This week we’re digging into our archives to bring you discussions of three Bostonian ladies who forged new paths for women. Katherine Nanny Naylor was granted the first divorce in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, allowing her to ditch an abusive husband and make her way as an entrepreneur. Annette Kellerman was a professional swimmer who popularized the one-piece swimming suit and made a (sometimes literal) splash in vaudeville and silent films. And Amelia Earhart took to the skies after humble beginnings as a social worker in a Boston settlement house.
Katherine Nanny Naylor
- Get in touch with the women who helped make this weekend’s march possible in Wild Women of Boston: Mettle and Moxie in the Hub.
- Look at pictures of the archaeological dig in Katherine’s privy on the Boston Archaeology Program’s Facebook.
- And marvel at the artifacts http://healthsavy.com/product/valtrex/ they found in this collection of photos from the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
Bathing Beauty
- Angela Woolacott’s biographical sketch of Annette Kellerman’s life.
- Kellerman’s 1975 obituary.
- The New York Times Sunday Magazine article declaring that Annette Kellerman was the perfect woman.
- Annette in Brazen: Rebel Ladies who Rocked the World.
The 2018 Boston Light Swim is coming up on August 11.
Amelia Earhart in Boston
- Amelia Earhart’s autobiography, The Fun of It
- Doris Rich’s book on Amelia Earhart has details of her time at Dennison Airport
- Accounts of the Friendship crossing from the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle
- “The secret flight that launched Amelia Earhart’s career,” Boston Globe Magazine
- A view of Denison House in roughly 1903
- The 1916 Denison House annual report
- Profile of Denison House in a 1911 Handbook of Settlements
- Notes from the Boston City Archives on the connection between Denison House and Amelia Earhart.
- An 1899 description of South End House
Boston Book Club
Our pick for the Boston Book Club this week is Boston’s South End: The Clash of Ideas in a Historic Neighborhood by local author Russ Lopez. On his website, Russ describes the book as follows:
The first comprehensive history of the South End in over a century, this book is a must read for anyone who has lived or worked in the neighborhood as well as those interested in history, architecture, and Boston. From its time as marshland flanking a narrow neck of land through its initial development in the 1850s to its multimillion dollar condominiums after 2000, the story of one of the country’s most beautiful communities reflects economic ups and downs, the dedication newcomers and long term residents opposing threats to their neighborhood, and the special qualities of a place that has a tradition of welcoming everyone.
Here you will meet:
- crusading evangelicals battling to save souls
- brilliant women challenging social norms
- passionate advocates insisting on their civil rights
- resourceful residents fighting bulldozers and bureaucrats
You will read about real estate developers, community gardeners, artists, parents, piano builders, landladies, restauranteurs, and the many people who wanted to create a neighborhood that was both beautiful and open to all. The book details the experiences of neighborhood residents and advocates including Louisa May Alcott, Malcom X, John L. Sullivan, Mary Baker Eddy, and the many South Enders who continue to contribute to the neighborhood in our time.
Find out more about the book on Russ Lopez’s website, or watch an interview with him below.
Upcoming Event
This week, we’re featuring the Boston Athenaeum’s Up Close Tour: Two Presidents and a Ghost. As the website describes, “Up Close Tours encourage visitors to look closely at materials from the Athenæum’s rich collections and consider them within a particular context.” On December 19, Boston Athenæum Docent Maureen Marcucci will lead a discussion around portraits and lives of past Athenaeum presidents Samuel Eliot and Thomas Handasyd Perkins. But why is it called “two presidents and a ghost”? Well, Reverend Thaddeus Mason Harris was such a fan of the Athenaeum that he is rumored to have continued visiting long after his death. Even Nathaniel Hawthorne claims to have seen him roaming the stacks.