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•——— Recto Runninhead ———• 369 Acknowledgments [ 369 ] During the seven years I have spent working on this book, I have received enormous encouragement and help from a long list of friends, relations, colleagues, and interested experts. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to all of them. I began both the book and my relationship with Vassar College thanks to Jean McKee (Vassar ’51). Professor Emerita Elizabeth Daniels, the Vassar College historian, quickly stepped on board to support this project with the full power of her considerable expertise. Other members of the Vassar community I thank include Rebecca Edwards, professor of history on the Eloise Ellery Chair; Paul Kane, professor of English and co-associate chair; Elizabeth M. Clark (Vassar ’41); Cristina Biaggi (Vassar ’59); Sarah Canino, music librarian; and Dean Rogers, in the Vassar Library’s Special Collections. If any inaccuracies about Vassar history have crept into the text over the years, these are all entirely mine. Peter Dimock; Helen Horowitz, professor of American studies and history emerita at Smith College; Sharon Wood, professor of history at the University of Nebraska; and Linda Kerber, professor in liberal arts and sciences at the University of Iowa, were also kind enough to listen and give me advice and encouragement during the early stages of my research. The people who have helped me transform this project from idea to reality and who have been beyond generous with their time and professional skills include Robert Rushan, who created my author website and Marge Hetzel, who provided many hours of time on genealogical research. For the first edition, hats off to David Wolk, Tamara Glenny , Jorge Madrigal, Liz Barhydt, and Gregory Lalire. Also, Kathryn Shattuck Papay, Christopher Lukas, Jaclyn Vorenkamp, Jane Gross, Kathy Sykes, and Joan Konner provided essential critical feedback and encouragement throughout the writing process. For the second edition, 370 •——— verso runninghead ———• I particularly want to thank everyone I have worked with at the University of Iowa Press, including Jim McCoy, who decided to take a chance on an unknown author, and my copy editor Jessie Dolch, whose careful eye for detail has been invaluable. Additional information about Nina Van Zandt came from Timothy Messer-Kruse. For both editions, Kathleen Lynch provided the beautiful cover artwork. In Davenport, Iowa, I am indebted to Judy and Henry P. Braunlich; Eunice Schlichting, former chief curator of the Putnam Museum; the entire well-informed staff of the Davenport Public Library’s Richardson -Sloane Special Collections Center; the Upper Mississippi River Valley Digital Image Archive; Eleanor Mooney and Pastor Ron Carlson of St. John’s United Methodist Church; Karen Anderson and Sue and Rex Grove of the Scott County Historical Preservation Society; the Davenport Community School System’s historical library; Deborah Lynn Williams of the Oakdale Memorial Gardens; Jerry Wala of the Davenport Unitarian Universalist Church; and Janet Meyer of the Rock Island Historical Society. Also, many thanks to the Quad Cities Heritage League, including Allana Callender of the Palmer Foundation for Chiropractic History and Kelly Lao of the German American Heritage Center. In Fairfield, Iowa, I thank local historian Richard Thompson and the staff at the Fairfield Public Library. In Illinois, I particularly thank Bill Kemp, the librarian/archivist of the McLean County Museum of History in Bloomington, who has been combing their microfilmed newspaper files for information about Mrs. Dr. Keck on my behalf for years. Professor John S. Haller Jr. of Southern Illinois University and Professor Michael Flannery at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, provided essential help with the history of eclectic medical practitioners in the Midwest. I also thank Robert Baker at the Champaign County Circuit Court; Howard Grueneberg at the Champaign County Historical Archives; Heather Speckler at the Rush Medical University Library; Ron Sims at Northwestern University’s Galter Health Sciences Library; L. J. Dean, a volunteer researcher at the National Railway Historical Society in Philadelphia; Linda Aylward at the Peoria Public Library; Karen Deller at Bradley University Special Collections; and Dr. Victoria Hineman Loberg. Jeanine Rhodes at the Elkhart, Indiana, Public Library; the staff at the Goshen, Indiana, Public Library; Lexie Sylvester and the staff at •——— acknowledgments ———• •——— Recto Runninhead ———• 371 the Elkhart County Courthouse in Goshen, Indiana; and in Hawaii, Hanalei Abbott at the Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaii at Manoa also provided information and assistance. In New York, the Reverend Earl Kooperkamp and Miss Gwen of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Harlem and Lauren Georger of the Manhattanville College Library gave me access to original information available nowhere else...

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