The Scarlet Sisters (51 page)

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Authors: Myra MacPherson

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography / Historical, #Business & Economics / Women In Business, #Family & Relationships / Siblings, #History / United States / 19th Century

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______
.
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______
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______
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______
.
The Origin, Tendencies and Principles of Government: Or, A Review of the Rise and Fall of Nations from Early Historic Times to the Present; with Special Considerations Regarding the Future of the United States as the Representative Government of the World and the Form of Administration Which Will Secure This Consummation
. New York, Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly Co., 1871.

______
.
The Victoria Woodhull Reader
. M&S Press, 1974.

Woodhull, Victoria Claflin (Mrs. John Biddulph Martin).
A Fragmentary Record of Public Work Done in America, 1871–1877
. London: G. Norman and Son, 1887.

Woodhull, Victoria Claflin (Mrs. John Biddulph Martin), and Tennessee C. Claflin (Lady Cook).
The Human Body, the Temple of God; or The Philosophy of Sociology
. Self-published. London, 1890.

Acknowledgments

Obviously I could have not accomplished anything without the mountain of Victorian history—books, periodicals, newspapers, letters, and archived papers—that I devoured in order to write about the seven incredible decades of the Scarlet Sisters and the major characters who figured in their lives. Yet a great deal of thanks goes to those very alive people who personally contributed to making this book possible. I’m deeply indebted to my major research assistant, Terumi Rafferty-Osaki, who was invaluable, endlessly culling newspapers and periodicals at the Library of Congress before many were digitized, including the massive collection of bound volumes of
Woodhull & Claflin’s Weekly
. Later, when I read an 1872
New York Times
article on my phone, sent by Terumi on his phone, it seemed like pure magic to someone who remembers torturous hours copying material while writing previous books. Lauren Santangelo researched material at the New York Public Library, and Amy Langford tracked down permissions for photos and drawings. Karen Mylan not only found ancient and valuable letters but was a whiz at helping me translate the sometimes murky handwriting of Tennessee and Victoria contained in the Victoria Claflin Woodhull Martin Papers in the Southern Illinois University Special Collections. I am also indebted to the staff at the Boston Public Library who generously helped me research the Victoria Woodhull Martin Papers in the library’s rare books division.
In London, the staff at the British Museum provided me with a desk and a large leather-bound volume, unaware of the thrill I felt reading the precise penmanship of someone who 120 years ago copied the testimony of Victoria when she and husband John Martin sued the Trustees of the British Museum.

To flesh out Tennessee as Lady Cook, only briefly touched on in biographies of Woodhull, I found a large volume of unpublished and revealing letters in the SIU and the Boston Public Library collections. Many newspapers of the period were consumed with covering Lady Cook well into her final years, producing a treasure trove not featured in books about Victoria. I am incredibly grateful for the gracious help from Gerald Luckhurst, historian, landscape architect of the magnificent Monserrate gardens, and consultant to Parques de Sintra at Monserrate. He located articles and material on Sir Francis and Lady Cook and gave me a personal upstairs-downstairs tour of the palace and gardens, shortly after Prince Charles and Camilla had been there to christen a new rose garden. Unfortunately the magnificence of the interior, garden, and grounds was relegated to mere paragraphs in order to keep the story of the sisters moving. I recommend further photographs and websites on Monserrate and Gerald’s monumental book when it is completed.

Sir Francis and Lady Cook’s Doughty House has been long neglected, but Andre Metaxides, the owner who was restoring it in 2011, was so knowledgeable and helpful when I visited that he captured a vision of it for me as it once was.

Debby and David Booth, the delightful owners of Norton Park since 2003, showed me around Victoria’s lovely final home. Perhaps I am the only visitor to have been gored by a very dead antler there. As I stared at the high-ceilinged main hall and the ancient antler heads that hung there in Victoria’s time, I walked into one on the floor that was being remounted. The sharp prick made me wonder, was Victoria, the Spiritualist, sending a message to do right by her? Debby also took me to Tewkesbury Abbey, to see the plaque commemorating Woodhull, placed there by
daughter Zula Maud. I also appreciate the help of Robin Holland-Martin, the grandson of Robert Holland-Martin, Woodhull’s nephew, for giving me more background to Victoria’s life in England and guiding me to the Booths.

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