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Charlotte Perkins Gilman Exhibits Explore Medical, Social Issues
Posted 5/02/11
MADISON, Wis. – A traveling exhibition from the National Library of Medicine was installed in the lobby of Memorial Library in mid-April. The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Yellow Wall-Paper” also serves as the focal point for a number of related exhibits currently on display at numerous campus libraries.
At a time when women were challenging traditional ideas about gender that excluded them from political and intellectual life, medical and scientific experts drew on notions of female weakness to justify inequality between the sexes. Gilman, who was discouraged from pursuing a career to preserve her health, rejected these ideas in a terrifying short story. The famous tale served as an indictment of the medical profession and the social conventions restricting women's professional and creative opportunities.
The six-banner display offers information on Gilman’s life and work, her writing of The Yellow Wall-Paper, and provides context for the social and medical conventions of the time. The exhibition will be on display on the ground floor of Memorial Library until May 21, 2011.
UW–Madison’s William B. Cairns Collection of American Women Writers 1650–1940, located in the Department of Special Collections on the 9th floor of Memorial Library, boasts a number of works by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Steenbock Library has a small complementary book display featuring material from its collection on both domestic science in the nineteenth century and the history of wallpaper. The exhibit is available for viewing outside of Room 240 through May 21.
Ebling Library for the Health Sciences has a book selection in its 2nd floor study area displaying modern books on mental health issues in women, including some titles on postpartum depression. Included is a reprint of The Yellow Wall-Paper and a bibliography of the selected titles. Books on similar subjects from the nineteenth and early twentieth century are available by contacting msullivan@library.wisc.edu. The display is at Ebling until May 21.
For more information about the traveling exhibition in Memorial Library, please visit its page on the National Library of Medicine website.
