Inaugural Book Pick Focuses on Women’s Roles And Rights In Colonial Philadelphia
Book Club Will Focus On Untold Stories, Furthering VFPA’s Mission To Promote Citizen Stewardship And Inclusivity
by Main Line Tonight editors
Valley Forge Park Alliance, an independent nonprofit and philanthropic partner of Valley Forge National Historical Park, is thrilled to introduce its first book club. The idea for the book club is in sync with VFPA’s mission to inspire appreciation for and promote citizen stewardship of Valley Forge National Historical Park.


VFPA’s first book club pick is Dr. Karin Wulf’s Not All Wives: Women of Colonial Philadelphia, published in hardcover by Cornell University Press in 2000, and in paperback by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2005. Wulf will discuss the book and present a lecture on May 2 as part of VFPA’s Speaker Series. The event is 6 pm – 8 pm in the meeting room of Valley Forge National Historical Park’s Visitors Center. Tickets are required.
Wulf, the Beatrice and Julio Mario Santo Domingo Director and Librarian at the John Carter Brown Library and professor of history at Brown University, has done extensive work on gender roles in the Colonial era. In Not All Wives, she delves into the rights of coverture that dictated the rights of married, free women and those of unmarried, free women. Free women who were not married could own property and act on their own legal behalf, whereas married, free women could not. Wulf’s historical research explains how those laws shaped the lives of women and the city of Philadelphia.
Links to purchase Not All Wives:
Valley Forge Park Alliance Speaker Series
May 2, 2023
Book signing and discussion: 6 pm – 7 pm, Lecture: 7 pm – 8 pm
Writing the Family Histories of the American Revolution
Presented by: Dr. Karin Wulf, the Beatrice and Julio Mario Santo Domingo Director and Librarian at the John Carter Brown Library and professor of history at Brown University
Location: Visitor Center at Valley Forge National Historic Park
Want more information about local stories? Read about the 17th Annual West Chester Film Festival in April, Newtown Square’s new art gallery, and Valley Forge’s new entrance and trails.
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