In the interest of economy, and given that many of these individuals and themes are present across multiple chapters, I have grouped selected key sources by topic, and additional materials by chapter. If I have specifically mentioned the origin of a quote in the text—a verse of the Bible, for example—I have not repeated that information here. Also, if a particular fact is widely known, easily found, and extensively documented—as in one of Malcolm X’s most famous quotes, or who shot Abraham Lincoln—I have not included it here. Where applicable, I have added a few insights and notes that might not have made it into the final version of the text. The following sources are substantial but by no means exhaustive.
Sarah Josepha Hale’s existing papers are scattered across numerous institutions. However, some of the best details about her life came from her own writing, especially the introductions and notes she included in her own books, notably The Ladies’ Wreath. Her key texts are, especially: The Ladies’ Wreath; A Selection from the Female Poetic Writers of England and America (Boston: Marsh, Capen & Lyon, 1837); Northwood; or, A Tale of New England, vol. 1 and 2 (Boston: Bowles & Dearborn, 1827); Northwood; or, Life North and South: Showing the True Character of Both, 2nd ed. (New York: H. Long and Brother, 1852); Liberia; or, Mr. Peyton’s Experiments (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1853); Woman’s Record; or, Sketches of All Distinguished Women, from “The Beginning” till A.D. 1850, Arranged in Four Eras, with Selections from Female Writers of Every Age (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1853); Manners; or, Happy Homes and Good Society All the Year Round (Boston: J. E. Tilton, 1868).
There are three primary biographies of Hale: Ruth E. Finley, The Lady of Godey’s: Sarah Josepha Hale (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1931); Sherbrooke Rogers, Sarah Josepha Hale: A New England Pioneer, 1788–1879 (Grantham, NH: Tompson & Rutter, 1985); Norma R. Fryatt, Sarah Josepha Hale: The Life and Times of a Nineteenth-Century Career Woman (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1975).
In 1917, many of Hale’s letters were sold at auction. I was thrilled to track down a copy of that catalog, which included letter recipients (Poe, etc.) and quotes: Letters to Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale and Maj.-Gen. David Hunter and Other Rare Autographs, auction catalog No. 1270, Jan. 25–26, 1917 (New York: Anderson Galleries, 1917). Along with the above catalog, perhaps my favorite find was Hale’s last will and testament, written in her own hand: Pennsylvania, Wills and Probate Records, 1683–1993, Wills no. 451–491, 1879.
Godey’s Lady’s Book went by the following titles between 1830 and 1898: The Lady’s Book, Godey’s Lady’s Book and Ladies’ American Magazine, Godey’s Magazine and Lady’s Book, Godey’s Lady’s Book, Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, Godey’s Lady’s Book (yet again), and Godey’s Magazine.
Thanks to organizations such as HathiTrust Digital Library (https://www.hathitrust.org), issues of Godey’s Lady’s Book—including Hale’s editorials—can be read in their (scanned) original context. Flowing through the color images of the fashion plates and looking at the cover art and illustrations is also a treat. I am also the delighted owner of a bound edition of all of Godey’s Lady’s Book from 1863. It is a treasure.
Other information sources about Hale’s life and family include—but are not limited to: Richardson Wright, “The Madonna in Bustles,” in Forgotten Ladies: Nine Portraits from the American Family Album (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1928); “Death of William G. Hale,” New Orleans Republican, Jan. 14, 1876.
There is a fair amount of modern-day criticism of Hale, including of her writing and her attitudes toward suffrage and slavery. As I keep my narrative in the moment, as opposed to stopping to provide an overview of such criticism, some may nevertheless find these interesting reads, and it is always useful to view individuals within a present-day context, as it can help inform the past: Patricia Okker, Our Sister Editors: Sarah J. Hale and the Tradition of Nineteenth-Century American Women Editors (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1995); Beverly Peterson, “Mrs. Hale on Mrs. Stowe and Slavery,” American Periodicals 8 (1998): 30–44, accessed via JSTOR; Nicole Tonkovich Hoffman, “Sarah Josepha Hale (1788–1874 [sic]),” Legacy 7, no. 2 (Fall 1990): 47–55, accessed via JSTOR; Etsuko Taketani, “Postcolonial Liberia: Sarah Josepha Hale’s Africa,” American Literary History 14, no. 3 (2002): 479–504, accessed via JSTOR; “An ALH Forum: ‘Race and Antebellum Literature,’” Special Issue, American Literary History 14, no. 3 (2002), accessed via JSTOR; L. E. Preston, “Speakers for Women’s Rights in Pennsylvania,” Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 54, no. 3 (July 1971): 245–63.
Hale’s editorials have been entered and collected in various locations, some as e-books, some as lists. Pilgrim Hall Museum (https://pilgrimhall.org) is a wonderful place to peruse those and other documents related to thanksgiving.
All presidential proclamations and a wide assortment of other presidential documents can be found via a number of sources, including the “Presidential Documents Guide” at the National Archives (https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/research/guide.html), the presidential libraries for each individual president, and the Library of Congress. The Presidency section of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia (https://millercenter.org/the-presidency) is a fantastic resource with biographical profiles, oral histories, speeches, impeachment proceedings, “Secret White House Tapes”—you name it. My favorite source for one-stop presidential document shopping is the American Presidency Project (https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It features a searchable database of everything from eulogies to state dinners and is a remarkable resource for researchers, teachers, students, and history buffs.
Gettysburg sources appear in notes for Abraham Lincoln in the following pages.
Information regarding the signers of the Declaration of Independence and early colonial history of the United States found here and in notes to chapter 4, on this page, comes primarily from two books that I coauthored with my husband, Joseph D’Agnese: Signing Their Lives Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence (Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2009) and Signing Their Rights Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the United States Constitution (Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2011). Hale’s poem “Good Night” was included in The School Song Book: Adapted to the Scenes of the School Room, Written for American Children and Youth (Boston: Allen & Ticknor, 1834).
I’ve lived in Rome twice in my life. Romulus and Remus are omnipresent—and also symbols for my favorite soccer team, A.S. Roma—and people like Cicero are quoted at dinner parties. For additional information on Cicero, see Spencer Cole, Cicero and the Rise of Deification at Rome (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013). Numerous books, magazines, and reference materials describe ancient thanksgiving traditions. The book, edited by Robert Haven Schauffler, Thanksgiving: Its Origin, Celebration and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse (New York: Moffat, Yard, 1915) covers a lot of ground. For some additional harvest festival information, see: William Smith, ed., A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (London: John Murray, 1875); A. Makris, “Thesmophoria: An Ancient Greek Thanksgiving Celebration,” usa.GreekReporter.com, Nov. 21, 2012; Michael Gilligan, “Lughnasa Recipes, Rituals, Traditions and Symbols for the Ancient Celtic Festival,” irishcentral.com, Aug. 1, 2019; Emmett McIntyre, “Celtic Harvest Festival of Lughnasa,” transceltic.com, July 26, 2016; Janet Milhomme, “Ghanaians Hoot at Hunger. Ga Tribe Hosts Its Own Kind of Thanksgiving. African Harvesttime,” Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 21, 1988; Evan Andrews, “5 Ancient New Year’s Celebrations,” history.com, Dec. 31, 2012; “The History of Thanksgiving and Its Celebrations,” Queens Gazette (New York), Nov. 23, 2016; and “Makar Sankranti 2020: Date, Time and Shubh Muhurat,” Times of India, Jan. 13, 2020.
The Codex Sinaiticus is fascinating to look into, and now anyone can, thanks to a joint effort from the British Library, National Library of Russia, St. Catherine’s Monastery, and Leipzig University Library (www.codexsinaiticus.org). Bible history, including King James and Tyndale, is from “Translation . . . openeth the window to let in the light”: The Pre-History and Abiding Impact of the King James Bible, a virtual exhibit at Ohio State University, Eric J. Johnson, curator.
The Spanish Armada thanksgiving is cited extensively, and again I like Schauffler’s Thanksgiving. The Tudor Society and its magazine, Tudor Life, have several articles and videos as well. For a discussion of migratory patterns and genetic sampling, see Adam Rutherford, “A New History of the First Peoples in the Americas,” Atlantic, Oct. 3, 2017. For early thanksgivings in North America, the Library of Congress has a “Thanksgiving Timeline, 1541–2001” (https://loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/thanksgiving/timeline/1541.html), which includes Coronado, the Huguenots, Popham, Jamestown, and more. See also, Amanda Williamson, “Festival to Offer Remembrance of Huguenots,” Florida Times-Union, Sept. 24, 2015; for Coronado, see Mike Kingston, “The First Thanksgiving,” Texas Almanac (adapted from his article and posted at https://texasalmanac.com/topics/history/timeline/first-thanksgiving); “Who Celebrated the ‘First Thanksgiving’?” Library of Congress Wise Guide (https://www.loc.gov/wiseguide/nov02/thanks-early.html). See the National Parks Service of St. Augustine, Florida, for documentation of that location’s “First Thanksgiving”; Christine Sismondo, “The Odd, Complicated History of Canadian Thanksgiving,” Maclean’s, Oct. 5, 2017; Myron Beckenstein, “Maine’s Lost Colony,” Smithsonian Magazine, Feb. 2004. Berkeley Plantation has many resources about their historic site, including H. Graham Woodlief, “History of the First Thanksgiving,” Berkeley Plantation: Virginia’s Most Historic Plantation (http://www.berkeleyplantation.com/first-thanksgiving.html).
For the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address and much more on the Six Nations, see the “Haudenosaunee Guide for Educators,” Education Office, Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (https://americanindian.si.edu/sites/1/files/pdf/education/HaudenosauneeGuide.pdf).
See Hale sources in the Global Notes on this page. For Lydia Maria Child, here and in future chapters, see: Lydia Maria Child, Hobomok and Other Writings on Indians, Carolyn L. Karcher, ed. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1986); A Lydia Maria Child Reader, Carolyn L. Karcher, ed. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1997); Carolyn L. Karcher, The First Woman in the Republic: A Cultural Biography of Lydia Maria Child (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1994).
There are countless articles that distinguish between general thanksgivings, feast days, and harvest festivals. A good book that does just that is William DeLoss Love Jr.’s The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1895).
Information regarding the Seminole Wars: https://seminolenationmuseum.org. For David Hale’s death, see “Sudden Death,” Plattsburgh Republican, May 4, 1839; Theo. F. Rodenbough and William L. Haskin, eds., “The First Regiment of Artillery,” in The Army of the United States: Historical Sketches of Staff and Line with Portraits of Generals-in-Chief (New York: Maynard, Merrill, 1896).
“Founders Online,” hosted by the National Archives (https://founders.archives.gov), is a fantastic clearinghouse of nearly 200,000 documents by early American players, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.
For additional information on George Washington’s inauguration from George Washington’s Mount Vernon, which also includes links to their archives, see: “President-Elect George Washington’s Journey to the Inauguration” (http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-first-president/inauguration).
The Massachusetts Historical Society is a wonderful resource for many reasons, including access to the Adams Family Papers (http://www.masshist.org/adams/adams-family-papers). Samuel Adams’s proclamations are from newspaper accounts and Ira Stoll’s Samuel Adams: A Life (New York: Free Press, 2008); and The Writings of Samuel Adams, vol. IV, 1778–1802, Harry Alonzo Cushing, ed. (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1908). Details surrounding Washington’s first thanksgiving proclamation are also from the Mount Vernon website. Details of the day and reception are from the Library of Congress, including “Thanksgiving Timeline,” “Today in History—November 26,” the George Washington, Papers at the Library of Congress; The Diaries of George Washington, 6 vols., Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1976–79); and “The Washington Papers,” an online archive at the University of Virginia (https://washingtonpapers.org). On Thomas Jefferson, see: “From Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Miller, 23 January 1808,” Founders Online, National Archives (founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-7257). John Adams’s reflection on his declared fast is also available at Founders Online, as well as his papers.
Food resources include: Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); Judith A. Barter, ed., Art and Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2013); Inside Adams: Science, Technology & Business (Library of Congress blog, ed. Ellen Terrell), “A Brief History of Pumpkin Pie in America,” by Alison Kelly, posted Nov. 20, 2017. Information on the Seneca Falls Convention is widely available, and the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, managed by the National Park Service, is a fine resource (https://www.nps.gov/wori/index.htm). Additional discussion on the Panic of 1837 is from Our Sister Editors (Okker). “The New-England Boy’s Song About Thanksgiving” is from Lydia Maria Child, Flowers for Children, II (New York: C. S. Francis, 1845). For presidential backgrounds, speeches, and other information, see Global Notes. Greenwood’s firing, from National Woman Suffrage Association, Report of the International Council of Women: Assembled by the National Woman Suffrage Association, Washington, D.C., U.S. of America, March 25 to April 1, 1888 (Washington, DC: Rufus H. Darby, Printer, 1888).
Hale’s reissuing of Northwood and discussions of Liberia: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly (Boston: John P. Jewett, 1852); Frederick Douglass quote is from the Frederick Douglass’ Paper 5, no. 5 (Jan. 22, 1852), retrieved from the Gates Collection of African American History and Culture, 1820–1998, at Portland State University; additional information on the American Colonization Society is also from the Gates Collection, as well as from Nicholas Guyatt, “The American Colonization Society: 200 Years of the ‘Colonizing Trick,’” African American Intellectual History Society, Dec. 22, 2016; Susan Campbell, “Ending of Landmark Book, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ Is Still Debated,” Hartford Courant, Feb. 16, 2014; for other present-day discussions of Stowe and Hale on the topic, see the Global Notes. Abraham Lincoln’s speech of Oct. 16, 1854, is widely available, including at the Lincoln Home, National Historic Site, administered by the National Park Service.
I wish more of Amelia Bloomer could be in this book. Additional information, including Godey’s reluctance to embrace the trend, is from Gayle V. Fischer, Pantaloons and Power: A Nineteenth-Century Dress Reform in the United States (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2001); Carol Mattingly, Appropriate[ing] Dress: Women’s Rhetorical Style in Nineteenth-Century America (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2002).
Global notes for Civil War, Gettysburg, and Lincoln.
I have had the privilege of walking the grounds of both Fort Sumter and Gettysburg with knowledgeable historic guides. However, just being there on those grounds adds so very much. The amount of material available on Abraham Lincoln alone borders on unfathomable. Key sources that served my needs in Part II of this book include: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html); Harold Holzer, ed., Dear Mr. Lincoln: Letters to the President (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1993); Matthew Pinsker, Lincoln’s Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers’ Home (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003); Philip B. Kunhardt Jr., A New Birth of Freedom: Lincoln at Gettysburg (Boston: Little, Brown, 1983); Tyler Dennett, ed., Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1939); “Civil War Timeline,” Gettysburg National Military Park, PA; and National Portrait Gallery’s “CivilWar@Smithsonian” (http://civilwar.si.edu) has archival collections, photographs, timelines, and additional resources. The Abraham Lincoln Association published The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln in 1953, and the University of Michigan has made them available online (https://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln). It is invaluable for research. Art and illustrations are key parts of this book, and Thomas Nast’s work is mentioned throughout Part II. The illustrations have been scanned by university libraries and collectors, and in more scans of Harper’s Weekly. The University of Pennsylvania (https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=harpersweekly) lists where scans of Harper’s Weekly are available via the Internet Archive (http://archive.org); and HathiTrust has scans provided by the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, and Pennsylvania State University (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000061498). See also Fiona Deans Halloran, Thomas Nast: The Father of Modern Political Cartoons (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012).
More on Fort Sumter: Fergus M. Bordewich, “Fort Sumter: The Civil War Begins,” Smithsonian Magazine, April 2011; Kee Malesky, “The Civil War’s First Death Was an Accident,” NPR Weekend Edition Saturday (transcript), April 9, 2011 (https://www.npr.org/2011/04/09/135247928/the-civil-wars-first-death-was-an-accident); and the National Park Service site for Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie, National Historical Park, SC (https://www.nps.gov/fosu/index.htm).
For Vassar information, see Global Notes to Part I. For North Carolina’s 1849 thanksgiving: North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, “Tracing the History of Thanksgiving in North Carolina,” Nov. 25, 2015 (https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2015/11/25/tracing-the-history-of-thanksgiving-in-north-carolina); for Georgia, reported in the United States Gazette (Philadelphia), Dec. 29, 1826; Thomas Smyth, The Battle of Fort Sumter: Its Mystery and Miracle: God’s Mastery and Mercy. A Discourse Preached on the Day of National Fasting, Thanksgiving and Prayer, in the First Presbyterian Church, Charleston, S. C., June 13, 1861 (Charleston: Southern Guardian Steam-Power Press, 1861).
For the Lewis Hayden–John Albion Andrew thanksgiving dinner, and proposed 54th Regiment: “Lewis Hayden and the Underground Railroad,” the Commonwealth Museum, online exhibit about Hayden’s life (http://www.sec.state.ma.us/mus/pdfs/Lewis-Hayden.pdf); June Wulff, “Lasting Lessons in an 1862 Boston Thanksgiving,” Boston Globe, Nov. 20, 2012; news brief, The Liberator (Boston), Jan. 23, 1863. Harriet Tubman and connection to Hunter: “Harriet Tubman’s Great Raid,” New York Times, June 7, 2013. Broadside and other information regarding recruitment of Black soldiers during the Civil War: “Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military During the Civil War,” a collection of archival documents and resources at the National Archives (https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war). This includes information on Frederick Douglass’s sons. For Gooding: Corporal James Henry Gooding, On the Altar of Freedom: A Black Soldier’s Civil War Letters from the Front, Virginia M. Adams, ed. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1991).
And as for the letter Hale wrote to Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress, Series 1, General Correspondence, 1833–1916. Sarah J. Hale to Abraham Lincoln, Monday, September 28, 1863 (https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mal&fileName=mal1/266/2669900/malpage.db&recNum=0).
Seward and Lincoln dialogue from Frederick W. Seward, Seward at Washington as Senator and Secretary of State: A Memoir of His Life, with Selections from His Letters, 1861–1872 (New York: Derby and Miller, 1891). “The President’s Emancipation March,” George E. Fawcett, available at the Library of Congress. For proclamations, see Global Notes. For sheet music to the president’s hymn, see the Library of Congress at https://www.loc.gov/item/scsm000143; the hymn was published: William Augustus Muhlenberg, “The President’s Hymn: Give Thanks All Ye People, in Response to the Proclamation of the President of the United States Recommending a General Thanksgiving on November 26th, 1863” (New York: A. D. F. Randolph, 1864); news of hymn appeared on thanksgiving day, 1863: “The President’s Hymn,” Chicago Tribune, Nov. 26, 1863. Ironsides: “From Washington,” Chicago Tribune, Oct. 15, 1863, and “The Torpedo Trial in Charleston Harbor—Further Particulars,” Richmond Dispatch (VA), Oct. 12, 1863. Emerson quote is from The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, vol. 11, Miscellanies (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1883); available online at https://www.rwe.org.
For Uncle Sam background, see: O Say Can You See?: Stories from the Museum (blog of National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution), “Uncle Sam: The Man and the Meme,” by Natalie Elder, posted Sept. 13, 2013. Washington’s letter to Wheatley in the George Washington Papers Series 3 (see Chapter 4 notes). See also Anne Holmes, “Phillis Wheatley: A First for Verse in America,” LCM, the Library of Congress Magazine, Jan./Feb. 2018 (https://blogs.loc.gov/catbird/2018/01/phillis-wheatley-a-first-for-verse-in-america). “Hard Tack”: Wayne Phaneuf, “Civil War, November 1863: Gettysburg Address, First National Thanksgiving, Local Boys Are Heroes,” MassLive.com, Nov. 3, 2013. Barton: “Thanksgiving & the Civil War,” Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum, Nov. 27, 2014 (https://www.clarabartonmuseum.org/thanksgiving-the-civil-war). Fort Wagner: “Fort Wagner, Battery Wagner, Morris Island,” American Battlefield Trust. ABT is a terrific repository of maps, primary sources, and more (http://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/fort-wagner). The Library of Congress also has 1863 maps of this area and others available online (www.loc.gov/collections/civil-war-maps). Fascinating stuff. Lewis Douglass to Amelia: Pamela Newkirk, ed., Letters from Black America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009). “Tickled diaphragms”: “From General Gillmore’s Army,” New South (Port Royal, SC), Nov. 28, 1863. Woodlin: “Woodlin, William P. (fl. 1863–1864) [Diary of an African American soldier in 8th Regiment United States Colored Troops, Company G],” Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Sojourner Truth: Nell Irvin Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life a Symbol (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996); Sojourner Truth, Olive Gilbert, and Frances W. Titus, Narrative of Sojourner Truth (Battle Creek, MI: Review and Herald Office, 1884); and Sojourner Truth Institute of Battle Creek (https://sojournertruth.org). References to charity, celebrations, balls, church services, etc. come from dozens of newspaper accounts (retrieved via, primarily, Chronicling America at loc.gov and from newspapers.com), including: Thanksgiving Ball: Placer Herald (Rocklin, CA), Nov. 28, 1863; Missouri proclamation: Weekly Herald and Tribune (St. Joseph, MO), Nov. 26, 1863; Wheeling Soldier’s Fund: Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (WV), Nov. 25, 1863; “Let Us Give Thanks!” Advocate (Buffalo, NY), Nov. 26, 1863; “Convalescent Camp,” Nashville Daily Union (TN), Nov. 29, 1863; Meridian Hill House, Evening Star (Washington, DC), Nov. 25, 1863; Charleston Proclamation: Charleston Mercury, Nov. 13, 1863; “A Festive Day,” Daily True Delta (New Orleans), Nov. 27, 1863; New South (Port Royal, SC), Nov. 28, 1863; Washington Proclamation in Washington Standard, Nov. 21, 1863; “Thanksgiving Notice,” Pacific Commercial Advertiser (Honolulu), Nov. 19, 1863; “London Times on Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation,” Weekly Advertiser (Montgomery, AL), Nov. 25, 1863; Kansas observance: Leavenworth Bulletin (KS), Nov. 25, 1863; California Proclamation: Sonoma County Journal (Petaluma, CA), Nov. 27, 1863; ad selection, foods: Evening Star (Washington, DC), Nov. 25, 1863; Dow & Burkhardt’s ad: Louisville Daily Journal (KY), Nov. 16, 1863; “Greedy Thief,” Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel (CA), Nov. 26, 1863; Thanksgiving in Berlin: New York Times, Dec. 27, 1863; “Ford’s New Theater”: Evening Star (Washington, DC), Nov. 25, 1863.
Gilbert King, “The History of Pardoning Turkeys Began with Tad Lincoln,” Smithsonian Magazine, Nov. 21, 2012. Walt Whitman, Complete Prose Works (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1892) and Leaves of Grass, 4th ed. (New York: William E. Chapin, 1867); the Walt Whitman Archive and Project Gutenberg, among others, have made these available online. Lincoln shot at: Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1936) and Don E. Fehrenbacher and Virginia Fehrenbacher, eds., Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996). Robert Todd Lincoln information widely available, including at UVA’s Miller Center (see Global Notes). Hale to Seward from The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 8. Newspaper reports of thanksgiving celebrations—Chicago Tribune, Nashville Union, New York Herald, Gold Hill Daily News (Gold Hill, NV), etc. include: multiple articles, Chicago Tribune, Nov. 23 and Nov. 24, 1863; Nashville Daily Union, Nov. 24, 1864; “Our National Thanksgiving,” New York Daily Herald, Nov. 25, 1864; “The Thanksgiving Dinner of the Newsboys,” Brooklyn Union, Nov. 25, 1864; “Thanksgiving Day,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), Nov. 25, 1864; “Thanksgiving Dinner,” Gold Hill Daily News, Nov. 23, 1864; Turkeys for Lee’s boys: “Items,” Yorkville Enquirer (York, SC), Nov. 15, 1864; “The War News,” Richmond Daily Dispatch, Nov. 25, 1864; “From Petersburg,” Yorkville Enquirer (York, SC), Nov. 30, 1864.
The New York Public Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division is one of my favorite places on planet, and the archivists there are spectacular. Their collection of U.S. Sanitary Commission records boggles the mind and is a unique way to look at the Civil War. I did much research into the commission, initially thinking the organization and Elizabeth Blackwell might play a much larger role in the story. Some other time . . . One of the U.S. Sanitary Commission’s physicians was Charles A. Leale. As the first doctor to reach Abraham Lincoln after he was shot, Leale’s personal account of that evening is a compelling read. Visit the National Archives to read it yourself in Leale’s own handwriting: “Report of Assistant Surgeon Charles A. Leale Concerning the Death of Abraham Lincoln,” Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1762–1984, Special Files, 1790–1946, Special File #14: Medical Records File on President Lincoln’s Assassination containing File “D”-776-Medical File, and Items A–B. See also Helena Iles Papaioannou and Daniel W. Stowell, “Dr. Charles A. Leale’s Report on the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln,” Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association 34, no. 1 (Winter 2013): 40–53; Ray Cavanaugh, “Our American Cousin: Lincoln’s Fateful Night at the Theatre,” Guardian, April 6, 2015. See also Seward’s memoir, previously cited in notes to chapter 7. Native peoples in the Civil War: “We Are All Americans,” City of Alexandria, VA (alexandriava.gov/historic/fortward). Grant and Parker: “Ely S. Parker Building Officially Opens,” U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Dec. 21, 2000 (https://www.bia.gov) and Mary Stockwell, “Ulysses Grant’s Failed Attempt to Grant Native Americans Citizenship,” Smithsonian Magazine, Jan. 9, 2019. Lincoln’s final speech, more on evening of assassination: Henry Louis Gates Jr. with David W. Blight and Neal Conan, “Scholar Reappraises President Lincoln” (transcript), Talk of the Nation, National Public Radio, Feb. 11, 2009; “Andrew Johnson, 16th Vice President (1865)” (https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/VP_Andrew_Johnson.htm); David S. Reynolds, “John Wilkes Booth and the Higher Law,” Atlantic, April 12, 2015; Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005); Constitution Daily (blog), “The Forgotten Man Who Almost Became President after Lincoln” (https://constitutioncenter.org); “Andrew Johnson,” Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia (https://millercenter.org/president/johnson); “The Swearing In of Andrew Johnson,” Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (https://time.com/4639596/inauguration-day-presidents-bible-passages/; https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/when-presidential-inaugurations-go-very-very-wrong/; https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/VP_Andrew_Johnson.htm); Constitution Daily (blog), “When Presidential Inaugurations Go Very, Very Wrong,” by Scott Bomboy, posted Jan. 18, 2017; Mahita Gajanan, “These Are the Bible Verses Past Presidents Have Turned to on Inauguration Day,” Time, Jan. 19, 2017. Threats: Dear Mr. Lincoln, see Global Notes to Part II, on this page. Walt Whitman, see notes to Chapter 9. Douglass walking stick: Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, National Park Service; Papers and Images of the American Civil War, Collection Reference GLC02474, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Newspaper accounts of celebration of the holiday retrieved from newspapers.com. Grant and Parker as previously cited.
Grant final speech, Twain and Hayes: UVA Miller Center (see Global Notes). Hale as cited in Global Notes. Sale of Godey’s: “Interesting Collection Tidbits: Godey’s Magazine and Lady’s Book,” State Library of Pennsylvania (https://www.statelibrary.pa.gov/Pages/Rare-Collections-Spotlight.aspx); Beverly C. Tomek, “Godey’s Lady’s Book,” The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia (https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/godeys-ladys-book). Obituaries, tributes: “Death of Mrs. Sarah J. Hale,” Wisconsin State Journal (Madison), May 1, 1879; “Louis A. Godey,” Times (Philadelphia), Nov. 31, 1878; “A Noted Woman: Incidents of the Life of Mrs. Hale, the Venerable Authoress,” St. Joseph Gazette-Herald (MO), May 9, 1879; “Sarah Josepha Buell Hale,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 1, 1879; “Mrs. Sarah J. Hale,” Granite Monthly III, Oct. 1879. Cherokee proclamations: “Indian Thanksgiving: A Cherokee Chief’s Proclamation,” Latter-Day Saints’ Millennial Star XLV, Jan. 15, 1883; “An Indian Chief’s Thanksgiving Proclamation,” Council Fire and Arbitrator VII, Dec. 1884; Melissa Howell, “Cherokees’ 1885 Thanksgiving Proclamation Draws Questions,” Oklahoman, Nov. 28, 2013; Mayes 1891 proclamation from DeLoss Love, The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England, cited in notes to chapter 3.
Football: Neil Reynolds, “Why Do We Play on Thanksgiving Day?,” NFL.com, Nov. 24, 2019; Dombonvissuto, “1920 Akron Pros Fob,” History of the NFL in 95 Objects, Sports Illustrated, June 10, 2014; evolving thanksgiving celebrations: this page, multiple articles (multicultural, vegetarian, etc.), Chicago Tribune, Nov. 21, 1897; “Thanksgiving Day,” New Education XI, Nov. 1898; Knoxville as cited in text; Hooverizing: “Hooverize on Thanksgiving; Here’s Menu,” Santa Barbara Daily News and the Independent, Nov. 22, 1917; The History Kitchen (PBS blog), “Discover the History of Meatless Mondays,” by Tori Avey, posted Aug. 16, 2013; “Thanksgiving Dinner Appeal,” New York Times, Nov. 6, 1918; Gena Philibert-Ortega, “Rationing Thanksgiving Dinner During World War I,” Nov. 27, 2013 (https://blog.genealogybank.com/rationing-thanksgiving-dinner-during-world-war-i.html). Armistice: George H. McKnight, “For a Day of Thanksgiving,” letter to New York Times, Nov. 20, 1918.
The Spanish flu began to take on a whole new level of meaning during the era of COVID-19. The University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine and Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, has compiled a remarkable database, the American Influenza Epidemic of 1918–1919: A Digital Encyclopedia (https://www.influenzaarchive.org). See also: Kevin Dayhoff, “Government Censorship Made the 1918 Spanish Flu Even Worse,” Carroll County Times (MD), Mar. 20, 2020; Gillian Brockell, “Trump Is Ignoring the Lessons of 1918 Flu Pandemic That Killed Millions, Historian Says,” Washington Post, Feb. 29, 2020; “Thanksgiving Day Impressively Observed,” Deseret Evening Star (Salt Lake City, UT), Nov. 28, 1918; “Santa Claus Is Down with the Flu,” St. Paul Daily News (MN), Dec. 6, 1918; “Asks Thanksgiving Plans Be Restricted,” World-Herald (Omaha), Nov. 28, 1918; “Only 83 Cases of Spanish Flu Thanksgiving,” Quad-City Times (Davenport, IA), Nov. 28, 1918; “A Solemn Day Overseas,” Kansas City Star, Nov. 28, 1918. I found a wonderful poem printed in The Carolina Mountaineer and Waynesville Courier, titled “The Spanish Flu May Get You, Too,” by Jesse Daniel Boone. I couldn’t use it. But look it up. It is a keeper. “A Thanksgiving Nuisance,” New York Times, Nov. 30, 1918; Masking: “Thanksgiving,” New York Times, Nov. 29, 1895; Protojournalist (National Public Radio blog), “When Thanksgiving Was Weird,” by Linton Weeks, posted Nov. 23, 2014; Megan Garber, “Thanksgiving Used to Look a Lot Like Halloween, Except More Racist,” Atlantic, Nov. 26, 2014.
Gimbel’s and Macy’s: Gimbel toy store ads: Morning News (Wilmington, DE), Nov. 13, 1920; Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 15, 1920; “The Toyland of Oz—Gimbel’s,” Evening Public Ledger (Philadelphia), Nov. 5, 1920; PhillyHistory (blog), “Floats, Balloons, and Celebrities, Oh My!: Philadelphia’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” by Timothy Horning and Hillary Kativa, posted Nov. 22, 2010; Tommy Rowan, “Is Philly’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Really the Oldest in America?,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 22, 2017; Marielle Mondon, “The Wonderful—and Occasionally Weird—Philly Thanksgiving Day Parade Captured in Old Photos,” Philly Voice, Nov. 21, 2017; Jerry Jonas, “Remembering Philly’s Once Great Thanksgiving Day Parade,” Bucks County Courier Times (PA), Nov. 22, 2015; Phil Luciano, “Saint Nick Has Been Parading in Peoria for Over a Century,” Journal Star (Peoria, IL), Nov. 26, 2014; Vicki Cox, “Comin’ to Town,” Chicago Tribune, Nov. 21, 2004; Vicki Cox, “America’s Longest-Running Christmas Parade,” American Profile, Nov. 13, 2012; “At 100 Years, Philly Hosts Nation’s Oldest Thanksgiving Day Parade,” WHYY (PBS NPR), Nov. 28, 2019; Claire Suddath, “A Brief History of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” Time, Nov. 27, 2008; “First Big NYC Thanksgiving Parade Had Zoo Animals,” CBS Miami, Nov. 27, 2014.
Harding, Coolidge: “President Harding Installed a Radio in the White House, February 8, 1922,” America’s Story (http://www.americaslibrary.gov); Fireside Chats, Warm Springs: Presidency Project (see Global Notes); “Roosevelt’s Little White House, State Historic Site, Warm Springs,” Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites (http://www.gastateparks.org). World’s Fair: Orrin E. Dunlap Jr., “Ceremony Is Carried by Television as Industry Makes Its Formal Bow,” New York Times, May 1, 1939; Bruce Robertson, “Television at Fair Impresses Public,” Broadcasting, May 15, 1939; Alan Taylor, “The 1939 New York World’s Fair,” Atlantic, Nov. 1, 2013.
Roosevelt, and the kerfuffle surrounding his changing the date of thanksgiving: G. Wallace Chessman, “Thanksgiving: Another FDR Experiment,” Prologue, Fall 1990; additional letters and documentation: “The Year We Had Two Thanksgivings,” Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum (http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/thanksg.html); “Thanksgiving,” Eagle (Bryan, TX), Nov. 30, 1939; “Thanksgiving Day Mixup Has Extended Right into Roosevelt’s Own Family,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Nov. 22, 1939.
Art and illustrations informed much of the book, and the art of Norman Rockwell and J. C. Leyendecker as seen on covers of the Saturday Evening Post are a delight to peruse. In addition to browsing the thanksgiving archives at the Saturday Evening Post (http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/collections/thanksgiving), books I enjoyed include: Laurence S. Cutler, Judy Goffman Cutler, and the National Museum of American Illustration, J. C. Leyendecker: American Imagist (New York: Abrams, 2008); Laura Claridge, Norman Rockwell: A Life (New York: Random House, 2001); Norman Rockwell, My Adventures as an Illustrator (Indianapolis: Curtis, 1979).
Pilgrims, Puritans, Native peoples: For a deep dive into the story of the Wampanoag and their interactions with the Pilgrims and Puritans: David J. Silverman, This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving (New York: Bloomsbury, 2019). Additional sources on the topic of the mythical “first” thanksgiving include (but are definitely not limited to): Robert Tracy McKenzie, The First Thanksgiving: What the Real Story Tells Us About Loving God and Learning from History (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013). “Thanksgiving in North America,” an online collection of resources from the Smithsonian Institution (https://www.si.edu/spotlight/thanksgiving), has art, menus, food history, Native American perspectives, and educational resources; Pilgrim Hall Museum (https://pilgrimhall.org/thanksgiving.htm) has an extensive thanksgiving collection, including primary sources, and is a good place for newcomers to the story to start. There you can find texts from Mourt’s Relation, by Edward Winslow, as well as Of Plimoth Plantation, by William Bradford, the only existing references to the events of 1621. In 1841, Alexander Young published an anthology, Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth, from 1602 to 1625 (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown), which included Mourt’s Relation. On this page, he footnoted this account as: “This was the first Thanksgiving, the harvest festival of New England.”
Additional information about the myth building, including in magazines: The J. H. A. Bone article “The First New England Thanksgiving” was a treat to find. It was printed very widely but first appeared in Our Young Folks, an Illustrated Magazine for Boys and Girls V, Nov. 1869; H. Maria George, “The Story of Thanksgiving Day,” Demorest’s Monthly Magazine XXIV, Nov. 1887–Oct. 1888; “Thanksgiving, 1775–1875,” New York Times, Nov. 25, 1875; “A National Thanksgiving,” New York Times, Nov. 23, 1890. Turkey: Oxford Companion to Food, see notes to chapter 5, and Cool Green Science (Nature Conservancy blog), “Tracing the Wild Origins of the Domestic Turkey,” by Joe Smith, posted Nov. 20, 2017. Jane G. Austin, Standish of Standish: A Story of the Pilgrims (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1889); Clifford Howard, “The First Thanksgiving Dinner,” Ladies’ Home Journal, Nov. 1897, 3–4; “Thanksgiving References,” Journal of Education 50, no. 17 (Nov. 2, 1899); Andrew F. Smith, “The First Thanksgiving,” Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies 3, no. 4 (Fall 2003): 79–85; DeLoss Love, The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England, cited in notes to chapter 3.
Additional information regarding congressional establishment of Thanksgiving (besides Prologue, previously cited) can be found at the National Archives, and includes scans of the resolutions: “Congress Establishes Thanksgiving” (https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving). Macy’s cancellation: History of the parade available on macys.com. Also: Christina Caron, “Macy’s Used to Set the Balloons Free, and Other Thanksgiving Day Parade Facts,” New York Times, Nov. 22, 2017. Rockwell as cited previously on this page. Carlos Bulosan, “Freedom from Want,” Saturday Evening Post, Mar. 6, 1943. Dick Hagelberg: “Thanksgiving Archives,” Saturday Evening Post (www.saturdayeveningpost.com/collections/thanksgiving) and “A Rockwell Mother’s Day,” Saturday Evening Post, May 4, 2016.
1972 protest: “Indians Protest at Site of First Thanksgiving,” El Dorado Times (El Dorado, AR), Nov. 24, 1972; “Indians Bury Plymouth Rock,” Fresno Bee, Nov. 27, 1970. Flag over Capitol and 1973 event: Paul J. Deveney, “Pilgrim Descendants Give Thanks to Massasoit,” Boston Globe, Nov. 25, 1973. 1959: Texas Almanac, see notes to Chapter 2. John F. Kennedy: James W. Baker, Thanksgiving: The Biography of an American Holiday (Lebanon: University of New Hampshire Press, 2009). Edward Kennedy report, Indian Education: A National Tragedy—A National Challenge, 1969 Report of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate Made by Its Special Subcommittee on Indian Education Pursuant to S. Res. 80, National Indian Law Library (http://narf.org/nill/resources/education/reports/kennedy/toc.html). Dedication of Massasoit statue: “Red Men Dedicate Plymouth Statue,” Boston Globe, Sept. 14, 1922; “Red Men to Hold 75th Great Sun Council Fire in Boston,” Boston Globe, Sept. 8, 1922; J. R. Milne, “Descendant of Massasoit ‘the Friend of the Pilgrims’ Toils in Fields for Living,” Boston Post, Aug. 15, 1920; Lisa Blee and Jean M. O’Brien, Monumental Mobility: The Memory Work of Massasoit (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019). Macy’s Pilgrims from their website (https://macysthanksgiving.fandom.com/wiki/The_50th_Annual_Macy%27s_Thanksgiving_Day_Parade_Lineup). Proclamations as cited in Global Notes. Franklin on Iroquois, and “Iroquois Constitution: A Forerunner to Colonists’ Democratic Principles,” New York Times, June 28, 1987; Cynthia Feathers and Susan Feathers, “Franklin and the Iroquois Foundations of the Constitution,” Pennsylvania Gazette, Jan./Feb. 2007; thirteen arrows: “Influence on Democracy,” Official Website of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com/influence-on-democracy); Smithsonian Institution’s “Haudenosaunee Guide for Educators,” see notes to Chapter 2. Obama, Every Student Succeeds Act: “ESSA and Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawai’ian Students,” Policy Center of the American Institutes for Research (https://www.air.org/resource/essa-and-native-american-alaska-native-and-native-hawaiian-students). Repatriation information provided by the Repatriation Office, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution; Jason Daley, “Massasoit, Chief Who Signed Treaty with the Pilgrims, to Be Reburied,” Smithsonian Magazine, April 21, 2017. U.S. Mint: “Native American $1 Coin: 2011 Wampanoag Treaty of 1621” (https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kids/library/native-american-dollar-coins/2011-wampanoag-treaty-1621). M. F. K. Fisher: Christine VanDeVelde, “For Writer M. F. K. Fisher, Dining Properly Is an Art,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 24, 1989; M. F. K. Fisher, The Gastronomical Me (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1943).
Marble Collegiate Church history and information about Dr. Arthur Caliandro is from Marble Collegiate Church (https://www.marblechurch.org/about/history). The amount of information available regarding the benefits of gratitude is compelling, overwhelming, and inspirational. Health benefits—mental and physical—are widely documented. Good places to start are: Christina Karns, “New Thoughts about Gratitude, Charity and Our Brains,” Washington Post, Dec. 23, 2018; “In Praise of Gratitude,” Harvard Mental Health Letter, June 5, 2019; Amy Morin, “7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude,” Psychology Today, April 3, 2015; Robert A. Emmons and Michael E. McCullough, “Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-being in Daily Life,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84, no. 2 (March 2003); Randy A. Sansone and Lori A. Sansone, “Gratitude and Well-being: The Benefits of Appreciation,” Psychiatry 7, no. 11 (Nov. 2010); University of Oregon, “Journaling Inspires Altruism Through an Attitude of Gratitude,” ScienceDaily, Dec. 14, 2017; Jeffrey J. Froh, William J. Sefick, and Robert A. Emmons, “Counting Blessings in Early Adolescents: An Experimental Study of Gratitude and Subjective Well-being,” Journal of School Psychology 46, no. 2 (April 2008); Joel Wong and Joshua Brown, “How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain,” Greater Good Magazine, June 6, 2017; Robert Emmons, “How Gratitude Can Help You Through Hard Times,” Greater Good Magazine, May 13, 2013; Summer Allen, “The Science of Gratitude,” a white paper prepared for the John Templeton Foundation by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, May 2018.
My experience roasting oysters in November 2018 was a fantastic one, and one I will write about in greater length and detail in a forthcoming book. Pope Francis: “Pope Francis’ Three Christmas Ingredients: Joy, Prayer, Gratitude,” Catholic News Agency, Dec. 17, 2017; “Pope Francis’ Homily at St. Patrick’s Cathedral,” New York Times, Sept. 24, 2015; “First Vespers on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and Te Deum in Thanksgiving for the Past Year: Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis,” Dec. 31, 2019. The Holy See makes all homilies available on its website: www.vatican.va; Sylvia Poggioli, “Pope Francis Delivers Special Prayer for End to Coronavirus Pandemic,” National Public Radio, Mar. 27, 2020. Andrés: Sean Gregory, “‘Without Empathy, Nothing Works.’ Chef José Andrés Wants to Feed the World Through the Pandemic,” Time, Mar. 26, 2020. Moore: Jennifer Hassan, “99-Year-Old Veteran Raises $33 Million for Britain’s Health-Care System by Walking His Garden,” Washington Post, April 20, 2020.