Project Description

Goal of the Project:

This project seeks to provide full and partial text access to the written works of several female scientists accompanied by biographies written by leading historians of science and talented Michigan State University undergraduates.

Materials Currently Available:

The project includes full text access to the works of the marquise Du Châtelet. Judith Zinsser, a historian of science at the University of Miami-Ohio, is an expert on Du Châtelet’s contributions to science and provides invaluable background information in her biographical essay and introductions to a number of primary documents.

The digital collection also includes full text access to Ellen H. Richards, The Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning: A manual for housekeepers (1882) with an introduction and biographical essay written by Helen Veit, a historian of food at Michigan State University and editor of a forthcoming book series with Michigan State University Press entitled American Food in History.

Danielle Peck, a graduate of the Department of History at Michigan State University, has written a biographical essay about the life and influence of Eliza Burt Gamble. Gamble was from Michigan and significantly contributed to evolutionary debates concerning the evolution of woman. The digital collection also includes letters from Gamble and full text access to Gamble's The Sexes in Science and History (1916).

Theresa Koenigsknecht, an undergraduate majoring in History at Michigan State University, has contributed an essay on the contributions of Esther Emerson Sweeney to public health debates concern dating and sexuality. Accompanying her essay is a full text file of Sweeney's 1948 pamphlet, "Dates and Dating."

Jennifer Hollen, an unndergraduate majoring in Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University, has composed an essay on Mary Treat and the contributions to the botanical and entomological sciences given by her studies of ants.

Soo Kyun Hur, an undergraduate at Michigan State University, has contributed an essay regarding Nadia Kohts and her unique studies of primates. Kohts made significant additions to evolutionary theory by studying the humanistic habits of chimpanzees.

Jill Nelson, an undergraduate majoring in Nutritional Sciences at Michigan State University, has submitted an essay about Lillian Gilbreth's contribution to home-making, particularly her study of behavior psychology and personality analysis and home they to the efficiency of a family unit. She also compiled the digital gallery on Dr. Margaret Zee Jones and her work with cognitive dementia in both goats and humans and its implications for Alzheimer's disease.

The digital collection also provides links to other digital histories focused on women in science. For example, the collection includes a link to a digital collection dedicated to women and botany in 18th and early 19th century England with introductory comments by Agnes Haigh Widder, Humanities Bibliographer at Michigan State university (Click the 'Resources' tab to find the link to this collection). Links to several other women in science and women in science and engineering websites can be found by clicking the 'Resources' tab.