https://archive.engl.sites.carleton.edu/files/original/54cf749ad432c14e34dc68f081852acc.pdf 222d78f14ce8ec2d708228dc42ac20ee Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Yoon How Archives Shape Perceptions of Women's Labor Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jonah Yoon Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Printed book (5 preliminary leaves, 195 pages, frontispiece, plates), 20 cm Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mobilizing Woman-Power Subject The topic of the resource Activism and civic labor Industrial labor Book or manual Gender and labor Class and labor Race and labor Archival framing Representation and bias Institutional power World War I period United States Description An account of the resource <p>Harriot Stanton Blatch’s 1918 book <em>Mobilizing Woman-Power</em>, with a foreword by Theodore Roosevelt, calls on American women to see World War I as their war too. She insists they must step forward “as equals working with equals for a common end.” Victory, she argues, now hinges on fully mobilizing women’s labor to replace the men lost to enlistment and immigration restrictions. Drawing on the example of British and French women who had already taken up industrial, agricultural, and administrative jobs, Blatch demands that American women prove themselves just as capable. She pushes for practical state support, such as dormitories, canteens, and fair wages, because decent conditions are the only way to sustain long-term productivity. Throughout, she reframes traditional domestic skills in civic and industrial terms: efficient household management, she says, is exactly the kind of disciplined labor a nation at war needs. <br /><br /><strong>Interpretation Note<br /></strong>This book shows how wartime rhetoric transformed the cultural meaning of women's labor. Everyday domestic tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and nursing were suddenly framed as indispensable national service. By celebrating British and French women who entered factories, farms, munitions plants, and offices, Blatch reframes the simple act of showing up to work as proof of women's fitness for full democratic citizenship. The book urges readers to see their own labor as a patriotic contribution and themselves as active citizens whose efforts sustain the nation. In this respect, Blatch anticipates that public discourse shapes people's sense of their civic obligations. Although Blatch demands equal pay and safer conditions, she continues to frame women's work as a noble sacrifice rather than an inherent right. She valorizes traditionally feminine skills as important wartime resources without ever questioning why such work was gendered female in the first place. The tasks themselves get public prestige, yet the underlying sexual division of labor stays intact, and no one thinks to question why certain kinds of work were deemed feminine to begin with. This places Blatch's book in an intermediate position within the exhibition. The exhibition first asks how women's labor is transformed into a patriotic duty. Then, it explores how it can become feminist activism. Blatch occupies the middle ground. Her narrative is also noticeably selective. The women she holds up as exemplars are nearly always white and middle-class, who are the ones who moved into jobs vacated by enlisted men. Black domestic workers, rural women, and immigrant laundresses' toil predated the war, but in Blatch's account, their contributions are invisible. In the end, this book shows how wartime language can turn women's work from a private duty into a public service, yet leave the basic gender hierarchy in place. It also underscores that the voices in that story shape whether women's labor leads only to patriotic production or moves toward real activism.</p> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Blatch, Harriot Stanton Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Womans Press, New York Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1918 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Carrie Chapman Catt, former owner National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection (Library of Congress) Woodrow Wilson Collection (Library of Congress) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource The Library of Congress is not aware of any copyright restrictions in the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection. Responsibility for determining legal status and permissions rests with the user. Relation A related resource Also available in digital form <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/18012004/">https://www.loc.gov/item/18012004/</a> <a href="http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rbnawsa.n2004">http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rbnawsa.n2004</a> <a href="http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/scd0001.0002024060A">http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/scd0001.0002024060A</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Book Print volume Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 18012004 <a href="http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rbnawsa.n2004">http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rbnawsa.n2004</a> <a href="http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/scd0001.0002024060A">http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/scd0001.0002024060A</a> Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant United States, 1918 Alternative Title An alternative name for the resource. The distinction between titles and alternative titles is application-specific. Mobilizing Woman-Power: With a Foreword by Theodore Roosevelt Extent The size or duration of the resource. 5 preliminary leaves, 195 pages, frontispiece, plates, 20 cm Medium The material or physical carrier of the resource. Printed book Bibliographic Citation A bibliographic reference for the resource. Recommended practice is to include sufficient bibliographic detail to identify the resource as unambiguously as possible. Blatch, Harriot Stanton. Mobilizing Woman-Power. New York: The Woman’s Press, 1918. Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. United States Temporal Coverage Temporal characteristics of the resource. 1918 Provenance A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource. Gift of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, Nov. 1, 1938 Presentation copy with June 1918 inscription to Woodrow Wilson Activism and civic labor Archival framing Book or manual Class and labor Gender and labor industrial labor Institutional power Race and labor Representation and bias United States World War I period