1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,320 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracey V. Wilson 4 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 2: and I'm Holly Fryn. When I was working on our 5 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 2: episode about Elizabeth Bisland back in March, I stumbled across 6 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 2: the name Vila Roseboro, and that last name was spelled 7 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 2: ro se bo R with an apostrophe at the end 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 2: and then nothing after the apostrophe. That's not something that 9 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 2: happens in English language names very much, unless it's a 10 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 2: name that ends in an S, and that apostrophe is 11 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 2: making it possessive. So I wondered who this person was 12 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:50,839 Speaker 2: and why her name was spelled that way, and my 13 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 2: cursory look into it landed her on the shortlist. Villa 14 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 2: Roseboro is not well known today, but she played a 15 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 2: big behind the scenes role in the careers of a 16 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 2: lot of American writers in the late nineteenth and early 17 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 2: twentieth centuries, including several writers who continued to be staples 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 2: in English and English literature classes in the United States. 19 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 2: By extension, she helped shape what is thought of as 20 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 2: the American literary canon. Viola Roseboro was born on December third, 21 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty seven in Pulaski, Tennessee. That's in the south 22 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 2: central part of the state, roughly fifteen miles from the 23 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 2: border with Alabama. Pulaski is named for Casimir Pulaski, a 24 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 2: Polish soldier who fought in the American Revolutionary War. Tracy 25 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 2: has had him on her shortlist for quite a while. 26 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 2: Viola was the only surviving child of the Reverend Samuel 27 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 2: Reid Roseboro known as Reed, and Martha Collier Roseboro, who 28 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 2: after their marriage, insisted that she was Missus Martha Coliar Roseboro, 29 00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 2: not Missus Samuel Reid Roseboro. Yeah. I also read an 30 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 2: account that said that she refused to have the part 31 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 2: about obey in their marriage vows. She seems like she 32 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,639 Speaker 2: had very solid opinions. The Roseboros were abolitionists, and that 33 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:13,919 Speaker 2: put them at odds with a lot of their neighbors. 34 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 2: Pulaski is also where the original Ku Klux Klan was founded, 35 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 2: and it put them at odds with some of their 36 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 2: family members. This was a factor and their moving to 37 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 2: Missouri when Viola was only a baby. From there, they 38 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 2: moved to Illinois, and that's where they were when the 39 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 2: Civil War started. When Viola was four, Viola's father became 40 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:37,640 Speaker 2: a chaplain in an Illinois regiment of the US Army, 41 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,519 Speaker 2: and his parents disowned him for that. While Reid was 42 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 2: in the army, Martha supported herself and her daughter by 43 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 2: teaching sewing and working at a hotel. 44 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: The Civil War ended when Viola was seven, Martha took 45 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: her back to Tennessee and visited her family while they 46 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:58,280 Speaker 1: waited for Reed to be discharged from the army. He 47 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: joined her in Tennessee, but before more long they went 48 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: back to Missouri after he got a position as a 49 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: minister at a Congregationalist church there After they moved, Martha 50 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 1: invested some of the money that she had saved during 51 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: the war in a small farm. When that farm started 52 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:17,799 Speaker 1: to struggle, that took the family finances with it, and 53 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: she took Fila to Tennessee to get the advice of 54 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:26,080 Speaker 1: her brother, Arthur Saint Clair Collier. He was a Democrat 55 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: and had been a slaveholder before the Civil War, and 56 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: she found him embroiled in an effort to unseat Augustus E. 57 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 2: Alden, who was the radical Republican mayor of Nashville. Martha 58 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 2: and her brother were really on opposite sides politically, and 59 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 2: he seems to have thought that associating with his abolitionist's 60 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 2: sister would damage his reputation and any attempt that he 61 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 2: might make to run for office. So Martha wound up 62 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 2: going back to Missouri without getting a lot of help 63 00:03:55,880 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 2: from him. Back in Missouri, Reed had some kind oft 64 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 2: with some of the more influential members of his church congregation, 65 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 2: and by the time Martha returned, it had started to 66 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 2: seem like they would need to move again. Martha really 67 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 2: loved the area of Tennessee where she had grown up 68 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:16,880 Speaker 2: and thought she had gotten an exceptional education there and 69 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 2: that's what she wanted for her daughter. So when she 70 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 2: was offered a job at a school in Shelbyville, she 71 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 2: went with Viola while Reid stayed behind in Missouri. But 72 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 2: this didn't last long either. While Martha was waiting for 73 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 2: the school year to start, she talked about a plan 74 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 2: to spend her free time teaching black children to read. 75 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,280 Speaker 2: That was something else that threatened her brother's political aspirations. 76 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 2: Then she started trying to integrate the schools in Shelbyville, 77 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 2: and that led to her being branded Meddlesome Mattie. She 78 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 2: wound up taking Viola back to Missouri, but the family 79 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 2: was not reunited there for very long. Reed went to 80 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 2: work in Nevada and then to California. Several years passed, 81 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,800 Speaker 2: and in eighteen seventy four, when Viola was sixteen, her 82 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 2: mother took her back to Tennessee again so she could 83 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 2: attend Fairmount College, which is a private women's college. Her 84 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:16,280 Speaker 2: father eventually got a job at a church in Tennessee, 85 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,480 Speaker 2: although not close enough to the college for them to 86 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 2: all live together. While she was in college, Fiola developed 87 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 2: an interest in performing, starting out with giving dramatic readings. 88 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 2: A write up in the Winchester, Tennessee Home Journal describes 89 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 2: a night of entertainment that was arranged for Carrick Academy, 90 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:37,919 Speaker 2: which was a boys' school, that rite up ends quote 91 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 2: we regret not getting there in time to hear the 92 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 2: beautiful and intelligent Miss Roseboro, who never fails to deserve 93 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:50,600 Speaker 2: and illicit applause. By late eighteen seventy eight, Viola had 94 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 2: gone beyond doing recitations at schools and was performing in public, 95 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 2: including traveling to other states to do so. Eventually, she 96 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:04,160 Speaker 2: rolled in theater classes in Cincinnati, Ohio, when it quickly 97 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:06,840 Speaker 2: became clear that her parents did not have the money 98 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,280 Speaker 2: to pay for these classes, she started writing articles for 99 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 2: her uncle's newspaper, The Daily American, which was headquartered in Nashville. 100 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 2: She made her acting debut, now in a staged play 101 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 2: rather than a recitation or reading, in Nashville in May 102 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,239 Speaker 2: of eighteen seventy nine. Over the next few years, Roseboro 103 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 2: tried to earn a living by both freelance writing and performing. 104 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 2: Her parents really did not approve of this, especially the 105 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,839 Speaker 2: performing part, and it raised some questions among her father's 106 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,480 Speaker 2: church congregations. They did not think this was an appropriate 107 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,719 Speaker 2: career path for their minister's daughter. At the same time, 108 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 2: her father was always on the lookout for positions at 109 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 2: churches that would allow them to be closer to her, 110 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 2: so Martha continued to move around with him as he 111 00:06:55,839 --> 00:07:00,719 Speaker 2: tried to just stay near their daughter. Allegedly, this combined 112 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 2: career of writing and performing is where Roseborow's unusual name 113 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 2: spelling came from. She used the name Roseboro with the 114 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 2: ending ough for the stage, while the shorter Roseboro ending 115 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 2: in the o Apostrophe was for her published work. 116 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:20,440 Speaker 1: It does seem like later in her life she insisted 117 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 1: on that apostrophe spelling, but her name appears with and 118 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: without those last three letters in various publications and documents 119 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 1: across the whole course. 120 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 3: Of her life. 121 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 2: Sometimes there's an assumption that the original spelling of her 122 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 2: name was the longer one, but her father's name also 123 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 2: appears as Roseboro minus that ugh at the end and 124 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 2: with no final apostrophe, and a lot of official records, 125 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 2: including his marriage license and his entry in the death 126 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 2: index from the New York State Department of Health. Vila 127 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 2: and her parents are all buried at Clifton Springs Village 128 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,040 Speaker 2: Cemetery in New York, and their markers all ye she 129 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 2: used that same shorter spelling, although with no apostrophe, but 130 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 2: it's hard to draw a conclusion from that since we 131 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 2: don't really know who made the arrangements for those engravings 132 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:12,040 Speaker 2: on their markers. 133 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: To return to Viola for a while, she moved to 134 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: Nashville to work for her uncle's newspaper. She was also 135 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: in theatrical touring companies, with starring roles in at least 136 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: two melodramas, one called Two Orphans, which was set during 137 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: the French Revolution, and another called The Lights of London. 138 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 2: In eighteen eighty two, Roseboro moved to New York City, 139 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 2: and she continued to divide her time between writing and performing. 140 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 2: But in eighteen eighty seven, when she was about thirty, 141 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 2: she developed pneumonia. There are references to Roseboro being sick 142 00:08:45,559 --> 00:08:47,920 Speaker 2: a lot in her own letters and in the accounts 143 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 2: of people who knew her, and she also had trouble 144 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 2: with her eyesight. This bout of pneumonia put an end 145 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 2: to her time on stage, possibly because it affected her voice. 146 00:08:58,640 --> 00:09:03,040 Speaker 1: From this point on, Deola Roseborow's career was a literary one. 147 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: We'll talk more about that after a sponsor break. 148 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 2: From eighteen eighty seven until about eighteen ninety three, Villa 149 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 2: Roseboro made a living as a freelance writer, selling stories 150 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:27,600 Speaker 2: and essays to publications like The Cosmopolitan and The Century Magazine. 151 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 2: She also did some of the kind of stunt journalism 152 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 2: that we talked about in our episode on Elizabeth Bisland 153 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 2: and past hosts episode on Nellie Bly. For example, she 154 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,680 Speaker 2: published an article in the New York World on December eleventh, 155 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:48,079 Speaker 2: eighteen eighty seven, titled Begging as an Avocation. An adventurous 156 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 2: woman goes out asking for alms in the street. It's 157 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 2: probably unsurprising based on that title that this article came 158 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,319 Speaker 2: off as cluelessly insensitive. It starts with a discuss of 159 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,839 Speaker 2: how hard it is to find appropriately ragged clothes to 160 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 2: pretend to be a beggar. Later on, she talks about 161 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,439 Speaker 2: how every time anyone gave her anything, she would immediately 162 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 2: jam it into her pocket, and quote to possess a 163 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 2: pocket seemed indicative of fraud. A couple of people were 164 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 2: kind to her, but many just ignored her, and only 165 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,439 Speaker 2: women seemed to be willing to give her money. She 166 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:28,439 Speaker 2: wound up with sixty three cents. Unfortunately, I'm not sure 167 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:31,439 Speaker 2: what she did with that money, because the one scan 168 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,239 Speaker 2: I was able to find of this article is completely 169 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:37,719 Speaker 2: illegible at the bottom. So she wrote that she was 170 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:40,599 Speaker 2: going to give this money to charity, but then the 171 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 2: text becomes completely unreadable as she's sort of overthinking whether 172 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 2: any of the people who gave it to her might 173 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 2: be opposed to churches, or might be Protestant or Catholic, 174 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:57,199 Speaker 2: or might just hate institutional charities. Rosebrow's first book, a 175 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 2: collection of stories called Old Ways and New came out 176 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 2: in eighteen ninety two, and it included work that had 177 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:06,119 Speaker 2: originally been published in Century magazine. 178 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 1: She dedicated this book to her mother, quote my earliest 179 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:13,959 Speaker 1: and still my best companion in the blessed world of letters. 180 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: This was in spite of increasing tension between the two women. 181 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 1: They were both proud and stubborn. 182 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 2: Viola has been described as arrogant, and Martha was apparently 183 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:29,439 Speaker 2: prone to clipping out Viola's published articles, writing corrections on them, 184 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 2: and then sending those corrections to her. Martha Roseborow died 185 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,200 Speaker 2: of cancer the year after the book came out and read. 186 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 2: Roseborrow died in eighteen ninety two. By that point, Samuel 187 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 2: Sidney McClure had hired Rosebrow as a reader. That happened 188 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:50,000 Speaker 2: in eighteen ninety three. This started with a writing contest. 189 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:54,080 Speaker 2: McClure realized he had way too many manuscripts from those 190 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:57,839 Speaker 2: contest entries for him to read just by himself, and 191 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 2: he brought Roseburrow on because he already knew her. From there, 192 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 2: she started working for McClure's magazine and for his other 193 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 2: publishing ventures. McClure wrote of her in his autobiography, quote, 194 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 2: Miss Roseborow was of great service to the magazine in 195 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:18,679 Speaker 2: discovering promising material by unknown writers. She had a singularly 196 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 2: open mind toward the manuscript bag, a natural attitude towards stories, 197 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 2: which is rare in professional readers, who, like everybody else 198 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 2: in time, become the victims of their own tastes and 199 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 2: their own successes, and are therefore always hunting for the 200 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:37,360 Speaker 2: thing they themselves like best, instead of for the thing 201 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 2: that new writers are writing best. Miss Roseborow seized upon 202 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 2: the early stories of O Henry, Jack London, Rex Beach, 203 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 2: Myra Kelly, and the Emmy lu Stories when their writers 204 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 2: were unknown, with as much shortness and conviction as if 205 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:57,280 Speaker 2: she had known what the end was to be in 206 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 2: each case, and exactly how popular each of these writers 207 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 2: was to become. Ida Tarbell's work at McClure's magazine overlapped 208 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 2: with Roseborow's. We talked about Tarbell and her expozea Standard Oil, 209 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:14,560 Speaker 2: which was published in McClure's in a two part episode 210 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:19,319 Speaker 2: in November of twenty twenty one. Tarbell and Roseborow were friends, 211 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 2: and Tarbell had similar things to say about her in 212 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 2: her own autobiography. Quote by good fortune McClure's in this 213 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:30,040 Speaker 2: period happened on a reader of real genius. Viola Roseboro, 214 00:13:30,559 --> 00:13:34,000 Speaker 2: the only born reader I have ever known. I found 215 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:36,440 Speaker 2: her in the office after one of my frequent jaunts 216 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 2: after material. It was as a talker that I first 217 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:43,319 Speaker 2: learned to admire and love her. Her judgments were unfettered, 218 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 2: her emotions strong and warm, her expressions free, glowing, stirring, 219 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 2: and she loved to talk, though only when she felt 220 00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:55,480 Speaker 2: sympathy and understanding. She loved to share books, of which 221 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 2: she read many, particularly in the biographical field. She wanted 222 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 2: none the best, no imitation, no mere fact finding. Her 223 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 2: eagerness to let no good things slip. Her consciousness of 224 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,559 Speaker 2: the all too little time a human being has in 225 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:13,559 Speaker 2: this world to explore its riches, made her rigid in 226 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 2: her choice, an unsleeping eagerness to find talent and give 227 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 2: it a chance. And secondarily, she said to enrich the 228 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 2: magazine made every day's work with the unsifted manuscripts and adventure. 229 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 2: If she found exceptional merit that was also suited to McClure's, 230 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 2: she might weep with excitement. And she stood to it 231 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 2: till faith grew in those less sure of the untried. 232 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 2: We've talked about McClure, and that magazine more in the 233 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 2: context of muckraking journalism, but the magazine also developed a 234 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,640 Speaker 2: reputation for publishing very high quality fiction, and a. 235 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 3: Lot of that credit goes to Roseboro. 236 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 2: She was the first person to read every fiction manuscript 237 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 2: that arrived at the magazine. Her cultivating of unknown talent 238 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 2: included people like William Sidney Porter, who published most of 239 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 2: his work under the pen name O. 240 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 3: Henry. 241 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 2: Roseborrow started corresponding with Porter while he was in prison 242 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 2: for embezzlement and offered him or feedback over the course 243 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 2: of about two years. Finally, she purchased his story Whistling 244 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 2: Dick's Christmas Stocking in eighteen ninety nine, and that was 245 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 2: the first story that he ever published under that pen name. 246 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:26,720 Speaker 2: We did an episode on Oh Henry that came out 247 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 2: on December twenty first of twenty twenty. According to Ida Tarbell, 248 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 2: when Rosebrow first read a submission from Booth Tarkington, she 249 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:38,600 Speaker 2: went into S. S. McClure's office in tears, exclaiming, quote, 250 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:42,960 Speaker 2: here is a serial sent by God Almighty for McClure's magazine. 251 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 2: That serial was Tarkington's first novel, The Gentleman from Indiana, 252 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 2: which was published starting in May of eighteen ninety nine. 253 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 2: The Gentleman from Indiana was later published as a book 254 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,120 Speaker 2: and became a best seller for McClure and Tarkington went 255 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:00,400 Speaker 2: on to be one of only four writers to earn 256 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,160 Speaker 2: the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction twice. The other three in 257 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:06,640 Speaker 2: that group are William Faugner Near Dear to My Heart, 258 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 2: John Updike, and Colson Whitehead. A lot of sources credit 259 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:15,080 Speaker 2: Rosebrow with discovering Jack London, who's most well known for 260 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 2: books like Call of the Wild and White Fang in 261 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 2: the short story to Build a Fire. 262 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 3: Rosebrow did accept some of his. 263 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 2: Early stories for McClure's and McClure commissioned London's first novel, 264 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 2: A Daughter of the Snows, but Jack London's work was 265 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:37,360 Speaker 2: already appearing in other publications, including Overland Monthly, which published 266 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 2: really a pile of his stories before anything appeared in 267 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 2: McClure's s s. McClure's interest in Jack London started after 268 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 2: he read a piece that had been published in the 269 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 2: Atlantic Monthly, and that was a piece that Roseboro had 270 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:56,200 Speaker 2: read and rejected. She had also rejected other early submissions 271 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:59,600 Speaker 2: of London's although some of those rejections also included her 272 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 2: very thoughtful feedback and advice about how to improve the 273 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 2: stories structurally. Mcluur's magazine did play a role in London's 274 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 2: early career, and an important role, but it just it 275 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 2: doesn't seem like Roseberg really pulled him out of the 276 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 2: slush pile, even though McClure himself made it seem that 277 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:23,359 Speaker 2: way in his autobiography. Roseburrow definitely played a role in 278 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:27,800 Speaker 2: the literary career of Willa Cather. McClure published Cather's first 279 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:31,359 Speaker 2: volume of short stories, The Troll Garden, in nineteen oh five, 280 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:36,480 Speaker 2: and Rosebrow's influence included helping to decide which stories to include. 281 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 2: Later on, Cather went through rounds of rejections on her 282 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:45,240 Speaker 2: nineteen eighteen novel My Antonia. She finally sent it to Rosebrow, 283 00:17:45,359 --> 00:17:47,440 Speaker 2: who read it and told her she'd written the whole 284 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:49,840 Speaker 2: thing through the point of view of the wrong character, 285 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:53,400 Speaker 2: that it needed to come from the perspective of Jim Burden. 286 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 2: Cather rewrote it, and today My Antonia is considered to 287 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 2: be her first masterpiece. Later on, she earned a Pulitzer 288 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:06,120 Speaker 2: Prize for her novel One of Ours, Roseburrow was sixteen 289 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,480 Speaker 2: years older than Cather and had been working for McClure's 290 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 2: magazine for more than a decade when Cathere was hired 291 00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:16,160 Speaker 2: for a staff position in nineteen oh six. A lot 292 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 2: of accounts give Rosebrow a lot of the credit for 293 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 2: this hiring decision. At first, Cather seems to have really 294 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:27,399 Speaker 2: admired and respected Roseburrow as somebody with talent and experience 295 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:31,480 Speaker 2: and wisdom, but that shifted somewhat as they worked together 296 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 2: at the magazine. Roseborrow had a reputation for being generous 297 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 2: and kind, but she could also be extremely blunt with 298 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 2: her feedback. As paraphrased by a friend, she told Cather 299 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 2: that she was quote pouring out one dead, pretentious story 300 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:51,120 Speaker 2: after another that nobody could read, and she got published 301 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:55,920 Speaker 2: only because mister McClure knew she had genius. Roseburrow also 302 00:18:56,119 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 2: advised Cather to quote write something she had some feeling about. 303 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 2: When Cather became managing editor of mclure's magazine, Rosebrough suspected 304 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:08,639 Speaker 2: that she was publishing her own work without running it 305 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:13,359 Speaker 2: by anybody else except maybe McClure himself. They didn't become 306 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:17,600 Speaker 2: enemies by any means their discussions around by Antonio were 307 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,159 Speaker 2: a decade after this, but it definitely became less of 308 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 2: a mentor mentee relationship. 309 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,240 Speaker 1: Nineteen oh six was a tempestuous year to be working 310 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:31,560 Speaker 1: at McClure's. About a month after cather started, most of 311 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 1: the staff quit. They were dissatisfied with McClure's business and 312 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: editorial decisions, and with his ongoing womanizing, including having affairs 313 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 1: with young women whose work he then published. 314 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 3: This included his. 315 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,920 Speaker 1: Taking a trip across the Atlantic with both his wife, 316 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,159 Speaker 1: Hattie and one of the other women on board, and 317 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:57,199 Speaker 1: Ida Tarbell, who was friends with Hattie. Cathere remained at 318 00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 1: the magazine after this mass exodus at McClure. She had 319 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 1: moved to New York to take the job, and as 320 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,919 Speaker 1: a newcomer she probably didn't have the same emotional involvement 321 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: in the situation as a lot of the people who had. 322 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:11,200 Speaker 3: Been there longer. 323 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:17,359 Speaker 2: She publicly supported McClure and dismissed the various allegations of womanizing, 324 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 2: and Roseboro stayed as well. This may have been partly 325 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 2: due to a sense of loyalty to McClure and to 326 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:25,640 Speaker 2: the magazine where she had worked. 327 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:26,439 Speaker 3: So many years. 328 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: But it's also possible that she was just shielded from 329 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: a lot of that drama because she was almost never 330 00:20:32,119 --> 00:20:35,639 Speaker 1: in the office. She would have manuscripts delivered to her 331 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: at her apartment in New York, or during the summers, 332 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:41,879 Speaker 1: to her cottage on the coast of Massachusetts or Connecticut. 333 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,360 Speaker 1: Then she'd take the manuscripts outside and she would read 334 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 1: them there, which sounds like a pretty dreamy working scenario. 335 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,800 Speaker 1: When she was in New York, she was particularly fond 336 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,200 Speaker 1: of working from Madison Square Park. If she needed to 337 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:57,440 Speaker 1: have a face to face meeting with someone, she would 338 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,080 Speaker 1: usually meet them there or at her home. 339 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:03,160 Speaker 2: Villa Roseborow. Was quite a character, which we will talk 340 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:16,840 Speaker 2: about more after a sponsor break. Bila Roseboro certainly was 341 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:20,240 Speaker 2: not unique for preferring to be outside on a park 342 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 2: bench rather than cooped up in an office all day. 343 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,400 Speaker 2: What was fairly unique was that she actually made it work. 344 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 2: She relentlessly tried to live her own way, and she's 345 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,480 Speaker 2: been described as a female bachelor. She never married, and 346 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:37,840 Speaker 2: if she ever had a romantic relationship with anyone, it's 347 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 2: not mentioned in anybody's surviving writing, at least not that 348 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:45,119 Speaker 2: I could find. She did seem to like the idea 349 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,680 Speaker 2: of having a child, though, or more specifically, a son. 350 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,679 Speaker 2: While she was still acting, she and one of her 351 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 2: castmates took in a boy who had run away, and 352 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 2: later in her life there were young men that she 353 00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:01,199 Speaker 2: would describe as godsons or as almost like her adopted sons. 354 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: For a while, Rosebrow did well enough financially that she 355 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:07,720 Speaker 1: was able to afford her apartment in New York and 356 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: at least one cottage near the ocean. She also traveled 357 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:13,960 Speaker 1: around the United States, and she made a series of 358 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: trips to Europe. But while she was making her own 359 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:20,080 Speaker 1: life and having a career, she was opposed to the 360 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:25,399 Speaker 1: suffrage movement. She viewed feminists with suspicion. This was another 361 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:28,639 Speaker 1: difference between her and her mother, who was a passionate 362 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:34,520 Speaker 1: advocate for women's rights. Roseburrow smoked constantly, swore, and refused 363 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 1: to wear a corset. She also loved Shakespeare and went 364 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,879 Speaker 1: to every play that she could. She carried around a 365 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,520 Speaker 1: gin bottle with the label still on it, which she 366 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,720 Speaker 1: filled with water so that she could have a drink 367 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:49,480 Speaker 1: whenever she got thirsty. This seems to have been about 368 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:53,280 Speaker 1: not just shocking people by appearing to drink gin out 369 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,160 Speaker 1: in public in the middle of the day, just spontaneously, 370 00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,560 Speaker 1: but also because she was really fixated on staying well 371 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: highed rated. She was also into yoga and eating raw foods, 372 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 1: although that last part might have been mostly because she 373 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:12,120 Speaker 1: hated to cook, not for any philosophical reason other than 374 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: the hatred of cooking. Rosebrow's friends called her vr, and 375 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:23,400 Speaker 1: her colleagues at McClure's called her Rosie. In both circles, 376 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,720 Speaker 1: she had a reputation for both talking very quickly and 377 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:31,400 Speaker 1: for being a witty and absorbing conversationalist. S. S. McClure 378 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:34,240 Speaker 1: said of her quote, when George Meredith talked, the air 379 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,119 Speaker 1: was full of flaming swords. When Robert Lewis Stevenson talked, 380 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: it was like the play of the Aurora borealis. But 381 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,680 Speaker 1: I can't find any expression to describe that woman's talk. 382 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 3: It is too varied. 383 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: He also called her the greatest conversationalist of her time. 384 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:55,160 Speaker 2: One friend is quoted as saying, quote, anybody who does 385 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:59,280 Speaker 2: not acknowledge that something is happening when Viola Rosebrow is 386 00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:04,359 Speaker 2: talking is stupid. Her friend Francis Perkins said of her 387 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 2: quote of course, I remember her vividly, her conversation, her attitudes, 388 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 2: her courage. Miss Rosebrow was essentially an expressive person. She 389 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 2: couldn't bear to enjoy things alone. And that is why 390 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,240 Speaker 2: she would ask me to go along with her, because 391 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 2: she said, I like to go with you because you 392 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:22,920 Speaker 2: enjoy having. 393 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:23,639 Speaker 3: Me talk about it. 394 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:28,480 Speaker 2: Another of Rosebrow's contradictions is that while she was friends 395 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:32,639 Speaker 2: with Francis Perkins, who was a labor advocate and Secretary 396 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:37,919 Speaker 2: of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rosebrow was opposed 397 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:43,159 Speaker 2: to social reform, and she denounced Roosevelt's New Deal. Rosebrow's 398 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 2: conversations that she was famous for were not necessarily nice. 399 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:51,800 Speaker 2: A friend once said, she characterized the greatest defect of 400 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,920 Speaker 2: modern civilization as quote the absence of any place where 401 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:59,639 Speaker 2: one could adequately insult people. Either you were in the 402 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,119 Speaker 2: relationationship of guest and hostess, or you were both guests 403 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:05,880 Speaker 2: of someone else. And when you chanced upon each other 404 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,920 Speaker 2: at the Grand Central Station, there was no time for 405 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 2: you were dashing for a train. For her own part, 406 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:16,200 Speaker 2: Rosebroow liked to say, quote, when conversation grows dull, I 407 00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:17,119 Speaker 2: take charge of it. 408 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:19,399 Speaker 3: To return to her career. 409 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:23,080 Speaker 2: Rosebro wrote a novel called The Joyous Heart, which was 410 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:28,119 Speaker 2: published by McClure Phillipson Company in nineteen oh three. McMillan 411 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:32,520 Speaker 2: published her short story collection Players and Vagabonds the following year, 412 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,840 Speaker 2: and she continued to work for SS McClure until nineteen eleven, 413 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,359 Speaker 2: when he lost control of McClure's magazine. She left the 414 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,600 Speaker 2: magazine at that point. Although her work had been focused 415 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 2: on the magazine's fiction, she had also convinced McClure to 416 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 2: publish a set of essays by her friend John LeFarge, 417 00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,240 Speaker 2: an artist who worked in a range of media, including 418 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 2: stained glass. His work at Boston's Trinity Church came up 419 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,520 Speaker 2: in our episode on the history of spray paint last August. 420 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:03,159 Speaker 3: In addition to. 421 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:08,399 Speaker 1: Freelancing, Roseborrow supported herself as a writer's consultant, kind of 422 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:11,399 Speaker 1: like an editor, offering writers feedback on their work and 423 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: how to get it published. Two years after Rosebrow left 424 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:20,119 Speaker 1: McClure's rival magazine, Colliers started running ads announcing that they 425 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:22,639 Speaker 1: had a new price of only five cents a copy, 426 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,639 Speaker 1: down from ten. They had a new publishing day of 427 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:30,000 Speaker 1: Tuesday rather than Thursday, a new distribution method being that 428 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: people could buy it at newsstands rather than having to 429 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:39,480 Speaker 1: subscribe and a quote new story editor Colliers has engaged 430 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 1: Miss Viola Roseboro, whose ability to choose stories needs no 431 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:46,480 Speaker 1: mention to the story loving public. 432 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 2: Roseburrow's final book, Storms of Youth, was published by Scribner's 433 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:55,399 Speaker 2: in nineteen twenty. In nineteen twenty one, McClure returned to 434 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 2: his magazine and Roseborow went back to work at it 435 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 2: as well. Rosebrow seems to have had a gift for 436 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,639 Speaker 2: recognizing and nurturing the talent of writers. She did not 437 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:09,000 Speaker 2: have the same ability with money. She had a series 438 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,959 Speaker 2: of financial difficulties and lost her summer cottages and her 439 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:18,000 Speaker 2: ability to travel abroad. Things became increasingly difficult until nineteen 440 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,680 Speaker 2: twenty eight when one of her former clients, Elizabeth M. Chamberlain, 441 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 2: died and left Roseborrow some money. This got Roseborow back 442 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,359 Speaker 2: on stable financial footing, and she did take at least 443 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:33,120 Speaker 2: two more trips to Europe after this. In the early 444 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 2: nineteen forties, Roseborow had a falling out with Willa Cather. 445 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 2: Cather asked Roseborrow to return all of her letters, and 446 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 2: Rosebrow seems to have thought that Catherine was trying to 447 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:48,679 Speaker 2: erase all evidence of her influence on Cather's work and career. 448 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:54,200 Speaker 2: This was not just about Roseburrow's correspondence, though, in nineteen 449 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,919 Speaker 2: forty three, Cather wrote a will specifying that her letters 450 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:02,480 Speaker 2: never be published in whole or in part. This applied 451 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 2: to all of her correspondents, not just her correspondence with Roseboro. 452 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,440 Speaker 2: She was kind of gathering things up to protect them. 453 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 2: Catherine died in nineteen forty seven, and that request was 454 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 2: honored until twenty eleven, when the terms of her will expired. 455 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 2: Viola Roseboro spent the last years of her life living 456 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:26,440 Speaker 2: alone in Newdorp, Staten Island. In addition to her lifelong 457 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,399 Speaker 2: poor vision, she lost much of her hearing, and she 458 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 2: developed arthritis in her hands, which she attributed to years 459 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:37,680 Speaker 2: spent rewriting people's work. She died on January twenty ninth, 460 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 2: nineteen forty five, at the age of eighty seven, after 461 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 2: an illness of a few months. In the words of 462 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 2: a review of the one book length biography ever written 463 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,480 Speaker 2: of her, quote, she died in poverty, but not in want, 464 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:54,520 Speaker 2: because many of her old friends saw to that. She 465 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,640 Speaker 2: had allegedly been working on a memoir called let Me 466 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 2: Tell You, which she does not seem to have and 467 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:05,760 Speaker 2: no known manuscript of it has survived. It is possible 468 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:09,560 Speaker 2: but unclear, that she may have converted to Catholicism during 469 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:13,640 Speaker 2: her last days. She had a fascination with Catholicism, and 470 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,400 Speaker 2: at various points after the nineteen ten death of John LeFarge, 471 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 2: she reportedly said that if he had been alive, she 472 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 2: would have allowed him to convert her. She also paid 473 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 2: very close attention to how Willa Cather's nineteen twenty seven 474 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 2: novel Death Comes for the Archbishop was received by Catholics. 475 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:36,120 Speaker 2: In the last days of Risboro's life, she refused to 476 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 2: talk to the Protestant clergy who came to visit her, 477 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 2: but she had multiple visits from her maid's priest. There 478 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,640 Speaker 2: is also some speculation that she may have been the 479 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 2: inspiration for the character of Myrah Henshaw in Willa Cather's 480 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 2: nineteen twenty six My Mortal Enemy, but that's not known 481 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 2: for sure, and there are a lot of other people 482 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 2: who might have possibly been the inspiration for it. 483 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,720 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, entirely possible. Don't fully know. 484 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 1: Uh. 485 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:09,360 Speaker 2: I find her fascinating though, too, and I also feel 486 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 2: like I have big gaps in my understanding of her, 487 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 2: which we'll talk about on Friday. Do you also have 488 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 2: some listener mail for us? I do also have listener mail. 489 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 2: It is from Tanya, and Tanya wrote, Hi, Holly and Tracy. 490 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,480 Speaker 2: I was just listening to your episode about the color blue, 491 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,440 Speaker 2: and it reminded me that I recently watched someone making 492 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:34,040 Speaker 2: blue dye from Woade. It was in an episode of 493 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 2: Secrets of the Castle, of video series featuring Ruth Goodman, 494 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:41,520 Speaker 2: among other historians and archaeologists. Ruth is actually featured in 495 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,719 Speaker 2: a whole series of videos exploring life in various time periods. 496 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 2: I think they would be right up your alley. My 497 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:49,840 Speaker 2: only complaint is that they are British and the DVDs 498 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 2: do not typically play in American DVD players anyway. In 499 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 2: Secrets of the Castle, they are living and working in 500 00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:00,840 Speaker 2: the Gelong Castle project in France. I'm just gonna say 501 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,600 Speaker 2: I'm sorry if I said that wrong. I forgot there 502 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:05,600 Speaker 2: was French in here, and I didn't look it up 503 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 2: before I started reading this email. They're building a castle 504 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:12,560 Speaker 2: using thirteenth century techniques. I seem to remember that a 505 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,120 Speaker 2: large amount of old urine was also used when dying 506 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,560 Speaker 2: fabrics using wode based dye. Did you uncover any mention 507 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,400 Speaker 2: of this in your research? I enjoy your show as 508 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:24,760 Speaker 2: much as I enjoy Ruth Goodman's history series. That significant 509 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,160 Speaker 2: since I bought a new DVD player just to watch 510 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,360 Speaker 2: my British DVDs on keep up the great work for 511 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:35,560 Speaker 2: ped tax. I am attaching photos of my roosters, Barnaby 512 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 2: the Colorful one and Rusty the Golden one. I raised 513 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:42,360 Speaker 2: them along with seven hens from eggs that I incubated 514 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:46,880 Speaker 2: last spring. And then that was from Tanya. So Tanya, 515 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:49,720 Speaker 2: I love that somebody has sent us rooster pictures. 516 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:50,600 Speaker 3: I do two. 517 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:55,320 Speaker 1: I have questions about the roosters. Yeah, only because growing 518 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 1: up on a far, my experience with roosters was not cool. 519 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:04,160 Speaker 1: So if her roosters are sweet, because ours were not? 520 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,320 Speaker 3: What a good question? I think. 521 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:14,320 Speaker 2: What I know of chickens, and broadly including roosters, is 522 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 2: that they can be very mean to one another as 523 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:21,240 Speaker 2: they establish a hierarchy out in the out in the 524 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:25,520 Speaker 2: chicken yard. Oh yeah, no, we had a rooster growing 525 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:28,880 Speaker 2: up that we had, you know, several acres of land 526 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:30,480 Speaker 2: and a lot of it was woody, and if you 527 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 2: were walking along, the rooster would go and hide in 528 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,440 Speaker 2: bushes and wait for you to pass, and then it 529 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:40,400 Speaker 2: would come out talon's up like to attack you. Oh no, 530 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:45,120 Speaker 2: my rooster experiences are not cool. I think they're so beautiful, 531 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:49,720 Speaker 2: but I'm curious anytime I talk to somebody that has 532 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:54,800 Speaker 2: roosters of their own, what they're like behaviorally. A lot 533 00:32:54,840 --> 00:33:00,960 Speaker 2: of cities that allow like urban chicken coops, explicitly don't 534 00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:07,760 Speaker 2: allow roosters correct because of their supposedly being noisy. Supposed Oh, 535 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 2: I mean, they do tend to crow, but the chickens 536 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 2: also make noise, so there's And also I would say 537 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:21,880 Speaker 2: I have neighbors whose barking dogs are at least as 538 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:26,400 Speaker 2: loud as a rooster could hypothetically be. Anyway, I wanted 539 00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:30,120 Speaker 2: to read this email number one because the rooster pictures, 540 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 2: that's great. But then also number two is that Secrets 541 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 2: of the Castle and these other history shows that Ruth 542 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 2: Goodman was on. They were some of my early early 543 00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:45,880 Speaker 2: COVID like Comfort Binge Watch, and they are these sort 544 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 2: of living history shows in which Ruth Goodman and usually 545 00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:52,480 Speaker 2: there was like another historian and archaeologist. They would go 546 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:57,040 Speaker 2: live in the manner of a farmer from a specific 547 00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,080 Speaker 2: time period, and then this one where they go to 548 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 2: the castle in frame. I don't remember anything about the 549 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:08,920 Speaker 2: dying of fabric in this particular show. It would not 550 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:12,840 Speaker 2: at all surprise me that large amounts of old urine 551 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,160 Speaker 2: were used for it, because large amounts of old urine 552 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 2: have been used for a lot of things historically, including 553 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:24,560 Speaker 2: a number of things involving textiles and dies and. 554 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:27,960 Speaker 3: Fabric scent paper. 555 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 1: I have definitely heard of it being used as a fixative, 556 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:34,719 Speaker 1: so it's not the pigment. It's like the same way 557 00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:38,759 Speaker 1: there are ammonial washes that people will do on dye 558 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:43,919 Speaker 1: processes now that are not urine based. So it makes 559 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,239 Speaker 1: sense because there's a high amount of ammonia in urine. 560 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, so yeah. I think very fondly of 561 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 1: Ruth Goodman and those TV shows. I watched them on 562 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:56,280 Speaker 1: streaming services. I do not have a DVD player, specially 563 00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:01,920 Speaker 1: bought to play British DVDs. I also have really enjoyed 564 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,520 Speaker 1: the similar shows that have played on PBS with similar 565 00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:08,279 Speaker 1: setups in the United States, although a lot of those 566 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:12,000 Speaker 1: were not necessarily a historian doing those things, but you know, 567 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:17,480 Speaker 1: regular people to pretend to live in whatever historical setting. 568 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:21,000 Speaker 1: I find those to be fun. So thank you so 569 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,280 Speaker 1: much for this email and these pictures. 570 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:23,880 Speaker 3: Tanya. 571 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:26,560 Speaker 2: If you would like to send us a note where 572 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 2: at history podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com. If you would 573 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,200 Speaker 2: like to read the show notes of our show, you 574 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 2: can code to our website which is at missed Inhistory 575 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:37,880 Speaker 2: dot com, and you can subscribe to the podcast on 576 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:40,279 Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app and anywhere else you like to get 577 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 2: your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 578 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:52,400 Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 579 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 580 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 2: favorite shows.