A Position to Command Respect

The 1910-1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica was advertised as "the high water mark of human knowledge." Its contributors included some of the most notable figures from the late Victorian and Edwardian worlds of scholarship and knowledge. That 34 of the 1,500 contributors were women was widely perceived as signaling a significant breakthrough into the world of learning. The historical moment when these women were trying to claim cultural authority was one in which the role of women was being debated as never before. Many of the women contributors were active participants in the suffrage debate. The book examines public and private aspects of the women contributors' lives and includes short biographies.