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Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women on the Frontier
Pioneer Women provides a rare look at frontier life through the eyes of the pioneer women who settled the American West. Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith vividly describe the hardships such women endured journeying west and making homes and communities on the frontier. Their hopes and fears and, most of all, their courage in the face of adversity are revealed in excerpts from journals, letters, and oral histories. Illustrated with a fascinating collection of seldom-seen photographs, Pioneer Women reveals the faces as well as the voices of women who lived on the frontier.
The authors portray a wide variety of women, from those who found liberty and confidence in undertaking "men’s work" to those who felt burdened by the wind, the weather, and the struggle of frontier life.
The authors portray a wide variety of women, from those who found liberty and confidence in undertaking "men’s work" to those who felt burdened by the wind, the weather, and the struggle of frontier life.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
July 18, 2020
I would have liked this book more if it had used more primary sources. It quotes people from at least the 1830s into the early twentieth century, but rarely is there any way of figuring out when something was said, and even looking up the source does not give you a date, because it's nearly all secondary sources. Most books that cover "the pioneer era" or "the Victorian era" (both of which are huge), I can at least make a good guess when someone was on the pioneer trail or whatever by looking into the original source (since there's so much available online at archive.org and Gutenberg and Google books), but all the references here are to collections like Black Victorians or Westering Women or Daughters of the Earth or whatever.
Some of those books that are a collection of information can offer stuff that wasn't published, which is lovely, but in terms of reading this book, they're no help at all in figuring out when something happened. Because the American frontier is vast, in both time and space, and what was true early on is not true later -- the Civil War era and the transcontinental railroad creating a great split, for starts, where people on the frontier before it had little access to technologies and comforts that were much more common after. Windmills, barbed wire fences, the enormous drop in the cost of kerosene, and other factors also made some practices obsolete and others possible. So for someone who is interested in researching a particular time frame, this book is not going to help.
The photos are often a bit easier to date, first because the date is more often mentioned, second because you're just not going to have casual photos in indoor settings until cameras were advanced enough, and third using the fashions (although most women on the frontier were not all that fashion-conscious, of course). And sometimes the photos can just add to the confusion, since most of the photos are from the 1880s and beyond, but are used to illustrate events happening much earlier. They do offer illustrations from earlier... but also from later, so you can't date something as antebellum just because it's drawn. Sometimes the date is given for when a particular individual was traveling once, which is helpful for those quoted multiple times, but the rest of the time it's guesswork.
It's a short book and the information is pretty general, but at the same time they do a nice job of offering specifics. It's just that some of those specifics were much more common at particular dates and locations, rather than being representative of the overall pioneer experience, and they don't seem to recognize that!
Nor do they recognize the changes that occur during the time period they're covering. One example is their story about the nun who had repeatedly read that "No virtuous woman is safe near a cowboy," then meets a cowboy who acts like a gentleman. The implication is that the nun was a naive innocent, but in actual fact the meaning of the word "cowboy" changed over time, and did at various points refer to men who were violent and dangerous -- in the 1880s, many a working cow hand would have been insulted if you called him a cowboy!
Classic example of using a word's modern meaning to poke fun at someone in another time, which is not something I expect from a serious historical book, because it ends up confusing the issue and making people in the past seem more alien and peculiar. The authors are generally respectful of the women they discuss, which makes me suspect they don't know enough of history themselves to realize that 'cowboy' was not a neutral word for goodly chunks of the Pioneer Era.
As another reviewer said, a good book when it comes to the pictures. When it comes to the prose, not so much. The index is good, and links references to the bibliography, which would be terrific if the bibliography were more helpful.
EDIT:
Forgot to mention that the sidebar on p. 80 ends in the middle of a quote on what tonics were made from. Here's the full paragraph the quote was pulled from:
"At that time doctors were few and far between. Every family had a "doctor book" which advised a treatment for every ill and injury to man and beast. Many wild plants were used as medicines, most of them steeped and drunk as tea. Among these were "Culver's root" taken "for the liver". The dandelion, both as extract and as wine, was used for the same purpose. Tonics were made from the butterfly weed, sweet flag root, sassafras bark, and boneset. Of course sulphur and molasses were taken nearly every spring. For colds, pennyroyal, prairie balm, and horse mint were popular remedies. Mullen was used externally for pleurisy. Mullen seeds were among those mother had brought with her from Howard County. Smartweed was used externally for boils. Cubeb berries were smoked for catarrh. Castile soap was used to cleanse wounds on stock as well as for hand and shaving soap. Dry baking soda was also applied to barbed wire cuts on the stock."
Some of those books that are a collection of information can offer stuff that wasn't published, which is lovely, but in terms of reading this book, they're no help at all in figuring out when something happened. Because the American frontier is vast, in both time and space, and what was true early on is not true later -- the Civil War era and the transcontinental railroad creating a great split, for starts, where people on the frontier before it had little access to technologies and comforts that were much more common after. Windmills, barbed wire fences, the enormous drop in the cost of kerosene, and other factors also made some practices obsolete and others possible. So for someone who is interested in researching a particular time frame, this book is not going to help.
The photos are often a bit easier to date, first because the date is more often mentioned, second because you're just not going to have casual photos in indoor settings until cameras were advanced enough, and third using the fashions (although most women on the frontier were not all that fashion-conscious, of course). And sometimes the photos can just add to the confusion, since most of the photos are from the 1880s and beyond, but are used to illustrate events happening much earlier. They do offer illustrations from earlier... but also from later, so you can't date something as antebellum just because it's drawn. Sometimes the date is given for when a particular individual was traveling once, which is helpful for those quoted multiple times, but the rest of the time it's guesswork.
It's a short book and the information is pretty general, but at the same time they do a nice job of offering specifics. It's just that some of those specifics were much more common at particular dates and locations, rather than being representative of the overall pioneer experience, and they don't seem to recognize that!
Nor do they recognize the changes that occur during the time period they're covering. One example is their story about the nun who had repeatedly read that "No virtuous woman is safe near a cowboy," then meets a cowboy who acts like a gentleman. The implication is that the nun was a naive innocent, but in actual fact the meaning of the word "cowboy" changed over time, and did at various points refer to men who were violent and dangerous -- in the 1880s, many a working cow hand would have been insulted if you called him a cowboy!
Classic example of using a word's modern meaning to poke fun at someone in another time, which is not something I expect from a serious historical book, because it ends up confusing the issue and making people in the past seem more alien and peculiar. The authors are generally respectful of the women they discuss, which makes me suspect they don't know enough of history themselves to realize that 'cowboy' was not a neutral word for goodly chunks of the Pioneer Era.
As another reviewer said, a good book when it comes to the pictures. When it comes to the prose, not so much. The index is good, and links references to the bibliography, which would be terrific if the bibliography were more helpful.
EDIT:
Forgot to mention that the sidebar on p. 80 ends in the middle of a quote on what tonics were made from. Here's the full paragraph the quote was pulled from:
"At that time doctors were few and far between. Every family had a "doctor book" which advised a treatment for every ill and injury to man and beast. Many wild plants were used as medicines, most of them steeped and drunk as tea. Among these were "Culver's root" taken "for the liver". The dandelion, both as extract and as wine, was used for the same purpose. Tonics were made from the butterfly weed, sweet flag root, sassafras bark, and boneset. Of course sulphur and molasses were taken nearly every spring. For colds, pennyroyal, prairie balm, and horse mint were popular remedies. Mullen was used externally for pleurisy. Mullen seeds were among those mother had brought with her from Howard County. Smartweed was used externally for boils. Cubeb berries were smoked for catarrh. Castile soap was used to cleanse wounds on stock as well as for hand and shaving soap. Dry baking soda was also applied to barbed wire cuts on the stock."
May 8, 2015
A not particularly well-done overview of the lives of women as the country was being settled.
August 1, 2014
This is a short book but it took me forever to read. At first I felt bad about that, thinking that it was because I'm so lazy that even reading about pioneers makes me exhausted, but as it turns out the real reason was that this book is fairly boring, contains little more information than what you'd find in the chapter on Manifest Destiny in your high school history textbook, and it's not particularly well-written.
It seems that originally this was supposed to be a book of photography, and although there are a lot of photographs, there probably aren't enough to justify an entire book. Thus, the authors added text, but rather than being a study of pioneer women, it's a superficial collection of anecdotes drawn from seemingly only a handful of diaries and letters, interspersed with more or less appropriate quotes from more scholarly works. Gratingly, just about every other paragraph begins with, "as historian [Jane Doe] notes ..." though to be fair sometimes the historians "observe" rather than "note," and once I think one "suggests." I did enjoy the description of early Seattle as "a rude gouge in an otherwise unbroken expanse of trees," but I'm pretty sure that's an unattributed quote because the bulk of the writing is far less lively.
It seems that originally this was supposed to be a book of photography, and although there are a lot of photographs, there probably aren't enough to justify an entire book. Thus, the authors added text, but rather than being a study of pioneer women, it's a superficial collection of anecdotes drawn from seemingly only a handful of diaries and letters, interspersed with more or less appropriate quotes from more scholarly works. Gratingly, just about every other paragraph begins with, "as historian [Jane Doe] notes ..." though to be fair sometimes the historians "observe" rather than "note," and once I think one "suggests." I did enjoy the description of early Seattle as "a rude gouge in an otherwise unbroken expanse of trees," but I'm pretty sure that's an unattributed quote because the bulk of the writing is far less lively.
May 21, 2023
Really loved this book as it covered the breadth of pioneer women’s experiences. From the journey west, to what they did in the west, to jobs and education, and periods- this book covered it all.
November 17, 2008
This book is a wonderful mix of pictures and stories about the women who helped settle and civilize the west. Interestingly divided into :the journey west (how they really traveled in those wagons!), a home in the west (how to set up house and feed and clothe your family FROM SCRATCH!), behind closed doors (family dynamics, illness, death, estrangement, solitude, work, etc.), the work of women's hands (just what were all the jobs a woman had to take care of on a daily basis?), and lastly molders and shapers (how women established communities, churches, schools, and provided civilization and structure and stability) -- the list of items is overwhelming when viewed like this.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in finding out just what work was necessary to travel west and carve out a living and a community from the wilderness. And anyone who wishes they could do all the work a man could do in modern times should read this book too. These women did the work of the men and MORE. In addition to the work of bearing and raising children, sometimes burying children, managing their homes, holding down the farm while their husband's often had to search for work elsewhere and send the money home (remember how Pa Ingalls had to do that in the Little House series? Who did all the work Pa didn't do? Ma did, with a little help from her girls!), they also connected with other women and established schools and hospitals and created businesses and worked harder than I would believe possible.
I finished this book with a profound thankfulness for these godly women who worked so very hard, and literally were the hands who built the cities and states they lived in.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in finding out just what work was necessary to travel west and carve out a living and a community from the wilderness. And anyone who wishes they could do all the work a man could do in modern times should read this book too. These women did the work of the men and MORE. In addition to the work of bearing and raising children, sometimes burying children, managing their homes, holding down the farm while their husband's often had to search for work elsewhere and send the money home (remember how Pa Ingalls had to do that in the Little House series? Who did all the work Pa didn't do? Ma did, with a little help from her girls!), they also connected with other women and established schools and hospitals and created businesses and worked harder than I would believe possible.
I finished this book with a profound thankfulness for these godly women who worked so very hard, and literally were the hands who built the cities and states they lived in.
July 6, 2015
I picked up this book in Montana just after returning from backpacking in Tetons. It was a fitting and tremendously enjoyable read in that setting - campfire, outdoors, Yellowstone, in the land where these pioneer women traveled and lived, but without the comforts of the car, gas stove, REI mattress and sporty clothes. Not much is known about why women went to the west and how they survived, thrived and changed it. As authors point out, the world of pioneers has largely been his-story, and although much is known about the male photographer of the cover photo, the grain and the location, the woman is a mystery. Nobody cared to know who she is and what is her story. In this book, the authors attempt to tell this story. Their material is from diaries and other writings by the pioneer women that the authors wove into a cohesive picture of the lives of the pioneer women and organized their stories into several chapters by topic. Almost every aspect of their lives is illustrated with multiple old photographs that give the book album like quality. I highly recommend this easy but enlightening read.
May 28, 2014
Delivered exactly what I wanted to learn. Comprehensive presentation that included a large amount of actual writings from pioneer women's own pens, interesting portraits and also "on-the-scene" photographs I've never seen before, though I appreciate the authors pointed out the challenge of trying to get a completely accurate and balanced story when the letters may be rosier than reality, photographs may be a slightly staged to present their best side, and interviews describe memories that may be a little softened by time. Still, I found this to be a blunt and honest picture of their experience, very well-researched and presented, that inspires us to compare their experience with ours and wonder whether we'd be able to survive alongside our great-great-great-great grandmothers - they were some tough cookies! While this book covers a wide breadth of topics, even intimate ones such as divorce and birth control, I'd love to read even more on dress, undergarments, hygiene, winter survival... I just can't imagine.
March 13, 2008
Picked this up on a trip to Arizona. I liked the idea of the book because our educational system is not set up to acknowledge women had any part of the formation of any society, but as women make up more than half the population of the humans on this planet, any reasonable person would know this to be simply impossible. This book is a good start for someone looking for an overview of the study of pioneer women. Its a coffee table book, so don't expect any sort of academic dissertations. It has interesting stories and quotes and photos. The only downfall is that sometimes it reads like a high school history report because of the sometimes awkward use of quotes used to connect and transition topics.
July 14, 2013
The roles women played in the American Western Pioneer experience. The book is full of poignant and amusing photos of real women who more than held up their end of keeping their families together as they journeyed to and settled in the west. The accompanying narrative is striking and surprising. I appreciated the diversity of women recorded. We read of all classes, white and Afro-Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics.
I wanted to add this book to my dissertation for HF PhD in American Pioneer experience, but there were too few pages to qualify. I'm still glad I purchased and read it. A wonderful tribute to the women who helped build this country.
I believe the book is out of print and I was fortunate to secure a used hard back copy.
I wanted to add this book to my dissertation for HF PhD in American Pioneer experience, but there were too few pages to qualify. I'm still glad I purchased and read it. A wonderful tribute to the women who helped build this country.
I believe the book is out of print and I was fortunate to secure a used hard back copy.
August 19, 2009
I generally shy away from anything to do with old west. Perhaps it is the overstimulization from growing up in the kansas/oklahoma region. From The wilders to the Creek and Osage indians I just found it frankly a little cliche and boring.
This book offers a fresh and enlightening view of the frontier from a womans perspective. The photographs are candid and really make the people seem more real and less pose-no-smile-portraits.
I really drew strength from many of the stories of woman who were seperated from their families to start a new life- something that I have had to experience. It is candid about the frustrations and lonliness often experienced.
This book offers a fresh and enlightening view of the frontier from a womans perspective. The photographs are candid and really make the people seem more real and less pose-no-smile-portraits.
I really drew strength from many of the stories of woman who were seperated from their families to start a new life- something that I have had to experience. It is candid about the frustrations and lonliness often experienced.
January 11, 2012
This book is excellent for anyone interested in an overview of American Westward expansion. Unlike most books on this subject, the focus is on the women of the West and what they did to help shape the nation. But to make this book even more relevant, the writer picked stories of women from all walks of life and cultures - white, black, Indian, Asian, Mexican, poor, rich, educated, uneducated. She clearly tried to represent the rich diversity of women that lived on the American frontier. This honest portrayal of history is coupled with striking photographs and images from that day, helping to bring these women to life. Great book and a quick read.
October 6, 2009
I thought the photos were awesome and showed the mud and filth in which the women worked and lived on the prairie. The stories were also candid and told personal stories.
Had a hard time with the authors making comments about the women "sharing the work with men" when they worked beside their husbands in the fields. There is no "sharing" when you are still responsible for bearing and rearing children, cooking, clothing, cleaning, getting water, etc., etc.
These women were very strong and that doesn't seem to come through.
Had a hard time with the authors making comments about the women "sharing the work with men" when they worked beside their husbands in the fields. There is no "sharing" when you are still responsible for bearing and rearing children, cooking, clothing, cleaning, getting water, etc., etc.
These women were very strong and that doesn't seem to come through.
November 9, 2012
Foremost, this book was great because of the old photographs. I never knew such clear, vivid day-to-day photographs of pioneer women existed. I would have bought it just for the photos, honestly. It also has great information and primary sources from diaries of pioneer women. I learned a lot about their daily tasks. The section on childbirth in the wilderness was a first for me, but answered questions I've always wanted to know! I think it's a must for anyone wanting to learn about or research women in the wild west.
March 1, 2011
My very favorite thing about this book is the cover photo, and the author's explanation of this. Because I have read a huge number of pioneer stories, this one was mostly covered by other books I have read previously. However, many of the photographs were new to me, and quite enjoyable. For someone who hasn't had as much exposure to women pioneer diaries, there are some wonderful stories included in this book.
February 7, 2017
Things I enjoyed about this book: lots of pictures and the included history of Hispanic, Native American, and Black women pioneers in the text.
Things I didn't enjoy: Many times the pictures were of people not being written about in the text, leaving one wanting for pictures of the people who *were* written about in the text; also, the "aggrieved feminist" tone of the authors. I think they could have written a very fair history of the women pioneers without being snarky.
Things I didn't enjoy: Many times the pictures were of people not being written about in the text, leaving one wanting for pictures of the people who *were* written about in the text; also, the "aggrieved feminist" tone of the authors. I think they could have written a very fair history of the women pioneers without being snarky.
June 8, 2011
The hauntingly beautiful cover image hooked me into a lovely impulse buy at the Palo Duro Canyon Texas Intreprative Center. I kept seeing this woman reverberating throughout the lives of women profiled in the book. Since reading it, I see her resonating in the strong & good women around me in my own time. So worth the indulging my curiousity!
August 22, 2015
I picked up this book, wanting a book about the pioneer experience. It's written from a feminist slant, which automatically turns me off. Yes, women were there and experienced and helped settle the west, blah blah, Women are great and do wonderful things, they deserve participation trophies.
Book had great photos but the text was ignorable.
Book had great photos but the text was ignorable.
April 18, 2008
Again, I'm reading a bunch of stuff to get ready for a Laura Ingalls Wilder party I'm hosting at the library. Funny, but this book didn't produce quite as many warm-fuzzies as Wilder's prose and Garth Williams' illustrations always do. Still.
July 27, 2014
Beautiful photos and intricate biographical information present women's experiences on the frontier. Includes rarely-heard stories of managing pregnancy and childbirth on the wagon trail. The lives of hispanic, native, and black women are represented as well.
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August 7, 2011This book really brought it home how hard pioneer life was on women. NO, I would not like to time travel back to the olden days. Give me all my modern conveniences any time. Anything is better than a buffalo dung fire!
November 20, 2011
A fascinating glimpse into the different facets of the lives of female pioneers. Even though it's not in depth, I learned a lot. I absolutely love all of the pictures. The cover picture is probably my favorite. Beautiful and haunting at the same time.
October 28, 2013
I was slightly dissapointed with this book, as it felt a little coffee-table like, with all the pictures. There was quite a bit of text as well, but it didn't go as deep as I would have liked, still, very interesting and a good general overview. The pictures were also great.
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May 4, 2008What I learned? Another name for cow pies: meadow muffins. (I love research! As you can tell by the number of books I'm about to add...)
October 17, 2011
I loved this book. The photos are fantastic and must have been a huge undertaking to find, and the text is accessible and entertaining. It makes you realise just what women went through.
October 26, 2012
Admiration is the first word that comes to mind. A truly remarkable discriptive account of so many courageous women & their contribution to our lives & our country.
January 9, 2013
Lots of little biographies, cool pictures, interesting anecdotes. This book helped me to remember that when I complain about having to put my washing machine on a second spin cycle, I am a moron.
January 19, 2016
This is a wonderful reference to women moving to the western frontier, setting up their homes and families, and surviving with so little resources or experience. Terrific photographs.
October 14, 2019
I really liked reading this. I had no idea what women who traveled west actually went through. The book quotes from many diaries and letters written by women who traveled west. It helped me understand what some of my ancestors may have gone through on their journey to Michigan, and then later to North Dakota. Life was brutal and hard back then, yet people survived and prospered. The book also focuses on the lives of Native American women, ex-slaves, and Hispanic women.
I recommend this book for anyone who's interested in history in general and women's history in particular.
It took me a long time to read because I allowed myself to be distracted by so many other things.
I recommend this book for anyone who's interested in history in general and women's history in particular.
It took me a long time to read because I allowed myself to be distracted by so many other things.
June 10, 2021
Great book to read if you would really like to know what it was like to be a pioneer woman. A really nice overview with lots of great photos and first-hand accounts. The amount of research the authors did was evident. The book covers the 1840s-1930s, and pretty much every state west of the Mississippi. I especially liked the inclusion of the experiences of Native American and Hispanic women living in these settings. I learned a lot from this book, and am amazed these pioneer women did this before modern technology, modern farming, and easy travel. They must have been tough, strong, and brave women, for sure! I tip my proverbial hat to all of them.
May 20, 2017
This is my coffee table book ! It's been read cover to cover numerous times . There is nothing more motivational for me personally as a woman than to read how each of these women struggled with moving out west and how each persevered and tried to make the best of bad situations, that for most of them never even had a say about moving there in the first place. These women are America's true PIONEER'S!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews