I am Rebecca Phoenix, a recent graduate of the Wayne State History department with a minor in Public History and Asian Studies. Currently I am pursuing a Masters in Public History and Masters in Library Information Science, also through Wayne. I hope to also complete a certification in archival administration. I am investigating home methods of historical preservation, research and engagement that will aid a new generation of family historians.
My research as an undergraduate often centered on women from around the world, and their active participation in history. My main goal as a historian is to connect the public with history, because what is the point of academia if its findings can’t be shared with the masses? Through my future research I hope to continue this goal I made as an undergraduate student and foster historical engagement with the public.
Who were the Horner sisters?
The Horner sisters were six siblings that lives during the Victorian era (1837-1901) in the British empire. What makes them so intriguing or “Unusual” was their proximity and influence on the scientific circles of the day and their ability to navigate and utilize these networks. Through their father, Leonard Horner, all six sisters obtained an education on a variety of topics and was a part of an impressive network of upper-class women all involved in academics. Though all of the sisters pursued their own special niche, their personal and professional networks expanded the reach and capabilities of their own and their families academic pursuits.
The Horner sisters represent two concepts that are often undervalued by researchers. The central importance that women held/ hold in networking academic circles, and the recognition of “small labor” most often preformed by women. Acknowledging them by their standards and not the standards of ‘great man’ history brings them from the shadows into the .
Check out the full paper published in History Matters: An Undergraduate Journal published at Appalachian State University in the spring 2021 issue. Below is Rebecca’s 2021 Sterne-Lion presentation on her paper.
Transcript of video dialogue below
My name is Rebecca Phoenix, and this is my presentation for the Sterne-Lion Colloquium, which is COVID friendly and online. My area of focus was on Victorian women in networking, and I specifically focused on the six Horner sisters. Thank you for the history Department and the UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunity) program for funding this research, and also my advisor, Doctor Ash and Doctor Richmond from the History department for, you know, advising me and keeping me on track. Special thanks to Edinburgh University, Rice University, The Kinnordy Estate, and the British Institute of Florence for either having materials already online or sending me materials. I would have preferred to travel to Scotland and Texas, but COVID safety comes first.
The main focus of my research was investigating how what are sisters in Victorian women use their networking capabilities to not only influence their own research, but the research of the men in their lives and redefine what important labor means. Oftentimes we as historians and academics place a lot of value on being the first to do something, or the great man behind the discovery or academic contribution, but there are so many other roles along the way that would, without them, these contributions would not have been possible.
So some background. The 6 sisters were all daughters of Leonard Horner, who was one of the leading geologists. What makes them so unusual was that they sat at a perfect cross section between class and academic privilege. They were able to receive education, equivalent of their male peers and received encouragement, from their father who not only encourage them to seek out knowledge, but also encourage them to use that knowledge.
All of the sisters except for Mary have published under her own name. This was in part because Leonard needed research assistants, but also because he wanted his daughters to be able to pursue a full life. Letters indicate that he not only was encouraging, but he also encouraged the four women who married husbands to continue to allow them and provide space for these women to pursue their studies. The sisters that did marry didn’t marry until their 30s, which was older than the average age of marriage at the time, and these women also married into some of the top men of those fields. Those fields also reflected their own personal interests, all except for Catherine.
Have you ever heard of Charles Lyell? Mary Lyell was his wife and her ability, to be his eyes as he went blind, as well as her translating skills which were used by Darwin and her conchology research was all rolled into his principles of geology books which are still referenced in today’s geological course. This is the effect that these women had on the men in their lives. Also, as the paper explores is related to their networking abilities. The paper, due to time and COVID restrictions, only focuses on three out of the six sisters. However, Leonora, Susan and Katherine had significant effects on the networks they worked in.
Leonora, in her marriage to George Heinrich Hertz, who was the Royal German historian and working on finishing the Monumenta Germaniae Historica, which was the big book of German history for the time. She was able to use family connections to get him into private archives and libraries in London; and then after they were married and she looked to Germany, she was able to connect Charles Lyell, her brother-in-law and Mary’s husband, with German geologists that he had not previously had access to. These women acted as nodes for the men in their lives, but also for themselves.
Susan was able to use her father’s network of associates in Florence and expand that to gain her access to different Italian art sites, libraries and archives. It put her in touch with a lot of academics and a lot of practicing artists so that she could do research on things like Italian, Italian and Egyptian vases. And with her sister Joanna write one of the most popular Florentine travel books at the time. These women contributions were often discredited, or they were erased from the intellectual ideas that circulated in these networks.
One example can be seen in Katherine who, even after becoming a celebrated botanist for her book on the distribution of Ferns, was still erased from a subscription effort to save one of her fellow scientist’s homes from foreclosure. Because that man would have not liked to be beholden or be helped by a woman, he would only accept the money if it had come from Charles Darwin. Darwin himself took credit for the subscription effort. Now, the point is not to say that all women are the origin of men’s ideas or that, these men did come up with some original ideas however, Victorian intellectualism would not be what it was without women working alongside these men for no little to no pay, and certainly no credit. I think we, as historians, really need to reevaluate how we assign value to labor. All labor is important. Even what we consider small labor.
Thank you for watching my presentation for this Sterne-Lion Colloquium and thank you to Wayne State for giving me this platform. If you have any questions or comments or want talk about the Horner sisters more, please comment down below. I’ll try to get to as many as I can. Have a great day!
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Translating historical research for public audiences