Exploring Gender and Power in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre via History, Literature, and Film

Maura A. Henry earned an AB with high honors in philosophy and history from Smith College and an AM and a PhD in history from Harvard University. At Harvard, she taught in both the History Department and Women's Studies program and served as Assistant Head Tutor in History and Assistant Director of Studies in Women's Studies. Currently, she is Professor of History and Chair of the Critical Social Thought Department at Holyoke Community College and Lecturer in Extension at Harvard Extension School. Her research (on the British Aristocracy, the Grand Tour, and Royal National Lifeboat Institution during the Victorian era) has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University, the Folger Shakespeare Library, Harvard University, the Krupp Foundation, Radcliffe College, and Smith College. She has been awarded numerous teaching awards. Henry has served as a consultant to the Gates Foundation and serves as a consultant for Teachers as Scholars, a nonprofit that offers innovative professional development for K-12 teachers. Committed to making history part of the public discourse, Henry has offered public lectures across the US, UK, and Ireland, and has led study tours to Ireland. She is a Proprietor (and former Trustee) of the Salem Athenaeum, has served in a number of volunteer capacities for Smith College, and serves as a poll warden in her hometown.