Joan Kelly Writer

Joan Kelly (March 29, 1928 – August 15, 1982) was a prominent American historian who wrote on the Italian Renaissance, specifically on Leon Battista Alberti. She earned a PhD at Columbia University in 1963 and served as a lecturer, then as an assistant, associate, and full professor of history at the City College of New York of the City University of New York from 1956 until her death from cancer in 1982. Among her best known works is the article "Did Women Have a Renaissance?" which was published in 1977. The article challenged the contemporary historiography of the Renaissance, arguing that women's power and agency declined during the early modern period.Kelly was married to Eugene Gadol until 1972 and to Martin Fleischer from 1979 until her death.