GENDERED PERCEPTIONS OF FATHER INVOLVEMENT IN EARLY-20TH-CENTURY AMERICA

In this article, we content analyze 256 letters written between 1925 a nd 1939 by middle-class fathers and mothers to nationally known educat or and author Angelo Patri (1876-1965) to illustrate the degree to whi ch perceptions of father involvement in the 1920s and 1930s varied acc ording to the gender of the perceiver. The analysts points to the need for historical research that acknowledges men's ''memories'' and ''vo ices,'' and suggests that the difference in father involvement over th e course of the 20th century, while noteworthy, is not as sharp as som e suppose.