Perfect Recluses, Great Workers, and Black Beasts: Frances Trollope’s Cincinnati Women in Domestic Manners of the Americans, 1828–1830

On Jun 29, 1818, 45 women from the Dorcas Society in Cincinnati OH, gathered at the First Presbyterian Church. The Reverend Joshua L. Wilson, an Old School Calvinist who had shepherded the congregation for the previous ten of its 28 years, left his ivory-handled cane resting beside his pew and stepped forward to speak: He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again. Looking out, the minister squinted his eyes, bringing into focus the approving faces of the women whose mission it was to improve Cincinnati morally and physically and care for the city's indigent. In this article, the author argue that Trollope's sarcasm and reputation do not, however, preclude DM from serving as a valuable source of historical information. Indeed, sarcasm oft en reflects reality, and plenty of writers have created responsible scholarship with caustic sources.