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The history of Bennington, New Hampshire is the story of an uncommon town. As the remnants of the Masonian Proprietors' holdings called Society Land, it had the distinction of being the last unincorporated area in Hillsborough County. Within its borders stood the oldest covered railroad bridge and one of the first cotton mills in New Hampshire, while one of the most enduring paper mills in the United States still operates. But beyond the records, Bennington has always remained a community. People have helped each other in time of need and have survived tough times together.Even before its incorporation in 1842, many of Bennington's lasting families and institutions were already well established, attracted by the Great Falls of the Contoocook. Joseph Putnam, the first known settler, initiated the first industries, a saw mill and grist mill, enticing others to the area, which became Hancock Factory Village. Subsequent industries included the Whittemore family cotton mill, several knife factories, and the most lasting one of all, the Monadnock Paper Mill.Shaped by the Great Falls and the rugged land in the shadow of Crotched Mountain, the people of Bennington have endured. Residents erected public buildings, schools, and churches that have all adapted to the changes within town and in the wider world. Bennington had its share of heroes who fought and died in many of America's wars and has fittingly honored its past citizens. Although the faces and houses may have changed since the early days of Society Land, this small town has forged characters and memories of all of those who have called it home for over two centuries.Researched from state and local documents, town records, and oral histories and papers collected by Georgietta Bryer and others, this history traces the evolution of Bennington from wilderness to modern day. By revealing Bennington's rich past, the narrative and images will demonstrate that Bennington has a heritage that the community should be proud of.

In the early 20th century, immigration, labor unrest, social reforms and government regulations threatened the power of the country's largest employers. The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company of Manchester, New Hampshire, remained successful by controlling its workforce, the local media, and local and state government. When a 1912 strike in nearby Lawrence, Massachusetts, threatened to bring the Industrial Workers of the World union to Manchester, the company sought to reassert its influence. Amoskeag worked to promote company pride and to Americanize its many foreign-born workers through benevolence programs, including a baseball club. Textile Field, the most advanced stadium in New England outside of Boston when it was built in 1913, was the centerpiece of this effort. Results were mixed--the company found itself at odds with social movements and new media outlets, and Textile Field became a magnet for conflict with all of professional baseball.

In the early 20th century, immigration, labor unrest, social reforms and government regulations threatened the power of the country's largest employers. The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company of Manchester, New Hampshire, remained successful by controlling its workforce, the local media, and local and state government. When a 1912 strike in nearby Lawrence, Massachusetts, threatened to bring the Industrial Workers of the World union to Manchester, the company sought to reassert its influence. Amoskeag worked to promote company pride and to Americanize its many foreign-born workers through benevolence programs, including a baseball club. Textile Field, the most advanced stadium in New England outside of Boston when it was built in 1913, was the centerpiece of this effort. Results were mixed--the company found itself at odds with social movements and new media outlets, and Textile Field became a magnet for conflict with all of professional baseball.

This book maps the field of seventeenth-century women's writing in Spanish, English, and French and situates the work of Sor Juana more clearly within that field. It holds up the multi-layered, proto-feminist writings of Sor Juana as a meaningful lens through which to focus the literary production of her female contemporaries. Merrim's book advances the integration of Hispanic women authors and women's issues into the panorama of early modern women's writing and opens up unexplored commonalities between Sor Juana and her sister writers. Early modern women writers whose works are explored include Marie de Gournay, Margaret Fell Fox, Catalina de Erauso, Maria de Zayas, Ana Caro, Mme de Lafayette, Anne Bradstreet, St. Teresa, and Margaret Lucas Cavendish. Merrim's study provides a full-bodied picture of the resources that the cultural and historical climates of the seventeenth century placed at the disposal of women writers, the manners in which women writers instrumentalized them, the building blocks and concerns of early modern women's writing, and the continuities between early modern and modern women's writing. Written in an engaging, clear manner, this innovative study will be of interest not only to Hispanists but also to scholars in early modern studies, women's studies, history, and comparative literature.