description Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Overview
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is an American historian whose work examines social history, gender, and everyday life in early American communities. She received the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for History for A Midwife's Tale, a study based on the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife in Maine whose records cover 1785 to 1812. Ulrich uses such personal documents to reconstruct work, family, health, and community relations in colonial and early national New England.
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What is Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s A Midwife’s Tale about?
A Midwife’s Tale, published in 1990, reconstructs the life of Martha Ballard through her diary from 1785 to 1812. Ballard was a midwife in Hallowell, Maine, and the book uses her daily records to examine frontier society.
Why did Laurel Thatcher Ulrich win the Pulitzer Prize?
Ulrich won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for History for A Midwife’s Tale. The book showed how a detailed personal diary could reveal medical work, household labor, community relationships, and women’s economic roles in early New England.
What does microhistory mean in relation to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich?
Microhistory studies a limited person, place, or set of records in unusually close detail. Ulrich used Martha Ballard’s diary to connect one midwife’s experience to broader changes in early American society.
Where did Martha Ballard practice as a midwife?
Ballard worked in Hallowell, Maine, in the early republic period. Her diary covers more than two decades, from 1785 through 1812, giving Ulrich a rare long-term source for women’s history.
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