| Sumario: | Established by King Carlos III in 1787, the Junta de Damas de Honor y Mérito is the oldest feminine, secular, philanthropic association in Spain. During the early decades of its existence, the Junta de Damas instituted a series of innovative reforms and scientific experiments as they ran Madrid's foundling hospital, women's prison, and schools for impoverished women and children. Society Women and Enlightened Charity in Spain presents the Junta de Damas as an important, understudied chapter in the history of women's accession to the public sphere, both in Spain and in the wider context of the Enlightenment. An interdisciplinary collaboration between historians and literary scholars in Spain and the United States, this collection provides the first book-length, comprehensive study of the early years of the Junta de Damas. It makes available for the first time in English a holistic account of the early decades of the organization, from its creation in 1787, through the Napoleonic invasion in 1808 and the traumatic years of the Peninsular War, until 1823, when King Felipe VII reestablished absolutism in Spain. In thirteen essays, alongside additional contextual materials, the book situates the Junta de Damas within modern feminist discourses that arose during the Enlightenment and considers its legacy to feminist thought and benevolence in the early liberal era. Biographical sketches highlight the lives of important members of the Junta de Damas, including aristocrats whose portraits were painted by Goya, along with others who dwelled in relative obscurity. Contributors analyze how the Junta de Damas contributed collectively to women's education and helped redefine the spaces of women's charity, as well as how individual members contributed as authors to the Republic of Letters or fashioned portraits that circulated publicly to project the ideal of the enlightened woman. Together, the essays collected in this volume assess the significance of the Junta de Damas as a vital Enlightenment project at the beginning of modern Spanish feminism -- Contracubierta
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