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.
From Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers is the most comprehensive list of archives (minus the Houghton Library collection) regarding Louisa May Alcott that I have seen. If you are researching Alcott and her family and want to read journal entries and letters written by Alcott family members, be sure and check out these …
The recent article in the Atlantic titled “The Lie of Little Women” by Sophie Gilbert (September 2018 issue) got me to thinking: when will someone step up and make a film about the real-life Jo March, Louisa May Alcott? I am not talking about another documentary; the American Masters film made by Nancy Porter and …
Continue reading "Enough Little Women reboots — how about a full-length movie about the author?"
As part of the Louisa May Alcott reading challenge hosted by the In the Bookcase blog, I pledged I would read and post on Jo’s Boys and Anne Boyd Rioux’s latest, Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters. This post will be about Jo’s Boys. I am fortunate …
Continue reading "Highlights from Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott"
This is the first of what I hope will be many guest posts by the several talented writers, teachers and scholars who follow this blog. You all have much to say and I enjoy sharing it on this blog. This is a piece by Jill Fuller. When I am stuck in my writing or mired …
Continue reading "Writer In Bloom – looking to Louisa May Alcott for strength and inspiration"
In anticipation of my presentation of "Victorian Huswifery with the Alcotts," I thought I would share with you portions of my talk. The essence of the talk outlines the life of the family covering more than eighty years of the nineteenth century. Their wide variety of living arrangements as they struggled through poverty to eventual …
Continue reading "Victorian Huswifery with the Alcotts: Louisa May Alcott’s domestic service"
Coming up on Thursday, February 8 from 7 to 8:30 pm at the Brigham Hill Community Barn in Grafton, MA (my hometown), I will be giving a presentation on the Victorian housewife as seen through the experiences of the Alcotts: Description I will explores the back-breaking work of the typical Victorian housewife through the experiences …
Continue reading "“Housekeeping ain’t no joke …” Victorian Huswifery with the Alcotts"
2017 has been a banner year for Alcott fans (and more is promised in 2018 and 2019 as the 150th anniversary of the publication of Little Women looms). As a result it has also been quite the year for this blog! Especially within the last several months, the growth of readership has been extraordinary. I …
“What fun we had this evening when Louisa May Alcott came to visit her childhood home at Fruitlands!” Facebook post from the Fruitlands Museum It was indeed great fun taking in the living history performance by actress and historian Marianne Donnelly at the Fruitlands Museum Vistor’s Center. Her bigger-than-life portrayal of Louisa May Alcott was …
Continue reading "Living history – Marianne Donnelly as Louisa May Alcott"
You never know what you will find out from a librarian. Or where research will lead you. That's what makes it so addictive. The Alcotts and Homeopathy My research on Elizabeth Alcott has recently led me into the world of alternative medicine. The Alcotts were followers of Homeopathy, a popular alternative to traditional medicine in …
Continue reading "A rare look at Louisa May Alcott’s life as an invalid and a patient"
I am listening for a second time to Harriet Reisen's fine biography, Louisa May Alcott The Woman Behind Little Women. In discussing Louisa's childhood Reisen makes many references to a story Louisa wrote for her first children's series, Morning-Glories and Other Stories. Having little experience with writing children's stories, Louisa opted to learn by doing, …
Continue reading "“Poppy’s Pranks” reveals the childhood of Louisa May Alcott"
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 