On "A Midwife's Tale": Analysis of Plot and Historical Method

Laurel Ulrich’s work, A Midwife’s Tale, was regarded at the time of its publication as a groundbreaking achievement in American social history, and it has stood the test of time, as it is still lauded and part of historical scholarship today. The work focuses on the extensive diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife who was born in Massachusetts in 1735 and experienced the rapidly changing environment that was eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century America. It is remarkable to generally consider the historical events and forces that occurred during her lifetime and how they reverberated throughout society- the American Revolution, the westward-expanding frontier, et cetera. She began her diary in 1785 at the age of fifty, and continued it faithfully until just before her death in 1812. Ulrich acknowledges early on the gravitas of the fact that the diary survived to see the present, as well as establishing that a great deal can be explicated and divulged from it about early American life. Its existence was known by scholars for some time, but the ramifications of its contents were not adequately explored. Central to the thesis of Ulrich’s work is an extensive discussion of just what a treasure trove of historical insight this document provides; the most rudimentary quandaries as to why Martha Ballard decided to keep this diary and how she chronicles her experiences set the stage for a compelling, thorough, and fresh investigation of the medical profession, gender roles, sexual mores, social and familial structures, and most importantly, how people in this era dealt with the crises of their lives.
It must be established that A Midwife’s Tale is a masterful work. It is only with vast historical expertise of early America borne in elegant prose that this work is so powerful. She creates a narrative that is grounded in the empirical methodology, drawing from not only Ballard’s diary, but an array of historical sources; however, she does not simply translate and