Illustrated Timeline For The Writing Of Trifles: A One-Act .

Illustratedtimeline forthe writingof Trifles:A One-ActPlayby SusanGlaspellResearch undertakenby dramaturg, playwrightand performer Milbre Burchin 2010.This timeline situates theplaywright and the play's writingwithin the context of the life andtimes of Margaret Hossack, thereal-life Iowa farmwoman whosemurder trial, covered by Glaspellas a reporter for theDes Moines Daily News,inspired her to write the play.

1830’sThe TemperanceMovement became thefirst American reformcampaign to emphasizethe brutality of domesticviolence. Insisting thatdomestic violence was adirect consequence ofalcohol, reformersargued that the survivalof the alcoholic's wifedepended upon herrights to control her ownearnings, gain custodyof her children, and tosecure a divorce, noneof which were an optionfor most women.1839Iowa’s Supreme Courtruling outlaws slavery.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic Violence1843Margaret Murchison,after whom the characterMinnie Wright ismodeled, is born inScotland.1848Seneca Falls Conventiontakes place in New YorkState. The demand forAmerican women’senfranchisement wasfirst seriouslyformulated there.Lucretia Mott (L) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton ( R) whoconvened the meeting in Seneca Falls, New York.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National Women%27s Rights Convention

1848 (con’t)At age five, MargaretMurchison travels to USand settles with herparents and siblings inStark County, IL.1850National Women’sRights Convention inWorcester, MA.1861-1865American Civil War1862Homesteading family traveling by mesteadact/Signed into law byAbraham Lincoln,The Homestead Act of1862 granted an adultman claim to 160 acresof land (single womencould also stake aclaim). The homesteaderhad to live on the farmfor five years andimprove it by building a12’ x14’ dwelling andgrowing crops, thencould file for a deed oftitle to the land free andclear except for a smallregistration fee.1866A fellow Scottishimmigrant, JohnHossack begins workingfor Margaret’s father.BlizzardWoiceske, Ronau William, 1867-1953, ry/iv2.html?parent true

1867In October Hossackpurchases 120 acres ofland and a small housein Warren County, Iowa.It is in SquawTownship, more than 16miles from Indianola,the county seat.By late November orearly December,Margaret realizes she ispregnant by JohnHossack.1868Margaret and Johnmarry in January andshe moves to Iowa withher husband. Except forher brother, Andrew,Margaret will never seeany of her family again.In August she givesbirth to her first son. Shewill eventually havenine children.The family of John and Margaret 69Elizabeth Cady Stanton& Susan B. Anthonyform the NationalWoman SuffrageAssociation to press forsuffrage and propertyrights to marriedwomen. Lucy Stonefounds the AmericanWoman SuffrageAssociation.Daguerreotype of Lucy Stone, circa 1840–1860http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy Stone

1869 (con’t)The Territory ofWyoming becomes thefirst government in theworld to grant “femalesuffrage” by enacting abill granting women theright to vote onDecember 10, 1869.1870’sBy the 1870’s wifebeating is illegal in moststates. With the 1800'scame a variety of legalsanctions for battering,although often theselaws are not cy Stone begins topublish The Women’sJournal. It will remainin publication for 47years.1876On July first, SusanKeating Glaspell is bornin Davenport, Iowa.Susan Glaspell

1879Law scholar NicholasSt. John Green writes:"The cases in theAmerican courts areuniform against the rightof the husband to useany [physical]chastisement, moderateor otherwise, toward thewife, for any purpose."1890The American WomanSuffrage Associationand the NationalWoman SuffrageAssociation merge toform the NationalAmerican WomenSuffrage Association(NAWSA). Known asthe “Equality State,”Wyoming enters theunion becoming the firststate with generalwomen’s its/suffrage/suffrage wy.htmlNew Zealand extendsvote to women.1894Susan Glaspellgraduates from highschool and begins tocover local news andsocial events for theTrident, the DavenportMorning Republic andthe Weekly ory.html

1898Spanish-AmericanWar1900In June, Glaspellgraduates from DrakeUniversity with aBachelor in Philosophydegree and goes to workfor the Des MoinesDaily News. Her beat:the Iowa Statehouse.In the middle of thenight on December first,John Hossack isbludgeoned in bed withthe sharp and dull sidesof an axe. Two dayslater Hossack dies of hisinjuries attended by hisfamily. December fifth,as she is departing herhusband’s funeral,Margaret Hossack isarrested for his murder.From December 3rduntil August 11, 1901,Susan Glaspell files 26stories on the case forDes Moines Daily News.1901On April first MargaretHossack’s trial begins.Ten days later she isconvicted and sentencedto life in Anamosa StatePenitentiary in PolkCounty, Iowa.Court Sketch of Margaret .html

1901 (con’t)Immediately after thetrial ends, SusanGlaspell resigns fromher job and returns hometo Davenport.That summer SusanGlaspell moves toChicago and enrolls ingraduate Englishprogram at theUniversity of Chicago.She publishes a numberof short stories inYouth's Companion, andsees her stories acceptedby Harpers, Leslie's,The American andothers.Susan Glaspellhttp://youthscompanion.com/

1902Australia extends vote towomen.In April, the IowaSupreme Court reversesMargaret Hossack’sconviction and grantsher a new trial. She isreleased from thePenitentiary and returnsto Warren County jail,and thence to the homeof her daughter AnnieHenry, to await her newtrial.Anamosa State Penitentiary(photo taken between tm1903In February MargaretHossack’s second trial ismoved from WarrenCounty to MadisonCounty and results in ahung jury. The Board ofSupervisors of WarrenCounty passes aresolution that it wouldnot further aid in theprosecution, stating itsdesire that the case bedismissed. She does notgo back to court. Herlegal ordeal is over.Warren County Courthouse

1904Susan Glaspell’s shortstory “For Love of theHills” receives the BlackCat prize.1909Susan Glaspell’s firstnovel, The Glory of theConquered, comes out.1911Susan Glaspell publishesher second novel, text05glcnq10.html#1913Militant suffragistsAlice Paul and LucyBurns split fromNAWSA and found theCongressional Union forWoman Suffrage, laternamed the NationalWomen’s Party. Theyuse White House picketsand hunger strikes towin dramatic publicityfor the cause ofwomen’s suffrage.Penn[sylvania] on the picket line (1917)Photographer: Harris & Ewing, Washington, /nwp/

1914Susan Glaspell marriesGeorge Cram “Jig”Cook and they move toGreenwich Village andparticipate in foundingThe Washington SquarePlayers.1914-1918World War One1915Susan Glaspell publishesher third novel, Fidelity.The ProvincetownPlayers begins when agroup of writers andartists vacationing inProvincetown presentplays on July 15th on theveranda of an oceanview cottage.George Cram Cookhttp://www.heniford.net/4321/index.php?n CitationsS.SuppressedDesires-1m2f1916NAWSA presidentCarrie Chapman Cattunveils a blitz campaignthat mobilizes state andlocal suffrageorganization all over thecountry.Suffragist parade ials/conlaw/nineteentham.htm

1916 (con’t)In the late summer of1916, Susan Glaspell,Jig Cook and othersopen the Wharf Theatrein Provincetown, CapeCod, Massachusetts topresent their secondseason of plays.Susan Glaspell writesTrifles in ten days justprior to its productionand premiere at theWharf Theatre.Theatre at Lewis Wharf, Provincetown, history.htmlTrifles opens with SusanGlaspell and Jig Cook asthe leads at theProvincetown PlayhouseAugust 8th.Margaret Hossack diesin Indianola, Iowa onAugust 25th.Performance of Trifles, with Marjorie Vonnegut, ElinorM. Cox, John King, Arthur E. Hohl, and T.W. Gibson,from Washington Square Theatre, Jan. 1917. (From theBilly Rose Theatre Collection, New York Public Libraryat Lincoln aspell/About Glaspell.htm

1916 (con’t)Glaspell invites EugeneO’Neill to join theProvincetown PlayersProject.In the fall, theProvincetown Playersmove to 133 MacDougalStreet in New York Cityand incorporate as thePlaywright’s Theatre,better known as theProvincetownPlayhouse. Theycontinue to produceinnovative plays byAmerican playwrights.Interior of the Provincetown Playhouse in ml1917Susan Glaspell reworksher play Trifles into ashort story, “A Jury ofHer Peers,” published onMarch 5th in EveryWeek magazine andanthologized widelyafter that.Under pressure from thetemperance movement,the United States Senateproposes the EighteenthAmendment onDecember t.asp?y 1917

1919Prohibition is ratified inJanuary 1919 andeffected a year later.1920On August 26th the 19thAmendment to theConstitution, havingbeen passed byCongress, is ratified,granting the ballot toAmerican women.1922Once Eugene O’Neill’splay The Emperor Joneshas given some of theProvincetowners a tastefor Broadway, Glaspelland Cook becomedisappointed by the infighting and ambitiousscheming thatdivides the Players. Thegroup votes to close thetheatre for a year.Glaspell and Cook go toGreece where he diestwo years later.Though the Playhousewill continue tochampion Americanplaywrights, and SusanGlaspell will go on towin a Pulitzer Prize forher play Alison’s Housein 1931, it is the end ofan era.Political suffrage carton that appeared in Judge, March 9,1917http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s suffrage in the United Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provincetown Players

Susan Glaspell reworks her play Trifles into a short story, “A Jury of Her Peers,” published on March 5th in Every Week magazine and anthologized widely after that. Under pressure from the temperance movement, the United States Senate proposes the Eighteenth Amendment on