"'Thee number of childn I have Extracted since I came to Kennebeck I find by written account & other Calculations to be 405,' she wrote on December 31, 1791." Introduction, pg 20

"Her own descriptions demonstrate that her most immediate concern was to make her patients feel better." August 1787, pg 53

"Spinning, like nursing, was a universal female occupation, a 'domestic' duty, integrated into a complex system of neighborly exchange." September 1788, pg 77

"The two institutions that dominated his thinking, the court and the church, had one thing in common, however: they were both ritualized structures set apart from everyday life." October 1789, pg 111

"Martha's diary supports the notion that children chose their own spouses; there is no evidence of parental negotiation, and little hint of parental supervision in any of the courtships she describes." November 1792, pg 139

"In medical terms the success of Martha Ballard's practice is conveyed in what she didn't write." December 1793, pg...