Karen Hansen

Karen V. Hansen (born 1955) is an American writer and professor emerita of sociology and women's and gender studies at Brandeis University. Quotes The many types of visiting ranged from pure socializing to communal labor: visitors took afternoon tea, made informal Sunday visits, attended maple sugar parties and cider tastings, stayed for extended visits, offered assistance in giving birth, paid their respects to the family of the deceased, participated in quilting parties, and raised houses and barns. Visits lasted from a brief stopover, or a “call,” to a leisurely afternoon, to a month-long stay. Visitors frequently stayed overnight. The difficulty of travel — particularly in winter, by foot, horse, stage, wagon, or train — created barriers to visiting but did not deter visitors who highly valued their contact with neighbors and kin. It was through visiting, in fact, that they created their communities. A Very Social Time: Crafting Community in Antebellum New England (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), p. 80 External links