The Anne Bradstreet Archive

. . . while claiming to cover literacy in "orthodox New England," gets the facts wrong about the education of girls, and frankly, the importance of Bradstreet's London-published book to the colony. There is only one reference to Bradstreet in the entire 491 page text, which incorrectly labels her as a "devout Congregationalist," an inaccurate appositive as she openly questioned her faith in her letter, "To my Dear Children," and whose poetry is decidedly unreligious. Monaghan also dishes out the tired contention and typical feminist complaint, that "the colonists were part of a culture that consistently undervalued women's intellectual ability, . . . Moreover, the English model from which immigrants derived their ideas of schools precluded the admission of girls. Town-funded schools in England, whether they were petty schools or grammar schools, never included girls." As my research will show, not only were females educated, they were clearly relied on as dame or petty school teachers. (12)