Thornton Wilder Read Free Page B

Oscar Ardila, Arthur “Pete” Ballard, Sally Begley, Dr. Scott Bennett, Susan Bianconi, the late Dr. John Broderick, Harlan Blynn, Francesca Calderone-Steichen, Rowe Carenen, Carol Channing, Vicki Crouser, Dr. Louie Eargle, Mia Farrow, David Finkle, Paul Green, Jr., Paul Gregory, the late Philip Guiles, Rosemary Harris, Lisa Hartjens, William Henderson, Archie Hobson, Dr. John Hutton, Louis Kapeleris, Dr. Lincoln Konkle, Matt Lutz, the late Dr. Morris Martin, Christopher Morss, Betsy Green Moyers, Tom Munroe, Dr. Tommaso Murani, Dr. Edyta Oczkowicz, the late Dr. Elizabeth Phillips, Dr. Tim Redman, Ray Roberts, Dr. Eva Rodtwit, the late Dr. James Semans, Cindy Shirley, Nancy Nutter da Silva, Justin Spring, Ariana Rodina Calderone Stahmer, Robert Stewart, Rosey Strub, Harold Tedford, Tazewell Thompson, Anna Livia Plurabelle (“Liffey”) Thorpe, Jay Tunney, the late Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Scott Warhoven, Jenney Wilder, Michael Williams, Nita Kendrick Williamson, Dr. Edwin Wilson, Emily Herring Wilson, Ken Witty, and Don Wolfe.
    I have spent productive hours over many years engrossed in the Thornton Wilder papers at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University, and before Wilder, in the papers of Edward and Clara Smith Steichen in the Beinecke’s Alfred Stieglitz Collection. The quality of the Beinecke collections is matched by the quality of the outstanding people who work there. I have been the grateful beneficiary of the professionalism and generosity of the Beinecke staff. I owe special appreciation to Stephen Jones. My thanks go to Dr. Patricia Willis, former curator of American Literature; Dr. Nancy Kuhl, current curator of American Literature; Dr. Louise Bernard, curator of American Literature: Prose and Drama; Anne Marie Menta, Timothy Young, Diane Ducharme, Eva Wrightson, Moira Fitzgerald, and all the people at the Beinecke who help by retrieving materials, copying papers and photographs, and protecting books and papers with courteous care. Gratitude goes out as well to Judith Ann Schiff, chief research archivist of Manuscripts and Archives; and Diane E. Kaplan, head of public Services, Manuscripts, and Archives, Yale University Library. I also thank Amy Boratko and Anna Chen for their excellent research assistance. I learned a great deal in conversation with the late Donald Gallup, curator of the Yale Collection of American Literature from 1947 until 1980, and editor of Wilder’s journals and his selected nonfiction.
    I appreciate the assistance of the following additional institutions and individuals: Renée Bennett, director of communications, The Masters School, as it is known today; Heather Cole, assistant curator of Modern Books & Manuscripts, Houghton Library, Harvard University; Margaret R. Dakin, Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College; Mollie Gathro, archives assistant, Mount Holyoke College; Ken Grossi, acting college archivist, Oberlin College Archives; David Kessler, The Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley; Nancy R. Miller, University of Pennsylvania Archives; Katherine Mollen, Center for Legislative Archives, National Archives and Records Administration; Megan O’Shea, manuscripts specialist, Manuscripts and Archives Division, New York Public Library; Mark Renovitch, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum; Peter Weis, archivist; Dr. Rose Simon and her colleagues in the Salem College Library; the Mount Hermon School; the Thacher School; The Library and Archives of Canada; and the National Library of Scotland.
    I will always be thankful for the affirmation and support of a Fellowship in American Literature from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Thornton Wilder Fellowship at the Beinecke Library at Yale.
    It has been a great pleasure to work with my venerable editor, Hugh Van Dusen. For more than two years he read the manuscript chapter by chapter as I finished each draft, and he sent me immediate