The Narrative Continues: An Overview of Recent Historiography of Women Religious

Abstract:In 2004, Carol K. Coburn published an essay in U.S. Catholic Historian on the historiography of women religious. Building upon Coburn’s work, this essay continues that conversation and discusses representative monographs and articles published since 2004. The scholarship is divided into several areas. “Beginning at the Beginning” considers books and essays that focus on women religious during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. “The Face of Catholicism” examines scholarship on sisters’ ministries in education, health care, and social service, as well as their more recent work in the civil rights movement and as missionaries and environmental activists. “Catholic Sisters and Race” considers recent scholarship on Black women religious, with a special focus on Shannen Dee Williams’s Subversive Habits. The essay concludes by suggesting areas where future work is needed.