Third Visit to the Library of Congress.

Today I finished reading the Anna Maria Brodeau Thornton Papers for the years 1800 and skimmed through other years which she travels. I will try to record my observations.

What I know about AMBT: she was married to William Thornton in Philadelphia. Her mother was a rather wealthy and widowed French emigre, according to Allen Clark a predominent society figure in Philly. Anna Maria Brodeau was 15 when she married William Thornon. In an Allen Clark article about the couple he records exchanges between Mrs. Brodeau and Wm Thornton. The relationship between mother and son-in-law seems excellent. In fact, Mrs. Brodeau lived with the Thorntons for the rest of her life. Anna Thornton often "shopping with Mama" or "Mama and I sewed ..."

The Diary: the structure of Diary is evry similar to Martha Ballard's entries in a Midwife's Tale. Anna Thornton shifts from terse entries to more descriptive patterns. THe year 1800 is particularly useful. Anna Thornton's husband represents one of the more successful men in the story. Yet after reading Clark's piece she supposedly spent the time after his death to hers as his biographer. In one of Clark's lines she laments that she knows him more in death than in life. This si interesting b/c in skimming through the entries I saw a section entitled errors from the 1840s. Mrs Thornton regretted buying so much land in Washington D.C.; THIS was very surprisign b /c in the diary she seems very content in the early period with her life there. Perhaps as the city's growth stagnated she felt she made a wrong decision. BUT note she clearly had some role in the decision making process or at least she feels she did and thus claims it as her error but her husbands!

I am rereading A Midwives Tale to make better use of the repetitious comments of Mrs. Thornton. She is a meticulous observer; records who visits, what they eat, the household expenses, her activities. Yet within these often tedious comments a wealth of revelation awaits me I am sure. Striking comments exist as well: She claims how her diary isr eally a memorandum to her husband's activities. She assists him in designs of the capital. Yet seh has her own work too...spinning, shopping, household management, and her histories. Mrs. Thornton is a consumate reader. She also draws and has a sharp eye for design. SHe often comments on portraits (such as Gilbert Stuart's Washington ...which she thinks is not an accurate likeness) and on house design. (see her description of the Law's house!)

I need to examine Mrs. Thornton more closely to see how the wives are pulled into the optimism of the time period. The way in which she creates Mr. Thornton, (she literally does this at the end of her life when she becomes his biographer). What is at stake for these women? How did this contribute to the development of the nation? Why are women important here. How representative of the population is she; is there much use to studying an upperclass-ptrotestant women?> How can I contextualize the text. Is Mrs. Thornton really the successful example in the end?