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Hi,
I just joined this group, and I have to admit that I was shocked to see this material on this group. Not because of the subject matter , but because I wrote the article for The Citizens' Companion (April-May 2004 issue), which was subsequently posted with permission on Bygone Days. (http://bygonedays.net/contraception.shtml) I am the author of this article, yet no one gave me a byline or asked for my permission to post it here. Please tell me why? It has been copied word for word, except for my credit and endnotes. As I recall the FAQs state that violating another's copyright is unacceptable.
It was I who posted this article some time ago, and in truth I can't recall where I originally found this story. I was researching 19th century contraception and this article proved interesting and well-written. I often post stories here for educational or entertainment purposes only, and I do try to add footnotes or cite the source that I am posting from.
I apologize profusely Kim for posting this article without your permission, but I honestly don't remember where it originally came from, or that your credits were included with the original story, but I will try to find out. But everyone here would have been aware that I didn't write this article as that is not what I do on this site.
Again, please accept my sincere apologies for any angst that I have caused you and thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Kim-
It's a pleasure to meet the author of that article. I was so intrigued by what they thought was acceptable at the time. How did you ever come upon such a topic? We all know they did it then, since the population continued to explode, but it was such a hush hush topic of the time. Completely inappropriate to talk about, and yet your article was filled with such interesting insight. Would love to hear more from you.
While I'm not qualified to discuss contraceptives in much detail, I should put in a plug for my hometown where their lack of use during the civil war period caused much suffering and also did a considerable amount to advance the progress of science in the prevention of disease and treatment for infections. Being a little biased to landscape architecture, I should mention that Frederick Law Olmstead was a member of the Sanitary Commission for the US Army. What an awesome task, the treatment of severely wounded in the same town with victims of Hooker's corps of 'ladies'.
I accept Dawna's apology, but please let me know if you discover where you originally found the article. I'm a writer by profession, so I do tend to be protective of my bylines.
Jenna, the subject wasn't as hush hush as people have been led to believe. It's successive generations that have made it seem that way. What most people don't understand about the era is the public face and the private face. Sexuality was considered private. If you find unedited letters and diaries, you discover they did speak about it in private. I have another article on Bygone Days, which was also originally published in The Citizens' Companion, called Frigid Victorian Women? http://bygonedays.net/frigidwomen.shtml
I started writing about the topic because what I was reading in the letters and diaries wasn't consistent with what I had always been told about prudish Victorian mores. In some ways, I think modern people are more prudish than the Victorians.
Larry, your statement of contraceptives and their lack of use during the Civil War period is a generalization. They were used as my contraceptive article pointed out. And when we start talking about Hooker's "ladies" we're getting onto another subject entirely, except for the fact that I'm sure many of those "ladies" did use contraception.
Please pardon my generalizations which, while not intended to show my general lack of knowledge, are sometimes embarrassing. The broader subject of sanitation and it's effects on the general population and the meager advancement in medical science, are an interesting part of this war. Thanks very much for your quite accurate and interesting data.
Infertility was mentioned in one of Charles Knowlton's editions, but he removed that section in later editions. The biggest problem was that science had not grown enough yet to treat infertility, but it had in the areas of contraception. So yes, it was talked about in private, but beyond folklore medicine, there was very little they could do about it.
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