• Mary Astell, title page to her 1694 treatise, published anonymously, advocating for equal educational opportunities for women and career options beyond mother and nun. A SERIOUS PROPOSAL To the Ladies, attributed to Mary Astell, refutes the 17th century theory of women's incapacity. It is the lack of education, Astell says, which brings about untrained judgment in women and leads them to wrong decisions. She proposed a college with a double aspect: a retreat from the world for those who desire it, and also an institution to fit women to do the greatest good in their own time and to improve the future. The teachings were to be not only religious but secular, including languages, philosophy, literature. In 1697 she wrote Part II, wherein she stirs her reader (whose equality she has already proven) to carry out her own development. Women, she says, should reason things out for themselves, determine their own acts and not rely on custom or be imposed upon by their fathers and husbands.
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Mary Astell, title page to her 1694 treatise, published anonymously, advocating for equal educational opportunities for women and career options beyond mother and nun.

From Women Making History: The Revolutionary Feminist Postcard Art of Helaine Victoria Press by Julia M. Allen and Jocelyn H. Cohen

  • Part of a series of eight historical folded notecards, 4 ¼” x 5 ½”. Printed in black on ivory rippled stock at the Women’s Community Press at the Los Angeles Woman’s Building on the Rotaprint offset press. Two additional printings over the years. The notecards opened to 8 ½” x 11”, offering plenty of room to write a letter. Jocelyn Cohen and Nancy Poore introduced the notecards because customers requested historical notes. During the succeeding years, they produced a few more notecards, but they favored the format of postcards so everyone along the way could see them. The two later printings were on ivory laid paper and then golden laid paper. Besides the historical caption on the back, the first printing included:
    Some suggested uses for this card:
    I've got an idea, You seem to have some great ideas, Congratulations (on anything), Hope your plans work out. It'd be a good idea to: Give yourself a vacation, Stick up for your rights, Buy yourself a present, Take me to lunch, Go back to school, Run for an office, Do whatever you want ... or just to write a letter.
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  • HISTORY / Women
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