Never Married Women

Acknowledgments

Acknowledglllents In preparing this study, my chief debt is to the 50 women who so willingly discussed their pasts and presents with me. Their generosity and curiosity make this book possible. So does their courage. I thank, also, three teachers. Professor Alice Rossi's dual passions for feminist political action and interdisciplinary women's studies during her years of teaching and writing at Goucher College demonstrated that the scholarship of an activist and the activism of a scholar can be equally and concomitantly distinguished. Professor Jean Baker's devotion to understanding the nineteenth century on its own changing terms taught me to approach the twentieth century in the same manner. Professor Carole Joffe initiated me into the craft of qualitative research while I was a doctoral student at Bryn Mawr College. Her intellectual influence has informed my work from conception to completion. Crucial financial support for this research came from a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar Fellowship, a La Salle University Summer Research Grant, a National Institute on Aging Small Grant (#R03 AG04694-01,1984), and a New York XlI / Acknowledgments State/United Universities Professions New Faculty Development Award in 1985. The La Salle University Women's Studies Steering Committee of 1979-1984 gave me the quality of intellectual and emotional support that one dreams of, but rarely finds. The Women's Studies Committee's Chairperson, Professor Caryn Musil, now Director of the National Women's Studies Association, was more mentor than colleague in my first five years of teaching. The collegiality of the other members of the Women's Studies Committee, Professors Arleen Dallery, Barbara Millard, Judith Newton, Laura Otten, and Minna Weinstein (the latter now of the Middle States Association/ Commission on Higher Education) was also indispensable to me. My colleagues in the Sociology Department at La Salle, in Philadelphia , among them Professors Dennis Brunn, John F. Connors, Finn Hornum, Sybil Montgomery, and Steve Stevenson, were a steady source of help throughout my years at the university. At the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Social Welfare, I received indispensable encouragement and criticism from Professors Marcia Abramson, Kathryn Moss, and Stephen Rose. Professors Harvey Farberman, Robert Lefferts, and Elinor Polansky made conceptual and methodological suggestions that proved immediately useful. Dean Ruth Brandwein fostered my writing throughout the two years I taught at Stony Brook. My new colleagues at the Columbia University School of Social Work have assisted me in completing this work by inviting me into a setting where the intellectual intensity and scholarly productivity are astonishing. I am proud to have joined them. The reference librarians and collections at Bryn Mawr College, La Salle University, the Health Sciences Library at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Sarah Lawrence College, Barnard College, and the Columbia University Social Work Library were essential to the research process. The staff at Temple University Acknowledgments / Xlll Press, Editor-in-Chief Michael Ames and Production Editor Mary Capouya, have helped me transform a private manuscript into a book fit for the public. Like the fifty women I studied, I have been sustained both by members of my family and by friends during my work on this book. Foremost among them is my mother, Harriet Simon, in whose footsteps I follow as a teacher. My friends have been equally important. Katherine Kurtz's enthusiasm and early contributions were of great significance to me. Azi Ellowitch, Lynne Lamstein, Susan Landau, Anne Lown, and Chris Wing helped, each in her own way, in the shaping of this work. Doren Slade's faith in me has proved invaluable. Jonathan and Tracy Stanton's eagerness to hold this book in their hands helped me make that happen. Above all, I have relied on Paula Hooper Mayhew's devotion to scholarship, women's studies, and me. NEVER MARRIED WOMEN ...