Nancy Cott

Nancy F. Cott is the Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History and Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. Her work covers 19th and 20th social and cultural history, focusing particularly on gender issues. Her interests also include social movements, citizenship, political culture, and legal institutions. Her books include The Bonds of Womanhood: 'Woman's Sphere' in New England, 1780-1835  (1977; 1997); The Grounding of Modern Feminism (1987); and Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation (2000).

Professor Cott is serving, and/or has served, on the following American Civilization dissertation committee(s):

“Queer Visions: Fairy Spectacles, Police Surveillance, and the Politics of Gay Visibility in Twentieth-Century America” (Anna Lvovsky)

“In The Best Interest of the Child: The Cuban Refugee Children’s Program and Cold War America” (Maude Gates)

“No Place Like Home: A Cultural History of Gay Domesticity, 1948-1982” (Stephen Vider)

“Behaving Like Animals: Studies in Animal Cruelty and American Culture, 1900-present” (Timothy McGrath)

“Domestic Pleasures: Dreams of Joy and Fulfillment in American Home Life” (Phyllis Thompson)

“Academic Populism: The People’s Revolt and Public Higher Education, 1880-1905” (Scott Gelber)

“‘They Call it Marriage’: The Interracial Louisiana Family and the Making of American Legitimacy” (Diana Williams)

“The Inward Fire: A History of Cruelty in Marriage in the Northeastern United States, 1800-1860” (Eliza Clark)

"Exceptions to Exclusion: A Prehistory of Asylum in the United States, 1880-1980" (Yael Schachar)

Contact information: Nancy Cott , History Department