Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children
Page 32
My agent, Luke Janklow, and his father, Morton Janklow, with their immediate enthusiasm for the idea gave me confidence to get right to work. Luke's quick mind, sensitivity to tone and content, and terrific humor put me at ease throughout the project, knowing I have been in nothing but the best of hands. Bill Thomas of Doubleday and Katie Hall have provided me with terrific suggestions and valuable improvements to the manuscript.
I thank my husband, Tim, for his endless enthusiasm and help with everything, from making it possible for me to work on the book in the evenings and on Saturdays, to his experienced understanding and encouragement of creativity. My children, Ingram, Nathaniel, and Luke (who only made his presence known as the work neared its end), kept me hopping and by their energetic presence constantly reminded me of why this book was a worthwhile undertaking. Perhaps most importantly for the work, they made it possible for me to understand the letters from the perspective of a parent.
To my own parents, Rosalee and David McCullough, all of the gratitude in the world is not enough. Their encouragement, good sense, advice, judgment, and experience have guided me in everything. In working on this book I came to appreciate and respect, more fully than ever, all they know, all they have done, and all they do.
PHOTO CREDITS
Chapter 1: Continuity
William Henry Seward to William Henry Seward, Jr.: Rare Book and Special Collections, Rush Rhees Library, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Chapter 2: The Developing Mind
Alexander Graham Bell and family: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Lincoln Steffens and son Pete, ca. 1931. Photograph by Edward Weston. © 1981, Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents. Tucson, AZ
Chapter 3: Love
Alfred Thayer Mahan to Helen Evans Mahan: Naval War College, Newport, RI
Chapter 4: Good Work
Eugene O'Neill and Eugene O'Neill, Jr.: Charles E. Shain Library, Special Collections, Connecticut College, New London, CT
Laura Ingalls Wilder: Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch, IA
John D. Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.: Photograph by George Bain, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Chapter 5: Struggle
Woody Guthrie and family: Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives, New York, NY
General John J. Pershing and Warren: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
John Steinbeck, John Steinbeck IV, and President Lyndon B. Johnson: Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, Austin, TX
Chapter 6: Strength of Character
Yolanda DuBois: W. E. B. DuBois Library, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Theodore Roosevelt: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
John O'Hara and Wylie O'Hara: Collection of Wylie O'Hara Doughty
Chapter 7: The Pleasures of Life
William James and daughter Margaret: Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Mark Twain and family: Mark Twain House, Hartford, CT
Chapter 8: Brace-Up
F. Scott Fitzgerald and daughter Scottie: Courtesy Matthew J. Bruccoli
Jack London and daughter Joan: JLP 458, Album 20, #08445, Jack London Collection, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. Published with permission
Thomas Edison and Thomas Edison, Jr.: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Chapter 9: A Place in Time
Harry S. Truman to Margaret Truman: Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, Independence, MO
Chapter 10: Loss
Rosetta Douglass: Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Washington, D.C.
Woodrow Wilson and family: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Chapter 11: Aging
Frederick Law Olmsted: Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, Brookline, MA
Frederick Law Olmsted to John Olmsted: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Chapter 12: Rules to Live By
Anne Bradstreet to Simon Bradstreet: Works of Anne Bradstreet, John Howard Ellis, ed. Peter Smith Publisher, Gloucester, MA, 1962
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Posterity : letters of great Americans to their children /
Dorie McCullough Lawson.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. United States—History—Sources. 2. United States—Civilization—Sources. 3. United States—Biography. 4. American letters. I. Lawson, Dorie McCullough.
E173.P77 2004
973—dc22
2003055494
Copyright © 2004 by Dorie McCullough Lawson
All Rights Reserved
eISBN: 978-0-385-51263-3
v3.0_r1
Anne Bradstreet's 1664 letter to her son Simon