Writing Women of the Long 18th Century

This guide originated in a class for English majors at Wake Forest University in fall 2017. Dr. Claudia Kairoff piloted the seminar based entirely on works by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century writers represented in Z. Smith Reynolds Library's Special Collections. While reading works by women ranging from Katherine Philips to Elizabeth Inchbald, the students examined original copies of the works and learned how the works were written, published, sold, and read. This course on women writers concluded with a group project designed to assist students and scholars who might visit our library in the future: each student researched one or two titles from the collection and produced short bibliographical essays. This published guide to ZSR Special Collections' holdings in the Restoration and long eighteenth century includes selected student essays, along with an introduction and a checklist of the library's holdings.