Menstrual Technology and Itinerancy in the Early American Republic
How did female itinerant ministers handle having a montly menstrual cycle while constantly traveling? Did these women ever suffer from amenorrhea, or missing periods, because of their poor health while itinerating? On the flip side, did any female preachers suffer from excessive cramping or other gynecological issues that made their cycle more painful? Was there a difference in practice for Black and white women preachers?
And, how do we uncover the history of ‘taboo’ or private histories with a dearth of sources? Women rarely wrote about their periods, and female preachers refrained from any such body talk in their published memoirs. However, uncovering material evidence of menstrual technology allows us to explore how medical protection was created and used through surviving artifacts. Women would have used home remedies and self-created technologies such as clothes and rags pinned to undergarments or belt-like ties that went around the waist/hips to hold fabric in place to absorb blood. This is also further evidenced from later 20th century mass-produced items that took form from earlier products that women made by hand.
Another way to uncover the hidden history of menstruation in the early American republic is to visit medical literature and product information at the time. This allows two methods of exploration: first, medical literature helps us understand what an average person would have known about periods in the 19th century. Medical pamphlets and advertisements also describe period-related issues and ailments that women tried to solve, further giving context for what menstruating itinerants would have dealt with.
Though neither method allows for an analysis of menstruation and itinerancy in female preachers’ own words, the exploration of lived experiences of monthly cycles becomes no less valuable. In fact, the silence of historical scholarship on something a majority of women have dealt with makes the case study of female itinerants more interesting. The ubiquity of a monthly cycle for decades of one’s life and the impact that periods have on one’s health becomes more prominent when one is often/always traveling.
Caroline Greer 