| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 185 words from this article are provided below; about 363 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 89.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

A Bluestocking in Charleston: The Life and Career of Laura Bragg. By Louise Anderson Allen. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2001. xviii, 303 pp. $34.95, ISBN 1-57003-370-6.)

Louise Anderson Allen's A Bluestocking in Charleston is the biography of the first woman named director of a "public scientific and natural history museum" in the United States. The descendant of New England patriots, Bragg earned a degree in library science at Simmons College in 1906, only to become a transplanted member of the intellectual community of Charleston, South Carolina, and director of the Charleston Museum in 1920. 1

Allen has the daunting task of breathing life into a woman whose personal papers leave little insight into her private world and who, although having a host of noteworthy acquaintances (Gertrude Stein and Robert Frost among them), has been virtually unrecognized by historians. Citing innovations Bragg brought to the Charleston Museum—the "traveling exhibit," displays of non-Western art, and Saturday afternoon hours for African American patrons—Allen contends that Bragg "transformed what had been a scientific, natural history museum for the academic elite into a public institution." . . .

There are about 363 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.