Railroads in the Old South: Pursuing Progress in a Slave Society

• Acknowledgments
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• Johns Hopkins University Press
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Like most first academic books, this work began as a doctoral dissertation. Before that it was a seminar paper, and before that it was a conversation with Mark M. Smith, my dissertation director at the University of South Carolina. I owe much of my intellectual and professional development to his constant wise counsel. He has been tireless in reading and rereading drafts, offering advice as I ventured out onto the job market, and helping me keep a healthy perspective on my professional career. I am fortunate to have earned my doctorate under his tutelage and look forward to continuing our conversations. I offer hearty thanks to the other members of my dissertation committee: Lawrence Glickman, Paul Johnson, Peter Coclanis, and Ann Johnson. Their advice and tough questions helped me write a better dissertation and transform the dissertation into this book.

Many, many people contributed to the wonderful time that I had at Carolina. Connie Schulz recruited me to USC and has remained a good friend ever since. It was a pleasure and a privilege to work with Walter Edgar on the South Carolina Encyclopedia and numerous other projects, and I am grateful for his enthusiasm for my work. Among my fellow graduate students, Kathy Hilliard, Mike Reynolds, and Rebecca Shrum have proved their endurance by listening to innumerable stories about railroads. I count myself fortunate to have been at USC at the same time they were, because they provided a model of scholarly cooperation and friendliness that is exactly how the life of the mind should operate. USC’s history department and public history program allowed me to be a historian in a variety of settings: researcher, classroom teacher, editor, and archivist. I can’t imagine a better way to learn about the breadth of our exciting profession. Thanks to all the other friends and teachers who have helped me laugh and learn at various stages of life: Michael Hittle, Kevin Allen, Paul and Laura Keefer, Susan Asbury-Newsome and Brian Newsome, Tom Downey, and the remarkably supportive and steadfast friends I have kept since my days at Lawrence University. You will always have a place to crash in D.C.

Having been trained as an archivist, I am well aware of how obnoxious I must have been while doing research, but I am grateful to the following archives and their staffs: South Caroliniana Library; Historical Collections Department, Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Virginia Historical Society; Wisconsin Historical Society; Special Collections department, Newman Library, Virginia Tech; Hargrett Library, University of Georgia; and the Middle Georgia Archives. I would like to thank the same institutions for permission to quote from their materials or use images, in addition to the Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; R. G. Dun; the CSX Corporation; the United States Trade and Patent Office; the Smithsonian; and the South Carolina Historical Society. The Norfolk Southern Archives now houses material that was at Virginia Tech when I did my research, and I am grateful to Kyle Davis of Norfolk Southern for facilitating permission to quote from these materials. At the University of South Carolina, I owe thanks to Marna Hostetler and the superb interlibrary loan staff for tracking down numerous reels of microfilm and printed diaries that helped me round out my research. Some portions of this book have also appeared in the journal Enterprise and Society, and I thank that journal for permission to reprint them here.

Travel funding to archives came in the form of an Alfred Chandler Traveling Fellowship from the Harvard Business School and a Mellon Fellowship from the Virginia Historical Society. I had a wonderful time researching at each of these institutions, which would not have been possible without the funding provided. My travel to archives was also made possible by old and new friends who let me stay with them. So thanks to Miriam Ledford-Lyle and Scott Lyle, Scott Trigg, Randy and Irene Leech, and Eric Plaag. I also thank the USC College of Liberal Arts (later the College of Arts and Sciences) for awarding me the Newton Fellowship during my last three years at the university.

I have benefited immensely from scholars who have provided formal and informal commentary at conferences: Michael Bailey, John Brown, David Carlton, Albert Churella, Colin Divall, Colleen Dunlavy, John Lauritz Larson, William Rorabaugh, and Kathryn Steen. Travel to these conferences was made possible by several grants from the USC Department of History, the USC Graduate School, and the Society for the History of Technology. Bob Brugger and the staff at the Johns Hopkins University Press have been of invaluable assistance as I worked to turn the dissertation into a book. I am deeply appreciative to the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. Many thanks to Bill Nelson for designing the wonderful maps, and to David Prior for tracking down some last-minute citations. Obviously, all errors in the text are my own.

I am proud to be a historian in the Department of State’s Office of the Historian. I thank the office’s scholars and staff for welcoming a nondiplomatic historian into their midst to participate in the important and vital work the office does. The views expressed in this book are solely my own and are not necessarily the official views of the Office of the Historian, the U.S. Department of State, or the U.S. government.

I can’t repay the love—and patience!—shown by my family as I ventured through graduate school and beyond. My parents, Margie and Bob, and sister, Kristin, have always been supportive as I’ve wandered farther and farther from the heartland. But as for my biggest debt: I’m sure Melissa Jane Taylor is wondering how she ended up married to someone who doesn’t drink coffee, doesn’t like the beach, and prefers cats to dogs. I know that I am fortunate for her indulgence in these matters, and there are not words I can write or actions I can undertake that will adequately repay her love and kindness. Telling people that we married as two academics usually evokes looks of pity, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. We slogged through the dissertation process together, survived the job hunt together, and it is with joy and anticipation that I look forward to our future together. She is the perfect intellectual sparring partner as well as the love of my life, which makes me the luckiest guy I know.