Pop Chart

Name Category 1850-1870 1880-1900 1910-1930 Total
Joan of Arc (more info) Paragon 13 16 9 38
Elizabeth Fry (more info) Philanthropy/Reform 14 14 8 36
Hannah More (more info) Philanthropy/Reform 14 11 1 26
Sarah Martin Philanthropy/Reform 9 11 0 20
Frances Willard Philanthropy/Reform 0 6 9 15
Mary Lyon Philanthropy/Reform 0 6 8 14
Julia Ward Howe Philanthropy/Reform 1 4 7 12
Lucretia Mott Philanthropy/Reform 2 4 5 11
Susan B. Anthony Philanthropy/Reform 1 3 5 9
Mary Carpenter Philanthropy/Reform 1 7 2 10
Angela Burdett-Coutts Philanthropy/Reform 0 5 2 7
Dorothea Dix Philanthropy/Reform 1 4 1 6
Jane Addams Philanthropy/Reform 0 0 5 5
Amalie Sieveking Philanthropy/Reform 1 4 0 5
Florence Nightingale (more info) Nursing Reform 7 11 15 33
Sister Dora (more info) Nursing Reform 0 10 5 15
Clara Barton Nursing Reform 0 5 9 14
Agnes Jones Nursing Reform 1 5 1 7
Queen Victoria (more info) Queens/Rank 4 14 11 29
Lady Jane Grey (more info) Queens/Rank 14 8 5 27
Queen Elizabeth I (more info) Queens/Rank 9 8 6 23
Isabella of Spain Queens/Rank 13 5 4 22
Marie Antoinette Queens/Rank 9 4 7 20
Mary Queen of Scots Queens/Rank 9 4 5 18
Maria Theresa Queens/Rank 9 6 2 17
Martha Washington Queens/Rank 5 8 3 16
Empress Josephine Queens/Rank 7 4 5 16
Catherine II of Russia (“the Great”) Queens/Rank 5 2 6 13
Anne Boleyn Queens/Rank 8 3 1 12
Cleopatra Queens/Rank 3 3 5 11
Mary Washington Queens/Rank 5 6 0 11
Queen Christina of Sweden Queens/Rank 3 5 2 10
Zenobia Queens/Rank 4 3 3 10
Madame de Maintenon Queens/Rank 5 3 1 9
Charlotte, Princess of Wales Queens/Rank 5 3 0 8
Cornelia Queens/Rank 4 3 1 8
Louisa of Prussia Queens/Rank 1 3 4 8
Dolly Madison Queens/Rank 0 3 5 8
Mary, Countess of Warwick Queens/Rank 6 2 0 8
Queen Anne Queens/Rank 2 4 1 7
Empress Eugénie Queens/Rank 2 5 0 7
Madame de Miramion Queens/Rank 2 4 0 6
Princess Alice Queens/Rank 1 4 0 5
Margaret of Anjou Queens/Rank 4 1 0 5
Charlotte Brontë (more info) Literature 8 15 4 27
Louisa May Alcott Literature 0 10 11 21
Harriet Beecher Stowe Literature 3 11 7 21
Elizabeth Barrett Browning Literature 3 8 8 19
Margaret Fuller Literature 4 6 6 16
George Eliot Literature 0 9 3 12
Fanny Burney Literature 4 5 2 11
George Sand Literature 0 6 4 10
Jane Austen Literature 0 4 5 9
Anna Letitia Barbauld Literature 5 4 0 9
Felicia Hemans Literature 4 5 5 9
Sidney Lady Morgan Literature 2 7 0 9
Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke Literature 5 4 0 9
Frances Ridley Havergal Literature 0 8 0 8
Madame de Sévigné Literature 5 2 1 8
Frederika Bremer Literature 3 4 0 7
Maria Edgeworth Literature 1 5 1 7
Jane Welsh Carlyle Literature 0 5 1 6
Lydia Maria Child Literature 2 4 0 6
Mary Russell Mitford Literature 1 5 0 6
Frances Trollope (more info) Literature 0 5 1 6
Emily Brontë Literature 0 5 0 5
Adelaide Procter (more info) Literature 0 5 0 5
Lady Rachel Russell (more info) Role in Revolution 14 7 2 23
Madame de Staël (more info) Role in Revolution 10 9 4 23
Lucy Hutchinson Role in Revolution 13 8 0 21
Madame Roland (more info) Role in Revolution 11 7 3 21
Charlotte Corday Role in Revolution 6 2 3 11
Lady Fanshawe Role in Revolution 5 4 0 9
Lady Grisel Baillie Role in Revolution 4 3 1 8
Madame de Lafayette Role in Revolution 2 5 1 8
Emilie Lavalette Role in Revolution 5 1 0 6
Gertrude von der Wart Role in Revolution 4 1 0 5
Jenny Lind (more info) Arts 2 7 10 19
Rosa Bonheur Arts 2 4 9 15
Harriet Hosmer Arts 3 4 3 10
Sarah Siddons Arts 2 3 5 10
Angelica Kaufman Arts 2 6 1 9
Charlotte Cushman Arts 0 5 2 7
Madame Rachel Arts 1 5 0 7
Elizabeth Smith Arts 5 2 0 7
Fanny Mendelssohn Arts 0 4 0 4
Pocahontas (more info) Rescue/Adventure/Exhibit 7 6 3 16
Grace Darling (more info) Rescue/Adventure/Exhibit 5 7 3 15
Margaret More Roper Rescue/Adventure/Exhibit 7 4 2 13
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Rescue/Adventure/Exhibit 4 6 1 11
Flora MacDonald Rescue/Adventure/Exhibit 5 2 3 10
Nell Gwyn Rescue/Adventure/Exhibit 4 2 3 9
Lola Montez Rescue/Adventure/Exhibit 0 0 7 7
Laura Bridgman Rescue/Adventure/Exhibit 2 4 0 6
Ninon de l’Enclos Rescue/Adventure/Exhibit 0 0 5 5
Caroline Herschel (more info) Science/Learning 2 10 4 16
Harriet Martineau Science/Learning 2 9 2 13
Mary Somerville (more info) Science/Learning 0 11 2 13
Elizabeth Carter Science/Learning 4 5 0 9
Vittoria Colonna Science/Learning 2 2 4 8
Maria Mitchell Science/Learning 0 6 2 8
Marie Curie Science/Learning 0 0 6 6
Anne Hasseltine Judson (more info) Religious Mission 8 6 0 14
Monica Religious Mission 5 4 1 10
Anne Askew Religious Mission 5 4 0 9
Catherine of Siena Religious Mission 1 4 3 8
Mary Bosanquet Fletcher Religious Mission 3 5 0 8
Madame Guyon Religious Mission 4 3 1 8
Elizabeth Rowe Religious Mission 6 2 0 8
Susannah Wesley Religious Mission 3 5 0 8
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Religious Mission 2 1 4 7
Countess of Huntingdon Religious Mission 5 1 0 6
Elizabeth Burnet Religious Mission 5 0 0 5

Note: The Pop Chart (a feature of the book How to Make It as a Woman) is designed to measure the relative standing of the most popular female subjects 1830-1940. The measure is only relative, but it gives some idea of both the types and the individuals that were regularly featured. It is based on the tables of contents of all non-specialized collective biographies of women published in English during three twenty-year spans, 1850-1870, 1880-1900, 1910-1930, periods of highest publication rates. I selected any collection published during these years that ostensibly was open to any noteworthy female subject--that is, that announced no exclusivity other than being all-female. In some cases collections that specialize by nationality or role were included if they were wide-ranging, for instance "wives" or "good women" across centuries, or Englishwomen of all sorts. The numbers in the chart do not indicate the total of biographical records of a particular subject during these three time periods, of course, because there were many other more specialized collections as well as some single biographies. To include specialized collections of queens, nurses, Scotswomen, or Quakers thus would show that the total rates of appearances for Victoria, Nightingale, MacDonald, Fry, or others were higher during these decades. Some common kinds of heroines are missing from the chart because they usually appear in specialized collections, such as the extremely popular biblical women or the less common fictional or notorious women. Further, the chart omits a variety of women who appear less often in these samples of inclusive collections, because so many individuals surface only once or a few times. To be entered on the chart, a subject had to appear in four or more general collections in at least one period and, with a few exceptions, to appear in more than one period.

A subject's highest number of appearances in general collections in any one of the three periods is highlighted in rose, giving some indication of her rising or falling popularity. Each subject has been assigned a category or type that corresponds to the reason for her renown, though several could be placed in more than one category. The user, then, can see which of these subjects is the most popular queen or philanthropist by consulting the rose-colored highlighting in the "Total" column; thus Queen Victoria is the most commonly represented queen in these samples, and Elizabeth Fry the most commonly represented philanthropist. These categories, condensing a variety of women, give some sense of the customary assortments in these books, and the scores of the leading examples in each category suggest the relative standing of these roles or vocations. A single extraordinary figure can throw off the rankings, of course. Thus, Florence Nightingale brings up the category of Nursing Reform above Philanthrophy/Reform, though most of the nurses were less prominent than the philanthropists. Joan of Arc is an enduring paragon, combining sanctity with the functions of reform, revolution, and adventure (including combat), as well as the historical prominence of the queens and women of rank. To have placed her in Religious Mission would have catapulted that category to the top, misrepresenting the other more perishable models listed there.

The columns may be sorted to help locate subjects alphabetically or in order of popularity, within each period or altogether. The name of each subject is a link to the books in the bibliography in which biographies of that subject appear. Because some of these books were specialized rather than inclusive collections, they were not part of the "Pop Chart" sample. Accordingly, searchers will be able to identify even more biographies of these women than are counted in the Pop Chart.