Student Brianna M. gets published

I had an internship at Willard Library in Spring of my sophomore year.  During my time as an intern, I transcribed the records from the Evansville Home for the Friendless, which was a maternity home in the late nineteenth century.  Maternity homes typically housed unmarried women and widows, but this particular Home was home to a variety of sexually delinquent girls and women.  The Matron of the homes recorded the stories of these women, and I noticed a blatantly judgmental tone in the records throughout the transcription process.  A selection of my transcriptions have been published in the September 2013 issue of The Tri-State Packet of the Tri-State Genealogical Society.

I subsequently approached the records with questions regarding why the Matron was judging and shaming the admitted women. Two years later, I wrote my senior thesis on my conclusions about the transcriptions as well as the influence of the Women's Movement in Victorian Era America.  I ultimately concluded that the Women's Movement harmed women through sexuality shaming.   I am submitting an article for an Indiana history scholarly journal this semester, and I plan to continue my research this semester as well as after graduation.