It is a great pleasure to thank those who aided this book.
Initial institutional support was provided by the University of Southern California, and I am especially grateful to the Department of English, Dean Beth Meyerowitz, and my USC research assistants: Carolyn Dunn, Ruth Blandon, Lucia Hodgson, and, particularly, Jennifer Stoever-Ackerman. Northeastern University provided much-appreciated research and subvention support. Help with research and proofreading came from an excellent team of research assistants: Allison Rodriguez, Lauren Kuryloski, Tabitha Clark, and, particularly, Brent Griffin, Aleks Galus, and Hania Musiol, who began working on the project even before I arrived in Boston. Department staff members Jean Duddy, Melissa Daigle, and Linda Collins were always helpful. The staff and faculty who helped to found the Northeastern University Humanities Center—Kumarini Silva, Hilary Poriss, Amílcar Antonio Barreto, Jen Sopchochkai, Allison Rodriguez, and Nakeisha Cody—eased the transition from Los Angeles to Boston, as did Deans Bruce Ronkin, Uta Poiger, and, especially, James Stellar. I benefited from the encouragement and friendship of Northeastern president Joseph E. Aoun and Zeina Aoun.
Foundations and libraries provided the release time from teaching and access to archival resources without which this book could not have been written. I thank the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin. I especially thank the Guggenheim Foundation, for the miraculous gift of time free from other obligations. Two residential centers provided invaluable camaraderie and time: the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library and the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research; both are special places. At the Cullman Center, I would especially like to thank the staff and my colleague Sharon Cameron. At the Du Bois Institute, I owe special debts of gratitude to Vera Grant, Krishna Lewis, Tom Wolejko, Donald Yacovone, and Abby Wolf; to Karla F. C. Holloway for bonding over Fannie Hurst; and, most especially, to Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who gives back to other scholars like no one else in academia.
The archives listed under Manuscript Sources were all generous with time and resources. Some librarians went out of their way to help me track difficult sources and obscure illustrations, and I would especially like to thank Melissa Barton, Nancy Kuhl, and the staff at the Beinecke Library; Alice Birney at the Library of Congress; Jennie Cole and the staff at the American Jewish Archives; Nicolette Dobrowski at Syracuse; JoEllen El Bashir at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center; Andrea Felder at the New York Public Library; Marlayna Gates at Yale University; Lois Conley, Yves Hyacinth, and Tricia Reinhart at Northeastern; Donald Glassman and the staff at the Barnard College Archives; William LeFevre at the Reuther Library; Diana Lachatenere, Mary Yearwood, Steven Fullwood, the late André Elizée, Colin Palmer, and the staff at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; David Smith and the staff at the New York Public Library; Thomas Staley, Richard Watson, Richard Workman, and the staff at the Harry Ransom Center; and Anne Woodrum and the staff at Brandeis. Genealogist extraordinaire Chris McKay of the Schomburg Center oriented me to census research and accompanied me to the municipal archives; her skills are remarkable and her enthusiasm is infectious.
Among the many other individuals who provided support and encouragement, I would like to thank Carol Bemis, Dorothy and Leo Braudy, Wini Breines, Amy Cherry, Erin Cramer, Stewart and Kathie Dalzell, Laurie and John Deer, Jeffrey Elmer, Laura Frader, Judy Glass, Laura Green, Kathryn Hayes, Selma Holo, Elsa Jacobson, Clair Kaplan, Emily Kaplan, Coppelia Kahn, Ann Kogen, Lori Lefkovitz, Jane Marcus, Roxanne Davis May, Gabriela Redwine, Dinky Romilly, Susanne Salem Schatz, Doris Shairman, Adam Shatz, David Kaplan Taylor, Tracy Vancura, and Louise Yelin. Three friends passed away before I could thank them, but I want to remember here John Glass, Liz Maguire, and Hazel Rowley, who was always a ready sounding board for my work. In Boston and New York, I encountered a community of biographers and cultural historians notable for their generosity and good spirits, and I am especially thankful to know Debby Applegate, Paul Fisher, Gretchen Gerzina, Charlotte Gordon, Martha Hodes, Megan Marshall, Sue Quinn, Judith Tick, Diane McWhorter, Suzanne Wasserman, and all the women of the Women Writing Women’s Lives Seminar. Special gratitude is due to Rachel Berger, Jo Chaffee, Jessica Douglas, Ryan Hollohan, Gail Reid, Dan Ryan, Peter Tighe, Pete Viteretti, Diane Weisenberg, and, most especially, Mo Sila, who keeps the faith.
Interviewees were unfailingly gracious. For giving their time and answering my many questions, I thank: Carolyn Ashkar, Knoxville College; Frances Biddle, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; Steven Biddle, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and Quakertown, Pennsylvania; Alfred Bredenberg; the late Schuyler Chapin, New York; Lady Bee Coleman, Evanston, Illinois; Phoebe Eaton, Pennsylvania; the late Odessa Franklin, White Pine, Tennessee; Violet Franklin, White Pine, Tennessee; Joanne Rhome Herring, Soldotna, Alaska; Lisa Illia, Las Vegas, Nevada; the Reverend William James, New York City; Britt Juliff, College Station, Texas; the late Walter Juliff, College Station, Texas; Diane Locke, Granbury, Texas; Cody Martin, Granbury, Texas; Barbara Mason, Morristown, Tennessee; Clara Osborne, Morristown, Tennessee; Toby and Barbara Pearson, Morristown, Tennessee; Mary Saltarelli, Granbury, Texas; and Claudia Southern, Granbury, Texas. Special thanks are also owed to Robert Bell of the Cunard estate; Lisa Illia of the Garth estate; and especially to Britt Juliff for so generously sharing photographs, documents, and memories of Josephine Cogdell Schuyler. My debt to Frances and Stephen Biddle for sharing their Charlotte Osgood Mason materials is immense; their friendship was a great gift of this book.
Many Harlem Renaissance scholars were also gracious about answering my questions. I especially thank Emily Bernard, Todd Decker, Jeffrey Ferguson, Clive Fisher, Bruce Kellner, Michelle Patterson, Arnold Rampersad, Kathryn Talalay, and Carolyn Wedin.
I benefited from the opportunity to share work-in-progress with undergraduate and graduate classes at Northeastern University and with audiences at the American Literature Association, the American Studies Association, the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Modernist Studies Association, the New York Public Library, Northwestern University, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Stanford University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, Vanderbilt University, and the Women Writing Women’s Lives Seminar, New York City.
Profound gratitude goes to those who read portions of the manuscript or the proposal in draft: Joseph Allen Boone, Alice Echols, Lynn Enterline, Karla Holloway, Amy Kaplan, Bernard and Rosalyn Kaplan (great readers who taught me to value books and ideas), Elaine McArdle, Marilyn Neimark, Carla Peterson, Necee Regis, Ramón Saldivar, Alisa Solomon, Tracy Vancura, and Suzanna Danuta Walters. My writing group was instrumental in helping me give narrative shape to a mountain of material, and I thank Carol Bundy, Kathleen Dalton, Carol Oja, and, especially, Susan Ware—who read the entire manuscript and many of the chapters more than once; I was fortunate to have her discerning eye and support.
The HarperCollins editorial and production teams are stellar. Their commitment to books and the importance of cultural history runs deep. My appreciation goes to Lynn Anderson, Leigh Brumesch, and the meticulous Susan Gamer. Special thanks go to my publicist Jane Beirn and to Maya Ziv (my Wemberly). The permissions work for the illustrations, as well as obtaining high-resolution copies, was handled with professionalism and good humor by the wondrous Neil Giordano, who never said no.
I am especially fortunate in my agent, Brettne Bloom, and my editor, Gail Winston, great readers and astute critics. Both believed in this project from the first, and I treasure their friendship and suggestions. They were exceptionally generous with their time, loyalty, and feedback; both were sensitive to the difficulties of group biography and insightful about strategies for drawing together a group of women who resisted definition. They read many drafts and pushed this to be a better book. I could not ask for a better agent or a better editor.
I am one lucky writer.
My greatest debt is to my husband, Steve Larsen, the most eclectic reader I know and the most generous partner I could imagine for a writer. From building bookcases to mulling over titles to reading and commenting on every chapter (in almost every draft), Steve’s keen eye, Norwegian understatement, and steadfast encouragement have been invaluable. His respect for my work, belief in this book, and willingness to make space for Miss Anne made all the difference. This book is dedicated to him.