Theme Dossier: Putting Images to Work – Gender and the Visual Archive

 

The thematic dossier “Putting Images to Work – Gender and the Visual Archive,” edited by Christina Benninghaus and Mary Jo Maynes, presents the work of historians who use visual sources to explore gender. This work was first discussed at the 2023 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. The authors draw on a variety of visual sources (including book illustrations, posters, photographs, and comics) to examine gender history in different places and at different times. Our goal is to explore how historical actors used images in their engagement with gender and how we as historians can incorporate these images into our analyses of gender history.

 

Contributions to the theme dossier “Putting Images to Work – Gender and the Visual Archive,” edited by Christina Benninghaus and Mary Jo Maynes:

 

 

Christina Benninghaus and Mary Jo Maynes: Introduction. Putting Images to Work: Constructing, Complicating and Subverting Gender, in: Visual History, 06.10.2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emily Bruce: Ambiguous Representations of Gender in Late-Eighteenth and Early-Nineteenth Century Illustrations in German Children’s Literature, in: Visual History, 13.10.2025

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth A. Wood: Gendered Bodies on Soviet Posters, 1917-1924. The Visual Representation of Backwardness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming soon

Amy Mooney: Customs and Declarations: Research Strategies for Uncovering the Hidden History of a Black Woman Photographer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christina Benninghaus: Celebrating Female Agency: Illustrations in early 20th Century Medical Advice Books for Women

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Jo Maynes: Gender Battles in Women’s Comics of the Second-Wave Feminist Era