I am currently a PhD candidate in the History of American Civilization Program at the University of Delaware, and my dissertation uses material culture to tell a history of the maternal body in the British Atlantic world. While the early modern period may seem far removed from today’s legislative and prosecutorial assaults on reproductive rights, we must account for how early modern people thought about reproduction and motherhood to understand our current cultural and political moment. 

Image description: Laura jumps, smiling with her limbs outstretched, on the grounds of the gardens at Hampton Court Palace beneath an overcast sky. The foreground is tan gravel, and there are trees on either side of Laura.