On the Tarbell Trail

[Rob Wick]

Additions are being made to the Tarbell papers constantly. A few weeks ago I approached Jane Westenfeld, the librarian in charge of Tarbell's papers, to see if her letters while she lived in Paris were digitized. They had not been, but Westenfeld started doing so. I received an e-mail from her the other day saying by the middle of this month they would be posted. Last night I found they are now online. There are 85 letters, most of which are multiple pages (one is 14 typed pages long!). They were transcribed (thankfully!) by a woman named Ada McCormick in 1946 for a biography she was going to write on Tarbell. McCormick, a rich woman who lived in Arizona, was a friend of Tarbell's in her later years. The biography was never published. I've attached a link to the letters. If you've got nothing better to do, they provide an interesting insight into Tarbell's life before she became famous, her first meetings with S.S. McClure, and tantalizing but obscure references as to why she quit working for the Chautauquan magazine (likely some form of sexual harassment or attack).

Best
Rob

https://dspace.allegheny.edu/handle/1045...pe=subject