Authors Intent: A midwife's Tale

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich has a strong background and interest in history. Mrs. Ulrich gained her bachelors degree in history at the University of Utah, her masters in English Literature at Simmons college and her Ph D in history at the University of New Hampshire. Professor Ulrich is now the James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History. Her books all center around women and their role in society during Early America. Her love of history and research and interest in exposing the roles of women in early American society have led to interesting nonfiction works enlightening us. Professor Ulrich's main interest in Martha Ballard's diary was to define the role of women in the late 18th early 19th centuries. Her authors intent was to inform and enlighten us of the roles of women in Hallowell, Maine and their workings in the community.

Ulrich's first book was titled Good Wives, this book explained the role of "good' wives in traditional society. Ulrich was striving to provide insight on the lives of early American women in New England, she used court records, probate records, family papers, diaries of men, church records and contents of ministerial sermons to show the roles of women in early America. This book led Laurel Ulrich to search for more data related to women and early American history and she stumbled upon Martha's diary in the Maine state library. This let her to petition for the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities to allow her to study and interpret Martha's Diary. Professor Ulrich saw studying Martha's diary as a connection between past work and future work. Professor Ulrich's planned a two month study of the diary which turned into an 8 year dissection of Martha's diary that turned into A Midwife's Tale.

Professor Ulrich had many intents while writing this book. Her first intent was to examine an old and detailed diary that had not yet been used to its full potential. James E. North quoted a few passages from Martha's diary but he did not focus on the female aspects presented in the diary. The diary was partially neglected because of North's excerpts chosen for the History of Augusta. Professor Ulrich intended to provide us with a valuable exhibit of everyday life of the 18/19 century. Her book would show how the little town of Hallowell functioned from when Martha moved to Hallowell 1785 to Martha's death in 1812.

In her first book Good Wives, Professor Ulrich had a hard time finding women's writings and accounts from the early New England time period. Thus making it harder to write her book. When she started to research Martha's diary, she was amazed at the amount of material in it. She states that "Martha's diary is an unparalleled document in early American history." and that it is "powerful in part because it is so difficult to use". Ulrich's initial intention was to have a short paper that would connect her current writing and her future writing, that would only take her the summer. As she started to read and dissect Martha's diary, her intent changed from just being a short connecting paper to a book that would explain the daily life of early Maine.

Ulrich's intention was not to publish Martha's diary or to make a substitute for Martha's diary but to interpret the diary for twentieth century readers. With this intent Ulrich had to do additional research looking at wills, tax lists, deeds, court records, medical treatises, novels, and fragmentary papers of Maine physicians. With this research and Martha's diary, Ulrich was able to create a book about the womens role in the 18th/19th centuries with great support from Martha's records. It gives us insight into the community from a woman's view and an idea of women's daily life in this time period. Professor Ulrich was successful at defining the role of women in the late 18th early 19th century.