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A remarkable collection acquired by the University of Rochester糖心传媒檚 听(RBSCP), is now fully digitized and open to scholars.

Feminist author and social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860糖心传媒�1935) was well known in her day, then largely forgotten until modern scholars generated renewed interest in the woman who is perhaps best known as the author of the short story The Yellow Wallpaper听(1892). The acquisition, made by the RBSCP in 2017 with the support of the , consists of 52 personal letters from the 1880s. Around the same time, the RBSCP also purchased an inscribed first edition of The Yellow Wallpaper.

Among those celebrating the acquisition is , an assistant professor of history at Rochester, who specializes in American women糖心传媒檚 history and is planning a course on Gilman.

糖心传媒淕ilman糖心传媒檚 writing is significant听for the bold utopian futures she imagined,糖心传媒� says Theobald, referencing other famous works by Gilman, such as Women and Economics听(1898) and Herland (1915).听糖心传媒淪he advocated women糖心传媒檚 economic independence and believed that women糖心传媒檚 maternal instincts, once liberated from the confines of the nuclear household, could transform the world.糖心传媒�

, assistant dean and Joseph N. Lambert and Harold B. Schleifer Director of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, sought the Gilman collection to add to the RBSCP糖心传媒檚 already rich holdings in related areas.

糖心传媒淏ecause of our strengths in women糖心传媒檚 history and women糖心传媒檚 rights, her letters seemed like a natural addition to the collection,糖心传媒� says Lacher-Feldman.

Gilman was part of a well-known literary and suffragist family. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, the original Charlotte Anna Perkins was the daughter of Frederick Beecher Perkins and Mary Anna Fitch Westcott.

糖心传媒淲e acquired the letters not long after getting the Isabella Beecher Hooker papers. Charlotte happens to be Isabella糖心传媒檚 grand-niece, the granddaughter of her sister, Mary,糖心传媒� says Lacher-Feldman.糖心传媒淚t was Isabella who paid for Charlotte糖心传媒檚 college education.糖心传媒�

Gilman had one brother, Thomas Adie, two years her senior. The family moved frequently after Frederick Perkins abandoned them in 1867. After her father left, her aunts played a critical role in helping the family.

Growing up in relative poverty, she had an irregular formal education, but developed her artistic skills at the Rhode Island School of Design where she took classes for a year. Afterwards Gilman found sporadic employment as an art teacher and illustrator.

Arguably her most famous work, 听is told by a female first-person narrator who is suffering from postpartum depression. The central character is longing to write and return to her work but is told by her physician husband, as well as other men around her, to abandon all creative undertakings, and instead rest at a rented colonial mansion, mostly inside a nursery with peeling yellow wallpaper.

What adds to the eeriness of Gilman糖心传媒檚 storytelling is the backdrop against which she wrote. In 1885, shortly after the birth of her only child, Katherine, Gilman herself sank into what糖心传媒檚 now recognized as a postpartum psychosis, a fact she alludes to in the inscription of the Rochester first edition: 糖心传媒淏eing a warning to those who have the care of 听a term used as early as 1829 to describe those suffering from a condition that manifests itself in anxiety, fatigue, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, and depressed mood.

We know many of the emotional details of her despair through the personal letters in the recent acquisition, the bulk of which are made up of Gilman糖心传媒檚 correspondence to her close friend, Martha Allen Luther Lane, during the period of 1882 to 1889. In her letters to Lane, often spaced barely two days apart, she minces no words when it comes to her work, marriage, motherhood, and depression.

糖心传媒淗er descriptions of her experience with depression are so raw, succinct, and vivid,糖心传媒� says , special collections librarian for research and collections, who processed the Gilman acquisition.

In 1884, Gilman married her first husband, the artist Charles Walter Stetson. The pair separated three years after Katherine糖心传媒檚 birth and divorced in 1894.

After Katherine糖心传媒檚 birth Gilman writes in a letter to Lane on , that she糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒渧ery illtempered at times; and almost always morose and melancholy. My very voice changes, and I feel as if I had little option in saying or not saying things.糖心传媒� She assesses her own mental descent as 糖心传媒渄rifting open eyed into insanity.糖心传媒�

Sometimes Gilman drew scenes, people, and items in her letters. For instance, she sketched a sapling tied down in her 听letter to Lane, describing her feeling trapped in a marriage with an incompatible husband.

According to Reithmayr, the feminist糖心传媒檚 writing cuts straight to the core of many women糖心传媒檚 struggles in the late 19th century.

糖心传媒淕ilman is so clear that while the love of others is welcome and needed, so, too, is her听need听to work,糖心传媒� says Reithmayr.听Gilman wrote to Lane on 听that she asked her treating physician if he would give up his ambition when he tells Gilman to forgo writing and painting as part of her recovery process. (Ironically, today, people who suffer from depression are often advised by mental health experts .)

糖心传媒淣o amount of love can keep me happy while I am hindered from my work糖心传媒�When Dr. Knight spoke in the same way about my present duties and the importance thereof, I admitted all that he said and simply asked him if 丑别听would like to give up his business, his education, his ambition, etc. and do the same thing? Being an honest man he laughed and said no.糖心传媒�

A rather different, giddy side to Gilman emerges in her 听to Lane in which she mentions recently published work.

糖心传媒淢y various 糖心传媒榩oems糖心传媒� are printed and if you want to buy a 糖心传媒榃oman糖心传媒檚 Journal糖心传媒� issue of Jan. 12th, you may have the proud joy of seeing my illustrious name therein.糖心传媒�

The University糖心传媒檚 collection also contains 15 of Gilman糖心传媒檚 advertising trade cards, which she illustrated (unsigned) for several businesses in the Northeast, most notably for the maker of household soap, Kendall Manufacturing Co.

Reading her letters, 听you can see糖心传媒攁lmost hear糖心传媒攕ome of Gilman糖心传媒檚 spunk and self-deprecating humor.

糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 trying to paint lots of cards for Xmas but I don糖心传媒檛 get on very fast. Well it糖心传媒檚 vacation!,糖心传媒� she tells Lane in a , shortly after her marriage to Stetson. 糖心传媒淗ousekeeping flourishes. I kin cook. My appetite fails not. But O my power of writing letters does. I haven糖心传媒檛 a word to say to you, dear, so I糖心传媒檒l stop.糖心传媒�

The letters have attracted the attention of researchers such as , who places them in the context of young women糖心传媒檚 literary culture in 19th-century America.

Rochester糖心传媒檚 collection 糖心传媒済reatly extends and enhances our understanding of how a close, literary friendship that lasted a lifetime provided emotional support and intellectual nourishment to two women of talent and ambition who, though very different in temperament and outlook, strove to engage the world around them in significant ways,糖心传媒� says Gernes, an associate professor of history and American studies at Stonehill College in Massachusetts.

糖心传媒淭he rawness, intensity, and听dailiness听of the letters highlight her strength, vulnerability, and complexity糖心传媒攊n a word, her humanity.糖心传媒�