Preface

Summary

The production of this book has been a remarkable and long adventure. It was given life because of archival discoveries, and archival research has sustained it, leading me into a maelstrom of conflicting voices, perspectives, and ideas. Making sense of it all has been difficult and exhilarating, and I feel fortunate to have been given the opportunity to bring to light much that has for too long remained shrouded in secrecy. I can only endorse those suggesting that as academics we neglect archives at our peril. Errors in what follows are all my own. The work has meant much dogged solitude, but has relied upon much kind assistance. Not least amongst those deserving thanks are the archival staff I encountered between 2009 and 2013. Particular thanks should go to the excellent Ruth Rogers and Mariana Oller at Wellesley College Special Collections. On a single, speculative day visit there, Ruth unexpectedly placed in front of me the remarkable (and at that time only partially catalogued) Mss 1887–89, the manuscript containing William Graham's ‘article’ that alerted me to the startling story that gave this book its purpose. Ruth's kindness in humouring a frantic academic desperately transcribing the end of the article fifteen minutes after closing time (and at a moment when she sorely needed to leave) will never be forgotten. On subsequent visits Ruth and Mariana made me extremely welcome and permitted me to fully mine the Mss, and I hope to work with them again in the future. The incomparable Stephen Wildman, Rebecca Finnerty, and staff at the Ruskin Library, Lancaster University; and Elizabeth Fuller at the Rosenbach, Philadelphia were also particularly helpful during my travels.