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.
I invite you to read my latest article in the Winter edition of Discover Concord Magazine: https://discoverconcordma.com/winter-2020-issue Are you passionate about Louisa May Alcott too? Subscribe to the email list and never miss a post! Keep up with news and free giveaways on Susan's books, Louisa May Alcott: Illuminated …
Continue reading "Bronson Alcott’s Fruitlands, as seen in Discover Concord Magazine"
“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"
Last Wednesday I attended the first of three lectures on Bronson Alcott at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA, presented by Helen Batchelder, a local scholar. Fruitlands in the dark I have never been to Fruitlands before in the dark and it was disconcerting to see the lights over the mountains, reminding me it was …
Continue reading "Three-part series on Bronson Alcott at Fruitlands Museum: genius or crackpot?"
For an author obsessed with all things Alcott, does it get any better than this? Launching a book about the most famous Alcott, Louisa, in The Barrow, a bookstore housed in a building owned by descendants of Anna Alcott Pratt in the heart of Concord, Massachusetts ... it's a dream come true. A book store …
Following up with my last post about the lecture I attended at New North Church featuring John Matteson, author of Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father, there is a question I have wanted to ask Matteson since I started reading his book almost two years ago. How is it that …
Continue reading "The million dollar question, and the priceless answer"
“…Work is an expression of Alcott’s feminist principles and a major effort toward synthesizing in popular, readable form the broad set of beliefs encompassing family, education, suffrage, labor and the moral reform of social life that defined feminist ideology in the nineteenth century.” (pg. 191 from Critical Essays on Louisa May Alcott edited by Madeleine …
Continue reading "A feminist manifesto: wrapping up Work A Story of Experience (part two)"
In his book, Alcott Memoirs, Dr. Frederick Llewellyn Hovey Willis spends much time describing the special relationship he shared with Bronson Alcott, and the profound effect Bronson had on Dr. Willis’ life. As a teenage boy, Willis spent many hours in conversation with Bronson and recorded some of these in his journal. Thus we have …
Continue reading "From Alcott Memoirs: Bronson from the point of view of a grateful student"
I got a fantastic question from Jillian, a good friend of this blog regarding Bronson and Louisa. I'd love your input: If Bronson Alcott was a follower of Transcendentalism (self-reliance), why does he scold Louisa May for filling her journal with thoughts of self? I have my theory but I'd like to hear yours …
An experiment in a utopian community that only lasted seven months should have easily been forgotten in history, even if it included historically important people. Yet the fascination with Fruitlands continues as evidenced by Richard Francis' book, Fruitlands: The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia which came out this year. There is no doubt …
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 