Cardiff CA— Pulitzer-prize winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich will present “Digging into Diaries: California Stories from Early Mormonism” on Wednesday, February 15 from 7:30-9 p.m. at MiraCosta College San Elijo Campus, Room 204, 3333 Manchester Avenue, Cardiff.
An expert in learning about the past from primary sources, Ulrich’s work has always explored the ordinary objects and writings overlooked by many historians. Beginning thirty years ago with her book Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750, she studied the private lives of people in colonial America. Her book A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, continued the theme by using Ballard’s life to highlight trends in the early republic, and became a PBS film for the series The American Experience.
Her work Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History (from a phrase she coined in 1976), focused on the significance of women’s roles even in eras when women were considered to be “silent” participants. In recent years at Harvard University, Ulrich developed a book and course entitled Tangible Things: Making History Through Objects, which uses mundane items like ornaments, weapons, and chairs to develop historical narrative and meaning.
Ulrich’s latest research is featured in her new book, A House Full of Females: Mormon Diaries, 1835-1870. An enthusiastic teacher and writer, Ulrich will highlight the significance of personal histories for constructing new, more inclusive narratives of the past.
This event is sponsored by the MiraCosta College History Department. All are invited to attend. For more information, contact Lisa Lane, llane@miracosta.edu.