Preparing these acknowledgments reminds me of the many people whose expertise and kindness made researching and writing this book possible and enjoyable. Like the Cooper heirs, I have incurred debts, which I can only gratefully acknowledge and never repay in full. Fortunately, I have more gracious creditors than did James Fenimore Cooper.
My first debt is to the late Paul Fenimore Cooper, Jr., who in 1988 welcomed me to his home outside Cooperstown and shared with me his extraordinary collection of the correspondence and business records of Judge William Cooper. I could not have begun this project without his encouragement and assistance. I found myself in the historian’s fondest dream: a substantial private archive virtually untapped by scholars but carefully preserved, systematically organized, and thoroughly cataloged by a man who devoted the last decade of his life to caring for his ancestors’ papers. He opened up his vault filled with records and letters, cleared a nineteenth-century desk for me to work at, and taught me to use the index he had painstakingly created and entered into his personal computer. As I read through the papers, he would often stop by to offer keen observations and raise intriguing questions. I’ve found that those comments and queries shaped much of my subsequent research and writing. Paul and his mother, Babbie, were wonderfully generous in making me feel at home, even sharing with me a bottle of Madeira that dated to James Fenimore Cooper’s lifetime. Unfortunately my acquaintance with Paul Cooper was cut short by his untimely death just six months after we met. Fortunately for my project and for other scholars, he had the foresight and public spirit to donate the William Cooper papers to the Hartwick College Archives and the James Fenimore Cooper papers to the American Antiquarian Society. I have received continuing encouragement, advice, and assistance from Paul’s cousin, Henry S. F. Cooper, Jr., who as a writer and environmentalist has carried on his family’s traditions. I am especially grateful to Henry for sharing with me a tape made of the music played on the mechanical organ from Otsego Hall which James Fenimore Cooper listened to as a child. Playing that tape has often helped me imagine his household as I wrote.
It was my great good fortune that the William Cooper papers passed into the stewardship of Shelley Wallace, the archivist at Hartwick College. She accelerated my work by years with her extraordinary efficiency and enormous goodwill. Best of all, she and her husband, Peter, and sons, Erik and Evan, befriended me, making their home a welcome haven after my days of research. I especially cherish the invitation to give the official historical address dedicating the model train layout built by Peter and Erik. In gratitude for their many acts of friendship, I have dedicated this book to them (and to the memory of Paul Fenimore Cooper, Jr.). My research at Hartwick College also benefited from the generous support extended by Philip Wilder, then the president of the college, and by Bob Danford, the director of the library.
For much of my supplementary research I relied upon the collections and staff of the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown. Paul S. D’Ambrosio, the curator of the art collection, introduced me to the wonders of townball (the precursor game to baseball) as well as to the mysteries of Cooperstown past and present. During my research trips I frequently had the good fortune to enjoy the hospitality extended by Paul and his wife, Anna. I also received generous assistance from the librarian, Amy Barnum, the special collections librarian, Eileen O’Brien, and from Wayne Wright and Gib Vincent. Publishing an essay in New York History was an especially rewarding experience because of my opportunity to work with the editor, Wendell Tripp.
I also spent many days researching at the New York State Archives and State Library in Albany. Despite severe state budget cuts, the staffs there were remarkably efficient and resourceful. I am particularly grateful to Stefan Bielinski, Bill Evans, Bill Gorman, and James Folts—who all went out of their way to be helpful. My many stays in Albany were especially pleasant because of the wise guidance and generous hospitality provided by my friend, student, and archival adviser Martha Shattuck, who took so much time out from her own scholarship on the New Netherlands to help mine on a later century.
At the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston the staff was always helpful and friendly. I am especially grateful to Peter Drummey, Richard A. Ryerson, and Celeste Walker. At the G. W. Blunt White Library of the Mystic Seaport Museum I benefited from the assistance extended by Douglas Stein, curator of manuscripts. At the McKinney Library of the Albany Institute of History and Art Prudence Backman was resourceful and helpful. At the Montgomery County Historical Society, the archivist, Violet Fallone, provided valuable guidance. I was able to delve into Otsego’s county records thanks to the understanding of the county clerk, Charlotte Koniuto, and to the assistance of her thoughtful assistant Marion Brophy. At the county clerk’s office or at NYSHA I frequently ran into Connie Ulrich, who shared her expertise on the genealogy of Otsego County families. Father Douglas Smith, rector of Christ Church in Cooperstown, made available his church’s historical records. Arthur Jenkins, Jr., secretary of Otsego Lodge No. 138, kindly permitted me to work with that lodge’s documents. I consulted two private collections of historical papers, belonging to G. McMurtrie Godley of Morris, New York, and to Michael Moffat of Cooperstown. I thank them for their consideration. The staff at the New York City Hall of Records, the New York Public Library, and the New-York Historical Society were immensely patient and helpful. I especially enjoyed my research trips to New York City because of the generous hospitality and good company provided by Barbara Brooks and David Jaffee.
My research also took me to the American Antiquarian Society, where I spent six wonderful months in early 1990 on a fellowship funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. I am grateful for the support afforded my research by Nancy H. Burkett, librarian, John B. Hench, the director of research and publications, and Marcus McCorison, then the director. My stay was enriched by exchanges with the other fellows, especially William W. Freehling, Lee Heller, and Mark and Lynn Valeri. Stephen Bullock of Worcester Polytechnic Institute was a genial presence in the reading room and an invaluable guide to understanding Freemasonry. The rich holdings and extraordinary staff render the AAS the ideal library for research scholars working on early American history and literature. Thomas G. Knoles, Dennis Leary, Joyce Ann Tracy, Marie Lamoroux, and Joanne D. Chaison made working at the AAS a great pleasure and a fond memory.
The most productive summer of my research was that spent in 1990 at the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. My sojourn in Philadelphia was especially memorable for the advice and friendship provided by Rosalind Remer and by James N. Green, the librarian at the LCP. At the Library Company of Burlington (New Jersey) I benefited from the assistance of Sharon Fitzpatrick.
In the winter and spring of 1991, a fellowship at the Center for the History of Freedom of Washington University enabled me to pursue my research and take in a few St. Louis Cardinals games. Despite being a National League fan and Astroturf apologist, David “El Jefe” Konig proved a wonderful friend and inspirational leader/editor of our band of amigos, who included Paul Gilje, Jan Lewis, and the famous Peter Onuf. For their warm good friendship during and after the St. Louis interlude, I am also grateful to Kristen Onuf and Judy Mann.
I spent the fall of 1993 at the National Humanities Center, where I was the Tri-Delta fellow, thanks to the commitment of that sorority to promoting scholarship. I wrote much of this book at the NHC, thanks largely to the environment created by its talented and dedicated staff. I am especially grateful to Kent Mulliken, the assistant director, who did so much to make the fellows feel at home. I learned much from my fellow fellows, especially Christopher Baswell, Philip J. Benedict, Shepherd Krech III, Laurie Mafflie-Kipp, John Scott, and Katharine Tachau.
I largely completed this book during the winter and spring of 1994, when I enjoyed a Mead fellowship at the Huntington Library, a scholar’s paradise and my refuge from the Northeast’s worst winter in fifty years. One of my greatest treats was the chance to work with Frederick Jackson Turner’s signed copy of Jabez D. Hammond’s classic History of Political Parties in the State of New-York. Barring the occasional earthquake, I had a blissful time in Southern California, thanks primarily to the guidance and generosity of the director of research, Roy Ritchie. I learned much from the other fellows, Michael and Carol Kammen. I also benefited from the advice and friendship of Jennie Watts, Bill Deverell, Louise Nocas, Amy and Jack Myers, and Peter and Sue Blodgett. Will Jacobs and Mark Roosa kept me honest on the local tennis courts. Margaret Cunningham graciously permitted me to stay in her family’s home, beautifully set at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Several scholars generously responded to my written queries: Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., John Brooke, Patricia Christian, Craig Hanyan, William A. Kearns, David W. Maxey, and James H. Pickering. The members of the James Fenimore Cooper Society shared their enthusiasm and insights. In particular, I wish to thank Allan Axelrad, Kay House, John P. McWilliams, Jr., Robert D. Madison, Thomas Philbrick, Geoffrey Rans, and George Test. My footnotes often convey my debts to their scholarship. The society’s secretary, Hugh MacDougall, very kindly shared his fund of information about the life and writings of James Fenimore Cooper. I never met James F. Beard, but, like all other Cooper scholars, I am greatly indebted to his immense work in editing and publishing the novelist’s letters and journals and a critical edition of The Pioneers. Although Beard never completed his biography of James Fenimore Cooper, his notes, deposited at the AAS, provided many valuable leads. I also benefited greatly from reading an unpublished paper by Lissa Gifford on James Fenimore Cooper and the environmental history of Otsego Lake. My debt to Alfred F. Young for his classic study of New York politics in the early Republic grew with every chapter of this book.
I also wish to thank Richard Dunn and Wayne Bodle for the opportunity to present a chapter to the Philadelphia Center for Early American History—where I learned much from the freewheeling interchange. In particular, comments that day gave shape to this book’s discussion of Elizabeth Cooper. Another chapter benefited from the close scrutiny of the American history faculty and graduate students at the University of Virginia, a presentation arranged and moderated, with characteristic elan, by Peter Onuf. Peter Mancall and Wayne Franklin closely read, and astutely commented upon, several draft chapters to my immense benefit. By their kind support for my scholarship, Richard Bushman, David Hall, Linda Kerber, and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich helped make possible my several fellowships.
I was especially fortunate that Jane Garrett of Alfred A. Knopf took a special interest in this project. I eventually learned that years ago she had helped her friend Paul Fenimore Cooper, Jr., organize the papers that are at the core of this book. In the past six years she has been a thoughtful and nurturing editor whose sage advice has repeatedly smoothed my path.
I researched and wrote most of this book as a member of the faculty at Boston University. The dean, Dennis Berkey, the history department chair, Bill Keylor, and my departmental colleagues were remarkably supportive. Jim McCann was an ideal colleague: funny, supportive, thoughtful, and challenging (but unrelenting in his powerful first serve). And I was especially fortunate in the bright and wonderful people who were my graduate students at BU. I leave my friends there with great regret. But I am also grateful to my new colleagues and administrators at UC Davis for the opportunity and encouragement they have so generously provided.
Above all, I am thankful that Emily Albu has been my very best friend and more.