Discussed how women participated in the civil war. She focused her talk on a nurse. The book is called hospital sketches. All right, welcome to read to a class that will focus on women and all tourism during the u. S. Civil war. Read a primary source a woman whotten by purchase spitted in the civil war, luisa may alcott who worked as a nurse. Our classart off today by looking at possible hospital sketches, which all of you should have available to you. Out and ready to see. The big question that we are posing and investigating today, voluntarism n womens volunteerism shape the choices they make joined the civil war, and how did that volunteerism, affects the outcome of the civil war . [it is really two questions] those are our overarching questions. So we start with Louisa May Alcott, enter and her hospital sketches, published during the war. They would be realized and published. Americans who read magazines they could read about her experiences in the civil war era hospital. So, i would like to hear your account ofout this civil war hospitals. What makes you think about Louisa May Alcott . I will skip this down so we can look at her while were talking about her. There she is. All right, go ahead, scott. Scott one thing that i liked about it was that you dont really see much of her, previously prorated we havent really had any exposure to the inside of the hospital. We just know them from killer , however was a terrible place. It was good to see of the experience, being one of the people tasked with handling basically the impossible, helping soldiers who were all terminally no one really made it out of the hospital ok. So, dealing with that, and what trying to heal soldiers was like, such as cutting off a limb and hoping for the best. All right good. Good. Prof. Giesberg a first insiders look from a real witness, what the civil war hospital looks like. What scotts suggested, was pretty dismal. But it was good. Anyone else . Tell me about your First Impression of the book, as you read it. Go ahead, riley. I have more of a question. Was she publicly known as louisa male Louisa May Alcott, did she polish under publish under her name . Allowed to have their own stories and things . Prof. Giesberg good question. The xi use a pseudonym . Miss periwinkle . And i think you put a finger on it as well. There is this, sort of come away in which a woman of her class, right, as opposed to, too, is supposed to follow the rules at the time. Women are supposed to be private. It is also not an uncontroversial decision for a woman, right, of hurley debtor, stature, to make a decision to go into a hospital at the time. Hospitals are dangerous places where there are lots of strange man, right . That you dont know, and you would have to be around them. In part, that was a strategy that not only alcott but other women would use, to protect their reputations. Of, it remindsrt us that there were holes that women like alcott were breaking when they went into the hospital to do that. I think it becomes widely known nonetheless, to write this. In part, it was just a game. Sort of to maintain her anonymity. But that was a good question. There were a few other hands that were up. Go ahead, jim. Works First Impression, i thought it was interesting to read she was posing to her family friends, one of them said you should go be a nurse. And she just went right off, not knowing what she was getting into. She took everything in stride, even the great difficulties that she went through. Prof. Giesberg yes, she portrays this decision as rather abrupt. It was not like she went through Nurse Training School and learned about how diseases were spread, or how to take care of injured people. But she described it as something instantaneous. Right . And that is surprising. Right . Good. Miriam . I think it was admirable that the first question posed to her she said ok, i will do it. Interesting,t was not even giving it a second thought, just wanting to help so badly. Prof. Giesberg yes, she did not pause. Her lack of preparation did not make her cause. You have to give her credit for that. Right . We can imagine that it was not unlike the way men made the decision to enlist. They did not necessarily prepare for that. For that decision, and it likely probably happened pretty quickly as well. It makes sense that she would portray it that way. We do not actually know. How much conversation there was in the hour got household about her daughter going off to this dangerous place. We did get a sense of some apprehension, right . Yeah, but this also could have been dramatized read i felt like she wanted to do something, she made the decision that she was going to do it. It wasnt like oh i did it, but oh i should not have said yes. She was committed, either way, even if there was any apprehension. Prof. Giesberg right. Ryan, what about you . Y funny is an underratedl book. I wouldnt say very funny, but it is about hospitals, but if you were to read other source documents it would be more dismal, cori or violent, but she puts an interesting humorous twist on it, which i thought added a lot to it. I thought she had a she had had a pretty fun spin on it. , i wass interesting surprised about her sense of humor about everything. Prof. Giesberg all right, good. So, maybe a way to think about that was that she had a sense of humor, and audience. She was not ready for her parents, or for the next generation she was waiting for an audience. She clearly wanted people to read it and for it to be entertaining too. And she does weave in her own sense of humor throughout it as well. I think the jury is still out on whether everybody laughs that it set as much as she intended to. Maybe, 19thcentury people left more than we did. That even though she only had a few days of training, how little formal training most of the nurses had, publicly the only experts in the room where the doctors and obviously there were few of them. The other part was that when people were coming in there was hesitation mentioned, saying go and take care of these men and wash them. Even the doctors would say, i dont know if this is right for a woman to see. It was definitely a sense of itropriety here, but because was wartime, she pushed through those boundaries. Because it did not matter at the end. Women were making strides, in this time. Stuck, thelly boundaries kind of went back sadly after the war. Prof. Giesberg right, very good. Lots of stuff going on there. She is hugely aware that she is breaking news breaking rules. That is why she played this game with the pseudonym, and talked about the apprehensions that her parents had about sitting their daughter off to something they did not know about. But she also, she certainly pays deference to that. It is not just that there will be strange men there, that she will be touching them. Right . That is totally scandalous for a 19thcentury woman. She is not even supposed to expose an ankle. Right . You dont expose your own body at all, as a woman, and for you to be in the position of being around lots of french people and touching them, she talks about that, right . That moment when she is like whoa, wait a minute. This is not something i anticipated. Outcome. Ut running the we know that it will not stick, but there were some changes that will stick. Good. What about you . I got the feeling that it is almost like an overly romanticized view in todays civil war hospitals into these civil war hospitals to read it was, how grotesque it was to be there, i dont think her focus was necessarily to draw attention how gross and disgusting war can be, but rather to show the importance of nurses, and to show that women are capable of more than they are what they are traditionally asked to. I dont think it necessarily draws much attention to how grotesque the actual hospital was, but it proves her point that women have or are capable they arehan traditionally asked to at the time. Very true. Erg she is keenly aware of this when she is published at the time, but she has a point to make. And that is the point. That the hospital is a place, for women like her. For a middleclass woman, whose parents might be sort of leaning on them, or whose husbands might be leaning on the thing know, this is not the place you need to go. That is a great point. It makes sense that we get the romantic version, the humorous version she is trying to make it safe, to tell people that it is safe. Because, at the time he was not. People who nursed in hospitals before the civil war, are mostly men. Right . Or, women who came from workingclass or people who were not from the middleclass or from elite families like her own. Who is next . You. Point,ing off to this there was a lot about duty, and her pride parade on page 60 she talks about how she is proud of what she has done, compared to what her friend did for her dead husband. Let lets make sure everybody gets their at the same time. Page 60 . Yes. Yes, in the third paragraph she talks about how she does not regret her experience, and the duty that she has done. All that is the bravest in the hearts of men comes out in these and a little bit further down, for the amount that, thee i got from conversation, it compensates for i take some satisfaction in the thought that i could not lay the head on the all tier of my country. H is more indiscernible. She is [indiscernible] that i havent read too many civil war members, but i think this is characteristic of members before war members war memoirs around that time. People do not really talk about their personal feelings, how they could not grasp what they were seeing. Another thing on page 21, the last paragraph. She cited several structures, each who were legless, entering my ward, admonishing me that i was there to work, not to wonder or weep. A hard road to travel. Maybe i did not read it close enough, but there was not too much about how she came to grasp with what she was seeing with the wounded occupants. Prof. Giesberg no she doesnt. Nowadays, in war memoirs, theres a lot about how people come back, and thought nurses and doctors, and how those nurses see the worst of it in the war zones today. But back in the day, it was all about duty, all about that romanticized version of war. I thought that was most interesting. Prof. Giesberg yes, she is careful. Some of the memoirs are letters that you all will read, about news sharing, with home, and what kind of music are keeping to themselves, or sharing among fellow soldiers, or in her case, fellow nurses. Re is a careful way that she is not there alone, we should remember that. But even while she is there, she is keenly aware of what kind of information she was to share, and what she doesnt. That gets back also to her intentions of painting the womenal as a place where should be. Because she has an alto motive, not just her duty, which is to make this point. I think youre absolutely right. We should look for those kinds of moments, in your own primary sources that you are using for your papers. About how they are selecting some news that they are sharing, then other news. Whatthey are not sharing, that there is selfconscious editing of themselves that they are doing here. Another thing, then i will go over to him. What about this corked up my feeling, stuff. She said that a couple times. Why say that, other than to remind us that she is carefully keeping some of the worst things from her memoir. Right . Think as ahy do you woman she would feel that she would say that the it goes back to questions about gender expectations, and how she is constantly coming up against them. Why would she say that i should corked up my feelings . Prof. Giesberg yes . Works i think at that time women were perceived as overly emotional and i think she was demonstrating that she could deny these emotions in order to do her job effectively. Yes. Jubilee . Decades leading up to the civil war, there was a cult of domesticity and the idea that women were supposed to be in the home, and the protectors of society, paragons of virtue, and because of that, they needed to be shielded from real life, and the public sphere. So, by saying that she is capable of corking up her feelings, she is breaking down that distinction, and the idea that there needs to be separateness. That women have a role there, not just to be confined in the home. Prof. Giesberg perfect, very good. It dies into the language of domesticity. That the home is a safe place for you to have, feel your emotions. Right . Express your emotions. And people thought that for women, it should be. Because they were incapable of separating those things. So, she makes a very conscious decision to say that. And, she is not the only nurse to say that. Others would say the same thing. That they would learn to corked up their feelings. Yes . Orks on page 39 on page 39. She said i could have sat down and cried quietly. I could not on just give up so soon. , not do my job correctly and have them be rendered blundered into eternity. I do not know if im interpreting that right, but she seemed like she had a strong emotional reaction to it, the blunder, and it is just not appropriate to have a reaction like that when someone is dying. Especially, right after a brave dier like skylar yes, the hospital is a workplace. And female nurses are openly clashing with doctors about the fact that they do not belong there. She even alludes to that a few times that doctors were not welcoming these women into the work case with open arms. Exactly howthat is i interpret those moments too that she is reflecting that. These can be and were hostile places. For middleclass white women like Louisa May Alcott, workingclass women, women of color. They all had to fight their way into this hospital situation and one of the things that she is doing is for giving us hints about, is talking about keeping her emotions in check. Being a professional, even though she is a volunteer. She is accepting that emotional distance, right . That the doctors will be demanding of everyone around them. She plays that both ways though, right . What happens when our handsome rebel is dying . What were you going to say . Where were you going to go . Going off of that in a different way, something i thought was interesting was that the female nurses were the strong ones, and the wounded men were weak. And the wounded men needed the female nurses, so that was different than other things i have read about the civil war so far. Prof. Giesberg good. She is portraying them as helpless. Almost infantilizing them. Right . Seem verythem dependent, childlike. And that way, kind of also makes it seem like for women who were middleclass women who were not trained in anything, they feel like they can do that. Right . Dumbest to city jubilee, right . That women are supposed to be experts, just because, about taking care of children. That you are just born to do that, or to know how to take care of your health, born to know how to take care of children. So, if you portray these soldiers as infant like that woman would feel like she was ok. Like i can do that. So, good. Next . Theou talked about how doctors were clashing with the nurses and did not want them there, saying that it was a big step for middleclass women, to being there. What started middleclass women deciding to go and become nurses , should know, she did not talk about that. What started them doing that . That question. I think we have to note your great question on wednesday, in the way that we usually do. We will talk about that in a second. But, timing is important. This war in europe called the crimean war which proceeded the u. S. Civil war and there was a woman named florence nightingale. She goes into the field as a nurse and rights a very popular book. Book, notes on nursing it widely circulated. Here in the school of nursing in villanova, we have a picture of her hanging out here in the building somewhere. She writes a book and middleclass women in america devour it. It is like an action adventure story for them. Because she writes the book in such a way that is to say as to say that there is something you can do as a middleclass woman. She also believed that he should be trained to do it, by the way, that you should not just run off. But she ends up like Louisa May Alcott, an eager way in which people are watching the war, and she writes a very compelling account of it which makes it sound possible. Thethen you cannot discount stuff that alcott talks about. Because sheired wanted to do something. I think that was how we started this conversation, the men were rushing off to enlist. And they about that, all found a place for themselves and the war, and she was looking for hers. A generation of people who wanted to do something, wanted to be part of something, did not want to be felt left behind. Women felt that too. There was this book, nathaniel, that had just arrived on their parlor tables, and made them think i can do that. I can sprinkle lavender on hankies, i can write letters. Of rottingnot smell limbs, or whatever. And they got inspired to do it. A good example of how the doctors treat the nurses, unable to really handle the situation on page 46. Prof. Giesberg page 46. The male surgeon goes over to tell her to take a rest, so that she doesnt get too exhausted and fall ale. So he says kindhearted little gentleman who seem to consider me if pharrell a frail young blossom, like spencer who had been knocking out the world for the past 30 years. She is trying to protect portray herself as a sturdy woman who doesnt need to take any rest. But a frail doctor is trying to inform her that she will perish under her own will. Prof. Giesberg right. That is a great example. I would like to talk about alcock, and some of the people she gets into contact with in the hospital. We know there is a tension between her and doctors. The firstr question is, what kind of how would you describe her nursing work . Oft were her major sort responsibilities . What kinds of things did she do . Caitlin . Sitting with the men, talking to them, i know she would wash them, things like that. But it looks like he was in doing anything overly medical. Like nurses today. Prof. Giesberg right. Not putting an id, not making sure they are oxygenated or anything like that. Good. Evan . Later she talks about how i dont know what happened to the nightwatchman but sometimes she would take a night shift, take a walk and make sure that the men were doing good in bed or Something Like that. Prof. Giesberg yes, she was sitting in the ward, watching them. Washing. She would also write letters for them. Prof. Giesberg she did, yes. Wish you wouldnt normally expect nurses to be doing, medical nurses. Or comforting them. More emotional things. Prof. Giesberg yes, right. She is there with pen and paper, when it is time to write mom or your wife, or Something Like that. Good. Ethel . One thing she does reminds me hospice care nurses doing, helping alleviate their pain, or helping them get better. Taking care of them, while the doctors do whatever medicine they are doing at the time. Prof. Giesberg yes, there is a sort of rewriting of comfort, which seems to be her main goal. Making sure they are fed, making sure they are clean, making sure they are there when she is the