Tough Tarbell Trivia

[Rob Wick]

Just wanted to follow up on my question. My next article is tentatively titled "Iderem and Sholly: Ida M. Tarbell, Carl Sandburg and Popular Lincoln Biography." "Iderem" is a play on Ida M., and was given to Tarbell by William Allen White. "Sholly" is what Sandburg's father used to call his son, whose birth name was Charles Sandburg. One of the things I'm studying is how academic historians treated them both. Given that Tarbell and Adams, along with Tarbell and other college professors, were friends (there are a small number of letters from Tarbell to Adams in his papers at Johns Hopkins University, which is where I found the quote, while I've only found one letter from Adams to Tarbell in her papers. It appears that Adams didn't make carbons of his letters, so most of his letters are in the papers of those to whom he wrote), I'm trying to discover how much influence those academic historians were on Tarbell.

Especially after the Wilma Minor affair, Sandburg tightened up his work and became more amenable to the suggestions of those outsiders who treated him with respect. Right now, though, I'm working on the Tarbell section.

Best
Rob