Women, History, and the Museum

Abstract

T HE DISCOVERY of the historical importance of women has called attention to an even deeper imbalance in American history, its emphasis on public affairs to the almost total exclusion of the private behavior and personal values within which people make their decisions as citizens. This exclusion was never intentional and in the last decade some younger historians have been making deliberate efforts to counteract it, but it often seems that the very structure of historical inquiry and the nature of available documents stand in their way. This is proving to be particularly true in women's history. Concern with familiar historical questions tends to limit researchers to the atypical militant minority, while reliance upon written documents confines