Heiress and society wife. Exploring her full life and her husbands as the partnership it was is the focus of tonights talk. Mr. Moskey writes on the period between the civil war and world war ii. And the great depression. As a resident of washington dc, he has thrown himself into the world of the gilded age, and especially the lives of larz and Isabel Anderson. His new book is the first full length publication on the couple, an important addition to our understanding of the andersons. But why study them . They will never make it into your history textbooks and have never been household names, then or now. The andersons never ascended into the ranks of the carnegies or the vanderbilts, but through their lives we get a welldocumented window into our nations character and history as it charged into the modern world of the 20th century. We get an especially vibrant view of the nations capital, where the andersons were among the most important residents during the gilded age. For more, let me turn it over to our speaker tonight. [applause] mr. Moskey thank you emily for that introduction. I want to thank emily and the entire staff at the society of the cincinnati for hosting me and many visits to the library and archives for almost six years. I almost feel like this is a homecoming for me. It is a pleasure to be here in the home built by larz Kilgore Anderson and Isabel Perkins in 1935, and since 1938, the home of americas Oldest Society of the cincinnati. I am here to talk about the firstever fulllength biography isabel called larz and Isabel Anderson wealth and celebrity in the gilded age. Where the subjects of my books are looking down from a portrait hung high above this room. If you have looked at the portrait you know that larz has , a stern look on his face, but i suspect they would both be as interested in what i have to say tonight as i hope you are. I want to briefly tell you how i came to write the book, then spend most of my time this evening telling you about the isabel and larz homes and gardens in new england, the other side of their life that has not been well understood up until now. As one earlier reader said, it is kind of like a home and garden store. Tour. If that is the impression you got, then bravo. That is what i hoped for. For washingtonians, knowing more about the couples home in brookline, named in honor of isabels grandfather from whom she inherited her wealth, and isabels simple cabin in New Hampshire, will help put Anderson House in sharper focus for you. Just as the choices that larz made about the art and architecture of Anderson House, for it was larz that made those choices, and the choices he made for their home in brookline sorry, just as the choices larz made about the art and architecture about anderson has about how larz saw his places in the world. So to the choices he made for their home in brookline in made for their cottage in New Hampshire created settings for the private side of their lives both as a married , couple and as individuals. How did it happen that i came to write this book . On a very cold day in january 2010, while out for a walk in my neighborhood along massachusetts avenue, i saw a sign out in front of his house said Anderson House free tour today. I knew something of the history, that a wealthy couple had once lived here, but not that much more than that i decided to go. In for the tour and warm up. I was awestruck by what i saw. Everyone is the first moment you walk in. I immediately wanted to know more about the people who built this house and asked the docent if there was a book i could read. He sighed audibly that no one had written a book about larz and isabel. Given what i had just experienced, i was rather perplexed. In the absence of books about larz and isabel, i started to read accounts of their lives in the digitized online editions of american newspapers. Then ellen clark, the director of the society of the cincinnati found out my interest in the , andersons and invited me to read the unpublished version of larzs journals housed here in this building. The more i read, the more that i realized there was not as an just an interesting story to be told about larz and isabel, but there was also a new book to be written about the gilded age, with larz and isabel as exhibit number one. As someone who had made his way through life up to that point as a writer, editor, publisher, and researcher, the idea for a book about larz and isabel seemed to be the perfect next project for me. When i talked to washington architectural historian james good about the possibility of writing such a book, he encouraged me to do so, citing saying if you could write that book, it would be the one everyone is waiting for. At the time i was starting to work on the book, the commonly held narrative about the andersons adult lives revolved primarily around larzs career in diplomacy, their wedding, isabels work as a war volunteer and author, and their participation in elite society in the nations capital. When i started going to brookline, massachusetts i found that even less was known about them, although they had spent more time in brookline than they ever did in washington. The reason for this is clearly that Anderson House has been open is a gilded age house museum for the past 70 years. And because the society of the cincinnati has been so good about perpetuating the andersons memory in washington by welcoming thousands of visitors a year. I knew that existing accounts of larz and his wives were fragmented and incomplete. And there was no established body of scholarship i could turn to. I had my work cut out for me. I would have to establish a chronology not just for their lives, but their parents, grandparents, and distant ancestors. I would have to craft an overarching narrative for two very complex lives that stand spanned almost a century of American History. I would have to pick and choose from thousands of details and episodes in their lives to create an interesting, readable, and ultimately compelling story about two people who had been mostly forgotten by time. The book includes the early sixyear process presents the early family life education, their life in washington, brookline and New Hampshire, their foreign travels and their lazy weeks and months among their house boat. The book provides an account of larzs diplomatic postings under president taft, and an overview and assessment of isabels literary output. The last two chapters of the book, which were in a way most interesting for me to write, reconstruct isabels life after larzs death. I decided early on that i will tell the andersons story is has much as possible in their own words, supplemented by the recollections and memoirs of their friends, family, and employees. And once i started looking there were dozens of books published in their lifetime and shortly thereafter that included recollections of them. Larz and isabels writings, especially larzs, are so extensive, detailed, and candid, i could write about a most almost anything in their lives in their own words. I almost consider myself as a biographer very lucky to have actually met and talked with people who knew isabel when they were young. And they freely shared their memories of her with me. One of them, a woman in New Hampshire, had done manual labor for isabel at the box list and at the house in brookline. The other was a woman in washington whose mother had taken her to one of isabels weekly tea parties when she was a child. Her story is in the book. Talking to these ladies certainly made me feel like isabel was not all that far away in time. I also sought to anchor the story in the Historic Events of the andersons era and in the great and famous people that they associated with. President S Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard taft, henry n clover adams, Martin John Maud and john Elliott Henry james, and , Isabella Stewart gardner, and many others. As i decided which of their famous friends and acquaintances to include, i gave references to american figures rather than to foreigners since i thought this would help american readers connect larz and isabel to the broader context of American History with which they were already familiar. This should have been on the screen. Sorry. Larz and isabel were married in 1897 in boston and spent the first two years of their married life traveling abroad, first to japan and china by way of hawaii. Here they are pictured in honolulu. And then a year later to india by way of the suez canal. Larz says they needed this time to make plans for their life together. It also gave them an opportunity to experience and experiment with what life as an elite married couple might be like. It certainly gave isabel more time to become accustomed to the ways of the world they were about to enter. Larz had grown up with luxury and privilege, but isabel had not. She had been raised in an upper middle class family in a modest home in back bay boston, by somewhat reclusive parents who rarely went out or entertained beyond a very intimate and small circle of family and friends. In between those trips to japan and india, larz and isabel rented a large and stylishly decorated bellamy mansion at 1640 rhode island avenue, diagonally across where the old ymca was. They rented it for the 1898 winter social season in washington. As the temporary occupants of one of the capitals most elite homes of the late 19th century, they had an early taste of what it was like to be hosts in washington. I believe that experience helps them conceptualize and realize their dreams for this house. Isabel had not yet learned how to be the mistress of a large and Prestigious Home with servants and dinner parties for dozens. This is part of what her marriage to larz would demand. Isabel was most certainly tutored in this by larzs mother , inexperienced washington hostess during that first winter in washington. After their return from india in the spring of 1899, they were ready to start their life together. They took over the brookline estate of isabels first cousin, William Fletcher weld the second, known it during his lifetime as billy. The circumstances under which they acquired the house make for a good story of its own. A typically boston story, someone called it. Billys death at an early age his widows subsequent , remarriage to a new yorker that did not like boston or the weldy, and finally the familys somewhat cloak and dagger scheme to wrest the house back from the unpopular new yorker. When larz and isabel acquired billys brookline house in 1899, it was a quaint, cozy home in the shingle style, with nooks and crannies everywhere that fostered a sense of comfort and privacy. Larz had envisioned something grander and more on the style of an immense italian villa. However he never completely got his wish to tear down billys house and start over. Isabel was deeply attached attached to the land that had belonged to her grandfather. Larz had to settle for elaborate and somewhat awkward additions to billys house to achieve the fanciful design and style he wanted. That is what became of the house. By the time larz was finally done with his twoyear makeover of billys house, it had been transformed from a charming shingle style new England Country home into a bombastic structure of a type that i and other architectural historians have called gilded age kistch. Billys original house was encased within an architectural confection that contains several new and immense spaces, two bedroom suites. One each for larz and isabel. A living room so large that its furniture seemed a bit undersized as you will see in a , moment. And a ballroom that was rarely used. The interiors of billys part of the house remained essentially in their original condition. Isabel liked the way they were. Lets take a quick look at how larz and his architects achieved this transformation of the house. I do want to my whole Creative Team is here tonight. I want to recognize harry martin who is somewhere in the back. Harry is a washington architect who did the architectural schematics. Harry, thank you. [applause] and also Robert Weiser is here, robert did the book cover. Robert, thank you very much. [applause] here we have the first floor of so of the house. This is will writes original 1888 mansion. This is the addition. The second floor plan. All of this was isabels bedroom suite. And larz had a little bedroom suite over here. And the remainder of billys house. We dont know exactly what the floor plan looked like when will wright designed the house in the mid1880s. This is the floor plan as it existed in 1940. 1914. This is an authentic floor plan, but it might have looked a little different in its original configuration. I dont know if you can see this, but this was isabels bedroom suite. After larzs death in 1937, she moved into the smallest bedroom of the house. I think that says something about her personality. We have a longitudinal section. I know this is a little bit hard to see but you can see that larz achieved the ceiling height that he wanted by playing with the floors and the offsets between the old and new part of the house. This is another view of the from the early 1950s. Despite the expanded size of the house, it had been increased from a little over 9000 square feet to almost 21,000 square feet. All the mansions interior spaces remained essentially private and were rarely used for large functions. Weld, as the andersons called the house, was an eclectic idiosyncratic house that , reflected the private life and complex personalities of its occupants. I think that if you read the book and you compare and contrast the house with this one, you will see this is a much more public space. Certainly magnificent and sense, but notry specifically a reflection of their personalities in the way the brookline house was. Lets take a quick tour of the first floor of the house. We are in up in this section, this is the living room. The room was actually about twice this size. There was a whole other half that was photographed but i did not include here. This fireplace was actually a copy of one in the mansion that larz and isabel rented when he was the minister to belgium in 1911 and 1912. We actually know from these photographs with a fireplace looks like. The house was torn down in 1955. It no longer exists. There was also a large ballroom. This was teak furniture that had belonged to isabels grandfather that he had imported from china. This is the drawing room. Very much in a french style. This was the room as billy weld had it installed in the house. The andersons did not change it. Right here in front of this sreplace is where celia bose magnificent portrait was posed from. This is an important photograph for Anderson House and the cultural history of the art here because this is the spot where isabel stood when she had that portrait painted. This was the front hallway. The ballroom was here. This is the front hallway. Just a place where people could come in and sit down. And then the dining room im sorry. They called this the leather den because the walls had leather tacked on them. But it was their favorite room in the house. Very personal, not a public area. Not anything but the most intimate of their inner circle got to visit. There was a dining room that is not very remarkable. The dining room here is much more impressive. And then a sunroom. The sunroom had four murals, each one representing one of the four cities where larz had served in the diplomatic service. London, rome, brussels, tokyo. As you have seen in some of these photos, and certainly in this one, there were collectibles and objects set out on tables, displayed in cabinets, and hung on walls everywhere in a way that was perhaps meaningful only to larz and isabel. One poignant example of the way they arrange things in the home in brookline is this funeral shrine that isabel set up to larz in the mansion after his death. You actually most of these things are identifiable. You can tell what they are. There is shinto and Greek Orthodox and buddhist symbols spread around. This was very much part of their eclectic collecting except the , quality of material on display here in they had here far exceeded what they had in brookline. Throughout the house the things that were displayed for the andersons private viewing, not for the world at large, as they were here at Anderson House. Here in Anderson House they displayed their larger, showier and more valuable furniture. For example, their rare flemish tapestries and the exquisite Imperial Japanese lacquer ware. In brooklyn they displayed smaller more personal memorabilia, bricabrac, things like larzs collections of hats and framed certificates and newspaper clippings. Th interior. During the andersons lifetime the gardens in brookline were probably better known nationally and internationally than was the house in washington. By one count there were at least 10 gardens and landscapes in brookline, and the two with green dots, the Mission Italian gardens the ones for which there , are some vestiges. The others are completely gone. The gardens and landscaping, especially the Italian Garden, where a major part of the Emotional Center of the couples lives. Larz was also proud of these gardens and wanted the world to know about them. He promoted them to writers, journalists, and professors of landscape architecture. And personally gave tours to those that wanted to study the gardens professionally. The brookline estate had two main garden systems. As i mentioned, an Italian Garden that was on the upper level of the estate near the mansion, and an english garden, sometimes also called the lagoon, on the lower elevation. Let me start by describing the Italian Garden since this was the single most important project to the andersons that they ever undertook. I believe it was even more important to them emotionally than this house was, although this is a important house and and architectural history. In architectural history. You can see here, this is the house, and all of this is the Italian Garden system. There is an interior photograph of the garden. The Italian Garden was designed by charles a. Platt in 1900 almost immediately after the andersons acquired billys house. It was completed in 1901 as this inscription in the garden testifies. I will part from my remarks for a moment to say that in 1955, the town of brookline decided to turn the Italian Garden into an ice skating rink. All of the decoration and landscape infrastructure was scraped out to make room for the ice rink. I go into this in some detail. The town of brookline is working to make amends for that, and there are plans to start early restoration work by strengthen the substructure of the garden itself. I think there is a longrange plan to restore the Italian Garden to the splendor that it once was. The fact that this was the andersons first major design and construction project of any kind after their marriage shows how important it was to them. It was truly the touchstone of their life together. Near the end of her life, isabel wrote a poem in which she characterized it as our enchanted garden. Many parts of the estate declined after larzs death, but isabel made sure the Italian Garden was maintained as it always has been during their life together. The main features of the garden included a central mall, two gazebos which were back here, a pergola two levels of , promenades, many other prominent features. It was immense. It was almost 40,000 square feet. And by comparison, a football field is 57,000 square feet. Walking seven times around the walkway of the perimeter comprised a distance of a little over a mile. And you can still get that sense when you go there today. Lets go into the garden as though we were visitors on a tour with larz. You would approach the garden through two parallel walkways that went through a dark busway , a growth of pine trees. Grove of pine trees. The entry that was flanked by two urns, classically greek structures. When platt conceived of the garden, hes conceived of it in a very theatrical way. As you would be walking down this way almost as if he were facing a curtain, you had no idea what was beyond it. And then you would walk into it. And this is what is left of the herms. The estate was heavily vandalized after isabels death and before the town started to grapple the fact that they inherited this. Almost everything has been taken away, most of it vandalized. We will never get those things back. Once you step into the garden, it must have been an exciting experience. The garden was infused not only with color, but with sound and light. Larz had bird cages placed on on top of the decorative columns throughout the gardens. And the sound of bird chirps and water splashing in the fountains and basins produced a soundscape that was integral to the design and aesthetics of the garden. The garden also had electric illumination that allowed the garden to be used at night for special events. The book describes a garden party they hosted. I would love to have been able to go to a party like that. I dont think we entertain like that anymore. Visually there was something to catch the eye at every angle. Whimsical topiaries shaped like animals, Little People in geometric forms, large decorative pieces of earthenware pottery and carved marble urns and benches. The other grand scheme on the brookline estate was the english garden. A portion of the estate that was comprised of four smaller but very distinctive areas of landscape architecture. The pathways you see here around the lagoon were garden walks with an everchanging view perspective and mood, including places to stop and rest along the way. Using previously unknown drawings and site plans that i discovered in the archives of the Frederick Olmsted historic site, along with modern and period photography and larzs accounts of the garden, harry martin was able to reconstruct this large and complex landscape and provide a fuller picture of the importance of gardening and horticulture to the andersons lifestyle. Let us take a quick walk through this part of the estate. We are going to start with a roundabout. The andersons used this place in the sense of a gathering place. There is a long way two rows of , trees that formed a corridor. The andersons used this as part of the garden as an arena theater, a theater in the round for isabels musical and theatrical extravaganzas. Set as ahillside seating area for almost 2000 people that had to bring their own chairs and mats. This allay led to this little gazebo, which was truly a green room for the actors and actresses, a place where they could change costumes or wait for their cues to come down. I went mucking around in the undergrowth a few years ago on a cold winter day and i found the basin. It is still there. There is an archaeology of Larz Anderson park, and if you know what to look for, you can find very specific and remarkable examples of all the things im talking about this evening. This then connected to a very long gazebo. I think it was almost 200 yards. This was based on a structure that they had seen in the Royal Gardens in belgium while larz was at the american embassy. This connected to a causeway. It might seem like it was just a little bridge, but this was one of the views and perspectives of the english garden. It was from this perspective that you could see the tempietto. It was hidden by the rows of trees. It wasnt until you made the trek to the other end of the garden you could actually see this magnificent tempietto that is still there. Finally there was a wooded trail along here that i speculate in the book was probably a nod to isabels love of New Hampshire woodlands. We were able to reconstruct this from a movie im going to be showing you at the end of this presentation. So lets move up to New Hampshire. By the way, this is not isabels property. I wanted to find a picture that gave a sense of what attracted isabel to New Hampshire. Her rustic country cabin was the counterpoint to the magnificence that larz pursued for them in washington and elsewhere. It was a place where she could get away from the life she and larz led in brookline and washington. She thrived in New Hampshire in a way that was very different from what energized her about life in washington or brookline, and she was energized about her life here as well. Even if isabel could only be in New Hampshire for a few weeks or a month at a time, and usually without larz in tow, it gave her a breathing space of her own. One of the high points and writing the book was actually visiting the boxlit itself. It has remained largely as it was during isabels lifetime. I got to walk through the rooms that isabel designed herself to suit her own needs. I got to see the simple decorations that she acquired, often at local auctions and country fairs, and placed in the cabin to suit her own decorating tastes. I characterized it as today what may be called a shabby chic style. I got to sit in the wicker chairs at once furnished the deck of their houseboat, the rocks roxana. Most of all, i feel very lucky to have experienced the tranquil beauty of the spot that might so much to isabel, the location of which remains undisclosed in the book by agreement with the family. However i do have a treat for you tonight. The family has given me permission to show you the photographs of the interior of the photograph as it was in isabels day, and as it is now. As far as i know, this is the first time that interior views of the boxlit have been shown publicly. I want to thank isabels family for allowing me to share these with you tonight. Lets first start with the geometry of the structure. She called it the boxlet for a reason i will not go into tonight, it is in the book and , it was based on the geometry of boxes. It was a simple plan she conceived with her handyman who built it for her. However the symmetry of the arrangement, a key feature of architecture and interior design made me think that larz might have made a suggestion or two. Isabel had a very clear idea of what she wanted for her getaway in New Hampshire. A small cabin over here that could accommodate a few servants and visitors at a time, connected to a private bedroom cabin by a long screened corridor that she called the runway. The bedroom cabin gave isabel a sense of being on her own, even if others were visiting her nearby in the other cabin. The public this is a photograph of the interior in 1949. The public side of the cabin had a living and dining room, two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a pantry, and a small porchlike room where the servants took their meals. There are many reminders in this part of the boxlet of isabels personal tastes. Oh, i jumped ahead. If you know some of the decorative elements here in Anderson House, you know that isabel loved parrots and birds in general. Here we have a pelican and a parrot. Porcelain. Openhagen Something Else described in the poempolar peom that i believe isabel took this as a metaphor for her marriage to larz. It is actually the beginning of whittier that i believe isabel adopted it as her own. She had these stainedglass windows executed. She had these printed out for the chief and his bride. Lets move to the bedroom side of the cabin. This was isabels bedroom as it appeared in 1949. I am going to show you some modern photography, but some of the same things you see in this photographs are hanging in the same places untouched. The family has really preserved the boxlet as isabel left, which i think is pretty remarkable. They really have a sense of the cultural and historical portions of the cabins. Here we have isabels fireplace. When she had the fireplace built, she wanted to have two warming ovens put in. True new england style. One of her servants said she liked the idea of having a meal for himself on a cold night. She did not need to go over to the kitchen and deal with anyone over there. And this is another view of the bedroom. This is a little cutout porch just big enough for a rocking chair. If you look out from that porch, there is a beautiful view of the mountain. Now obstructed by trees, but in isabels time there was a clear view of hills on the other side of the lake. Isabels cabin mirrored the public side, consisting of a bedroom, a bathroom, a small dressing area, and a screened porch. Here we have a picture of isabel sitting in the runway in 1947. This photograph is here in the collection of the library of the society of the cincinnati downstairs. Probably one of the last photographs taken of isabel in her lifetime she died the following year. Isabels character and emotional footing in life thrived i believe in small measure from the simple lifestyle and rural moral values of rural New Hampshire where she spent a lot of time as a child, and the values of her fathers family who still live there. She had her deepest sense of belonging and feeling connected to things that mattered to her when she was in New Hampshire a loving family, pristine nature, inspiring quiet, and most of all, a since of control over her own time. She was certainly at home in brookline and washington, but not in the way she was at home in New Hampshire. Larz knew this. He once wrote that isabel so loved the boxlet i am almost jealous. I have often asked myself if larz and isabel might have anticipated someone would one write their biography. I believe they did. Larz left behind carefully preserved type scripts, the kind of personal account of a life that is a biographers dream, written contemporaneously, contemporaneously, candidly, and in great detail. Isabel wrote or edited 5 volumes of personal or Family History that are still important sources when we study the gilded age. Strangely, for all the importance they placed on Family History and their own literary outputs, neither larz nor isabel made any provisions in their wills for the preservation of their papers. Clearly they believed that they what they had produced was an historical and literary legacy, that any of papers survived and are available for research is thus something of a miracle. If a time machine existed, i would immediately send it to the 1930s and go to brookline to meet larz and isabel. I would love to sit with them in that little den they enjoyed so much, their fear of room, and i probably would have a dozen things i would want to ask them about. Larz would probably be serving several of his worldfamous mint juleps. We cant go back in time, but i did my best to bring the life and times of larz and isabel to you in the pages of my book. I hope you will have as much pleasure reading the book as i had writing it. There is something in larz and isabel that you will find familiar and comfortable and enjoy reading about. Put all of the glamour and glitz beside, they had a certain humanity, joys and happiness in each other, and certainly they had weaknesses and vulnerabilities. But i want you to read most of all about the Simple Pleasures they shared one of the rest of the world wasnt looking. Thank you very much for being here tonight. I will be happy to take question ends and answers. [applause] yes . Lady in the back. The question is did they have children . No, they did not. [indiscernible] mr. Moskey we dont know. There is nothing that i uncovered that would give any clue. Even if there was, i dont think i would have written about it. I think that is private between a married couple. I dont even speculate about that. That is just the way their life was. Someone in the front . Larz died in i believe isabel 1937 left for brookline how many times did you come back to this house . Mr. Moskey how many times did isabel come back to washington after larz died in 1937 . When larz died in the spring of 1937, he was buried in the Washington National cathedral. Isabel stayed here for several months. As she came to terms with her life and started to make plans for life after larzs passing, she gave the house to the society of the cincinnati in 1930 date 1938. After that she came to washington to visit friends and relatives. Larz had cousins who lived near dupont circle. I give the address in the book. She stayed with them often. She dear and Close Friends here. She did come back to washington. We dont have a complete itinerary so we dont have many times. She probably win more often to new york city for the theater. She liked to go to movies when they were first opening in new york. Yes . The dome and over here. The gentleman over here. As an ambassador, what languages did they speak . Mr. Moskey what languages do they speak beside english . Isabel spoke both french and german. She had french and german speaking tutors and governesses. Both were taught in her private school in boston. Larz spoke french. He was actually born in paris in 1866. As did many affluent americans of the middle 19th century, his parents had several extended stays in paris. But larz later said in life that he did not have a perfect knowledge of french. The way he described it, it sounded more like kitchen french rather than the french of an educated frenchman. Isabels there is one story that does not appear in the book. They were at a function in asia, and the only common language was german. And so isabel there were japanese diplomats that spoke german. Interestingly isabel acted as the interpreter for the dinner. Yes . The lady of here. Weld in 1955, why was it for torn down . N when isabel left the estate to the town of brookline, she didnt tell them she was planning to do that. They found out about it almost literally from the newspaper. It took them several years to decide what to do with it. She did not leave a request to Fund Maintenance of the park. There was back and forth actually. They tried to sell the estate. The Navy Department looked at it as a possible Navy Installation but decided not to. In the early 1950s, thomas the town of brookline brought the firm of olmsted associates. They documented the entire estate. By the early 1950s, nothing at had changed yet. Those were the drawings used to reconstruct the garden. Eventually, there was a fire. There was a lot of vandalizing going on. We believe there was an arson and that is what called the ultimate destruction of the mansion. Yes, gentlemenan over here . First of all, on behalf of all the dosans here, we want to thank you for the book because it has enhanced our interpretation of the house thanks to your book. The only thing i think you may want to point out with what happened with weld is the finances. That went larz died, the money was we learned this from you, the money was not there anymore. Isabel was forced to downsize basically. So leaving the house to the city of brookline was not a problem. The reason she could not leave money was she didnt have any money to leave to them. That is my understanding. I learned from being up there that vandals tried to burn that place down four times. Finally the city of brookline said they had enough. Mr. Moskey when isabel died, when larz died, isabel established her legal residence for domicile in the state of New Hampshire. When isabel died in 1948, her executors filed to probate the estate in New Hampshire. Massachusetts found this out and they contested. They said they had Tax Jurisdiction over the estate and there was an 18 month arbitration between New Hampshire and massachusetts to decide who had Tax Jurisdiction. Ultimately, massachusetts prevailed. The interesting thing about this is that the proceedings from Arbitration Panel have been preserved. One of the great sources i had for writing the book was more than 1000 pages of sworn depositions taken by the Arbitration Panel. Isabels friends, family, servants, her lawyer, her Financial Advisor were all deposed. We have a very credible account of the andersons finances. One of the things that roger amory, their lawyer and Financial Advisor, said to the Arbitration Panel was that neither larz or isabel had any idea what their financial situation was. Larz would look at Financial Statements and give them back, saying he didnt want isabel to be worried. There were years they spent more than they earned. I dont make a big deal in the book about isabels wealth or their wealth. But isabels wealth was in commercial real estate in new york and boston. We do have complete financial records for the 10 years we do have complete financial records for the 10 years before death, and keep in mind this is the height of the great income thatthey had above Million Dollars a half a year. Isabels principle was never touched so they lived off the rental income from the commercial properties. That is what the question is alluding to. In some years, they spent more than the rental income from the properties and had to dip into their principal. When isabel found that out after larzs death, she became very concerned about her future. Her Financial Advisor said she had never seen a checkbook. She was really worried about that aspect of her life as a widow. I think we need to make we have time for one more . Ok. This gentleman over here. Larz is also from a wealthy family. The question is mr. Moskey larz being from a wealthy family and where that came from. The Anderson Family in cincinnati was a powerful family. They were a family of merchants and lawyers and land speculators, but they were land rich and penny poor. Over the years as the land was divided up through inheritance, there were smaller and smaller parcels worth less and less. When you look at the probate papers after larz died, his total estate was worth about 600,000. Most of that, we assume, was the house and the contents. It was not broken out in cash or real estate or other tangibles. The definition of personal property is everything. We dont know exactly. His net worth was about 600,000. He owned a small piece of property, one of those things that was possibly passed down from the previous generation do them. He had no wealth that could be tied back to the family in cincinnati. Thank you very much. [applause] we are going to put up the movie of the anderson estate made in 1937 by the fatherinlaw of one of the andersons family. One of the great things about the book is it has brought a lot of people out and put that in contact with me. It is also on my youtube channel. You can find it on my name. If you do not see it here, you can see it on the internet. Thank you. Thank you so much. If any of you have questions to ask, hell be around for the rest of the evening. You will have your chance. Now, i want to invite you all to a reception. We will open up the doors to the garden. At the back of the room, we have books for sale and skip will sign them for you. Thank you for coming and have a good evening. [applause] youre watching American History tv, 48 hours of programming every weekend on cspan3. Follow us on twitter for our schedule and to keep up with the latest history news. On election day, november 8, the nation decides our next president and which Party Controls the house and senate. Stay with cspan for coverage of the president ial race, including Campaign Stops with hillary clinton, donald trump, and their surrogates. And follow key house and senate races live coverage of their debates and speeches. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. Author Stephen Davis talks about the 1864 battle of atlanta and the engagement outside the city highlighting john bell hoods attack on union forces commanded by general sherman. Stephen davis talks about his actions at the 1863 battle of chancellorsville. Atlanta eventually fell to shermans troops six weeks later. This 40 minute talk was part of a symposium. It is my pleasure now to introduce to you a man that i know as dr. Edge. Steve davis has a little bit of edge to him. If you want to know what that is about his Business Card says author, historian, yankee killer. [laughter] that should give you a little bit of context about the program
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