#literature

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The Dante Map: Mary Hensman’s Masterpiece

Posted by: Cynthia Smith

"In celebration of Women’s History Month, I am featuring the map below. It was designed by the 19th century scholar and mapmaker Mary Hensman. The map is a detailed guide to the places that the Italian poet Dante Alighieri visited as well as the locations mentioned in his literary works."

https://blogs.loc.gov/maps/2026/03/the-dante-map-mary-hensmans-masterpiece/

Books by Dante at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Dante+Alighieri

Dante Map. It shows Italy and other places in the Mediterranean associated with Dante

How Women Researchers Changed Our Understanding of Women’s Economic Lives

How can better data drive economic change? ‘We Do Declare’ uses oral histories to reveal how women collected evidence, reframed the conversation about money, and shaped lasting policy and economic opportunity.

by Rachel F. Seidman

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-american-womens-history-museum/2026/03/09/we-do-declare-collect-new-data-and-ask-new-questions-about-money/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&lctg=93133550

Women’s Economic Lives & Women economy at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68759
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=women+economy
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57913

Cover image of the book Women and Economics by Charlotte Perkins Gilman A plain dark burgundy cloth book cover with centred text in gold or cream lettering reading: Women and Economics / A Study of the Economic Relation Between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution / By Charlotte Perkins Stetson. No illustration or decoration, just typography on a solid ground. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/57913/pg57913-images.html

Hi, everyone! I was hoping to crowdsource a thoughtful and thorough answer from some of the most knowledgeable folks I know. The daughter of a good friend of mine -- the daughter is a high school senior who can easily handle college-level reading -- wants to do a major research paper, I quote, "on the women of Avalon in Gawain and the Green Knight and Lanval." She's interested in "how empowered those women are relative to other women (and also the men) in the story." Which secondary sources (online and easily accessible to a high schooler without access to a university library) do you think she should check out? Scholarly articles are most welcome. Thanks so much for any suggestions/links!

The deaf blacksmith who married in 1576 – and the history of sign as a legal language

The medieval church’s acknowledgement that signs were equivalent to a spoken language was transformative for deaf people.

by Rosamund Oates

https://theconversation.com/the-deaf-blacksmith-who-married-in-1576-and-the-history-of-sign-as-a-legal-language-276686?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20March%209%202026%20-%203699037833&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20March%209%202026%20-%203699037833+CID_4dad2f3a225cc1558f32f04d20318006&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=The%20deaf%20blacksmith%20who%20married%20in%201576%20%20and%20the%20history%20of%20sign%20as%20a%20legal%20language

Sign language at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=sign+language

Detail of an historiated initial 'S'(sponsus) of a man placing a ring on a woman's finger. By James le Palmer / anonymous illustrator British Library Royal MS 6 E VI, fol. 104 A historiated initial S from a medieval illuminated manuscript, painted in blue, pink, ochre, and olive green. Within the curved body of the letter, two figures face each other: on the left a young man in a blue tunic, on the right a woman in a white veil and rust-coloured garment. Between them, the man places or holds a small ring, their hands meeting at the centre. Both faces are simply rendered with calm expressions. The initial is framed by a blue and pink border with a dark speckled ground filling the background behind the figures. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Omne_Bonum_Royal6EVI104_Anulus.jpg

Author to revive Shakespeare club after 300 years

An author is relaunching a ladies club that once revived William Shakespeare's reputation 300 years ago.

by Alice Cunningham

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c17887r0nyyo

Shakespeare at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/65

William Shakespeare by John Taylor, edited An oil portrait of Shakespeare shown from the chest up against a deep red-brown background. He has a high, balding forehead with hair at the sides, a short beard and moustache, and dark eyes with a calm, direct gaze. He wears a black doublet with a plain white falling collar tied with a lace string, and a small gold hoop earring in his left ear. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare#/media/File:William_Shakespeare_by_John_Taylor,_edited.jpg

in 1892, Vita Sackville-West is born.

"Sackville-West was a successful novelist, poet and journalist, as well as a prolific letter writer and diarist. She published more than a dozen collections of poetry and 13 novels during her life.... She was the inspiration for the protagonist of Orlando: A Biography, by her friend and lover Virginia Woolf."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vita_Sackville-West

Books by Sackville-West at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/34850

"Sackville-West around 1915, from The Life of V.Sackville-West by Victoria Glendinning" - wikipedia
"Sackville-West around 1915, from The Life of V.Sackville-West by Victoria Glendinning" - wikipedia
"Sackville-West around 1915, from The Life of V.Sackville-West by Victoria Glendinning" - wikipedia
"Sackville-West around 1915, from The Life of V.Sackville-West by Victoria Glendinning" - wikipedia