MJ Gage's References This webpage contains information on references and possible references which Matilda Joslyn Gage used in her research. The names of authors and their works have come from only a few of her writings, all of which can be found on-line at the Matilda Joslyn Gage website. These works include:
At times, it is difficult to tell if Gage is referring to a work she read about, is quoting from or referencing a work she actuallyread, or is quoting from a work that was quoted in a third unnamed work. Sometimes she gives a title which I haven't been able to verify, but is close to a title of a work that I have been able to verify. At other times, Gage lists an author but not the title of his work.
When I felt that I had enough information on the subject, I tried to take an educated guess as to what she was referring. For example, in "Preceding Causes" Gage writes about Mary Astell,
The reign of Queen Anne, called the Golden Age of English Literature, is especially noticeable on account of Mary Astell and Elizabeth Elstob. The latter, speaking nine languages, was most famous for her skill in the Saxon tongue. She also replied to current objections and to woman's learning. Mary Astell elaborated a plan for a Woman's College, which was favorably received by Queen Anne, and would have been carried out, but for the opposition of Bishop Burnett.
The first reference to Astell could have been a reference to a number of political works. The second reference to Astell is probably to Astell's A Serious Proposal to the Ladies. So I took a guess and entered Proposal for the second reference to Astell. The work by Elstob is probably Rudiments of Grammar for the English-Saxon Tongue, 1715.
I am willing to change any of my attributions given evidence that my attribution is probably incorrect. If you have any information on any of the works for which I do not have information, I would love to have you send me the information. Send comments to sunshine@pinn.net I have also indicated when I have made an attribution and when Gage is clear concerning the details work.
There are several purposes for this webpage
- Research on Gage will be enhanced and simplified if we have a list of works which Gage used as her references.
- One of the goals of the MJG Foundation is to reconstruct Gage's personal library, as well as, her research library. To that end, we need to compile a list of works Gage owned or used as her references. I have begun this task. In addition to compiling a list, I have managed to buy some of the books, to find other works in print, to uncover still other books on the used book market in various conditions from 'like new' to 'very used', to find some books on microfilm, and to uncover a few on-line in electronic editions. By knowing what is available, we can begin putting priorities on our purchases. The on-line editions will allow Gage scholars to read or browse a few of her references even before the library is reconstructed and to examine a book before making a commitment to purchase it.
Gage's references seem to fall into a few very general categories:
- History: ancient Egypt, classical Greece and Rome, early and medieval Christianity, medieval Europe, the Inquisition and the witch craze, Native Americans
- Religion and theology: Catholic theology (including homilies by early Christian priests), Protestant theology, Theosophy, the occult, spiritualism, the Kabbala, the Talmud, the Bhagavad Gita,
- Law: early English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish law, American law, English common law, canon law
- History of philosophy and science
Surprisingly, I have yet to uncover a source for her extensive knowledge of her feminist foremothers other than Sarah Josepha Hale's biographical dictionary Women's Record: Or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women from the Creation to A.D. 1854 [1855, reprinted 1970, Source Books Press, New York], which is dated to late to account for her extensive references to women of accomplishment at her Syracuse Women's Rights Convention Speech of 1852.
This page is a draft only. Eventually I would like to include a paragraph or two description for each book and extend the number of Gage's writings which were surveyed. If you have any contributions particularly references to other works that Gage made in other writings, please send them to me at sunshine@pinn.net
Before presenting Gage's bibliography, here are a few cyber tools that may be of general interest to women's historians and historians of Gage. I hope you will be as pleasantly surprised as I was at the number of books which Gage referenced that are in print, have recently gone out-of-print, and are available on-line, three indications of the quality of her sources.
General Cyber-libraries
Special Purpose Cyber-libraries
Other sites of interest
Notes, Symbols and Abbreviations
WCS = Woman, Church, and State
I didn't try to find information on books that seem to be perennially in print - The Bible, The Talmud, Milton's Paradise Lost, etc.
The nice yellow sun against the sky blue background informs us that the book is in Sunny's (Pat's) collection. Sometimes a letter will be included:
- NA = Not Applicable. This book was probably referred to in a third work and it is from this third work that Gage took her information from or about the work in question. For example, both The Gospel of the Hebrews and The Gospels of the Egyptians were not extant in the 19th century, so they have been marked NA. If I can find the work which Gage cites which talks about those two works, it is probably highly relevant. Although the reference is of interest to the scholar, reading the reference and hence acquiring the reference for the library is probably not as useful. Our resources can be expended better elsewhere.
- F = Fragile, not for circulation
- S = Substitute. On occasion, as with Catlin, I could not find a book with the title which Gage gave. I could, however, find a book with a similar title so I made a substitution.
- G = Guess. Sometimes Gage does not give us the name of the work, only the author. In those cases, when I felt had some knowledge of the author, I took a guess at what Gave was referring to.
- T = Title. Gage gives the title of a work with no author. If I could identify a well-known work by the given title with a particular author, I inserted the name of the author.
- X = Additional information about the book may be available Sometimes
Booknotes files can be found on Sunny's web site at booknotes menu
Gage's Referenceslast updated June 6, 2004