Most recent book and the question is about the first primary source that you encountered in the civil War Manuscript Source im curious if you can recall with was the first one you put into your hands. And he manuscripts for us. What do you think . I can remember first. Boy, i think but it would have been it might have been. An Alexander Hamilton stevens letter that i a collection i was looking at. In the 1970s when i was working on my Dissertation Topic that i never finished and i went to the Manhattanville College of the sacred heart. In in new york, which had a collection of Alexander H stevens papers for some reason and that i think that was my first Researching Stop and that was probably the first thing that i looked at. About first civil war. First civil War Boy i i looked at some miscellaneous letters that people had at the university of texas in austin my major professor barnes lathrop had a few examples of primary documents. Those would have been the very first ones the first s
But you dont want to stand in Line Purchase a book leave it at the Information Counter for with the instructions of how you would like it signed and then you can pick it up anytime after tomorrow morning. Well get it signed for you. Im barbara meade. Im one of the founders of politics and prose and this evening. I want to welcome sally bedell smith. Ive introduced hers several times before and this evening. Shes here to talk about her new biography of elizabeth who is in her 60th year as queen her Diamond Anniversary it is and chronicling the lives of William Paley Pamela harriman diana both the kennedys and the clintons. I think that sally has well established herself as a prominent biographer prominent and bestselling biographer i should say for the past 15 years. Shes also been a contributing editor to vogue. And before that she wrote for time and she was a cultural reporter for the New York times. During the time just as a personal side that she was researching this biography. She
Good afternoon, Everyone And Welcome to another installment of finding the source if youre joining us for the first time. My name is ashley lusky. Im the Assistant Director of the civil War Institute at Gettysburg College and i am delighted to have with me Today Dr. Michelle crowell who comes to us from the library of congress. She is the civil War And Reconstruction specialist in the Manuscripts Division at the library of congress, and she is also the current manager of the president ial papers from President Polk through Theodore Roosevelt. Is that correct . Thats correct. Correct. Michelle has had a long and very interesting career, which i hope that she can start us off talking to us about that today. Its had lots of interesting twists and turns in both the academic and and public history sectors of the field. She was a Research Assistant for Doris Kearns Goodwin and writing her book on lincoln and she was also an advisor for the film lincoln. Among numerous other career adventures
Cities and towns along the railroad lines in the state. Or in mining camps, as they developed, such as Virginia City or manhattan, various towns in the state of nevada. And the gaming continued to operate in nevada until 1910, when there was a strong social movement that actually won a referendum and made gaming illegal, in october of 1910. And, at that point, most of the gamblers in the city of reno got on the train and left for san francisco. In 1919, the Attorney General said that poker was legal by the statutes. And by 1923, they were licensing slot machines. Finally, in 1931, i believe march 23 of 1931, they legalized all forms of gaming. I believe the only form of gaming that is not permitted in the state of nevada by the constitution is a state lottery. Well, the Gaming Collection here consists of records of gaming, not only in the state of nevada but throughout the United States. And the way that occurred is i was fortunate enough between about 1995 and 2005, to acquire the rec
celebrity, grant refused to trumpet his accomplish. s in print. when did you decide to start that way in your book? when i started the book i ran into a friend who said to me, how can you write a great biography of someone who wrote a great autobiography and that stopped me dead in my tracks. i thought about that comment for many days. then i realized that it actually helped to define the direction of my book because i realized that what my job was to do as a biographer was to zero in on the silences and the evasions in grant s memoirs. i should say grant s book, it s not really an autobiography. it s a military memoir. covers the mexican war. he covers the civil war. there s not a word, for instance, about that small thing, his two-term presidency and the remaining events in his life. but i ended up again zeroing in on those things that grant did not want to talk about, particularly his lifelong struggle with alcoholism and his repeated business failures. i want to start