| dc.description.abstract | As the men and women traveled to the American frontier in the nineteenth century, they experienced harsh conditions that would test their accepted gender norms. Survival became the primary importance with all hands working to forge a new path for the family. These first generation pioneers blurred the gender lines creating flexible roles focused on the maintenance of the family. After becoming established the first generation pioneers attempted to reinstate the traditional gender roles, but the daughters or second generation pioneer women saw a different roles for themselves. They took the opportunities the West offered and expanded their influence to include public works, school and social activities outside the domestic home. By looking at the unpublished diary of a second generation pioneer, Nannie Jeannette Williams from 1895-1907 in Enid, Oklahoma, I assert that the men and women who pioneered the American West created new flexible gender identities that were viewed and learned by their children. The harsh conditions often forced women to work harder than they had previously, and while they thrived to maintain the established gender roles, the West created new opportunities and freedoms for their daughters, the second generation pioneer woman. Nannie was born in the western frontier in the budding county of Wichita, Texas. She traveled with her parents as a small child to various parts of Texas, before settling in Enid, Oklahoma Territory. As a second generation pioneer and a child, she helped with both inside and outside work alongside her brothers. Her mother encouraged her to pursue her education, and she did, taking great pride in her studies. Nannie experienced opportunities the West, and her mother's hard work afforded her, giving her the ability to transcend the public and private spheres. First generation pioneers were raised with a certain value system that placed women in the domestic sphere and men within the public. This generation always worked to re-establish the old system; however, the unforgiving frontier made transition between the spheres necessary. The daughters of these women or second generation pioneers saw a new role for themselves, one that while it remained rooted inside the home, expanded into public works, school and social activities. As an adult, Nannie Williams continued her education receiving a master's degree, and while still serving as the primary caregiver for the domestic sphere, she entered the workforce alongside her husband. The field of western women's history developed as a way to tell women's stories and add them to the pages of history. While dissimilarities exist on how to tell that story, most historians agree on who should voice the narrative; the women themselves. Diaries and journals have been recognized as important primary documents to interpreting the history of the ordinary frontier woman. My research utilizes as its primary source the diaries of Nannie Williams, a second generation pioneer woman in Oklahoma Territory, 1895-1907. To substantiate her documents, I utilized US Census records, newspapers, magazines, and school records. The assortment of documents includes ten boxes with two containing the diaries of Nannie Williams, spanning 1895 to 1907. Several folders contained letters between Nannie and her sister Eula "Sister" and between Nannie, "Sister," and their mother, Mary Williams. The majority of the collection encompassed school records, and notebooks, as well as financial and personal information of John Sherman Gifford, Nannie's future husband. Both John Gifford and his wife appeared to be avid keepers of paper, though it could be argued John Gifford was the perpetrator, keeping class curricula of his time at four universities, his lesson plans during his extensive career as a teacher and school superintendent and family letter correspondences. A plethora of information could be obtained from the documents kept by Nannie which aided in the construction of a 192 person family tree created during research of this project. I read the diaries in their entirety and by reading the entire set of books that spanned ten years and almost daily, I recognized nuances and personality traits were recognized that would have been otherwise missed. The relationship that develops between the reader, the writer, and the text can be problematic. There exists a fine line between representing the writer for who they are and the want by the reader to make extraordinary, the ordinary woman. The historian can also have difficulty with the meaning of words which can change over time. These confines need to be recognized with attempts made to overcome them. A distinction also needs to be made between the objective truth of facts and the subjective truth of the individual. While factual information can be substantiated with newspapers, government documents, and magazines, the interpretations of Nannie's feelings are educated assumptions. History is not a stagnant field with the written word being final. Chapter 1 reviews the path of women's history and the many scholars involved in its development. Great strides have been made to include ordinary women in the narrative, and great strides continue to happen to include all women's stories creating a diverse image of the female pioneer. Chapter 2 looks at the relationship between the first generation and second generation pioneers. It explores the history of the family and the journey of Nannie's parents, Mary and John Williams, as first generation pioneers. The difficulties they had the first few years in Oklahoma Territory and the role of Mary Williams while her husband is away prospecting. The matriarchal stance of Mary during this time was learned by her daughter, who didn't limit herself to strictly the private sphere. The chapter also examines diaries as artifacts and what they can tell us about the daily activities of women. Chapter 3 develops on these topics, analyzing societal expectations of women. Females created networks that enabled them to work together to support one another in their domestic duties. While the first generation pioneers worked to reestablish the accepted gender norms, the second generation was interpreting gender roles in a new way. School became an opportunity for women to leave the domestic realm; Nannie worked hard at school and was often excused from chores to study. Education along with growing consumer and economic opportunities, allowed second generation pioneer women new independence and freedoms. The life of every woman will be slightly different; however, some commonalities of experience exist for women during the turn of the century. Chapter 4 reviews the diaries of three Oklahoma women in addition to Nannie Williams. It really focuses on the diaries themselves and what they do and do not say. Women were not the stereotypes portrayed by popular history but diverse actors in the history of the American West which can be seen in their diaries. | |
