Mount Vernon is Ours: The Story of the Preservation and Restoration of Washington's Home (review)

BOOK REVIEWS365 dozen or so years at the University of Texas; Wilbur Jacobs, one of the first to make extensive use of the Turner papers at the Huntington Library, has been at work on a full-length study of the man for some time. Each essay stands by itself, with its own bibliography, a photograph of its subject , and (for whatever it is worth), a facsimile of a manuscript page from his writing. To date, Turner has no doubt had the most profound impact of the three, and Jacobs' profile is probably the most penetrating, relying as it does not only upon Turner's published works, but his unpublished notes and correspondence as well. Caughey and Frantz depend but little on letters and more upon published materials and their own personal associations with their subjects, an approach which tends to make their sketches more anecdotal, with more of the man and less of his thought coming through to the reader. All three—Turner, Bolton and Webb—made their reputations by combining teaching and writing and were idolized by their graduate students. Turner is described as "a committed teacher who hated to write." Webb looked upon historical writing as a literary art and wrote less for his professional colleagues than for the intelligent layman. Like Turner, he was not prolific, but painted on a broad canvas, digesting huge masses of materials and turning ideas over in his mind for years before setting them on paper. Bolton, on the other hand, was not only a "productive giant" in terms of publication, but was also, in Caughey's words, "a teaching machine, a one-man assembly line, a tax payer's dream of efficiency in the degree factory." No exciting revolutionary insights come out of this book, but it does give us interesting and well-written glimpses of these major historians of the westward movement and helps us to see them in better perspective. Clark C. Spence University of Illinois Mount Vernon is Ours: The Story of the Preservation and Restoration of Washington's Home. By Elswyth Thane. (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1966. Pp. viii, 467. $7.95.) This is an account of the way in which Washington's home was saved for the nation by a dedicated group of women and a few determined men. The central figure in the book is Ann Pamela Cunningham, whose plan it was to purchase, restore and convert Mount Vernon into a national shrine. She started her crusade by publishing anonymous appeals in the press and won supporters, first in the South but eventually in other areas of the country. The noted orator Edward Everett was one of Miss Cunningham 's staunchest supporters prior to the Civil War, and he gave freely of his time and talents to support the project. By the late 1850's sufficient interest had been aroused to organize the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association with Miss Cunningham as regent. 366CIVIL WAR HISTORY The first major task of the association was to convince the owner and resident of Mount Vernon that he should sell the estate, and this was no small challenge to the ladies. At first refusing, he then agreed and set the price at $200,000, whereupon Miss Cunningham and her group went to work to raise the money through public subscription. Although an unconventional , gargantuan undertaking for the sheltered, Victorian ladies, their efforts were soon crowned with success. No sooner had the property been acquired than the nation was deep in the Civil War, the women divided according to sectional lines and the restoration plans temporarily brought to a standstill. The house and grounds were in a state of disrepair but only the most essential improvements could be made during the conflict . Meantime it was decided that someone representing the new owners should be in residence to protect the property, and the responsibility was assigned to the tactful, courageous Sarah Tracy, who was assisted by the superintendent, Upton Herbert. They proved to be efficient custodians despite the complications, abnormal problems and hardships incurred by the war; not the least of their worries was Miss Cunningham, who tried to run affairs from her home in South Carolina. Always a...