Called by Carrie Chapman Catt "the most original and challenging mind which the (women's) movement produced," Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a philosopher, theoretician, writer, educator and activist. She demanded equal treatment for women as the best means to advance society's progress.

Gilman's landmark work, Women and Economics, was written in 1898. In the book she makes clear that until women learn to be economically independent, true autonomy and equality could not be found. A best-seller, the book was translated into seven languages. Gilman's denunciation of the romanticization of domesticity as a goal for women was revolutionary. Gilman was a much-sought after lecturer, and she continued to write, producing six nonfiction works, eight novels, nearly 200 short stories, hundreds of poems, plays and literally thousands of essays. Gilman was not often directly involved in the social movements of her time. From 1909 to 1916, she wrote much of and published The Forerunner, a monthly feminist magazine. At the end of her life, she wrote The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: An Autobiography.

Additional Resources:

Lane, Ann J. To Herland and beyond: the life and work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman New York: Pantheon Books, c1990. NOTES: Incluces index. Bibliography: p. 384-398.

Edited by Sheryl L. Meyering. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: the woman and her work. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, c1989. NOTES: "Challenging the literary canon" series. Includes bibliographies and index.

Scharnhorst, Gary. Charlotte Perkins Gilman Boston: Twayne Publishers, c1985. NOTES: "Twayne's United States authors series." TUSAS 482. Includes index. Bibliography: p. 134-138.

"The Yellow Wallpaper." New England Magazine. 5 (1892): 647-56.

In this Our World. Oakland: McCombs & Vaughn, 1893.

Women and Economics. Boston: Small, Maynard &Co., 1898.

Concerning Children. London: G.P. Putnam's Sons; Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1900.

The Man-Made World. New York: Charlton Co., 1911.

His Religion and Hers. New York and London: Century Co., 1923.

The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: An Autobiography. New York and London: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1935.

Edited by: Denise D. Knight. The Abridged Diaries of Charlotte Perkins Gilman Virginia U.P., 1998. 2 volumes.

Papers 1846-1961, ca. 12 ft. Radcliffe College, The Arthur & Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. Cambridge, Massachusettes.

Correspondence 1879-1890, 1 in. Rhode Island Historical Society Library. Providence, Rhode Island.