Martha Saxton is an American professor of

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

and

gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...

who has authored several prominent historical biographies.

Life

She graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. She taught at

, and Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction. In 2003, she wrote ''Being Good: Women's Moral Values in Early America''. The TV film ''

The Jayne Mansfield Story ''The Jayne Mansfield Story'' is a 1980 American made-for-television biographical drama film directed by Dick Lowry starring Loni Anderson as the actress, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as her bodybuilder husband, based on the life of Jayne Mansfield. ...

'' featuring

Loni Anderson Loni Kaye Anderson (born August 5, 1945) is an American actress who played receptionist Jennifer Marlowe on the CBS sitcom ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' (1978–1982), which earned her three Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy Award nominations. Early ...

and

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

was based on her book ''Jayne Mansfield and the American fifties''. She also published findings of a classroom experiment on Wikipedia's inclusion of women in historical articles. She is a recipient of the

PEN New England Award The PEN New England Award (previously L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award and Laurence L. & Thomas Winship/PEN New England Award) is awarded annually by PEN New England (today PEN America Boston) to honor a New England author or book with a New Engl ...

Publications

Books

*''The Widow Washington: The Life of Mary Washington'' (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019). , *''Being Good: Women's Moral Values in Early America'' (Hill and Wang, 2003). , *''Interpretations of American History'' (seventh edition) with Frank Couvares (previously edited by Gerald Grob and George Billias), Free Press, Spring 2000. *''

Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known as the author of the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Little Men'' (1871) and ''Jo's Boys'' (1886). Raised in ...

: A Modern Biography'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1977) (Avon, 1978; Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1995). , *''

Jayne Mansfield Jayne Mansfield (born Vera Jayne Palmer; April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and ''Playboy'' Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s while under contract at 20th Century Fox, Man ...

and the American Fifties'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1976) (Bantam, 1976). ,

Essays, reviews, and other

*"Lives of Missouri Slave Women: A Critique of true Womanhood," in eds. Manisha Sinha and

Penny Von Eschen Penny Marie Von Eschen is an American historian and Professor of History and William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of American Studies at the University of Virginia. She is known for her works on American and African-American history, American diplomacy, ...

, Contested Democracy: Freedom, Race and Power in American History, Columbia U. Press, 2007. *"Curing Gender Amnesia," Women's Review of Books 24.1 (Jan Feb 2007): 24. *"Masquerade: the Life and Times of

Deborah Sampson Deborah Sampson Gannett, also known as Deborah Samson or Deborah Sampson, was born on December 17, 1760 in Plympton, Massachusetts. She disguised herself as a man, and served in the Continental Army under the name Robert Shirtliff – sometimes ...

, Continental Soldier," by Alfred Young, in The William and Mary Quarterly, forthcoming. *"River Gods-and Goddesses. Women's Review of Books 21.9 (June 2004): 10. *"Neither Lady Nor Slave," The S.C. Historical Magazinheae, October 2004. *"La Formazione degli Stati Uniti," Journal of American History, February, 2004. *"Sexism and the City," Journal of Urban History, January, 2003. *"Examining our Revolutionary Baggage," Reviews in American History, December, 2000 *"The Moral Minority, Prescriptive Literature in Early St. Louis," Gateway-Heritage, The Quarterly Magazine of the Missouri Historical Society (Fall 2000): 18–31. *"Women Without Rights," in Not for Ourselves Alone, ed. by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns (New York: A. A. Knopf, Inc., 1999), 52–57. *"Puritan Women: The Seeds of a Critical Tradition," History Today, 44.10 (Sept./Oct. 1994): 28–33. *"Civil War Nurses," in The Face of Mercy, A Photographic History of Medicine at War, ed. by Matthew Naythons, and William Styron (San Francisco: Epicenter, 1993).

Awards and honors

*Whiting Travel Fellowship, 2012 *Cullman Fellow, New York Public Library, 2007–2008 *Doshisha Lecturer, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan (2006) *Miner D. Crary Award, Amherst College (2000-2001) *Bunting Fellow, Radcliffe College (1995-1996) *Mellon Fellow, Society of Fellows in the Humanities, Columbia (1988-1990) *Lane Cooper Award, Columbia (1987-1988) *Mary Ellen Shimke Award, Wellesley College (1986-1987) *Presidential Fellow, Columbia (1985–88) *Boston Globe Annual Award for Louisa May Alcott (1977)

Scholarly and professional activities

*Member, Authors' Guild *Member, PEN, Secretary of PEN Executive Board, 1986-1989 *Member, PEN/Martha Albrand Award Committee, 1992 *Member, Willie Lee Rose Prize Committee, 1996 (Southern Association for Women's Historians) *Member, Julia Spruill Prize Committee, 1999 (Southern Association for Women's Historians) *Member, Louis Pelzer Memorial Award Committee, AHA, 2005-6 *Co-founder and co-editor of The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, 2006

References

External links

MacmillanAmherst CollegeUniversity of Massachusetts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saxton, Martha Amherst College American social scientists 21st-century American historians Living people American women historians 21st-century American women writers Year of birth missing (living people)