Female Historians and the Transformation of Print Culture in Modern America

本研究以美国独立战争至南北战争前的几十年为研究对象，分析了印刷文化的变迁对两性关系的影响。在革命之后，大量的印刷材料帮助塑造了一个多层次的现代公共领域，而且往往更严格地受到种族和性别的限制。许多被排除在选举权之外的中产阶级妇女开始在教育和出版业中发挥重要作用。研究表明，她们大部分与女性仁德有关的语言和行为，不仅支持了“女性领域”的概念，而且有助于在全国范围内传播扩大“自由帝国”的思想。

Focusing on the decades between the American Revolution and the antebellum period, this study analyzes how the transformation of print culture influenced gender relations and vice versa. In the aftermath of the Revolution a flood of printed material helped to shape a modern public sphere that was multilayered and often more strictly restricted by race and gender. Many middle-class women, who were excluded from suffrage, began to play prominent roles in education and the publishing industry. This study reveals that most of their language and behaviors associated with female benevolence and virtue not only endorsed the concept of "women's sphere" but helped spread the idea of expanding the "Empire of Liberty" across the country.