Tales (and a Tail) in the Return of Elizabeth Oakes Smith to Literary History

Maine Historical Society - Programs Podcast

Timothy H. Scherman; Recorded June 13, 2023 - Timothy H. Scherman re-introduces modern readers to Elizabeth Oakes Smith, a nineteenth-century Maine writer and political activist whose disappearance from literary history would seem impossible in light of the volume of her published writing and the visceral responses she elicited from readers in her own day. A poet, lecturer, and feminist, Oakes Smith fought for equal access and rights to political, economic, and educational opportunities for women, and is also remembered today for penning the first woman's account of an ascent of Mount Katahdin. In this talk, Scherman reflected on Oakes Smith's work, marking her climb of Katahdin as turning point in her career, and recounted his own attempt to scale the summit in Smith's footsteps, discovering that those who actually do what Oakes Smith have a very different understanding of her text than those who only read it.