What Would You Ask Eleanor Roosevelt If Given the Chance?

My latest project involves the World War II era--particularly what was going on at the home front.  It seems to me that the battles of the war have been studied to no end, but not a lot has been written on the home front and all of the incredible organizations that were developed by those left at home--principally women.

In order to do justice to the subject, I thought it would be important and interesting to submerge myself into that time period by reading periodicals and books actually reporting on the war (I even purchased a cd with old radio programs from WWII, which have been interesting in a propaganda-ish sort of way).
Thus, my weekends and weeknights have been spent reading periodicals and books from the 1940s.  Perhaps through serendipity, my parents happened to have a TON of National Geographic magazines from the 1939-1944 period, so I have been working my way through them (the ones on the right have been read, the ones on the left will be):

I love the picture below-- women delighted to volunteer for the Red Cross, and a group of enlisted men far from home and very happy to see them.  These Red Cross volunteers had just arrived in Britain at the time this photo was taken.

Besides National Geographics, I've been buying magazines at some of the flea markets near my apartment.  I bought a few Reader's Digests from the 1940s, which give a nice sampling of magazine articles, books, and all manner of reading material that was published during that time.

The red Reader's Digest on the bottom right has one of Eleanor Roosevelt's columns, "If You Ask Me," which I thought would have been pretty interesting.  But, then I read the first question: "Does your husband notice a new dress or hat when you wear one, or is he like so many other men who never see a wife's new clothes?"

If you must know the answer, Eleanor responded: "I think my husband is too preoccupied, usually, to notice my clothes, but sometimes he will look up and say he likes something I have been wearing for two or three years!"

Another question: "Do you think women have as much sense of humor as men?"

I don't understand why anyone would ask the First Lady such questions.  But, it does seem that my magazine reading is paying off, since I am able to see what a different time it was, and be able to incorporate that into my writing.

A final source that I have been working through is this box of 200+ letters, between a husband and wife, who had lived in Staten Island, New York, before the husband was drafted into the air force:

During World War II, there was concern that letters could fall into enemy hands, so letters from servicemen were censored.  This is apparent, as the husband's letters include few details about his experience, where he was (he could say what country, but that's about it), or what he was doing (or how much danger he was in).  But, his letters are really heartwarming, and you can feel how much he loved his wife and son and how much he missed them by reading his words.  To give you an example, here are a couple excerpts that you can read:

It reads:  Betty Darling a short letter to let you know I am well and thinking of you and Vic and to keep you from worrying too much about me.  I hope this letter finds you both in the best of health and happy.

The end of the letter:

It reads:

Betty Dear I see you so many times in my dreams waiting at the door for me to come home for dinner or supper as you used to, or waiting in the sunlight on the porch to get that last goodbye wave in when I was leaving for work.  Honey when those days return that will be heaven enough for me. 

So Sweets with all the love and kisses to you and Vic I will say so long till my next letter.

Your Loving Husband Always,
Vic

Friday's Photo: Fun With Crosswalks

The latest rage in Manhattan--crosswalks with a message.  They're not just stripes anymore....

A substantive post is coming this weekend, so stay tuned!

The Best Tribute

Simple and poignant.  

Lying About Dylan

In case you didn't hear about the latest literary fraud, last week, Jonah Lehrer admitted that he had invented quotes that he attributed to Bob Dylan in his book Imagine: How Creativity Works  Until this literary mischief, he seemed to have a lot going for him--he's a Rhodes scholar, a neuroscientist, and was a staff writer for "The New Yorker."  For whatever reason, he decided his book wouldn't be good enough with manufacturing the quotes he wanted Dylan to have said.

Now, he's resigned from "The New Yorker" and has issued a public apology.  According to the New York Times, Lehrer stated "The lies are over now. . . .  I understand the gravity of my position.  I want to apologize to everyone I have let down, especially my editors and readers."  In my opinion, he should have stopped there.  However, he added: "I will do my best to correct the record and ensure that my misquotations and mistakes are fixed."  Really?  Misquotations?  He makes it sound like he made an innocent mistake, as if the whole thing were a misunderstanding or an innocent accident.

The man who exposed the fraud was a Dylan aficionado, Michael Moynihan; he read Imagine, searched for the source of one of Lehrer's Dylan quotes, and after Lehrer responded to Moynihan's inquiries with several lies, Lehrer ultimately confessed "that he had made it up."  According to Moynihan, "Lehrer had spliced together Dylan quotes from separate published interviews, [and] when the quotes were accurate, he took them well out of context."  Sounds intentional, not a case of mere "misquotation."

An apology from a hoaxer doesn't seem to cut it these days.  Already, Lehrer's publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has announced that it would recall printed copies of Imagine.  If this hoax becomes anything like James Frey's, it wouldn't be surprising if it results in the issuance of refunds to readers who had bought Imagine thinking if was non-fiction, only to find it was not all it is supposed to be.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.  His book sales are likely to dwindle (people tend to be less interested in reading non-fiction when it actually isn't true), and it is unclear if he will be able to salvage his writing career.  

The tradition of the literary hoax is alive and well.  And once again, a hoaxer has fooled his publisher, reviewers, and readers before the hoax was revealed.

Works consulted:
"Jonah Lehrer Resigned From New Yorker After Making Up Dylan Quotes for His Book," by Julie Bosman, New York Times, July 30, 2012 (appearing on Media Decoder Blog).

"Due Diligence on Dylan: Writer Found Fraud in First Chapter," by Christine Kearney, Chicago Tribune, Aug. 1, 2012.

Friday's Photo

I want to try something new for the blog.  Every Friday (or so), I'll post a photo (or more) with little explanation, of something from my daily life.  This week, the Freedom Tower.  I work about 2 blocks from it and have watched it go up slowly for the last couple years. 

Proof is in the Proofing

A few people have asked why the blog has been so quiet, and the main reason is I am in the midst of reviewing the proofs of my book.  This is my last opportunity to make ANY changes before it is actually printed.  The view I've had for much of today has looked something like this:



I like making handwritten edits, so I've printed the book out, and placed it in a binder to keep things orderly.  It's been hard staying focused on editing it instead of just reading it--I keep getting into the story and stop focusing on catching any errors, but things are moving along.  And I think that's all I am going to say about "proofing" for now, since it isn't exactly edge-of-your-seat blogging material.

In related (book) news, the University of Alabama Press has printed its Fall 2012 catalog.  Pretty snazzy cover, eh?

I was excited to find that my book is on page 4:



The Press has a lot of interesting books coming out over the next few months.  I added a bunch to my "books to read" list (the full catalog is available on the Press' website, click here).  For now, though, I better get back to my proofs.

Have a great week!

The Missing Piece

After a month and a half of periodically crawling on the floor, re-checking whether a small piece of wood fell between couch cushions, and refusing to vacuum my apartment out of fear of inadvertently losing a piece of history forever, I have finally retrieved the missing piece to the first jigsaw puzzle made in the United States.

My mother miraculously found this small piece even though I told her it was orange (the only other copy of the puzzle I had found showed an orange Schenectady, see here, but it seems the prototype of the puzzle and the one actually made for sale assigned different colors to many of the puzzle pieces).  My Schenectady piece is green.

Here's the puzzle before the missing piece:

And after:

Just looking at it makes me sigh in relief that it is finally complete!

In anticipation of my trip to upstate New York to visit my family and secure Schenectady, I researched my ancestor, Samuel McCleary, to learn more about who he was.  If I were to try to sum him up, I'd say he was an inquisitive and clever man, who was curious and loved making things.  He moved from one profession to another--perhaps searching for one that suited him best, or merely moving on to a new profession after mastering his last. 

In 1850, he identified himself as a "farmer" for purposes of census records, but it was the year before that he commenced his puzzlemaking undertaking.  Interestingly, his partner in his jigsaw venture, John Pierce, may have been a boarder and laborer on Samuel's farm, for the census records show that a "John Pearce" lived with the McCleary family and his profession was recorded as "laborer."  

The upper left hand corner of the puzzle notes it was created by "McCleary & Pierce"

In any event, Samuel McCleary's first invention, his "Dissecting Map of the State of New York" puzzle (with which you are probably well familiar by now), was actually the very first jigsaw puzzle made in the United States.  Not only did he create the puzzle, but he also invented a new method of cutting jigsaw puzzle pieces.  In the 1840s and 1850s (and beyond), jigsaws were massively popular.  They were first invented in 1760 as an educational tool, and were particularly popular in England.  But, their popularity spread quickly and the familiar pieces were soon scattered across parlors throughout Europe.  Since many who lived in the United States had some connection to England and Europe, puzzles naturally made their way across the Atlantic and were imported into the United States during the early 1800s.  McCleary's was the first jigsaw to be invented and manufactured in the United States, and he set off a wave of American jigsaw makers.  In addition to producing the first American jigsaw puzzle, he also patented his own die-cast method of cutting the pieces in 1849.  Click here to see the patent.

McCleary went on to create a second puzzle, which he also patented.  This second game involved a series of wooden blocks with numbers written on them, which could be assembled so that each row--horizontal, vertical, and diagonal--would add up to the same sum.  I don't think he ever produced this puzzle, but, the idea was patented almost 130 years ago, so it is possible they are out there, but few have survived over the years.  Click here to see the patent. 

It seems McCleary didn't settle on any particular trade.  He went from farmer to puzzle maker to shoemaker to tanner.  As he grew older, he and his wife moved in with their son, Edward McCleary (the Civil War veteran I featured on the blog during the week leading to Memorial Day), and it seems Samuel either delighted or tortured Edward's children with his educational games.  One of my favorite McCleary family relics is this map of New York State, drawn by Edward's daughter, Jennie.  As you can see, she drew each county of New York and labeled them, apparently modeling her map after her grandfather's puzzle:

Jennie McCleary's drawing of the counties of New York State, which appears to be modeled after her grandfather's puzzle

Samuel McCleary went on to live into his late 80s.  In fact, in a letter Edward wrote to a family friend in July 1895, he noted that his father lived with him for nine months out of the year and there was "no need to inquire about his health he is past-88 and a Dynamite Bomb would take no effect on him."  In November 1895, however, Samuel McCleary suddenly passed away after suffering lung problems.  He was buried near his family, in Albany, New York.

While the creation of the first jigsaw puzzle in the United States may pale in comparison to many of the other incredible things that have been invented and produced in America, the jigsaw has proven to be a classic game for all ages.  Even 160 years after the first one was made here, the simple pleasure of an afternoon spent piecing together a puzzle continues to be a favorite pastime for many.

For more information about jigsaws, a great source which I used for some of the background information in this post is Linda Hannas' The Jigsaw Book (which happens to mention that Samuel McCleary and John Pierce created the first American-made jigsaw puzzle).