Mother-daughter team authors book on notable Indiana women

GOSHEN, Ind. – Who are Indiana’s best-known women in history? Persons who live in northern Indiana might suggest author and naturalist Gene Stratton Porter. Those who live in Indianapolis might point to Madam C. J. Walker, the businesswoman who for a number of years based her hair-product company in the city. But these names may not be familiar to most Hoosiers.

A new book by a mother-daughter team from Goshen, Ind., is about to change that. “More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Indiana Women” focuses on the lives and work of 10 notable Indiana women who made significant contributions to their state and country – and even the world. The book by Anita Stalter and Rachel Lapp was published by The Globe Pequot Press in November 2006, and is now available.

Stalter, Goshen College vice president for academic affairs and academic dean, and Lapp, former director of public relations at the college, researched and authored the book, adding Indiana to the list of states included in the “More Than Petticoats” series of The Globe Pequot Press in highlighting U.S. women in history. The accessible stories in each volume of the popular series are designed for a broad spectrum of readers, who will discover the story of a little girl abducted by Native American men at odds with white settlers; a writer who shared worldwide her love of Indiana’s natural beauty; a determined African-American woman who made the difficult journey from washerwoman to self-made millionaire; a farmer’s wife who became a nationally sought-after speaker on the nobility of agriculture; a painter whose sought-after portraits still hang in Indiana’s halls of government; and more.

The lives of the women profiled in the book, all born before 1900 as stipulated by the publisher for the series, span the latter half of the 1700s through the end of the last century. While they are all quite different in background as well as legacy, the profiles of the women offer a glimpse not only into different eras in Indiana history, according to the authors, but, also of the impact that Hoosier women have had in the United States and – in the case of several – around the world.

“The ‘More Than Petticoats’ series is important in making known the lives and contributions of U.S. women as part of telling the larger story of the history of this country,” said Lapp, a freelance writer and graduate student in DePaul University’s multicultural communication program. “We chose to profile women from Indiana who truly are remarkable and most have not been acknowledged far beyond their own time period. There are women in this book whose work and passions who made an impact in their communities and vocational fields, and touched the lives of many, many others.”

The Hoosier women profiled in the book are Frances Slocum, Eliza Blaker, Rhoda Coffin, Juliet Strauss, Albion Bacon, May Wright Sewell, Madam C. J. Walker, Gene Stratton Porter, Virginia C. Meredith and Marie Goth.

While the stories of these women are unique in state and national history, there are themes from the lives of individuals that speak to the broader experience of U.S. women of the past and present, Lapp and Stalter observed. Said Stalter, “There are issues that these women struggled with that we can identify with today: expanding ideas of traditional roles for women, finding vocation and career direction, balancing work and home life, applying one’s religious beliefs to everyday life and motivating social causes.”

Lapp added that it is helpful not only to understand the contributions of previous generations of women to the culture and advancement of the state, but also to see women’s contributions of past and present as making up the whole of human history.

Stalter, who has served as academic dean at Goshen College since 2000, said that she and her daughter became involved in the project after meeting the author of the Arizona edition in the “More Than Petticoats” series, who encouraged them to pursue the Indiana edition.

“Rachel and I had been interested in working on a book project together because of our shared interest in women’s studies and experience in research and writing,” said Stalter. “As professional women, we had questions about the contributions of women to their communities and career fields. And as mother-daughter team, we were also interested in the significant relationships in the lives of these women, and brought an interest in understanding why and how they lived their lives as they did. Add to this the fact that we have lived in Indiana for nearly 20 years, and this particular book project became a meaningful challenge.”

After contacting The Globe Pequot Press and eventually gaining the contract to write the book, mother and daughter set to work identifying and doing research about the women they would profile. They found dozens of names and trails of information to follow, eagerly reading about Indiana’s first female doctor, leaders of Indianapolis upper-class society, African-American educators, a noted midwife who served early Indiana settlers, the wives of state governors and legislators. Not enough documented information or oral history had been recorded for all of the women they might have wished to profile, Stalter said.

Ultimately, the authors formed a framework for their final selection criteria, deciding to write about women who had an interest in sharing their gifts to improve the lives of Indiana’s citizens – including Native Americans in the early 1800s to traditional housewives to children of immigrants in Indianapolis schools to farm families to tenement families in Indiana’s cities to incarcerated females in Indiana prisons to African-American women in the 20^th century.

“We realize that the 10 women in this collection don’t comprise an exhaustive list of all of the women who have been important in the development of our state. We do hope this cross-section illuminates the spirit of our Hoosier foremothers,” said Lapp. “A number of the women we profiled were civic leaders, and we’re interested in describing distinctly female styles of leadership, but we also wanted to include women whose writing opens a window to Indiana history or whose life work has impacted generations. In bringing their life and work to light we hope there will be even more interest in celebrating women’s history in Indiana.”

Early suffragists from Indiana were part of a movement in the early 20^th century that sought to include women’s voices in media, in oral histories, in libraries, Stalter said, “and we hope to add to and keep alive that larger tradition.”

Stalter and Lapp typically used half a dozen sources for each biographical profile of their subjects, culling material from biographies and history books, autobiographical materials, online sources and items collected at the William Henry Smith Library of the Indiana Historical Society. It was there that they enjoyed seeing original advertisements created by Madam C. J. Walker to advertise her company’s hair products, a ledger with yellowed pages containing meeting minutes of Indiana suffragists and an early pamphlet for a Gene Stratton Porter historic site.

The authors were also responsible for locating historic photographs of their subjects, relying on online image databases from historical libraries from across the state, including the Indiana Historical Society’s Smith Library, the Willard Library (Evansville, Ind.), the Friends Collection and Archives of Earlham College’s Lilly Library and the Morrisson-Reeves Library (Richmond, Va.), Lilly Library at Indiana University (Bloomington, Ind.) and Butler University’s Lilly Library.

Stalter said that looking at photographs of the women – or, in the case of Frances Slocum, whose portrait was made by a painter rather than by a photographer – was particularly rewarding. “The women came alive in our imaginations, of course, but to also see their faces brought an additional connection and added a layer to our sense of who they were,” she said. “For example, we enjoyed the many photographs in the Madam C.J. Walker collection at the Indiana Historical Society that showed her beauty schools, expanding our sense of her work.”

Added Lapp, “We can see the clothes they wore, the way they styled their hair each day, the set of their faces. Juliet Strauss looks like someone full of thought, about her newspaper column or perhaps what she would make for dinner – probably both, and more. Madam C. J. Walker put her own image on her hair products, and in her photograph she is the embodiment of grace, health and dignity. Gene Stratton Porter has these dark, intense eyes, and Virginia Claypool Meredith has a cool gaze that was probably very reassuring to others as she managed a large, successful farm. These women aren’t just one-dimensional historical characters, but were complex, interesting, vibrant, living-and-breathing people.”

The book, listed at $10.95, will be available at the Goshen College Bookstore (call 574-535-7482) and other independent booksellers, and is now available for purchase at national book chains and online retailers.

SIDEBAR:

Authors Stalter and Lapp suggest a number of ways in which this book can be used as an educational resource in addition to being read and enjoyed:

• Give the book as a gift – across generations: Older readers may be familiar with the books of Gene Stratton Porter, for example, and younger people can learn about Indiana history as well as find role models in women’s leadership, writing, social activism, entrepreneurship and more.
• Book clubs and women’s groups: With short chapters – making it easy to fit reading into busy lives – and interesting, real-life characters with choices and world-views worth discussing and debating, “More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Indiana Women” is a great choice for book clubs, women’s organizations and other groups.
• Classroom resource: Many teachers in Indiana incorporate wonderful projects and readings into their instruction about state history, and this book is a strong addition to that curricula.
• School, museum, and organizational libraries:“More than Petticoats: Remarkable Indiana Women” is an excellent addition to biography sections and collections on Indiana history. Women’s clubs and historical societies may be particularly interested in stocking this volume.

Note to editors: Lapp and Stalter are available for interviews, and a review copy of the book can be obtained from them. E-mail Lapp at rachel.lapp@gmail.comor call (574) 536-0965.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.