Lots of people are credited with coining the great phrase, “well-behaved women rarely make history.” They include Marilyn Monroe, Gloria Steinem, Eleanor Roosevelt, Anne Boleyn, and many more. Given time, any powerful woman with backbone and nerve will get credit for this phrase and sentiment. Even Princess Leila from “Star Wars” saying “well-behaved women rarely defeat empires” is a popular internet meme.

It’s a great quote, but we should credit its actual author. And we’re so happy that it came from an academic scholar, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, who is a professor of Early American history at Harvard. Academic historians rarely make history, but Professor Ulrich certainly has. While she was a PhD student, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich published an important article in the spring 1976 issue of the journal American Quarterly. Its title was, “Vertuous Women Found: New England Ministerial Literature, 1668-1735.” (“Vertuous” was an alternate spelling of “virtuous” in the 18th century.)

Professor Ulrich wrote about women from early America who were not usually featured in history books. Well-behaved or virtuous women from that time have been largely lost to history because their lives were unremarkable by the terms of who decides what counts as history. Usually, and far too often (frankly), only women who break social rules or upset social norms get noticed by chroniclers at the time, and make it into the history books. As Ulrich wrote, 

“Cotton Mather called them ‘The Hidden Ones.’ They never preached or sat in a deacon’s bench. Nor did they vote or attend Harvard. Neither, because they were virtuous women, did they question God or the magistrates. They prayed secretly, read the Bible through at least once a year, and went to hear the minister preach even when it snowed. Hoping for an eternal crown, they never asked to be remembered on earth. And they haven’t been. Well-behaved women seldom make history; against Antinomians and witches, these pious matrons have had little chance at all.” - https://professorbuzzkill.com/who-said-well-behaved-women-rarely-make-history

I love this quote as it really does make sense - women are written out of history books they aren’t given the credit they deserve - how may women from history can you name as easily as men? we did exist and we did do an awful lot its just men wrote the history book so they wrote about what they knew! there are more and more book coming out no about women in history and actually researching women contribution to society - we weren’t absent we have al just be written out of it.

THIS BOOK IS A5 LINED - buttercup with fa striped endpapers!

Specifications: 

Lined A5 Book Block - Ivory paper made from 50% recycled fibres, 90 GSM, 210mm x 145mm, 112 pages – Portrait

Plain A5 Book Block - White recycled paper made from 50% flat white cups, 130GSM, 212mm x 155mm (untrimmed pages), 60 pages - Portrait

Lined A6 Book Block - Ivory paper made from 50% recycled fibres, 90 GSM, 90mm x 130mm, 96 pages - Portrait

Plain A6 Book Block - White recycled paper made from 50% flat white cups, 130 GSM, 107mm x 150mm, 60 pages - Portrait. 

All endpapers are sourced from incredibly talented designers and are not the work of Woodle Books. Marble papers and splatter papers are from Jemma Lewis marble papers, Other designs are from Lagom ,who have sourced and work closely with a wide range of amazing designers and artists like Hanna Werning, and Noi Papers for most of the naked ladies dancing or eating donuts.