Cecelia and Fanny: The Remarkable Friendship Between an Escaped Slave and Her Former Mistress

Acknowledgments

189 Acknowledgments Abook is always a collective project. My collective has included the ever-helpful archivists at the repositories I consulted. The staff at the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky, where I first became interested in the stories of Cecelia and Fanny, was unfailingly helpful and knowledgeable. I also thank the Filson for permission to publish the portraits and photographs of the members of the Ballard and Thruston families. The archivists at the Earl K. Long Library at the University of New Orleans, the Huntington Library in San Marino , California, the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and the University of Louisville also helped me locate important sources— either in person or through e-mail exchanges—that helped fill in some of the gaps in these two women’s lives. I would also like to thank Janice Nickerson, who did vital research in Canada on my behalf, tracking down the traces Cecelia left behind in Toronto. The Toronto Public Library, the Rochester Public Library in New York, the New York State Library, and Niagara University also helped me by obtaining and scanning the illustrations used in the book. The manuscript benefited from the careful review given it by the readers and editors of the University Press of Kentucky. I would also like to thank my wife, Sue, and my brother, Curt, for reading the entire manuscript and suggesting improvements before it was submitted to the press. Portions of the manuscript were also read by David Hudacek and Andrew Deiss, both of whom deserve my gratitude. Finally , my family gave this project endless encouragement and unflagging support; without their love, I would not have completed it. ...