"Let us Hang Up the Dishpan and the Broom": The Pursuit of Culture in the Farmers Wives' Reading-Course and The Cornell Study Clubs.

Abstract

Of all the struggles rural women faced at the start of the twentieth century, the "soul starvation" described in many of their letters was one of the most painful. Encountering endless work and often severe isolation, many women would concur with one member of the Farmers Wives' Reading Course, who wrote: "I am one of the farmers' wives who certainly needs some help. One's soul certainly starves away out in the country." The tone of a great number of letters sent to Van Rensselaer, the supervisor of the Farmers Wives' Reading Course, reflected a similar feeling of deprivation.