Women, Catholicism and Nation: Writings about the Past by Amateur or Semi-Professional Spanish Women Historians (1880-1936)

Abstract

In late 19th and early 20th century Spain, as in most of the rest of the world, women were marginalised and relegated, whether by law or via informal mechanisms, to the edges of the profession of historian. Adapting to this situation, many women directed their research to subjects considered irrelevant according to the professional canon. The main goal of this article is to analyse the work of Spanish women of Catholic and conservative tendencies who wrote about the past, to outline the subjects they chose to explore and to identify the aims of their work. This analysis focuses specifically on those who neither received formal training as historians nor obtained recognition as such through appointment to chairs at universities or other posts as historians in academic institutions, and who can therefore be considered amateur or semi-professional historians.