is an institute of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts ...

. She is an elected member and serves on the Council of 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 ...

, a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, and a Fellow of the

Rothermere American Institute The Rothermere American Institute is a department of the University of Oxford dedicated to the interdisciplinary and comparative study of the United States of America and its place in the world. Named after the Harmsworth family, Viscounts Roth ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Kerber serves on the international advisory board of the feminist academic journal '' Signs.''

Works

* ''Federalists in Dissent: Imagery and Ideology in Jeffersonian America'' (Cornell University Press, 1970, pbk reprint, 1980
read online
* ''Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America'' (University of North Carolina Press for Institute for Early American History and Culture, 1980, and later paperback reprints

* ''Women's America: Refocusing the Past'' (with Jane Sherron De Hart) (Oxford University Press, 1995; 6th ed. 2004)
read online
* ''U.S. History as Women's History: New Feminist Essays'' (University of Carolina Press, 1995) (with Alice Kessler-Harris and

Kathryn Kish Sklar Kathryn (Kitty) Kish Sklar (born December 1939) is an American historian, author, and professor. Her work focuses on the history of women's participation in social movements, voluntary organizations, and American public culture. Life and career ...

read online
*''Toward an Intellectual History of Women: Essays by Linda K. Kerber'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1997

*''No Constitutional Right to be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship'' (New York: Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1998 and pbk reprint)

Received two prizes from the

: the Littleton-Griswold Prize for the best book in U.S. legal history, and the

Joan Kelly Joan Kelly, also known as Joan Kelly-Gadol (March 29, 1928 – August 15, 1982) was a prominent American historian who wrote on the Italian Renaissance, specifically on Leon Battista Alberti. Among her best known works is the essay "Did Women Ha ...

Memorial Prize for the best book in women's history.

References

External links

*Linda Kerbe
Department of History, University of Iowa
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerber, Linda K. 1940 births Living people American women historians Barnard College alumni Columbia University alumni Presidents of the American Historical Association University of Iowa faculty Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professors of American History Women's historians Feminist historians Members of the American Philosophical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 21st-century American women