Laurel Ulrich: An Arnold Historian Through and Through

Michael Slattery

Making History
Dr. Prevost
September 7, 2014
Midwife’s Tale is the story of a late eighteenth century midwife living on the frontier in Maine, retold by a historian named Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. She uses the diary of the midwife, Martha Ballard, to tell a story in a way that John Arnold would approve of. Ulrich investigates the diary and events of the period in which the writing was done to recreate Martha’s story. Ulrich is also part of a movement in her time to bring women’s history in the 1700’s to light. Her hard work brings about stories that were hardly even thought of or heard. Also, the stories she brings to life are put out in ways that non-historian people can see and understand. She is a historian in every way that Arnold says in his book History: A Short Introduction.
Arnold believes history is an investigation and the entire story of Martha Ballard is created through investigation. In order for as much historical information to be found as is possible, a historian cannot only look at whatever they have in front of them. They must dig deeper and find connecting facts and information to tell the whole story. This historian first has to translate the diary into modern English. To do this she has to decrypt the writing in the actual diary that is written in cursive and crammed to fill each page with as much information as possible. This is seen when the documentary shows Ulrich going through sheets of paper that have each line or part of the diary separated out in print so she may go back and find patterns in the writings and then investigate the meanings behind the pattern. One of these patterns was the Scarlett Fever epidemic. Martha writes over and over that she has been called and stays overnight to take care of many people who have similar rashes and symptoms. Previous historians who looked at the diary missed out on this because they did not take the time to investigate deep enough into the cramped writing before giving up. Another even where investigation sheds light on something written is when Martha writes that one of her daughters has turned 18. It is seemingly unimportant but the sentence is included right after she states that a mill belonging to her husband was on fire. Intrigued by this fact, Ulrich investigates and finds out that there had been an epidemic in 1769 that claimed the lives of five of Martha’s children. This type of investigation into history aligns with chapters four and five. Especially chapter five where Arnold talks about how wider questions can be asked about society from records.
The next way that Ulrich proves to be an Arnold historian is her choice to look at the Ballard diary. The involvement of women in history prior to the twentieth century is seen mostly as small and insignificant. When Ulrich first goes to look at the diary others scoff at her and tell her that nothing will come of her work. She is not disheartened by this and continues her work. This goes along with Arnold’s view that history changes alongside societal changes from when the