In the late 19th century, at a time when women were challenging traditional ideas about gender that excluded them from political and intellectual life, medical and scientific experts drew on notions of female weakness to justify inequality between the sexes.

Artist and writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who was discouraged from pursuing a career to preserve her health, rejected these ideas in a terrifying short story titled “The Yellow Wall-Paper.” The famous tale served as an indictment of the medical profession and the social conventions restricting women’s professional and creative opportunities.

The traveling exhibition and companion website explore a short story that challenged 19th-century notions of female weakness and social conventions that restricted women's professional and creative opportunities. During a time when women were challenging traditional ideas about gender that excluded them from political and intellectual life, artist and writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman rejected these ideas in a short story titled "The Yellow Wall-Paper.”

The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "The Yellow Wall-Paper" will be on view at IMSS from January 27th - March 8th.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman became an influential advocate for women’s rights and prolific author. She published her pioneering book, “Women and Economics” in 1898, in which she urged financial independence and meaningful work for women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman at her desk, ca. 1916-1922 Courtesy Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Harvard University
Like others at the time, Dr S. Weir Mitchell believed that the difference between the sexes meant women were prone to nervous exhaustion when they attempted to exceed their natural limits. When Charlotte Perkins Gilman consulted him during her unhappy marriage, Dr Mitchell prescribed the “rest cure,” which included isolation and rest. Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, ca. 1900; Courtesy National Library of Medicine
Illustration from “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” The New England Magazine, January 1892 Courtesy National Library of Medicine
The National Library of Medicine produced The Literature of Prescription: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” guest curated by historian and educator Manon Parry, PhD (University of Amsterdam) and the companion website.