ABSTRACT
Examination of the spiritual autobiographies of nineteenth-century working women demonstrates clearly that they were patterned on this old, Puritan form. One must be cautious, however, in equating these autobiographies with the actual situation within the lives of working women of the period, since there are doubts about the general application of works which were both subjective in form and limited in number. The voices of working women continued to be heard as the century progressed. They began to be viewed by nineteenth-century society as representative members of an increasingly literate group as they negotiated the space made for them by the spiritual autobiographers early in the century. Nineteenth-century working women’s autobiographies changed in certain notable ways as the century progressed. Examples of the genre from the early years of the nineteenth century are influenced by Puritan spirituality and confessional testimonies.
