Update on Bibliography

Through my various research, I am discovering the complexities of the Warren-Adams relationship.  Recently, I have found how Warren's and Adams' pen names were symbolic of their historical connection to Roman women.  Adams used the Roman worthie, Portia, who was married to Brutus (conspirator who assassinated Caesar) and she supposedly committed suicide by ingesting burning coals rather than forfeit her republican ideals of freedom and patriotism (Hicks 275).  Warren signed her correspondence with Adams as Marcia, referencing two potential women that were "self-sacrificing enem[ies] of Caesar" (Hicks 285).  Both pen names offered a connection to the past for Adams and Warren, and 'justified' their political involvement in the American Revolution.  By signing their correspondence with these Roman worthies, Warren and Adams expressed their desire to join the patriotic heroines of the past.  These names portrayed their decision to ask more of themselves, as women fighting for the cause of liberty and freedom.  The pen names of Portia and Marcia are also symbolic of women's need for education, as a means of making sense of the challenges and sacrifices they faced due to the war.  Thus, it is through education and writing that Warren and Adams come to terms with the dangers of war, the political milieu, and their patriotic roles.  It is through each other that they discover a support system and a homosocial connection.  Unfortunately, their intimacy and closeness as friends is short-lived.

Hicks, Philip. "Portia and Marcia: Female Political Identity and the Historical Imagination, 1770-

1800." The William and Mary Quarterly 3rd ser. 62.2 (2005): 265-94. JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

Bibliographical Update

Adams, (famille), and Richard Alan Ryerson. Adams Family Correspondence. Vol. 6.

            Cambridge Mass: Belknap of Harvard Univ., 1993. Print.

Adams, John, Abigail Adams, and Frank Shuffelton. The Letters of John and Abigail Adams.

            New York: Penguin Group, 2003. Print.

Amory, Hugh, and David D. Hall. "Readers & Writers in Early New England." A History

of the Book in America. [Worcester, Mass.]: American Antiquarian Society, 2000. Print.

Baym, Nina. "Between Enlightenment and Victorian: Toward a Narrative of American Women

Writers Writing." Critical Inquiry 18.1 (1991): 22-41. JSTOR. Web. 10 Sept. 2011

Buckingham, Joseph T., ed. "Cover 1-No Title." New-England Galaxy and Masonic

Magazine [Boston] 25 Dec. 1818, 2nd ed., sec. 63: 1. American Periodicals Series Online. Web. 15 Sept. 2011

Buckingham, Joseph T., ed. "Obiuary Notice of Madam Abigail Adams." New-England   

Galaxy and Masonic Magazine [Boston] 13 Nov. 1818, Series 1 ed.: 18. American Periodicals Series Online. Web. 14 Sept. 2011.

Butterfield, L. H., Wendell D. Garrett, and Marjorie E. Sprague. Adams Family Correspondence.

            Vol. 2. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1963. Print.

Crane, Elaine F. "Political Dialogue and the Spring of Abigail's Discontent." The William and

            Mary Quarterly 3rd ser. 56.4 (1999): 745-74. JSTOR. Web. 10 Sept. 2011.

Gelles, Edith B. "Abigail Adams: Domesticity and the American Revolution." The New England

            Quarterly 52.4 (1979): 500-21. JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

Gelles, Edith B. "Bonds of Friendship: The Correspondence of Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis

Warren." Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 3rd ser. 108 (1996): 35-71. JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

Gelles, Edith. "Review: More than a Wife." The Woman's Review of Books 5.5 (1988): 18-19.

            JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

Hicks, Philip. "Portia and Marcia: Female Political Identity and the Historical Imagination, 1770-

1800." The William and Mary Quarterly 3rd ser. 62.2 (2005): 265-94. JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

Hoornstra, Jean, and Trudy Heath. American Periodicals, 1741-1900: An Index to the

Microfilm Collections-American Periodicals 18th Century, American Periodicals, 1800-1850, American Periodicals, 1850-1900, Civil War and Reconstruction. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1979. Print.

"Madam Abigail Adams." Christian Disciple 6 Dec. 1818: 364. American Periodicals

Series Online. Web. 10 Sept. 2011.

Meschutt, David. "A Long Lost Portrait of John Adams and an Unknown Portrait of Abigail

Adams by James Sharples." American Art Journal 32.1/2 (2001): 76-93. JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

Richards, Jeffrey H. Mercy Otis Warren. New York: Twayne, 1995. Print.

Shuffleton, Frank. "In Different Voices: Gender in the American Republic of Letters." Early

            American Literature 25 (1990): 289-304. JSTOR. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.

Sweet, Rosemary. "Freemen and Independence in English Borough Politics c. 1770-

1830." The Past and Present Society 161 (1998): 84-115. JSTOR. Web. 16 Sept. 2011.

Whitney, Peter. A Sermon Delivered on the Lord's Day Succeeding the Interment of

Madam Abigail Adams, Consort of the Hon. John Adams Late President of America. Boston, 1819. American History & Culture Online: Sabin Americana, 1500-1926. Web. 17 Sept. 2011.

"Remember the Ladies" of the American Revolution

Oil painting by Benjamin Blythe circa 1766 provided by Google images

Oil painting by John Singleton Copley circa 1763 provided by Google images

Update on Research and Bibliography

I am perusing all forms of research and I am discovering that I would love to narrow my research to the intellectual and political discourse between Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren.  I will specifically analyze their correspondence with one another during the late 18th century at the tumulutous time of the American Revolution.  Through the textual medium of correspondence letters, I hope to capture a glimpse of the dynamic relationship that Warren and Adams shared and how they motivated one another politically and intellectually. 

Questions my research will answer:
How did they inspire one another? How did they reach one another? How did they challenge one another to grow as thinkers and women? How did they create a discourse that allowed them the opportunity to discuss the political events and ideology that shaped the framework for their lives and their communities? How did they support each other as individuals, wives, and mothers at this chaotic time in our nation's history?

Preliminary Bibliography:

Adams, John, Abigail Adams, and Frank Shuffelton. The Letters of John and Abigail Adams.

            New York: Penguin Group, 2003. Print.

Amory, Hugh, and David D. Hall. "Readers & Writers in Early New England." A History of the Book in  America. [Worcester, Mass.]: American Antiquarian Society, 2000. Print.

Buckingham, Joseph T., ed. "Cover 1-No Title." New-England Galaxy and Masonic

Magazine [Boston] 25 Dec. 1818, 2nd ed., sec. 63: 1. American Periodicals Series Online. Web. 15 Sept. 2011

Buckingham, Joseph T., ed. "Obiuary Notice of Madam Abigail Adams." New-England   

Galaxy and Masonic Magazine [Boston] 13 Nov. 1818, Series 1 ed.: 18. American Periodicals Series Online. Web. 14 Sept. 2011.

Gelles, Edith B. "Abigail Adams: Domesticity and the American Revolution." The New England

            Quarterly 52.4 (1979): 500-21. JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

Gelles, Edith B. "Bonds of Friendship: The Correspondence of Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis

Warren." Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 3rd ser. 108 (1996): 35-71. JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

Gelles, Edith. "Review: More than a Wife." The Woman's Review of Books 5.5 (1988): 18-19.

            JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

Hicks, Philip. "Portia and Marcia: Female Political Identity and the Historical Imagination, 1770-

1800." The William and Mary Quarterly 3rd ser. 62.2 (2005): 265-94. JSTOR. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

Hoornstra, Jean, and Trudy Heath. American Periodicals, 1741-1900: An Index to the

Microfilm Collections-American Periodicals 18th Century, American Periodicals, 1800-1850, American Periodicals, 1850-1900, Civil War and Reconstruction. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1979. Print.

"Madam Abigail Adams." Christian Disciple 6 Dec. 1818: 364. American Periodicals

Series Online. Web. 10 Sept. 2011.

The Birth of a New Narrative Space

Hello! My name is Kerri Libra and I am a graduate student in an Early American Women Cultural Studies course at University of Central Florida.  Through this blog, I hope to establish a Feminist space for my research on Abigail Adams and her letters.  This will be a constant work-in-progress and I am thrilled to keep you updated on my primary and secondary research findings for Abigail Adams, a Revolutionary America, and the cultural ideals and dilemmas circa the end of the 18th century.  I view this through a Cultural Studies lens and I am thrilled to embrace this learning journey.