Pulling Strings: The Legacy of Melville A. Clark

Acknowledgments

xix Acknowledgments I H AV E M A N Y G O O D P E O P L E to thank for getting this book to completion. In the beginning I gave an occasional lecture about the Clark harp, and made a few local TV appearances that led to three magazine articles, written to interest the folk harp world. It was a stroke of luck to be under the wing of a seasoned editor, and my thanks and praise go to Janie Taylor. Coincidentally, she too played the harp and as a child learned on a Clark. She said the writing was good and the stories interesting, and urged me for more. I owe a debt of gratitude to fellow harpists for introducing me to the idea that Melville Clark was a person who really mattered: Elizabeth Kay, Patricia DeBottis, and Arsalaan Fay. Staff members at Syracuse University Library’s Special Collections Research Center who were especially helpful during the eighteen years I pored over the 175 boxes of archival papers: Diane Cooter, William La Moy, Bill Lee, and Kathleen Manwaring. Also thanks goes to research assistant Rebekah Ambrose; Michael Flanagan, archivist at the Onondaga County Historical Association ; and Daniel R. Smith, librarian at the Onondaga County Public Library. Many knowledgeable persons helped me to validate facts and dates: Timothy and Melville Clark Jr., Nevart Apikian, Dale Barco, Murray Bernthal, Barbara Lane Buckland, Dick Case, Lucille Garlock, Donald House, Paul Knoke, Eileen McIntyre, Susan and Lance McKee, Samuel Milligan, Robert Sharp, Kenneth Williams, and Frank De Fonda of the Clark Music Company. xx | Acknowledgments Thanks to those individuals who helped me in their own special way: Lynn Baker, Howard Bryan, Elizabeth Clark, Michele Combs, Betsy Fairbank, Elizabeth Hueber, Elizabeth Huntley, Nancy Hurrell , Gail Lyons, Ernest Muzquiz, Ruth Papalia, Myrna Partenza, Neva Pilgrim, Carole Taylor, and the Dorset Team. Credit for the final manuscript making its way into print goes to Mary Beth Hinton, who stayed with the project to its completion. Finally, I could not have completed this work without the help of my husband, Harvey, who took time from his own interests to become reader, critic, computer consultant, and an enabler on many levels. ...