SAGE LAUNA

Encyclopedia associated with the Great Plains

David J. Wishart, Editor

MAIL-ORDER BRIDES

The word “mail-order bride,” since it relates to a wedding arranged via communication between US women and men into the Great Plains within the nineteenth century, is mostly a misnomer. Twentieth-century folklore has it that a homesteader could peruse the Sears and Roebuck or Montgomery Ward catalogs and purchase a spouse become sent to his dusty doorstep just like effortlessly as he could purchase a rifle, kitchen kitchen stove, or belly remedy, but you much more interesting. Arranged long-distance wedding existed when you look at the Plains in a variety of communities, took a number of types, and expanded away from a number of social, financial, and social phenomena, but never ever included the literal purchase, purchase, or ownership of females, due to the fact term “mail-order bride” indicates. Read more