Here at Blue Stockings Society we represent a body of students and individuals who have an undying love for the arts, and specifically, the written word. We seek to keep the written word alive and stimulate the population through reading, research, and editing. We participate in community outreach programs to promote and spread the love of literature, learning, and all things novel. Our goal is to feed the imagination and keep the collective interested in a written world.
Bluestockings was originally a term used in the 18th century to represent an intellectual and well educated woman. There was an original literary society called the Blue Stockings Society led by Elizabeth Montagu. Other members of the society included Hester Chapone, Hester Lynch Piozzi, Elizabeth Vesey, Frances Burney, Elizabeth Carter, Harriet Bowdler, Edmund Burke, Sarah Fielding, Samuel Johnson, Frances Pulteney, and Hannah More. Prior to the 18th century Blue Stockings Society, the term was more broadly used to define both men and women. The term began to be used as a snipe to stereotype women and to imply they were dowdy.
Woollen worsted stockings were considered informal dress, unlike fashionable black silk stockings. It is an attempt at dressing down and making the women frumpy when referring to them as lowly ‘blue stockings’.