Carrying the Torch: Maud Howe Elliott and the American Renaissance

Acknowledgments

xv ack now l ed gmen ts The adventure of delving into the life of Maud Howe Elliott began at the Newport Art Museum, which is the institution that has allowed me to produce her story.My grateful thanks to Elizabeth A. Goddard,Executive Director,for her support and encouragement and to the Board of Trustees, who over the years have good-naturedly fostered my obsession with the founder of our institution.Making the book a possibility in a very substantial way was Elizabeth Prince de Ramel,and my thanks knows no bounds for her generosity in funding the project. Also, untold appreciation to Diane Wilsey, who made possible a month-long sabbatical and assistance in the curatorial department by Karen Conway. From the beginning there have been many cheerleaders for this project. One of the earliest was Danny D.Smith,Archivist for the Yellow House Papers and the Gardiner Library Association,who has guided me through the special collections at the Gardiner Public Library (where was he when I was locked in at 5:30?) and entertained me with Howe and Richards family lore. Sue Horton, a former Board member at the Newport Art Museum and great Maud enthusiast, gave me her Maud books when she relocated to Florida many years ago and has remained interested and supportive of my endeavor. Ellen Liberman wrote a great article about the Museum and the prospective book in Rhode Island Monthly in 2002; twelve years later she is delighted to have the book come to fruition. Cora Lee Gibbs, Director Emeritus and Christine Callahan, former Executive Director of the Newport Art Museum were always encouraging. In Newport,George Herrick had encountered mention of xvi Acknowledgments Maud through his research and Isabella Stewart Gardner connections, and has unfailingly provided access to his findings.Florence Archambault, a Newport historian extremely knowledgeable about Maud’s political activism has generously shared her material.James L.Yarnall,Ph.D.,has given me great professional guidance in our collaborative presentations about Maud in Newport History, the Journal of the Newport Historical Society, of which he is editor. Numerous libraries contain archives relating to the Howe family, not to mention the Wards, the Chanlers, the Richards, the Halls, and on. Two have served as the major sources for this narrative. The John Hay Library at Brown University, where Elliott received an honorary doctor of letters in 1940, and where I received an MA in 2004, holds the Maud Howe Elliott Papers. I am not sure if the staff thinks I have another job (I do), as I have haunted their reading room for twelve years. I will miss the friendly help of Andy Moul,Ann Dodge,Alison Bundy,and Kathleen Brooks. The Yellow House Papers at the Maine Historical Society are just as important to Maud’s story,as they contain almost seventy years of correspondence between Maud and her sister Laura Richards. My great appreciation to librarian Nick Noyes and staff Bill Barry,Jamie Kingman Rice, and Dani Fazio. I am grateful for the use of materials at Harvard’s Schlesinger Library and Houghton Library.Bert Lippincott and Jennifer Robinson at the Newport Historical Society have always been helpful.At the Society of Four Arts, in Palm Beach, Florida, Director Nancy Mato has loaned their wonderful portrait of Maud and expressed enthusiasm for the project. When I was working on my MA in American Civilization and Museum Studies at Brown University, I analyzed different aspects of Maud’s activities under the guises of Women’s History, U.S. History, American Literature and Art History,and I am grateful for the critiques and comments of faculty Barton St. Armand, Jane Gerhard, Mary Jo Buhle, and Robert Emlen. Maud had no children, but she had nieces and nephews, and now has many great-nieces and nephews. Several have enthusiastically supported my research and progress. I am eternally grateful to Kate Stickley for providing access to Julia Ward Howe journal material.I met Rita Putnam at the memorial service for her aunt, Posey Wiggins, who Acknowledgments xvii herself was a remarkably accomplished woman, and the granddaughter of Laura Richards. Rita has been a great link to the Richards family. Three years ago Maud Fluchere and Zell Kerr, Florence Howe Hall’s granddaughters, came to the Newport Art Museum to present us with one of Maud’s medallions from Italy. In 2011 Carrie Minturn Kerr and her family brought us...