HIST 2800 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Reca, Fetus, Parenting
Document Summary
Laurel thatcher ulrich thus wrote a midwife"s tale: the life of martha ballard, based on her diary, 1785 - 1812. Martha ballad was a midwife, and through her diaries, we have learned much. She documented the everyday work of her midwifery, and of the household work over 1785 - 1812. She thus documented the preindustrial family unit as well as her midwifery. Diaries, and women"s diaries, are almost a form of vouyergism. In a sense, the household is what we would see as a private sphere. But there were plenty of women coming and going. In a sense, thus, they break open the walls of the private sphere of the household. She observed the effects of male professionalism or medicalization of childbirth: how and why it occurred, how female midwives predominated prior to the trend of medicalization of childbirth in the mid 19th century.
