In this talk I contrast the careers of late seventeenth-/mid-eighteenth-century mathematical authors Guillaume de L'Hôpital (1661-1704), Emilie du Châtelet (1706-1749), and Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799). My basic aim is to assess the impact of social factors such as class, gender, and economic status on contemporary perceptions of mathematical talent and originality. I will recount my recent attempts to do so through a material approach--that is, through a close inspection of the physical features of relevant primary sources.