Feminist Undertones

For the better part of the twentieth century, Sarah Orne Jewett was recognized almost exclusively as a regionalist writer. Recent examinations of her work have asserted that Jewett was much more.

For Jewett, a driven pursuit of career and freedom informed her work. So too did the value she placed on female friendships and a community of women.

Feminist themes evolved in her work, from the subtle to the straightforward and beyond, to a work both refined and grounded.

This photograph was taken on the occasion of Jewett receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Bowdoin College, an all-male institution, in 1901.