The Furnace of Affliction: Prisons and Religion in Antebellum America

Acknowledgements

xi Acknowledgments When a book takes more than five years to write, there are lots of people to thank. First, let me mention those who made it possible—materially—to write this book. For their financial assistance, I thank the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the Duke University History Department, the Center for the Study of Philanthropy and Voluntarism at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University, the Graduate School of Duke University, and the Faculty Development Fund and the Luce Fund for Distinguished Scholarship at the College of Wooster. Librarians from the following institutions shared sources and information through mail, email, and phone conversations or provided assistance during research visits: American Bible Society, New York; American Tract Society, Garland, Texas; Methodist Library at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey; Asbury Theological Seminary Library, Wilmore, Kentucky; Texas Baptist Historical Collection, Dallas, Texas; Archives of the Episcopal Diocese of New York; Union College, Schenectady, New York; Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia; New York State Library, Albany ; New York State Archives, Albany; Science, Industry, and Business Library of the New York Public Library, New York; Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary, New York; Bobst Library at New York University; Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia; American Antiquarian Society , Worcester, Massachusetts; Library Company of Philadelphia; Cayuga Museum of History and Art, Auburn, New York; and Special Collections at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Thank you also to interlibrary loan staff at Duke University and the College of Wooster. In addition, the following libraries granted permission to quote from materials I found in their archival collections: Manuscripts Department of the New-York Historical Society Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division of the New York Public Library, Friends Historical Library at Swarthmore College, Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University, xii Acknowledgments and Southern Historical Collection at the Wilson Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I must also thank the people who provided the intellectual stimulation and social support that made this book possible. Elaine Maisner, my wonderful editor at UNC Press, and my anonymous outside reader offered helpful suggestions. I owe a great debt to my second outside reviewer, Michael Meranze, who carefully read the manuscript and asked the tough questions that helped this book become what it is. Thanks to all my critical readers along the way, especially Julie Byrne, Philip Gura, Seth Dowland, Jennifer Connerly, Brendan Pietsch, Kathryn Lofton, Theron Schlabach, Kip Kosek, and Heather Curtis. My colleagues at the College of Wooster, Mark Graham and Diana Springer, provided essential support in the book’s final stages. My mentors Stanley Hauerwas and Thomas Tweed have played an invaluable role in my growth as a scholar. I have also received endless guidance and support from Grant Wacker. I will always be grateful for my experience as his student. My final thanks go to my family: to my husband, Stacy, who read drafts and watched babies to make this happen; to my daughter, Sasha, who let me run away to the computer periodically during the first two years of her life; and to my son, Martin. As a baby, he napped in the archives of the NewYork Historical Society. He will be six when we see the book in print. He has been there all the way. I wrote this book because we live in a country where so many mothers’ sons are behind bars. I hope this story will prompt readers to question whether prisons are the right and best place for them. The Furnace of Affliction This page intentionally left blank ...