Briefer Notices

BRIEFER NOTICES Prepared by John and Barbara Curtis The three-volume biographical dictionary Notable American Women appeared in 1971 under the auspices of Radcliffe College, following some twenty years of research and editing. One of the most interested in its contents is Caroline Bird, whose concern is with the history of the economic status of women. She noted diat of the more than 1350 entries in the dictionary , only 42 were listed as "entrepreneurs." With the cooperation and encouragement of the Business and Professional Women's Foundation, Caroline Bird undertook to examine in depdi the stories of selected American women from colonial times to die present, whose lives "shed light on die economic opportunities and contributions of women in relatively unexplored corners of history." Her book, Enterprising Women, New York, W. W. Norton, 1976, states in its closing Epilogue "diat a surprising proportion of enterprising women had Quaker parents or sponsors. A majority of die American population now agrees with the Quaker view of sex equality." Richard K. MacMaster of Bridgewater, Va., a member of die Mennonite Church, has published a pamphlet "Christian obedience in Revolutionary times." Statements of several of die historical peace churches during die period 1755-1775 were examined and in some cases extracts are given. An understanding of the Quaker position is shown in regard to participation in attempts to overthrow royal governments, in refusing military service to any government, and in determination to witness to the requirements of Christian testimony against the encroachments of secular authority on religious freedom . Copies of the pamphlet may be obtained from the Peace Committee, Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, Pa. 17501. The Monthly Meeting of Friends in Philadelphia has prepared a brochure for the Bicentennial year on the attitude of the Society of Friends to die Revolution. Three broadsides are reproduced, two from the Meeting for Sufferings and one from the Yearly Meeting, for 1775, 1776, and 1777, in small folio format in an eight-page pamphlet. This attractive souvenir is on sale at die meetinghouse at 4tii and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, in the exhibit area. Quaker History has had a request for research assistance from Brian Arundel of Ackworth School in England. He is a student of die life and influence of Dr. John Fothergill, the 18th century Quaker friend and correspondent of Collinson, Bartram and Franklin. Arundel wishes to trace die fate 116 BRIEFER NOTICES117 of a hatbox which Fothergill once owned. The hexagonal shaped box was sold by a Darlington bookseller to a buyer who was returning to America. The bookseller was John Brigham, but die name of die purchaser is not known, thus making the search for the present-day owner very difficult. Any information will be gratefully received by Brian Arundel at Ackworth School, Pontefract, Yorks., England. A new periodical, dealing with scholarship by, for and about women is SIGNS, which is appearing quarterly under the editorship of Catherine Stimpson of Barnard College and published at the University of Chicago Press. The first issue contains two items in its Archives Department which are of Quaker interest. Dr. Jane C. Kronick and Dr. Milton D. Speizman of Bryn Mawr College have prepared an introduction and edited for the first time the full text of an early Quaker epistle dealing with the duties and stahis of women. This episde from the Women's Meeting of Lancashire Mondily Meeting turned up in manuscript materials being examined in pursuit of data relating to the role of women in providing aid to the needy in 17th century England. The text quoted is contained in the records of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting now on deposit at Haverford College. The only odier known extant copy was examined in England by the authors and found to be the same in content, although sometimes divergent in spelling. Kronick and Speizman's article appears in vol. I, no. 1, pp. 231-245. The same issue of SIGNS also has an article prepared by Gerda Lerner on "Sara M. Grimke's 'Sisters of Charity'," pp. 246-256. A double number of SIGNS, published in Spring, 1976, as vol. 7, no. 3 has contributions from Kennedi Boulding and from Elise Boulding on women 's themes. There is an...