Nothing Daunted captures what the lives of Dorthy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood were like during their nine months in Elkhead, Colorado. However, the lives of Dorthy and Rosamond during their stay in Elkhead were not typical of middle and upperclass women during their time period. “The New Women had an enhanced sense of self, gender and mission,” characteristics that both Dorthy and Rosamond possessed.i It is true that Dorthy and Rosamond enjoyed privileges and were sheltered from many of the problems women faced during that time. Where those two women came from that was not what made them exceptional examples; what they chose to do with their lives made them examples of what a “New Women” was. The women of the late 1890 to early 1900s sought more independence, education and wished to make contribution to society that extended past the home.ii Dorthy and Rosamond were well educated women, attending Smith College and a finishing school in Paris.iii They also obtained less traditional education. Prior to the journey to Elkhead Dorthy and Rosamond lived a pampered life. …show more content…
The wealth of their parents financed their life in Elkhead. That wealth payed for their rent, a rent payment that not only sustained the two women but improved the lives of their host family, the Harrisons. A “New Women” cannot be judged by their origins or means, but must be judged by what she is able to accomplish with those means. Dorthy and Rosamond sacrificed a potentially leisurely life for a more arduous life educating children in the Western United States. Dorthy and Rosamond were “missionaries” for not only the Woodruff and Underwood families but the community of Auburn, New York.xii They utilized their connections with wealthy men and women in the Eastern United States to improve the lives (i.e. much needed winter clothing) of the citizens of