Lunch and Learn – Lydia Sigourney: Unsung Mother of American Literature

Virtual Presentation! Who was Lydia Sigourney? Learn more about how Hartford’s own Lydia Sigourney helped transform American culture in the early 19th-century. Using items from the Connecticut Museum’s collection, Professors Kete and Petrino will introduce you to Sigourney’s central role as an American poet, educator, and rights activist, and to the Lydia Sigourney Digital Archive Project. This virtual event is free and open to the public. Get tickets to receive the Zoom link. Thank you to our series sponsors Camille and Gregory F. Servididio! About the speakers: Mary Louise Kete is Chair of the English Department at the University of Vermont where she also teaches and studies 19th-century American literature and culture. She and Elizabeth Petrino have co-edited Lydia Sigourney: Critical Essays and Cultural Views (U of Massachusetts Press, 2018) and a special issue on Sigourney for the journal ESQ. Her publications focus on the contributions of American women to the major cultural movements of the long 19th-century. Elizabeth Petrino is Director of Liberal Studies in the Associate Degree Program at Fairfield Bellarmine and Professor of English at Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT. She and Mary Louise Kete have co-edited Lydia Sigourney: Critical Essays and Cultural Views (U of Massachusetts Press, 2018). Her articles on Sigourney explore a range of topics including gift book culture, correspondence, deaf education, and the environment and have appeared in Studies in American Humor, Legacy, ESQ, and ISLE. Currently, Mary Louise and Elizabeth are working on developing a Sigourney digital archive.