The Clubwomen's Daughters

Book excerpt: The author provides an interdisciplinary cultural study of the evolution of Progressive-era girls' peer groups, their representation in popular girls' fiction, and the influence of these communities, both real and fictional, upon young women's lives during the years leading up to the Second World War. The writers featured in this volume were the first generation of New Women, whose ability to enter traditionally male spaces such as the college campus, the playing field, the wilderness, and the office was facilitated by their membership in women's clubs, political and religious organizations, and athletic teams. Eager to promote the idea that same-sex group activities would lead to female empowerment, these clubwomen targeted young girls as their intended audience and developed an idealized fictional portrait of female cooperation that girls could replicate in their own lives. By adding to our knowledge of girls' cultural history, the author gives voice to a segment of the population that was, and still is, at the center of society's debates concerning the appropriate roles for girls and women. Authors discussed include Louisa May Alcott, Emma Dunham Kelley, Laura Lee Hope (psuedonym for Lilian Garis), Carolyn Keene (pseudonym for Mildred Wirt Benson), and Margaret Sutton.