Keeping a good Wo/man down: Normalizing Deborah Sampson Gannett

Deborah Sampson Gannett's 1802 lecture tour has been hailed as an important beginning for feminist public address. Previous critics have approached Sampson Gannett's lecture too narrowly, offering a “celebratory” reading that does not fully address the contradictions raised by her anti‐feminist statements. My analysis illuminates those contradictions through an alternative reading based in theories of gender performance. I conclude that attention to the performative aspects of Sampson Gannett's discourse allows critics to understand the feminist potential of her ultimate disruption of the rigid confines of True Womanhood.     

Counting the house in public television: A history of ratings use, 1953–1980

This study explores the evolution, diffusion and application of audience research in public television from its origins through the 1970s, the formative period for the system. Shifts in funding structures for public TV and the rise of cable and satellite competition are reflected in the changing practice of such research.