The first bluestockings... It was in the 18th century that the term "bluestocking" was first used widely by educated women, and by men to rebuke those women for neglecting ladylike pursuits to pursue thinking and learning alongside men. Legend attributes the term of "bluestocking" to the attire of one gentleman scholar who frequented the company of intellectually curious women. Not being wealthy enough to afford the fashionable black silk stockings of the day, the man wore plain blue-worsted stockings. The members of the discussion group, hoping to encourage his return, took to dressing in this more "casual" style as well.

Despite the legend, literary-minded women were called "bas bleu" (blue stocking) in France at least 100 years earlier. Still, it was the 18th century English women who broadened the term to mean something more than a woman who read the works of men. Modeling their gatherings after the French literary salons, the conversations of English bluestockings went beyond literature to encompass art, architecture, travel, politics, and the writing and accomplishments of other women.