To the Rescue

Abstract

Famed maritime rescuer Ida Lewis, whose distinguished career as lighthouse keeper was featured in the burgeoning illustrated press and on sheet-music covers, cartes-de-visite, and stereoviews, serves as a notable counterexample to the dominant nineteenth-century artistic trope of men saving helpless women from disaster at sea. To serve an ever-expanding public audience, the era’s artists and journalists emphasized Lewis’s adherence to an “appropriate” woman’s sphere while featuring her individuality, creating a model heroine whose image was popular not only because of her brave actions but also due to her suitability as a paragon of female heroism and virtue.