On Tuesday 9 April 2009, Prof. Ann (Rusty) Shteir gave a lecture, “Scholarship is the Restitution of Decayed Intelligence: Writing Feminist Cultural History,” as part of a series of lectures about feminism. Librarian Peter Duerr has set up an exhibit in the Scott Library atrium to go with it. The exhibit will be up until 4 May. Peter explains:
Dr. Ann (Rusty) Shteir is a Professor in Humanities, Atkinson/Faculty of Arts, and also is affiliated with the School of Women’s Studies at York University. She held the position of director of the Graduate Women’s Studies Program from 1993 to 1997.
Prof. Shteir’s April lecture discussed the “bluestockings” of 18th century England. “Bluestocking” was a contemporary pejorative term used to describe women considered too learned, although it was often used against any women who merely had literary or intellectual interests. Dr. Shteir also talked about one, among other coping devices, of the strategies used by women so branded to defend themselves: they employed literary associations with mythological goddesses, since one of the hallmarks of the educated class of the day was a complete familiarity with ancient classical texts and imagery.
For this display, I have collected from our holdings a diverse set of works that Professor Shteir has produced. She has written widely about historical and cultural perspectives on women, nature, and science. Her works include Women on Women (1978) which she edited and wrote an introduction; The Report of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Sexual Harassment (1982) for York University; an edition of Mental Improvement (1995), a juvenile science educational work from the 18th century for which she wrote explanatory notes; the award-winning work of Cultivating Women, Cultivating Science: Flora’s Daughters and Botany in England, 1760 – 1860 (1996); a set of essays on higher education for women, Graduate Women’s Studies: Visions and Realities: Papers Arising from a Conference Held at York University, May 1995 (1996); Natural Eloquence: Women Reinscribe Science (1997), a work she co-edited with Barbara T. Gates; and her latest work, Figuring It Out: Science, Gender, and Visual Culture (2006), a combined effort with Bernard Lightman.
Along with these texts, I gathered together a number of publications from our collections related to Professor Shteir’s scholarly interests. These include women, gender, the history of science, early feminist writings, 18th and 19th-century women’s studies, women and botany, mythology and visual culture. Our collections have large numbers of works covering these topics in many different formats, it was difficult to select a small enough representative sample that would fit into the available space. A wide range of materials including analyses of literature, historical surveys and essays, personal narratives, examinations of factors limiting women’s involvement into scientific spheres, bibliographies and government documents written by international, national and provincial authorities are part of the exhibit.
You will be able to find all of the above in one of “coffin” display cases in front of the Information Desk on the second floor of the Scott Library.
I would like to mention that this project would not have been possible without the generous support and kind assistance from the following: Julia Holland. Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections; Steve Tingey, Fei Fung, and Stephanie Kwan, Scott Library; Samira Malakpour and Vicky Drummond, Nellie Langford Rowell Library; Laura Walton, Steacie Library
