The Mysterious Case of the "Girl Spy" - Elizabeth DeWolfe, 17 November | Event in Portland | AllEvents

The Mysterious Case of the "Girl Spy" - Elizabeth DeWolfe

UNE Center for Global Humanities

Highlights

Mon, 17 Nov, 2025 at 06:00 pm

1.3 hours

UNE Center for Global Humanities

Advertisement

Date & Location

Mon, 17 Nov, 2025 at 06:00 pm to 07:15 pm (EST)

UNE Center for Global Humanities

716 Stevens Ave, Portland, Maine, United States

Save location for easier access

Only get lost while having fun, not on the road!

About the event

The Mysterious Case of the "Girl Spy" - Elizabeth DeWolfe
Free and open to the public. There will be a reception with food and drinks at 5 P.M.

Lecture Description
In 1894, Jane Armstrong Tucker escaped the cold Maine winter for a secret mission in Washington, D.C.: undercover detective for a US congressman seeking dirt on his former mistress. When she arrived in the warm southern sunshine, Jane became Agnes Parker, “girl spy,” and after completing her amazing task, disappeared from history—so well-hidden that her later book on her undercover exploits was deemed fiction, no historian wrote a word about her, and the archive holding her family papers had no idea of Jane’s secret life.

In this lecture we’ll follow Jane Tucker to Washington and eavesdrop on her ten-week faux friendship with Madeleine Pollard, the congressman’s mistress who had sued him for breach of promise when he failed to marry her as pledged. Jane was clever and used techniques to extract Pollard’s secrets no male detective had attempted: shopping for underwear, offering fake stories of seduction, and whisking up vinaigrette. Despite her successes, Victorian propriety and a fickle reading public buried Jane’s adventure. The story of uncovering Jane Tucker is as much a detective tale as Agnes Parker’s Washington mission, illustrating how historical stories, particularly about women, get lost and how, and why, historians work to find them once again.

Speaker Biography
Elizabeth DeWolfe is professor of History and co-founder of the Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies program at the University of New England where she teaches undergraduate courses in women’s history, American culture, and archival research. Her research in American women’s history has focused on ordinary women’s lives upended by extraordinary circumstances. Her 2025 book, Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of a Gilded Age Spy, reveals the previously untold story of Jane Armstrong Tucker, alias Agnes Parker, a stenographer who undertook a secret mission as an undercover detective. DeWolfe’s previous work includes the award-winning books The Murder of Mary Bean and Other Stories, about the unfortunate death of a New England textile operative, and Shaking the Faith: Women, Family, and Mary Marshall Dyer’s Anti-Shaker Campaign, about the lengths to which an antebellum woman would go to regain custody of her children and assert the “just rights of women.”

Address
716 Stevens Avenue
Portland, ME 04092
United States

https://www.une.edu/events/2025/mysterious-case-girl-spy


You may also like the following events from UNE Center for Global Humanities:

Also check out other Trips & Adventurous Activities in Portland.

interested
Stay in the loop for updates and never miss a thing. Are you interested?
Yes
No

Ticket Info

To stay informed about ticket information or to know if tickets are not required, click the 'Notify me' button below.

Advertisement

Nearby Hotels

UNE Center for Global Humanities, 716 Stevens Ave,Portland, Maine, United States

Just a heads up!

We have gathered all the information for you in one convenient spot, but please keep in mind that these are subject to change. We do our best to keep everything updated, but something might be out of sync. For the latest updates, always check the official event details by clicking the "Find Tickets" button.

Get updates and reminders

Host Details

UNE Center for Global Humanities

UNE Center for Global Humanities

Are you the host? Claim Event

Advertisement
The Mysterious Case of the "Girl Spy" - Elizabeth DeWolfe, 17 November | Event in Portland | AllEvents
The Mysterious Case of the "Girl Spy" - Elizabeth DeWolfe
Mon, 17 Nov, 2025 at 06:00 pm