Louisa May Alcott is My Passion
Begun in 2010, this blog offers analysis and reflection by Susan Bailey on the life, works and legacy of Louisa May Alcott and her family. Susan is an active member and supporter of the Louisa May Alcott Society, the Fruitlands Museum and Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House.
YOU can help decide who plays Margaret Fuller in this up-and-coming movie: Here are more details from the website: The upcoming film, Anita, with shooting targeted for 2014 in Italy, takes as its heroine Brazilian revolutionary Anita Garibaldi, wife of the famed Hero of Two Worlds Giuseppe Garibaldi. But it adds an intriguing twist: an …
Continue reading "Help cast Margaret Fuller in a new movie!"
The year is 1853, a critical year in the lives of several members of the Alcott family. Since 1848 when the family moved from their beloved Hillside home in Concord, the family had lived like gypsies, moving from place to place. Some of these places were dreary basement apartments in poorer sections of the cities, …
Continue reading "The Alcotts in Boston: Come visit 20 Pinckney Street"
Hereās a good reason to join the Louisa May Alcott Society (and only for $10 per year). Newly discovered letter I recently received the quarterly newsletter to read an article by scholar Daniel Shealy (best known for his brilliant annotated edition of Little Women) reporting on the discovery of a new letter by Louisa May …
Concord is not the only place where you can take aĀ Little Women pilgrimage. Last week Sylvia (a friend I met through the Summer Conversational Series) and I visited Swampscott, a small community on the North Shore next to the city of Lynn. It was here in August of 1857 that Abigail took Elizabeth for a …
It's been quite a while since I shared with you different blogs and webpages of interest. Lately I've come across several that I'd like to share with you: Light, Bright and Sparkling: This is author Diana Birchall's blog. She has a fascinating post with lots of pictures on Mark Twain's 70th birthday. Her grandmother is …
Here is a long letter from Elizabeth Alcott, written just before she and Abba left for the North Shore. They are staying at the home of Tom and Mary Sewall in Boston. It was written on August 6, 1857. The letter comes from the Amos Bronson Alcott Family Letters collection, Houghton Library MS Am 1130.9 …
Thank you for your enthusiastic responses! I have a handful of letters that I can share with you that I have transcribed as completely as I could. Some words were not readable, mostly because the letters were bound in a volume so that words close to the binding could not be made out. If I …
Continue reading "Unpublished Alcott letters: Anna to Bronson, Walpole March 16, 1857"
As I've been transcribing letters I've seen at the Houghton Library, I've been dying to share their content with you. I wrote to Houghton asking for permission and as long as I properly cite them, I can publish as much as I want! Here's the question: Would you be interested in full-length letters on this …
The first book to be released on the life of Louisa May Alcott was Ednah Dow Cheney's Louisa May Alcott, The Children's Friend. A sweet and romanticized account of Louisa's life, this book was geared for the countless fans of Little Women and children of all ages.Ā Cheney, a longtime friend of the family (who …
Continue reading "The first biography: Louisa May Alcott The Children’s Friend by Ednah Dow Cheney"
In 1853, Elizabeth Alcott suffered a bout of depression. She was seventeen at the time and the family was destitute, living in Boston and constantly on the move. Abba wrote the following to Bronson about the episode: "Elizabeth is in rather better spirits but it seems as if there had been some collapse of the …
Continue reading "Abba, Bronson and Lizzie: a slice of family dynamics – what does it tell us?"
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 