Before Cottagecore: Girls and Cottages in Nineteenth-Century America

Cottagecore is a current social media movement and aesthetic that celebrates an idealized rural life. But long before TikTok, teenage girls dreamt about living in a cottage of their very own. In this talk, Emily Wells, doctoral candidate in History, will explore nineteenth-century manuscripts written by girls to examine how they thought about cottage life. These girls interacted with a broader cultural movement that romanticized cottages as retreats that protected and nurtured white, female virtue and familial bonds. Some also imagined what it might be like to live in a cottage with only their female friends, isolated from society. Learn the history of this cultural movement and how the cottage has served as both a site of rebellion and social division.

The Emerging Scholars Series is a partnership between the Arts & Sciences Graduate Center at William & Mary and the Williamsburg Regional Library. The series features W&M graduate students in talks hosted by the WRL intended to bring cutting-edge research to the local community.