Enchanted Lives, Enchanted Objects American Women Collectors and the Making of Culture, 1800–1940

Reviews

“A valuable addition to our belated understanding of the crucial role that women played outside the studio and inside the museum.”—Robert Moeller Artnet Magazine

“Macleod’s impressive grasp of the complexities of collecting brings to life the idea of the female collector and the limitless horizons that collecting embodied as an expression of personal identity and female agency. . . . Essential.”—Choice: Current Reviews For Academic Libraries

“Macleod deftly demonstrates that collecting art served these women as a catalyst for fostering self-awareness, independence, and engagement with the public sphere.”—Journal Of American History

“The work is a welcome addition to the literature on collecting. It should prompt spirited discussion.”—Bruce A. Austin New York-Pennsylvania Collector

“Macleod brilliantly explicates an astonishing amount of information to historicize the collecting practices and societal contributions of over three dozen wealthy American women. . . . Macleod deftly corrects the unfortunate stereotype of female collectors as superficial consumers of frivolous objects and illustrates how these wealthy women refused to succumb to the narrow roles drawn for them by the patriarchal order. . . . An impressive piece of scholarship on the gendered and heterogeneous nature of collecting. . . . Her richly textured narrative will be of interest to scholars concerned with material culture and consumption, art history, American studies, and gender studies.”—American Historical Review