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Mary Beth Norton

メアリー・ベス・ノートン

Mary Beth Norton

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1943-03-25 （Ann Arbor, Michigan）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Methodist
Residence History
Ann Arbor, Michigan → Greencastle, Indiana → Ithaca, New York → Cambridge / England (research period)

Career

Occupations
historian, professor
Active Years
1969-2018
Affiliations
Cornell University Department of History, American Historical Association
Memberships
National Council on the Humanities, Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, Society of American Historians, American Antiquarian Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, Phi Kappa Phi, American Philosophical Society
Influenced
women historians (U.S. and international)

Education

University of Michigan
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1960–1964
Year of Graduation: 1964
Country: United States
Active in student government and civil rights–era campus politics
Harvard University
Degree: M.A., Ph.D.
Period: 1964–1969
Year of Graduation: 1969
Country: United States
PhD research included work in England; dissertation won the Allan Nevins Prize
Woodrow Wilson fellowship (study in England)
Period: 1964–1965
Country: England
Year of study supported by Woodrow Wilson fellowship

Awards

Woodrow Wilson fellowship
1964
Organization: Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Result: 受給
Allan Nevins Prize
1969
Work: Doctoral dissertation (later published as The British-Americans)
Organization: Society of American Historians
Result: 受賞
Berkshire prize (Woman Historian)
1980
Work: Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750–1800
Category: 女性史
Organization: Berkshire Conference
Result: 受賞
Ambassador Book Award in American Studies
Work: In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692
Organization: Ambassador Book Award (American Studies)
Result: 受賞
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship
1993
Organization: Guggenheim Foundation
Result: フェロー
Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1999
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Result: 選出
Pulitzer Prize in History (finalist)
1997
Work: Founding Mothers & Fathers: Gendered Power and the Forming of American Society
Category: 歴史
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 最終候補（ファイナリスト）

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

2003 history (scholarly)

A detailed study of the social and political context of the 1692 Salem witchcraft crisis, analyzing how the trials related to local community dynamics and broader geopolitical events.

witch trialscolonial societygender and power

The British-Americans: The Loyalist Exiles in England, 1774-1789

1972 history (scholarly)

Examines how Loyalist exiles from the American Revolution lived in England and reconstructed identity and community during exile.

Loyalistsexileimperial relations

Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750–1800

1980 history (women's history)

A detailed account of American women's lives, roles, and experiences during the Revolutionary era, reassessing the impact of the Revolution on women.

women's historyrevolution and social changetransformations in patriarchy

Founding Mothers & Fathers: Gendered Power and the Forming of American Society

1996 history (social history / gender history)

Analyzes gender and power relations in 17th-century New England and the Chesapeake, clarifying the role of gendered authority in early American society formation.

gendersocial formationearly American history

Separated By Their Sex: Women in Public and Private in the Colonial Atlantic World

2011 history (women's history, comparative)

A collection exploring differences between women's public and private lives in the colonial Atlantic world and the historical implications of sex-based separation.

colonial Atlantic worldpublic/private dividegender comparison

Bibliography

  • The British-Americans: The Loyalist Exiles in England, 1774-1789 (1972)
  • Women of America: A History (ed., with Carol Berkin, 1979)
  • A People and a Nation: A History of the United States (coauthor, 1982; multiple later editions)
  • "To Toil the Livelong Day": America's Women at Work, 1780-1980 (ed., 1987)
  • Liberty's Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women, 1750–1800 (1980)
  • Founding Mothers & Fathers: Gendered Power and the Forming of American Society (1996)
  • In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 (2003)
  • Separated By Their Sex: Women in Public and Private in the Colonial Atlantic World (2011)
  • AHA Guide to Historical Literature (general editor, 1995)

Adaptations

  • Documentary appearance: Discovery Channel's Unsolved History — "Salem Witch Trials" (2003)
  • Documentary appearance: History Channel's Witch Hunt (2004)
  • Appeared on PBS History Detectives, Season 6, Episode 7 (2008)
  • Appeared on TLC's Who Do You Think You Are? and similar genealogy programs

Style & Themes

Literary Style
scholarly, narrative styledetailed analysis based on primary sources
Recurring Motifs
gender and powercolonial societypublic/private boundaries for women

Legacy

Mary Beth Norton is a globally influential scholar in American colonial and women's history. As one of the first women in Cornell's history department and through leadership roles such as president of the American Historical Association (2018), she significantly advanced and institutionalized women's history in academia.

Academic Societies

  • American Historical Association
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • American Philosophical Society

Archives

  • Cornell University archives (possible repository for research notes and related materials)

In Popular Culture

  • Appearances in history documentaries and genealogy TV programs (Discovery, History Channel, PBS, TLC, etc.)

Quotes

  • Norton's thoroughly researched evidence ... makes a valuable addition to our knowledge of the lives, thoughts and activities of women in the revolutionary era.
    Source: Gerda Lerner, review in Washington Post Book World (1981)

Trivia

  • One of the first women appointed to the Cornell University Department of History.
  • Served as president of the American Historical Association in 2018.
  • Recipient of honors including a Guggenheim Fellowship and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.