A Jacket off the Gorge is an unpublished nonfiction manuscript – part true crime, part memoir – with a psychological thriller read. It involves a crime in rural Upstate New York and the author who unwittingly got wrapped up in it.
The author’s journalism career spans more than twenty-five years and has earned major awards, including an Emmy nomination.
A Jacket off the Gorge is the story of Jon Fontaine, a young man whose teenage years are shaped by his motivation to run a lucrative drug selling enterprise. After being caught, prison conditions and the social stigma of being a felon only serve to make him a more cunning criminal. On his second brush with the law, and facing serious prison time, Jon jumps bail, and then fakes his death by tossing his jacket off a gorge.
He is artful in deception and manipulation, particularly of the women who love him. Jon meets Susan, who has the professional connections, resources, and intelligence that could benefit him. Unaware of his dark past, Susan falls for Jon, providing something he never expected: unconditional love. Will he take advantage of her trust for personal gain? Even he is unsure.
Susan learns from police that Jon is keeping a secret: He’s stolen a treasure of ancient gold and silver coins. He will never reveal its location.
Only Susan provides the motivation Jon needs to rehabilitate himself, an effort threatened by the penal system. Left untreated, his medical and mental health issues culminate in consequences neither could have predicted.
A Jacket off the Gorge delves deep into the criminal mind, giving an unprecedented, fascinating, and chiseled look at one man’s struggles within himself, and with others.


The Hyrum Library (through the Utah State Library) provides Downloadable audio and e-books.
To set up your accounts you will need the Hyrum Library Access code (c1p84319) AND your library card number.
If your library card is only three digits add a ZERO to the beginning of your number.
Here are some quick guides to help you download Audio books or ebooks
I-Pad or I-Pod
(One click will ask for the access code, when you enter it both C & P need to be capital.)
*Please note: OneClick audio is a Beta program; Please be patient when downloading to your device.
Some audio books work and others don't.
If you have a problem E-MAIL the company, they will address any issue that you may have.*


AI+ Speed Migration2020-03-11
Through source deduplication and cloud reconstruction to minimize the amount of migrated data, save migration bandwidth and improve migration speed.
AI+ Thin Replication
Superimposed with thin migration to achieve double streamlined effect. Through streamlined migration, we can identify the effective data of the disk, remove the invalid data, and then re delete the valid data. During the migration, only the deleted data is transferred.
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Divided into standard library mode and AI+ self-learning mode. In the standard library mode, the target data is constructed through the built-in standard library. AI+ self-learning mode continuously learns, optimizes and adjusts the self-learning library during the migration process to maximize the efficiency of acceleration.


An exciting English-language library in the town center !
First and third Saturday of the month (10-12:30) and every Wednesday (3-6pm)
Current fiction and non-fiction, best sellers, biographies, thrillers, good, mainstream literature for avid readers. A selection of magazines and literary reviews can be borrowed.
Members can show support by bringing in recent books to add to the collection or the permanent Book Sale, the money raised goes towards buying new books. Books for the children's section will be donated by members.
|Active member||30 euros|
The association also sponsors events such as book readings, talks, etc. "Book Chat" sessions are held regularly for people to get together and talk about books they have enjoyed.
If you wish for more information about Foal, contact us at email@example.com or go to our blog foal34


The Higher Education Concordat on quality assurance arrangements and data collection (2006-2008) was the key instrument employed by the Higher Education Regulation Review Group (HERRG) for the better regulation of higher education.
Signatories to the HE Concordat, including funding, inspection and data collection bodies, committed to practical plans for a less burdensome, more proportionate approach to quality assurance and data collection. The HE Concordat covered the collection of data and the external quality assurance of higher and further education provision in higher education institutions in England.
The HE Concordat is available here: HE Concordat.
In November 2011, HEBRG published the Principles of Better Regulation for Higher Education. The Principles supersede the HE Concordat; as well as updating the HE Concordat’s original statements on data collection and quality assurance, the Principles include new sections that reflect the changing regulatory framework for a more market-based sector.


Student Support Services
Student Support Services
Study materials are issued to all students and include a study pack consisting of a comprehensive study guide for each module, a course and assignment handbook, general guidelines to the writing and presentation of assignments and other supporting material. Each study guide contains the relevant module content as well as corresponding self assessment activities to guide the student through the course.
Workshops are held each semester. The workshops use a number of practical exercises to introduce the principles of action learning, a method that REGENT uses to facilitate understanding and aid in the retention of knowledge.
Workshops provide the ideal forum for students to engage with fellow students and their lecturers and to clarify areas of difficulty identified in their self-study programme. Workshops are held over weekends to cater for the needs of students who are in full-time employment and attendance is voluntary, albeit strongly encouraged. Workshops are held in regions where there is adequate demand.
Workshops are delivered by academic staff, who have extensive experience in the delivery of executive management education. With a healthy mix of both full-time and part-time academic staff, with both industry experience and research expertise, the Regent student has access to expertise and practical business experience packaged to offer a dynamic and stimulating learning experience.
Student Support Division (SSD)
Regent Business School has a dedicated SSD that takes care of all student administrative needs. The SSD facilitates academic support, provides additional learning material and assessment feedback as well as a host of other student services. This ensures an enhanced student learning experience.
Library services include an extensive reference library at Regentís head office. This library has a large selection of textbooks that cover a wide range of management fields, a selection of local and international journals as well as a selection of Masters dissertations. REGENT also has agreements with various libraries to give students access to the latest material in their field of study.
Online support allows students to submit assignments and direct any other queries via email. The REGENT website provides constant guidance and support to the student from registration to graduation. Regent students are also invited to discuss study matters with other students, both nationally and internationally, via discussion threads on the REGENT website.
Online services include:


I once heard on a podcast that, when you like something, make it a practice to think of the reason(s) why you like it. If I remember it correctly, this was a strategy to keep your sceptical nature in check. Anyway, sceptical or not, I think this is a good practice.
Recently, I finished reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. It’s a biography, true travel essay about an adventurer who went off the grid to live like a tramp ending this long trip by living in Alaska. Although, a bit bogged down, at a few places, with too many details about the places mentioned that it was not easy for me to imagine, it was an interesting read.
Jon Krakauer is a writer and mountaineer and there’s even a chapter in the book regarding his life as a mountaineer where he described his extremely dangerous and loneliness filled climb of the Devils Thumb through a never been traveled before route. Probably, the author related to the main character, Chris McCandless, of the book at a personal level, inspiring him to write an entire book about him. The level of inspiration (or possession?) is kind of apparent from the fact that Krakauer first wrote an article reporting the unfortunate death of McCandless but later expanded it to this book. He researched the entire life of McCandless- talked to his family, friends and all the people McCandless made friends with on his way to Alaska, trying his best to understand the reasons, the ideals, the motives which guided this guy to life a life of a vagabond. Indeed, everyone, who will hear about McCandless’ story will think about that. Krakauer, although, took it a step further, maybe because he is a bit like McCandless.
What does the word, “wild” mean? By dictionary, it means an inhospitable, uncultivated or uninhabited place. One can also call wild, a pure or untouched place. A place which is yet to be destroyed by humanity. It can be someplace unknown to us.
“I want movement, not a calm course of existence. I want excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I feel in myself a superabundance of energy which finds no outlet in our quiet life.” - Leo Tolstoy
Into the Wild. The title, to me, was perfect to gather the whole essence of the book. The absolute meaning can be to go into the wild, inhospitable place. It can be interpreted, though, in many ways. It can mean, getting out of the comfort zone to just go into the unknown. It can also mean, to be free and not being shackled by the constructs of the society. It can also mean a life in motion. And, this is what you’ll feel if you read the book - a compilation of the stories of the wild.
The book describes the journey of a young man who started out on a life changing journey without informing anyone from the family and finally ending the trip in Alaska. It is written in a biography from sprinkled with quotes and stories related to the theme. The author has given an inside to his thoughts on the various situations and has derived many parallels from the lives of many, including his. The book was mostly in the sequence of actual events and at points where it wasn’t, I didn’t feel the existence of any gaps. It was even sort of engaging, thinking about when will that part be picked up again.
The author, in the book, points out that from the mails he got to the original magazine piece he wrote, many didn’t like the glorification of the death of someone who didn’t care about his life. That he was suicidal. But, throughout the book, Krakauer has tried to find the answers of the questions which might have put some light on the psyche of the McCandless. He also didn’t hold back from writing about the mistakes McCandless did.
I think, the author’s aim was different by writing this book. Yes, he wanted everyone to know about the life of Chris McCandless. How he lived, how he connected with everyone, how charming he was, how what he did was brave and something exotic. But, more importantly, he wanted everyone to learn from his life. I think, he wanted every reader to understand the importance of engaging with the nature (obviously, not to the extent of McCandless’ or his journey to Alaska). I think, he wanted us to see how our connections with others are very important to enjoy the life. And, how everyone close to us suffer if our decisions turn out to be deadly (figuratively or literally).
The Main Character
Chris McCandless, the character whose life we read about, seems like an intelligent young man who never liked to work according to rules. He despised his parents but was very close to his sister. Throughout the book, Chris, is shown to have good relationships with anyone who helped him during his journey, but every time it started getting more serious he’d resume his journey leaving those friends behind. This passage indeed puts it clearly.
McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well - relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it. He had fled the claustrophobic confines of his family. He’d successfully kept Jan Burres and Wayne Westerberg at arm’s length, flitting out of their lives before anything was expected of him. And now he’d slipped painlessly out of Ron Franz’s life as well.
McCandless although, understood, but despised money and the role it played in the society. It comes as no surprise when we got to know that before starting his odyssey he donated all the money he had in his bank account and burned all the money he had in his pockets. He only took the essentials and just started his journey. For most part of the journey, Chris was of a mindset that he was really happy and enjoying his life by living on his terms. By the end, although, in Alaska, he seemed to have realized the importance of human connections in one’s life. The set of events that happened to McCandless were unfortunate but if he would have been able to get out of wilderness safely, this whole trip would have really been an Odyssey. An epic journey.
There’s part of the book where Chris’ love for running is depicted. He’d get sad if he thought he didn’t perform well during any race he has run and would not talk to anyone for hours. From the accounts of his friends, it seemed like, running was almost a religion to Chris McCandless. As if, he was mental, in a positive way, about that sport.
McCandless viewed running as an intensely spiritual exercise, verging on religion. “Chris would use the spiritual aspect to try to motivate us,” recalls Eric, another friend on the team. “He’d tell us to think about all the evil in the world, all the hatred, and imagine ourselves running against the forces of darkness, the evil wall that was tying to keep us from running our best. He believed doing well all mental, a simple matter of harnessing whatever energy was available. As impressionable high school kids, we were blown by that kind of talk.”
The book ends with the description of the Chris’ parents coming to peace with their son’s death in Alaska. They visited the site where their son died on the Magic Bus, as Chris described it the day he found the bus in the wilderness. His parents saw the same beauty and tranquility that Chris might have enjoyed, in the place where Chris spent his last days.
I recommend anyone who has ever thought about going out and travel out of their backpacks to read this book. The book depicts the life of a guy who started living life on his own terms in the wilderness. This book is the tale of all the things that guy did, learned and even taught. This book highlights the most important lesson for humans - HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED.


In the last couple weeks, I've read some tough fiction. You know, the kind of books that are just plain, hard reality, exposing the terrible injustice in the world we live in.
I first read Scared by Tom Davis close to two years ago. I don't think I realized what I was getting myself into. Scared deals with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. The book starts off with a massacre in the Congo, leaving you a little nauseated. Main character Stuart Daniels captures the horrific scenes on camera, making him an award-winner photojournalist. The problem is, he is haunted by what he saw that. Now, in an effort to save his career, he accepts an assignment that takes him to Swaziland to cover the AIDS issue.
Swaziland is all about survival. People live in extreme poverty. Children are forced to care for themselves and younger orphaned siblings. They often don't have a meal to eat for many days. But in the midst of this, there's a ray of light. Her name is Adanna, a 12-year old orphan girl forced to care for two younger siblings as she personally suffers from hunger and abuse. She has been told by an illuminated man that her gift will save many of her people. That gift is an incredible talent for writing and her poetry is shared throughout the novel. Of course, Stuart and Adanna meet and Stuart's life is changed by the suffering he encounters and the life of this young girl.
Scared was Tom Davis' first novel and it does show. It's written in the first person, present-tense from two perspectives, which kind of threw me off, but it was downright real. You can't read it without being torn emotionally. The series continues with Priceless, and there was a definitive improvement in the writing.
Scared was a heart-wrenching read and Priceless certainly wasn't any easier. It deals with an equally difficult issue: the child sex-slave trade in Russia. The main character again is Stuart Daniels on another journalism trip to Russia. The second perspective is from Marina, a young woman who Stuart met as a little girl in a Russian orphanage on a previous trip who shares her story. In this novel, Stuart gets talked into helping an old friend by going undercover to rescue girls out of their misery.
This book, like the first one, leaves you nauseated at times. It displays the horror girls go through in forced prostitution. I'll spare you the details here. The practice isn't hidden in this area of Russia. Who is the leader of a large chain of places men go to? Sickeningly, it's none other than an Orthodox priest, who has an obsession with George and the Dragonslayer and believes he's actually doing these girls a favour. Priceless, is filled with evil. There's no room for light in this dark, disgusting practice. But it's nothing short of real.
Having given you a summary of these two books, I must say that if you're looking for a light, entertaining read that will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside, these aren't for you. But if you want to be enraged at the social injustice of our world and ask "What can I do to stop this?", you don't have to look any further. The sad thing is, the author held a lot back in writing both of these books. They could have been a lot more gruesome and realistic than they are, but Tom wouldn't have been able to do so in writing these Christian books, as he mentions in an interview at the end of Priceless.
You may wonder what compelled the author to write books like these? It's simple. This is Tom's work. Tom is the president of Children's Hope Chest, an organization active in helping orphans in Africa and Russia, among other countries. Tom is no stranger to what life is like in these countries. He's been there and seen it. These books and their character are based on his own experiences and people he has met. He has also authored Fields of the Fatherless, Confessions of a Good Christian Guy, and Red Letters: Living a Faith That Bleeds, all of which I plan on reading. He's also writing a new book in this fiction series, where Stuart is in Haiti at the time of last year's earthquake. I'm looking forward to it.
Another thing I loved about these books is that they give you information on other organizations and sites on these issues. The publisher, David C. Cook, also created video trailers for these books, so if you want to see a preview, check them out. (Scared, Priceless) There are also sites for the book you can check out at www.ScaredTheBook.com and www.SheIsPriceless.com. On the last site there, you can also see videos that Tom Davis made in Russia, showing you some of the actual places where scenes in the book are from. There's a great number of resources you can browse on those sites. I also listened to a great message by the author, which you can find on the Hope Chest site I mentioned earlier.
It's one thing when you hear about poverty, AIDS and slavery, but most people, hearing numbers and statistics won't affect them much. but when you are given characters and can see life through their eyes for awhile, it changes everything. Like I said, these aren't easy books to read, but I assure you they are well worth your time.


Abe and Molly:
The Lincoln Courtship
(In order of receipt - newest at
Order, Click Here
sympathetic review of the courtship of Lincoln and Mary.
He 'always' called her Molly so the author has used this nickname
to humanize the often demonized relationship. Using hundreds
of sources and his own inate sensibilities and sense of history,
we are immersed in the times and romances of pre Civil War
America. I recommend this book for all history students
especially Lincoln scholars.
Hunter is a great find. His Abe and Molly is one
of the finest histories I've encountered on Lincoln, combining
recollections, anecdotes, and detailed research on Lincoln
and his courtship of Mary ("Molly") Todd in Springfield
in 1840. It is no surprise that historian James McPherson
offered kudos for the novel. Hunter portrays Abe and Mary
in their crucial young adult years, as they really were, showing
what they were like and how their characters were formed.
We see Lincoln's nervousness and indecisiveness around women,
his humility, solidity, natural wit, and ambition, and Mary's
flirtatious nature, her more "modern woman" interest
in politics, and her attraction to Lincoln from the start.
She is a positive character. Beyond the romance, which is
the story tying the novel together, there is a wonderful historical
chronicle of the times. We get a ground-eye view of Whig politics
of the era, of the Presidential campaign of 1840, and the
political beginnings for Lincoln coming off the Black Hawk
war. We get the best picture ever of life on the frontier,
the circuit riding, the dances and competition for women,
the drinking, the dueling, the migrations from Kentucky. And,
we get a good view of Stephen Douglas and Lincoln's legal
colleagues. We see the pathos of Lincoln circuit riding, defending
a young farm boy who killed a co-worker that had threatened
him, and the background of Lincoln's tough childhood, losing
his mother, the family living in a lean-to in Indiana, having
to become a man at age eight, later cutting logs and selling
them down river. A wonderful story and history, a real inside
look. Can't wait to read more Hunter.
of The Daughters of Union Veterans of the Coivil War, Tent
22, Santa Barbara, CA at the Santa Barbara
Club. March 9, 2012
50 ladies descended from a Civil War veteran gathered at lunch
to hear Frederic Hunter discuss Lincoln's early years and
read extracts from his book, Abe and Molly. Q&A
followed. Everyone was entralled and very interested and had
very good detailed questions.
Club at the LaCanada Women's (Book) Club
LaCanada Flintridge, CA Feb. 16, 2012
65 ladies listed to author Fred Hunter give readings from
the book and answer many questions. The Thursday Club is one
of the largest and oldest boos clubs in the LA area.
Register, Springfield, IL newspaper
Blog - Dec. 3, 2011
an e-mail interview, Hunter said one of his TV films, "Lincoln
and the War Within," which was done for PBS, led him
to the story of the Abraham Lincoln-Mary Todd courtship. And
that led him to write "Abe and Molly: The Lincoln Courtship,"
published last year by Nebbadoon Press. Hunter describes "Abe
and Molly" as a "mainly true story." It's a
novel, with invented situations and dialogue -- but also with
a bibliography and nearly 50 pages of historical notes.
[Full entry here.]
Lead review in
relationships are of special construction. "Abe and Molly:
The Lincoln Courtship" tells the story of how our inept,
timid sixteenth president won the heart of an aristocrat,
a match no one thought would work. Frederic Hunter uses this
pairing to spin a novel out of it, providing a dramatized
look at the relationship between Abraham and Mary Todd. An
exciting tale of romance and high society in the first half
of the nineteenth century, "Abe and Molly" is a
fascinating and fun read.
Christian Science Monitor
Richard Dearborn Sr.
strained courtship of Abraham Lincoln is brought to life by
Frederic Hunter's novel Abe and Molly. Reading it is as though
one is eavesdropping on the Lincolns' conversations with no
an interview with reporter Kelly Mahan, Mr. Hunter responded
to a question about the untold true story of Mary Todd and
Abe Lincoln, "That's what the book is about. It's a great
story about fascinating people--and it's true! Lincoln could
not have become president without the encouragement, wisdom,
and practical political savvy she brought to the marriage."
Full Review >> Click Here
Barbara resident Frederic Hunter spent 10 years researching
the sometimes controversial courtship between Abraham Lincoln
and Mary Todd (or "Molly," as Abe called her), and
now has turned that into a fictional narrative of their relationship.
ago I put down your "Abe and Molly" having read
every word of it aloud to John and we both want you to know
how very much we enjoyed it. There is so much to say about
the book, all of it good and much of it funny. Of all the
books I've read about Lincoln, yours has made him come alive
so that I really feel I know him as a friend. And Molly -
well, she has needed and deserved a champion for a century
and a half. You have done a magnificent job.
finished the book last night. Your story of Lincoln's courtship
is irresistible. What sparkle! What a pair of intelligent,
unique and colorful odd ducks--taking risks, defying the
odds, to find their way to one another. I didn't want it
And it was such a feat of the imagination. How did you do
it? Those riveting conversations between them, the building
tension of their relationship. They seemed so alive, so
believable and so human in the best sense--drawn to each
other against the roiling political scene of their time.
Your Lincoln was a work of art: brilliant, rough-edged,
funny, sometimes clownish, powerful, flawed, honest, bold,
shy and totally engaging. I could go on and on: the townspeople,
the local life, the manners of the day--all a rich and carefully-drawn
Club Book Blog
Month Club interview with Heather Vogel Frederick includes
an in-depth interview about the book Abe and Molly:
The Lincoln Courtship (plus a pie recipe).
Placement U.S. History Teacher
Lincoln was not an attractive man. His seemingly wild and
untaimed hair, towering height, and gawky features do not
make him a likely protagonist for a romance novel. Yet,
in Frederic Hunter's newest book, Abe and Molly: The
Lincoln Courtship, a softer, more romantic side of Lincoln
comes alive as never before. Based on extensive research
thoroughly documented at the end of the novel, Hunter expertly
brings to life one of the most iconic figures in American
history. Full Review Continued >> Click
Top 1000 Reviewer
loved this book! It is so steeped in history that one can
easily imagine being part of the dinner party in the Edwards'
Springfield home. Or shivering while making the two-week
stagecoach / paddleboat trip from Lexington to Springfield
in wintertime. Brrrr. Full Review Continued >>
Feature Book Review
Todd was very badly treated by American History and deserved
another look." Full interview article >> Click
winning author of
Battle Cry of Freedom
so much for sharing the ms of your novel with me. I
have read it with great pleasure, and indeed have learned
a great deal from the ways in which you have dealt fictionally
with an important but often misunderstood facet of Lincoln's
life-and the life of Mary Todd. I am impressed by the way
in which you were able to incorporate the extensive research
you did into the story, which is more plausible than anything
else I have read. I was impressed with Doug Wilson's interpretation
in Honor's Voice, which centered around Lincoln's supposed
infatuation with Matilda Edwards, but you have convinced me
otherwise. I think your insight about Ninian Edwards (supported
by Elizabeth) doing everything they could to warn Lincoln
off is quite convincing. The only source of some doubt about
that interpretation is their ready acceptance of Abraham and
Mary's determination to marry two years later. In any event,
a wonderful book here,
and I am sure it will win a place in the current sweepstakes
of Lincoln books.
radio interview on "Curtain Call"
hour interview on NPR in Santa Rosa, CA
AP US History Teacher, continued
- - from Scott Wilson
the average person, Lincoln is the president who ended slavery,
led the Union to victory in the Civil War, and died tragically
at the hands of an assassin. Over two hundred years after
his birth, he is still revered as an important American
hero, yet relatively little is known about his pre-presidential
years and even less about his love life. Hunter has addressed
this oversight by creating a fun, easily readable piece
of historical fiction that is approachable for even the
most ardent haters of history. At its core Abe and Molly
reads like a Jane Austen novel, providing an excellent snapshot
of courting rituals in mid-19th century America while illustrating
class divisions that existed by highlighting the contrast
between Lincoln's extremely humble upbringing and Mary "Molly"
Todd's aristocratic family background.
The novel begins with Molly Todd's journey via stagecoach
to Springfield, Illinois and ends with her marriage to Lincoln.
While the ultimately satisfying conclusion comes as no surprise,
the journey that Federic Hunter takes the reader on is a
thoroughly enjoyable one that interweaves actual historical
events with fictional dialogue. Thus, we learn of Lincoln's
penchant for telling earthy stories, his frequent descent
into depression, and his awkardness with the fairer sex.
At the same time, Lincoln is portrayed as an astute politician,
not above certain shenanigans to aid his cause and to help
him achieve his goals. Moreover, Hunter provides a depiction
of Molly Todd that proves highly enlightening, and challenges
traditional assumptions of many historians. Nowhere in the
novel do we see the emotionally disturbed and unstable woman
that Molly became later in life. Instead, we are introduced
to a charming, well-educated, and flirtatious young woman
whose primary weakness was her sharp tongue and unwillingness
to conform to sharply prescribed gender roles. By incorporating
his extensive research into the couple, Hunter paints a
realistic portrait of a true love affair (complete with
a broken engagement and a meddling guardian) between two
people well suited for each other, despite, what seemed
at the time, insurmountable differences.
Of course, while the romance takes main stage, there is
also plenty for historians to sink their teeth into. Hunter
introduces the politically adept "Little Giant"
Stephen Douglas as a supporting character. Douglas, who
famously took part in the Lincoln-Douglas debates and authored
the infamous Kansas-Nebraska Act, is shown to be a realistic
challenger for the affections of Molly Todd. The novel also
illustrates the political context of the era by showcasing
the constant battle between Whigs and Democrats for national
supremacy. With the use of actual correspondence, excerpts
of campaign songs, and detailed research, Frederic Hunter
proves that it is possible to write an engaging work of
fiction that is still faithful to actual events.
With all of that said, the novel is not perfect. At times
the dialogue is stilted or unrealistic, attempting to incorporate
too much historical information in a way which makes characters
sound less like real people and more like encyclopedia entries.
There are also a number of background characters who are
never fully fleshed out and seem to exist solely because
of Hunter's faithfulness to the historical record. Yet,
these imperfections do not deter from the overall quality
of the novel or the enjoyment to be obtained from reading
a love story that features our sixteenth president. For
at its heart, Abe and Molly is the story of a socially awkward
self-made man trying to win the heart of a woman of privilege
despite society's expectations. The fact that you cannot
walk away from this timeless story without expanding your
knowledge of American history is just an added bonus.
to start of review
to top - all reviews
A blog about Abraham Lincoln, from a professor of history
and Lincoln scholar.
Sept. 18, 2011
Skinny: Frederic Hunter, an experienced writer, Lincoln
expert, and creator of one of the best Lincoln resources
on the Internet, Lincolnlink.com, has written an account
of the Lincolns' early days together, from their first meeting
to their wedding. Very familiar ground, of course, being
a subject and a time period that has attracted a multitude
of Lincoln scholars. The unique contribution of Hunter's
book is its singular literary style, a narrative account
written in the general style of a novel, with dialogue,
characterizations, settings, etc. of a sort more typically
found in a work of fiction, yet grounded in Hunter's quite
thorough knowledge of the available primary sources. A sample:
the lilac-scented evening air two men climbed the gentle
rise above the hill. A breeze stirred softly. The sun had
slipped below the horizon and the last light was fading
from the sky.
said Speed, 'you have not spoken a word since we left the
been whistling the entire time,' Lincoln observed. 'You're
acting--well, not quite like a dog in heat, though it puts
me in mind of that.'
party,' replied Speed, 'The best young ladies of the town
dressed up to please us. I thank them for that.'" (p.
get the idea. As Hunter himself puts it, this approach is
"not so much based on fact as it involves a variety
of interpretations of recollections of Lincoln and Mary
Todd, most of them collected after--often well after--Lincoln's
assassination in 1865 (p. 353). Which is to say that Hunter
has taken the body of postwar reminiscences about the Lincoln
courtship and woven them together in a solidly grounded
but still creatively interpreted historical narrative.
Good. Readability--or actually more than this, a dramatic,
richly textured narrative account, written with a nice feel
for the personalities involved, the tone and dialog of the
times, and the emotional structure of Lincoln and Mary's
rather odd, rollicking but ultimately affectionate courtship.
Hunter possesses both a critical eye for and a warm sympathy
with his characters--pretty much the ideal biographer's
perspective. He also knows his stuff. While Lincoln specialists
of one sort or another might quibble with this or that interpretation
Hunter brings to bear on his subjects, his interpretations
are not rooted in an ignorance of the subject matter, but
rather his firm judgment after carefully sifting through
what is often a maddeningly contradictory and vague pile
of primary source evidence. I for one found his arguments
convincing (the book includes a thorough afterword in which
he explains the evidence and the decisions he rendered),
and did not often think his narrative had struck a false
note. Highlights (at least for me): the barbed exchanges
between Lincoln and Douglas, Mary's thoughts as she entered
Springfield's social world as a Kentucky expatriate, and
Hunter's entertaining account of the Lincoln/Shields duel--or
rather almost duel.
Not-as-Good: I won't put this on Hunter, but rather his
publishers, who in all likelihood made such decisions--but
the book would be stronger if it included a more detailed
rendering of the primary sources. It does include the aforementioned
Afterword, as well as a brief bibliography, but I for one
would like to have seen a bit more detailed indication of
exactly which documents led to which narrative passages.
This is not a matter of trust, of course--go check out Hunter's
website; he knows the reminiscences quite well--but rather
the interest of a fellow Lincoln scholar who likes to see
exactly how all the little cogs fit together that make the
Bottom Line: an enjoyable, entertaining rendering of an
old set of Lincoln stories in a fresh way. I'd especially
recommend Abe and Molly to anyone who wishes to communicate
to a person unfamiliar with Lincoln's early years the fascination
and drama contained in this period of his life. I may
very well use this as an assigned class reading for my course
on antebellum America; it would be ideal for undergraduates.
Top 1000 Reviewer,
from Top 1000 Reviewer
one of the tenets of the new country -- the United States
-- was to be a classless society. No aristocracy. Don't
kid yourself. There absolutely was an aristocratic strata
in society, although not, of course, titled as in the UK
and other European countries.
turn of the 19th Century, the early states along the Eastern
seaboard -- Virginia, the Carolinas, Maryland, Delaware,
eastern Kentucky and a few other locations -- had a very
definite and rigid blue-blood society. Those families were
usually landed, with slaves, and a fairly long history in
this new land.
such family was the Todds of Lexington, Kentucky. Daughter
Mary was continually reminded of her heritage- 'You're a
Todd, and you must never forget that.' Perhaps unstated,
but certainly implied was the further admonition - 'don't
do anything to bring shame on our name.'
Lincoln, on the other hand, had little family to speak of
other than his mother, who died when he was rather young,
and his step-mother. He was not close to his father, who
was a moderately successful farmer. Abe set out on his own
as a teen-ager to better himself. His natural thirst for
knowledge led to his finally being able to read for the
law. All his hard work and determination proved that he
had been right to pursue his almost unreachable dreams.
in Springfield Illinois, where, among the other young men
he encountered was one Ninian Edwards, whose wife Elizabeth
was Mary Todd's older sister. The meeting between the lanky
raw-boned backwoodsman with little polish, and the intellectual
and supremely intelligent Mary Todd was inevitable, and
the outcome unpalatable to both families. But the two young
people ignored everyone around them, drawn as they were
to each other. It took several years to accomplish, but
they did eventually marry, and the self-taught young man
became one of the country's greatest presidents. One can
but wonder what might have become of this tumultuous young
nation had they been permanently separated by the barriers
thrown up to keep them apart.
they were too devoted to each other to allow such interference
in their lives, although there was a separation of about
18 months after Abe's first proposal and Molly's subsequent
return and acceptance of the second one.
especially, I enjoyed the afterwords -- the author's explanation
for the way he interpreted various bits and pieces to create
his story. The bibliography is extensive. But don't be mis-led.
First and foremost this is a caring look at a young couple
who are the epitome of the saying 'opposites attract'. Their
story will stay in your mind for a long while after you've
closed the book. It is entirely enjoyable reading for any
happily give it ten stars if I could!
to start of review
to top - all reviews


This page discusses various facets of the experiences of women at Carleton throughout the school’s history. It begins by discussing the history of the Women’s League, the group that ran the Women’s League Cabin (WLC) and also acted as a strong governing body for female residential and social life, and then compares it to its counterpart, the Men’s League. It is followed by a section on the attitudes towards gender at Carleton throughout it’s history, and a discussion of how gender impacts architectural design (comparing Gridley Hall, the first women’s dorm, with Burton Hall, the first male dorm on campus). Finally, there is a brief discussion of how some of the theories of Gender Archaeology relate to our findings.
Click on any of the links below to skip to a portion of the page, or scroll through it.
4. Present Day
Inception of the Women’s League
The women students of Carleton College originally conceived of and advocated for the women’s league as a pushback to the many rules that governed female students boarding at the college. The school had a strict code of conduct including, curfew, dress code and when and where women were allowed to socialize with men. The women wished to have more control over the rules that were to govern them. As an article published in the Carletonia, the school newspaper, explained:
“It is not many years since almost all colleges…planned out with full detail the conduct of the girls in their charge and strove to develop womanhood by enforcing these ideals in a purely external manner. The principle has been losing ground steadily for several years. Today instead we find that in most of our best institutions the girls themselves determine, and by their own voluntary action show what things are becoming to a real woman.”
These sentiments prompted the first iteration of the women’s league, the introduction of student government to Gridley Hall, one of the main female dorms on campus. On October 3, 1911 it was reported that the girls of Gridley Hall had unanimously voted in favor of student government. This meant they would have control over the rules regarding curfew, order and quiet, lights out policies and aspects of dormitory discipline. The women elected an executive committee consisting of a house president, and one member of each upper class (sophomore, junior, senior).
The hope of the government was that students would be more motivated to follow rules closely if they were in control of the expectations put upon them. The women planned their own conduct and were honor bound to abide by the restrictions. Although there was still some school supervision the organization was created to allow female students to decide on rules and punishments as much as possible. Throughout their first year there is evidence that the student government helped change curfews and mealtimes.
The campus response appears positive considering the aforementioned article and the unanimous vote for the organization by the female cohort of the student population. The students of the newspaper were hopeful that this would mark a real change saying that the times were changing and “the actual condition is now one where girls largely plan their own conduct, and then on their own honor obey the laws they have established.”
The organization, although facing controversy about its duties, remained a strong part of the community and expanded as the years went by. It was first referred to as the Women’s Student Government Association on February 6, 1917 in the Carletonia and that remained the name, occasionally abbreviated to W.S.G.A especially in newer documents, until 1928. In 1928 the Carletonia reported that the women students voted in an amendment to officially change the W.S.G.A to the Women’s League. This process was apparently hampered by a missing comma in the original constitution of the governing body that led to some confusion over what specifics of the voting rules were.
Organization of Women’s League and Duties
By 1934 the Women’s League had a much more extensive organization of governance. Their constitution stated the purpose of the league as being to “maintain conditions favorable for study and to establish high social and moral standards”. The entire female student body automatically joined the league upon matriculation and the league had officers and multiple councils. These officers included a president, vice president, treasurer and secretary and the main council included representatives from the junior and senior classes, the house presidents, a representative from the students living in town, the officers, the chairman of committees, the president of the local Y.W.C.A and the president of the local W.A.A. Each dorm had its own separate house council and these councils were brought together in the inter-dorm council.
The organization of the league had clearly expanded throughout the years and they had set meeting times for houses and councils and officially published amendments. The league decided on many disciplinary actions with minor actions being addressed by the house councils. There was an officially elected fire captain in Gridley Hall and annual dues paid by every member, similar to the student activities fee Carleton students still pay out of their tuition. The responsibilities and systems of the league were expanding.
Documents from 1964 explain the system of government more clearly, further explaining the divide of power between the league’s council, court and cabinet. The Court was where cases were reviewed and decided upon in the event that any female student had infringed upon the rules. This branch of power was also where rules themselves and punishments were considered and criticized. The Cabinet controlled the more social aspects of the league, like managing the Women’s League cabin and organizing events like picnics, fashion shows, teas and dances. The Council did the governing and had bi-weekly meetings with the Cabinet, the minutes of which were posted in the women’s dorms. They managed rules as well to an extent in these meetings and discussed things like budget allocations and other logistics. The league handled a sizable part of student living on campus, arranging social events, creating rules and doling out disciplines. The league also, along with sending female students to various conventions on women’s issues and running the cabin, controlled the running of the Cave for some years starting in 1940. They also played a critical role in helping new students acclimate to campus in large part by playing a large role in managing new student week (with the Men’s League once it existed), and creating programs like the big sister-little sister program that paired upper-class-women with freshwomen.
The power and purpose of the women’s league was contested from its very inception, debating how much power the students had versus the administration. The league was criticized by members and non-members as simply “East-side rule enforcers”, enforcing rules they did not have a hand in creating. Seniors in the class of 1912, first class to graduate after the introduction of self governance system, said although students behaved better it was simply because they were enforcing rules mindlessly on themselves that they used to flaunt when the administration was in charge.
Finally in 1967 the league officially voted to redefine the Women’s League’s role as solely representative of the women students of the college instead of trying to balance the administrations wants and rules as well. All actions, issues and regulations acted on would be driven by and voted on by students. This choice was highly controversial and caused parts of Evans to leave the league.
Involvement in Broader Picture
The women’s league, although an autonomous club created by the college, was a member of the national organization of Intercollegiate Association of Women Students. This organization brought together women’s student government organizations from colleges and universities around the nation, the only organization of its type in 1965.
It’s goal was to connect the women’s student government of all the universities and colleges in the country and help empower women students to take a larger role in the governing of their communities. Their stated purpose was to “prepare women to govern themselves throughout their college careers and thereby increasing their ability and desire to fulfill the role of educated and competent women in a democratic society.” The association created rules and resolutions that the colleges were encouraged to add to their own governing tactics. Instituted in 1913 and served by the National Education Board, it included such Minnesota colleges as Carleton, St. Olaf, Macalester, University of Minnesota and more. Nationally it included 275 schools and universities and there are records showing that the Women’s League of Carleton sponsored women students to attend their conventions, presumably every year.
The men of the college also had a league to manage their affairs, but this was not created until 1923. Although there is no explicit explanation of why this was created when it was, its establishment does correlate directly with the first major male dorm on campus. Especially in its beginning the Women’s League dealt primarily with dorm related rules and regulations. It seems likely therefore that the Men’s League (or as it was first called Men’s Students Government Association) did not exist because a major presence on campus. Even after they moved on campus it seems doubtful that they had as many rules for living as their female counterparts so there may have been less of a fervor.
In October of their founding the entire council resigned overnight leaving the men theoretically “without rules or regulations” because “the council was generally dissatisfied with conditions, and felt that it was incapable of doing anything as long as student sentiment remained indifferent”. This sentiment was parroted by an earlier letter published in the Carletonian that passionately called all Carleton men to action, begging them to engage in student government. The association was similar to the Women’s League in organization and responsibilities to control all conduct and affairs of men especially in dorms, although appeared smaller and was more closely linked to the already existing Alma Mater Association (AMA). The Men’s League regulated relations between classes and connected all men’s groups and activities on campus. They too looked to better the life of their members (all male students) on campus and acted as liaisons to the Student-Faculty council and later on, CSA. In 1927 the student council expanded including members from the AMA, MSGA, WSGA, Carletonian and other campus groups. This expansion happened shortly before it converted to CSW in 1930 and became a governing body for the school as well.
Carleton is fairly unusual among American colleges in that it was founded in the 19th century and still managed to be co-education from the beginning. Of the eight initial students, three were women (Leonard 1904). An oft-repeated note about the co-educational nature of the institution is the fate of its first graduating class—Myra Brown and James Dow—who married not long after graduating (Greene and Ashmore 1988). In the beginning, men outnumbered women (the class of 1870 had 75 men and 35 women, according to Leonard ), but this soon changed and by the early 1900s Carleton was searching for more male applicants, as part of a national trend towards men going straight into work and women attending college prior to marriage (“Carleton and Women”). In the first years, women and men seem to have mixed regularly due to the small size of the school; those who did not live in Northfield stayed in Willis hall, the school’s only building, and it seems likely that they studied together (Leonard 1904). However, the 10th rule in the student handbook of 1872 did prohibit “calls between the different sexes” in any location other than the reception room (Greene 24 January 1986). Notably, while this mixing of the sexes does not appear to have been intentional, neither did it appear to be a source of concern for anyone sending their children to study there. In fact, Carleton successfully marketed itself as a particularly good place to send daughters.When the college purchased a new building in around 1869, women were to be housed one floor away from the men,although there were only 12 women enrolled at that moment (Leonard 1904). Margaret Evans Huntington, the Dean of Women, recalled that men were forbidden from entering the women’s floor, but that all took their meals together and participated in co-educational literary societies. Also worth noting is that many of the students in the early years either already lived in Northfield or took lodgings with people there instead of staying in dormitory-like conditions at the College itself. Notably, at least one of the instructors in 1869 was a woman: Mrs. Hattie Seccombe “teacher of music” (who was married to Rev. Charles Seccombe). In 1870, the college counted another female instructor, “Miss Sarah A. Dow, A.M., Preceptress, Instructress of Latin and English Branches.”
Carleton women played a behind-the-scenes role in many areas that are usually described in historical narratives as male-dominated events. Two cases of this are in the defeat of Jesse James and the funding of the college’s early years. Evans recalls expecting the gang to come to the college after leaving the bank, and describes how she “hastily prepared for the them. Every girl was to take an axe…determined to make a good resistance.” (Huntington 1916) Additionally, the early years of Carleton included a surprisingly large number of female donors to the College, such as a Mrs. Blatchford, who donated $5,000 in memory of her daughter (Huntington 1916). Martha Wilkinson was said to have donated to Carleton in its early years a total only surpassed by Mr. Carleton himself.
It was not until 1880 that the idea of having a dormitory specifically for women was suggested and a committee appointed to explore the option. The dormitory, or “finest educational building for women in the Northwest” was named Gridley hall and housed female teachers and over one hundred students as well as a dining room, parlors, and a kitchen (Leonard 1904). One should note the house motto “The ornament of a house is cleanliness/The honor of a house is hospitality/The blessing of a house is piety/The happiness of a house is contentedness.” However, men also often ate at Gridley hall in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and indeed Gridley hall is described as “easily the center of college life” by the history. Later on, meals were separate for men and women. Athletics were also segregated by gender.
The central force of Gridley hall can be in part attributed to some of the staff, such as the matron of the hall (who started in 1879), Miss Anna Lincoln, who is described as being “a potent social and refining force” (Leonard 1904).One of many examples of the consequences of divided living comes from an article in the Carletonian from the 23rd of November 1921, which notes that for Thanksgiving some “table parties…will accommodate those who voted for ‘co-ed’ eating.” A similar case in regards to academics can be found in a 1924 Carletonian, which makes note of a lively debate on campus about a proposed co-educational debating union (most extracurricular activities were gender segregated, and some female students claimed that the men often received better funding). The women interviewed were generally in favor of it, stating that “it is a means of carrying out the purpose of a co-ed college by teaching the men and women to think together…an opportunity for the girls to show what they can do and then have never had this chance before” (Carletonian). The proposed debating union’s charter reveals a consideration of gender politics, as it required one male and one female secretary. This is important because the vast majority of leadership positions (other than Carletonian editors and the Women’s League leaders) went to men at the time (Greene and Ashmore 1988).
I have no recollection of there being such a cabin during the years I was there. I wonder if you had to belong to the Women’s League (if there was such a thing in the early 70’s) to go there – or even hear about it. We were so preoccupied with anti-war, anti-establishment, co-Ed housing-based equality, etc. that the subtler attractions and delights of a women’s cabin in the woods escaped us. (Mary Panke (nee Welna), class of 1975, Oral Histories page)
 Note that enrollment numbers varied wildly in the first years of the school, as many students attended sporadically. Additionally, some sources conflate enrollment in the preparatory academy that was linked with the College with total College enrollment.
 Certainly, the men did have the advantage of being allowed to travel as part of academic teams.
Architecture of Gender
As Gridley hall was the first building at Carleton built specifically for women, it is an ideal building to observe in order to elucidate the impact its intended gendered purpose had on design choices. Many of the architectural choices made are in-keeping with what would be anticipated for a women’s college building at the time, and make sense in the context of the usage of Gridley not only as a women’s dormitory, but also as the location for meals and many of the women’s extracurricular activities. Architectural plans from 1925 show the expected dining room, kitchens, and storage rooms, but also places for maids, a specific “boy’s waiting room,” and the gymnasium, which was a later addition that allowed women to exercise separately from the men. Also worth noting is the tunnel entrance: later on women could go between the different women’s dorms without going outside and presumably after normal hours for visiting men and academic buildings had ended. The upper levels include a number of reception rooms (which were used as meeting spaces and were also the main location men were allowed in), many of which connect to or a located near the matron’s room, the preceptress’s rooms, or rooms reserved for female professors. Stairways are usually located near the rooms or offices reserved for adults, further suggesting a building designed so that supervisors could regulate social interaction. Many of the rooms other than bedrooms varied in usage over the years. For example, one room on the third floor was for a while an art studio, suggesting that the school encouraged women to participate in traditionally feminine activities. Additionally, by putting the rooms where women’s groups met within Gridley, the college was able to further limit the reasons for women to be outside of the building in the evenings.
In contrast, Burton hall, which was designed as a men’s dormitory, has a completely different structure. Gone are the reception rooms and parlors, and nowhere are there rooms marked for adult supervisors or professors. Instead, the entrances open directly to one main hallway with student rooms and a “social room” at the end. Such a design and set of anticipated uses would have created a space with much more freedom of movement than that established by the set-up of Gridley Hall. Of course, intended use is not always analogous with actual use, but the complaints that women had about restrictions on their movement and social interaction with men appears to confirm what the architecture implies. Burton does have one type of room that Gridley lacks: smoking rooms. This makes sense, as smoking was for periods of time seen as a more masculine habit, to the extent that at one point, female students at Carleton were prohibited from smoking, while male students were not.
The Women’s League Cabin is perhaps a less clear example of the architecture of gender, given that it was a renovated building, not one originally constructed with its use as a retreat for women. However, the architectural plans and the furnishing choices do reveal some information when viewed in the context of gendered architecture and design. For example, an examination of the plans reveals that, for example, the dressing room is much larger than one might anticipate. Overall, the cabin is designed with an emphasis on social spaces (the sleeping area is incredibly crowded, which we anticipated based on the plans and is confirmed by photographs of the interior of the cabin). This emphasis on social interaction is fitting with the intended use of the cabin as a space for women to bond. Further history of the Women’s League Cabin and its use can be found on the Oral and Documentary Histories Page.
The Consequences of Gendering Spaces
In Gendered Spaces, Daphne Spain discusses how “the institution of education was characterized until relatively recently by the spacial segregation of women and men,” which caused women to have a less easy access to resources (Spain 1992, 143). Arguably, such was the case at Carleton, due to the restrictions posed on women leaving their dormitories in the evenings without permission (even to go to the library). Policies like this were common; Spain notes Virginia Woolf’s “outrage” that she was not allowed to enter the library at Oxbridge College unless “accompanied by a fellow or if furnished with a letter of introduction” (Spain 1992, 143). Carleton was never as restrictive as that, and unlike many of the schools described by Spain, women at Carleton had the option of choosing any course of study. However, the reality on the ground was that many women at chose courses of study based on gendered expectations. The rising need for teachers and the status of teaching as a acceptable feminine job meant that for a long time teaching was one of the few jobs Carleton women often took after college (most female graduates in the early years and even through much of the 1900s were occupied in homemaking, teaching, or missionary positions after completing their education at Carleton).
Daphne Spain also notes controversy over the role of colleges in teaching women “domestic work” (1992, 153). While Mt. Holyoke did not, Carleton women themselves (through the Women’s League) made an abortive effort to institute some classes on more domestic tasks. In a May 1950 meeting at Dean Lewis’s house, they decided to “establish a special program in the home-making, personality, appearance line that would more or less fill in what our liberal education sometimes leaves out. By this program, the League hopes to offer to the girls some concrete help in learning about interior decorating, cooking, poise and social etiquette and many other too often neglected…” (Women’s League box, Archives). In doing so, Carleton linked itself to other institutions that chose to offer ‘home-ec’ courses targeted more towards middle-class women, but that also effectively resulted in academic segregation. Oberlin, founded in 1833, began as a co-educational institution, albeit one in which they were expected to contribute by “washing the men’s clothes, caring for their rooms, serving them at table…being prepared for intelligent motherhood and a properly subservient wifehood” (Spain 1992, 156). While women at Carleton appear to have been expected to take care of making their own beds and other domestic tasks, they were not expected to do so for the men (men had maids to do such work instead). On a national level, concerns about co-educational teaching and living were framed mainly based on the idea that “coeducation harms girls by assimilating them to ‘boys’ ways and work'” (Spain 1992, 159). In contrast, the concern at Carleton seems to have been more about women’s ‘purity,’ as it were, being impinged on.
The Archaeology of Gender
The story of gendered archaeology can be seen in bits and pieces from the Women’s League Cabin site. The Object Biographies page includes several entries, such as combs, that are gendered objects. To look at these through the lens of gender is one way to better understand the social context of these finds.
Archaeology of Gender is a way to look at archaeology both as a discipline and in the field and analyze studies through the lens of gender. It started as an “alternative way of reading the archaeological record” (Hamilton et al. 2007) and began by focusing more solely on women, but now has expanded to widely encompass ‘gender’ and how it plays out in all forms.
This way of looking at archaeological study examines the different complex way that gender controls and predicts societal actions. Marie Louise Stig Sørensen explains “gender is… a significant element of society’s organization, and it is used as a basis for further divisions and categories. The implicit argument is that to know and understand society we must understand its gender structures” (Sørensen 2000).
When looking at the spaces women inhabited at Carleton it is important to look at them through the lens of Archaeology of Gender. These spaces show both the many ways expectations affect how gendered spaces are created, and how these gendered spaces end up affecting actions. A space, like Gridley Hall or the Women’s League Cabin may be built in a way based on gendered expectations, but this may not be the way the spaces ended up being used. However, these assumptions still control how gender is acted out in the spaces to a degree; “while space produces and enables both the understanding and performance of gender, its classification, content and meaning are brought into being only as gender is enacted in space” (Sørensen 2000). The gendered spaces cannot be understood simply through the blueprints because the prescribed uses of space do not always show the most accurate picture. The reality of the way that gender is enacted in space only becomes apparent when it is used and therefore when studying them a researcher must try to continually ask questions and evaluate sources.
It is also important in this discipline to make a distinction between gender and sex. As Sarah Milledge Nelson points out, ‘sex’ refers to the biological male or female distinction assigned at birth while ‘gender’ includes a host of social, behavioral norms and assumptions that play into larger societal structures of power and socialization (Nelson 1997). Much of the differences seen in the architecture of the women’s spaces at Carleton are based on gender assumptions as opposed to sex differences. These reveal deeper patterns about the societal expectations for these groups of people and show more about the societal norms at the time than necessarily the actual behavior performed.
Men and women experienced Carleton differently with varying degrees of isolation of experience over the years. The school provided a different experience through different governing, discipline and expectations. The spaces were focused on gender and built with divergent expectations and assumptions of use in mind. This gender divide also played out clearly in groups like the Men’s and Women’s Leagues.
The study of Women’s Leagues or similar establishments in other colleges and universities would be an interesting way to further this research. Our research was extensive and did not even cover half of the material in the Carleton Archives alone and it seems likely other colleges would also have valuable, interesting archival information that is only available at the institution. The Intercollegiate Association of Women Students shows that these groups existed all across the country and it is unclear how similar these groups were and how they all worked in different schools.
This project shows important and intriguing information about the striking way gender affected experience in Carleton, but also as a microcosm of a larger picture of changing ideas about gender and education.
- Carleton Archives
- Women’s League Collection 1917-1969, box
- Blueprints of Gridley Hall and Burton Hall
- “President’s Office Women’s League Cabin” Folder
- Reminiscences of Carleton’s first Dean of Women, Margaret Evans Huntington, 1916
- Carleton Remembered 1909-1968
- The Carletonian (Carleton Digital Archives)
- October 9, 1911
- November 23, 1921
- February 6, 1917
- November 2, 1920
- November 24, 1928
- May 9, 1934
- October 28, 1923
- September 26, 1923
- June 13, 1912
- Nelson, Sarah Milledge. 1997 Gender in Archaeology. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press
- Sørensen, Marie Louise Stig. 2000 Gender Archaeology. Cambridge: Polity Press
- Hamilton, Sue and Ruth D Whitehouse, and Katherine I Wright ed. 2007 Archaeology and Women Ancient and Modern Issues. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press.
- The Carleton Voice
- Review of Alma Mater: Design and Experience in the Women’s Colleges from Their Nineteenth-Century Beginnings to the 1930s by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz (Barbara Sicherman 1987)
- Daphne, Spain. 1992. Gendered Spaces. University of North Carolina Press.
- Leonard, Delavan. 1904. The History of Carleton College, its Origin and Growth, Environment and Builders. Revell Company (New York).
Page created by Julia Miller and Erika Farmer


One may rightfully ask: Why study Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and What makes him relevant in the 21st century worth studying?
The short answer to these questions would be: It is because the certain current issues which have been concerning the world.
Why study Mustafa Kemal Atatürk?
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is one of the greatest leaders of 20th century.
His ideas, actions and revolutionary accomplishments have positively changed the life and the future of the Turkic and Mohammedan people of Balkans, Thracia and Anatolia.
It is the successful implantation of his ideas; collaborative and prompt execution of his plans raised him among the greatest leaders of 21st century.
Mustafa Kemal’s revolutionary ideas, views and accomplishments of the time seem to be still valid and applicable to certain current world issues; therefore Mustafa Kemal and his legacy deserve to be studied to build a healthy and sustainable future in the region and in the world.
What makes him relevant in the 21st century?
Current issues of the world, especially mostly chaotic ones in the Balkans, the Middle East, Caucasia, Central Asia and Indian subcontinent where Mohammedan population is large, remind us to look into Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s life and accomplishments in order to help understanding the root causes of these issues, and possibly help developing solutions for them.
The current issues in the world and the regions mentioned above make Mustafa Kemal Atatürk very relevant in the 21st century.


7 Reasons Why You Should Own a Ebook Reader
Portable Ebook readers are no longer the large, box-shaped devices they used to be. While they used to be portable, they were certainly not great to look at and the number of features was very limited. Well, that has all changed now thanks to devices such as the Amazon Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Cybook and the BeBook.
Portable Ebook readers are now among the top gadgets to have due to the increasing technology and the attractive design that is now commonplace. Here are 7 of the top reasons why you need to own a portable eBook reader.
Reason 1: You can carry a virtual public library of information, facts, and data anywhere you go.
If you need to visit the office, a social gathering or just take something to see a friend, you can have everything you need (and more) right beside you in your bag. Within seconds, you can be browsing through the library of information and showing your colleagues, family or friends.
Reason 2: They are far easier to use than a laptop to read eBooks.
Using a laptop when you’re on the go to read Ebooks is like using a shotgun to kill a fly. It’s overkill. Besides, even some of the smaller laptops are still bigger and heavier than portable Ebook readers. In addition, Ebook readers are easy to use. Most of the buttons are large, self-explanatory, and very intuitive. There are simple options that you have to choose from and the learning curve is very small indeed. It’s very easy to turn a page, move the display up or down on the page and make edits to the documents if you desire. Some of the more advanced portable eBook readers also have touch screens which are even easier to use.
Reason 3: Ease of access to your books.
Unless you have a very sophisticated library system at home, then you know how hard it can be to find the book you are looking for. Well, with portable eBook readers like the Kindle and the BeBook, you simply do a quick search to locate the reading material that you want. It’s so fast and simple to find anything that you have in your library even if you have hundreds of books stored.
Reason 4: Easy to read with text size adjustments.
If you have eyesight troubles, or you don’t like reading small print in books then a portable eBook reader is the perfect solution for you. You can adjust the font size to whatever you feel comfortable with. Even better, it only takes a couple of clicks to do this. Try doing that with a traditional book!
Reason 5: Personalize your reading experience.
You can make personalized settings for all the eBooks that you read. This means that everything is set up for you the next time you read your books. The text size will be to your liking and you should never lose your place with convenient bookmarking and even highlighting capabilities.
Reason 6: They are incredibly light.
The most popular portable Ebook readers, such as the BeBook and the BeBook Mini, only weigh around 200 grams. They are very comfortable to hold for long periods of time. You won’t feel tired holding a large book anymore. And more importantly, no more lugging all those books with you when you go on vacation. With these devices, you can have over 2000 books in the palm of your hand!
Reason 7: Vanity
Portable eBook readers simply look cool and are great attention-getters. The next time you’re at the airport, whip out your BeBook I guarantee you’ll turn heads and spark up conversations with those sitting around you. These devices are becoming more and more popular but they’re still unique enough that you’ll stand out of the crowd :)
Everything these days is technology-driven. Everything is impacted by technology. The eReader is no different. It is a hand held electronic device used to display ebooks. It is the shorthand for the ebook reader. Usually, such devices are optimized to reduce eye strain. This is done by using special displays and/or modes which replicate reading a real book or newspaper. There are several advantages of using eReaders. A search for eReader review on the Web will confirm the same.
One of the major advantages of the eReader is its cost. The cheap book cost is truly advantageous. Moreover, the reader can have a number of books at his disposal anywhere he goes. What's more, the reader can change the font size as well. Some of the popular eReaders available in the market include Sony PRS, Kindle 2, BeBook, etc. After comparing the different ereaders on this this, you will better understand the strengths and advantages of eReaders. It is a well known fact that technology has revolutionized our lives. Thanks to eReaders with e-ink technology- traditional readers have a better option. Incidentally, Kindle was the first eReader to dominate sales. Other brands that have surfaced recently include BeBook, Irex Digital Reader and Bookeen Cybook opus. eReading is definitely catching up. Some of these readers are not yet available in Australia, but when they do, we will make to have them here first.
eReading decision is a positive decision. It is likely to benefit you. You will not have to strain your eyes and you can read as long as you want to. Reading content on an electronic book reader is advantageous. This is why eReader in schools is highly recommended. It is bound to improve the number of children reading books. Children don't really have a penchant for reading. They get bored easily. A great way to revive their interest is by using eReaders in schools. They are handy digital devices capable of storing several hundreds of ebooks which can be read at your convenience. They are well equipped with several useful features that can make reading a pleasurable experience. You don't have to flip pages and neither do you need to lug around bulky books. All you need to do is click the right buttons to scroll through the book!
Leading eReaders have compact dimensions and are lightweight. As a matter of fact, a single eReader can take the place of several hundred books. Such books are very helpful and useful while traveling. You can access unlimited books of your choice at all times. They are equipped with a number of great features that can make reading books a thrilling experience. Changing the font size is a boon to those who are visually impaired. Senior citizens can really benefit from eReaders. You can easily convert an eBook into eReader format. If you are considering iPad comparison with the eReader, the eReader is highly recommended. The iPad is good at what it does but the eReader is far more beneficial and advantageous. What the Ipad lacks is ironic... when reading a book you probably want to get away from it all.. or do you want multi-functionality in the form of "new mail alerts" facebook notifications, on the other hand if you are after reading magazines, newspapers and are interested in covering a lot of material, you might want to have a look at the Ipad!
The newest generation Ebook readers, like the BeBook, are based on electronic paper, or epaper, on which the text and pictures are displayed by electronic ink - eInk. This page explains this technology.
There are different kinds of electronic paper. In the current technology the paper is made of a thin layer (coating) of conductive synthetic material. The coating contains millions of capsules filled with oil, with floating black and white pigment parts in it. These pigment parts react to an electrical load.
Under the tension, the capsules turn black or white, just like ink dots on paper. By varying the tension, grey color can be made.
An important characteristic of ePaper is that the consition of the capsules does not change as long as there is no difference in tension. To put it differently: the text or the image will remain on the electronic paper, even when the Ebook reader is switched off. On some Ebook readers, people can read thousands of pages on one battery load.
A second important characteristic is that there is no need for background lighting to look at the picture. Just like with normal paper, it is necessary to use an external lighting source to be able to read. This results in a less effort to read from an Ebook reader, than for example a PC monitor. Plus, since the ereader is based on reflection of daylight just like paper, the e-reader screen is perfectly readable in sun light.
Electronic paper was developed in the seventies by Xerox, in the nineties the principle of electrically loaded balls turning under influence of tension and therefore showing either a black or white side, was improved by Joseph Jacobson. He developed micro capsules, filled with electronically loaded white parts that were dissolved in a dark colored oil. In 1997 Jacobson funded the company E Ink to develop the invention commercially. It was further developed into bulbs containing black and white parts in a transparent oil.
Parallel to the development of electronic ink, the first Ebook readers appeared. The first were based on the ‘traditional' lcd technology and were therefore not appropriate to read for a long time. Plus, the readers experienced strong competition from the pda (colored screens).
In april 2004, Sony announced the first commercial available electronic paper device. This is currently succeeded by the Sony Reader.
The Netherlands followed in 2006 with the launch of iLiad, from iRex, a spin-off of the famous company Philips.
Electronic paper is the way out for people who read a lot off their screen. But there are also big expectations on the field of replacing printed (news)paper, (school)books and manuals. Advantages of the Ebook reader are, besides a handy, light size, the large storage capacity and the fast and easy adaptation of the content. Additional advantage is that some models have the option to make notes that can be transformed into printed text.
The most recent development is Vizplex, eInk displays that are equipped with this technology have an even greater contrast and the pages can be switched faster. Vizplex is also suitable for larger screens. The first A4 Ebook reader will probably be introduced soon.
Another promising development of electronic paper is the flexible e-paper. Philips spin-off Polymer Vision presented in 2007 a first commercial utilization of flexible electronic paper in the form of the Readius, a smartphone with foldable screen. This makes it possible to equip a small device with a relatively large screen. The launch of Readius is medio 2008.
The Readius will have gsm technology, just like the Kindle of Amazon. This makes it possible to download wireless through networks of mobile operators. Then you can read the latest news or purchase Ebooks on any wanted time, without intervention of a pc.
ePaper versus ePaper
The indication ‘ePaper' is used in English to indicate the digital edition of a newspaper. This is essentially a different concept than the technical interpretation of the word ‘ePaper'. On this site, ePaper is used in the technical interpretation.
The same goes for the word ‘eBook'. To prevent confusion, the word eBook is used for an information unity or a digital document.
The hardware on which one can read eBooks is called eBook reader or e-reader.
Why the Demand for eBooks and eBook Readers Will Continue to Skyrocket
Over the years there have been countless gadgets that have come and gone. Some like the iPod, have stood the test of time, and have improved our quality of life and the way we do things. Many of the benefits and features that eBooks and eBook readers provide can help us to understand why the use of these efficient and helpful devices will eventually skyrocket.
Below, you will find some of the benefits and features that eBooks and readers currently provide, and some that are in the works, but all of them culminate to answer the question of why eBooks and digital readers will stand the test of time.
Portability and Ease of Use
Ebook readers make it possible for anyone to take a small library of books with them everywhere they go. Most readers are small enough to fit into your pocket, purse, or backpack, and weigh only a small amount.
Reading devices are also easy to use in most cases, with simple on/off switches, they don’t require long boot up times. Most of the screens are high resolution, which makes reading on the go easy on the eyes, and the readers don’t have a lot of fancy options and buttons, which make them simple enough for even children to operate.
Bookmarking is a handy feature that most eBook readers already provide. You can earmark a certain page or chapter, and quickly jump to the spot in any of the books that are saved on the reader. A built in easy to access type of dictionary would make it simple for you to look up words or terms that you may not be familiar with while reading.
Storage is a breeze with the current flash drives that can be plugged directly into eBook readers, which allow consumers to store even hundreds of eBooks at a time for quick reference. It sure does beat an entire room full of dusty novels.
Instant wireless connection will be a must if eBook readers are to continue to take off. Reading devices need to be able to instantly communicate and receive new books quickly.The addition of useful pictures and videos to reading devices of the future will help to improve the readers’ experience, and will surpass the limitations of print books.
The relatively low cost of a monthly reading device service means that you will save hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year by not having to purchase expensive print books. EBooks can be distributed worldwide, which means more sales and a wider distribution of content. This makes it possible for people from any country to learn on an even playing field.
Successful reading devices will be compatible with any book format, and will not place limitations on where a consumer can purchase their eBooks. Reading devices and electronic books will also have built in digital management of rights, and property protection that will protect the authors’ works from plagiarism and piracy.
With all of the benefits that eBooks and reading devices currently offer, and the features yet to come, it is easy to see why the use of these tools is so wide spread and continues to grow on a daily basis. Pretty soon electronic reading devices will become common place in homes across the globe, just like MP3 players and cell phones.


Five Birth Stories – Hospital and Home Births
Mary shares the stories of her three planned homebirths (two in water); one crazy-fast, planned hospital birth; and one unplanned hospital birth that resulted in a natural footling breech birth. She also has experienced a natural miscarriage at home.
Mary Haseltine Bio
Mary is a mother to five on earth and one in eternity. She works as a certified birth and bereavement doula, birth educator, and as a writer at Better Than Eden. There, she shares about birth, her faith, mothering, homeschooling, miscarriage, raising boys, and more. She is also a featured writer at Elizabeth Ministry International. A theology graduate, she has a passion for helping women experience their God-given “feminine genius” through birth, motherhood, and in the very design of their body. She believes that treating babies and women with the utmost dignity and respect at every moment during pregnancy and birth is necessary for building strong families and a culture of life and love. You can find her writing at Better Than Eden or connect on Facebook and Instagram.
Evidence Based Birth
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn by Penny Simkin
Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor’s Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices by Sarah Buckley
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by Diane Wiessinger and Diana West
The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer
The Theology of the Body by Pope John Paul II
On the Dignity and Vocation of Women by Pope John Paul II
Earth Mama Angel Baby
At the end of this episode I spoke to a Andrea about her favorite products from Earth Mama Angel Baby, today’s sponsor.
Postpartum Herb Baths
Subchorionic Hemorrhage, Long Labor, Failed Epidurals
Amy shares her experiences dealing with her fair share of complications in pregnancy and birth. She has had 3 births within a hospital setting and has dealt with a subchorionic hemorrhage (vaginal bleeding for six weeks) during pregnancy, miscarriages, epidurals that haven’t worked, NICU stays and so much more. She also talks about how intuitive birthing helped her cope with the pain of labor and childbirth during each of her three births.
Amy Pence-Brown Bio
Amy Pence-Brown is a fat feminist mother who believes in opening her mouth and her heart. From both of these places she tells a powerful story of vulnerability, courage, and body positivity and the importance of taking a stand for something you believe in. As a body image activist, Pence-Brown became famous in 2015 for her radical stand for self-love in a black bikini and a blindfold in Boise, Idaho, which was documented in a blog post, photographs, and a video viewed 200 million times. Her message about the value of all bodies, no matter their size, has been covered by numerous media outlets, including CNN, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, People, TODAY, Huffington Post, Upworthy, HLN, WGN Morning News Chicago, SHAPE, the Dr. Oz show, MSN and NPR. She is also an artist and writer and advocate for both death positivity and historic structures, as a architectural historian and researcher with Preservation Idaho. For more information on Amy’s activism, writing, art and press links, visit her website.
Listen to me chat with Viviana about BabyList at the end of today’s episode and check out my sample registry of some of my favorite items for pregnancy and postpartum!
Hospital and Birth Center Stories
This episode features Denver mama, Alaina, who struggled to get pregnant and had two miscarriages before using Clomid for her 3rd pregnancy, and gave birth in a hospital setting. She found out she was pregnant again without any outside assistance just a year later and gave birth at a birth center, having an unexpected waterbirth.
Alaina Isbouts Bio
Alaina and her husband Philip met while living abroad in Prague, and quickly bonded over their mutual love of travel and shared view of the world around them. Though they got engaged very quickly, they enjoyed their time together traveling before they bought a house, settled down, and decided to try for a family. It unexpectedly took them a year and a half before they got pregnant with their first, a natural miscarriage at home. Eight months later, in a new home and new city, they found out they were once again pregnant. Once again, the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Alaina and Philip went through fertility testing and were finally able to have a healthy pregnancy with the help of Clomid. Her first birth was a 20-hour natural birth in a hospital.
Shortly after celebrating their baby’s first birthday, Alaina found out she was unexpectedly pregnant, though she was still nursing and not taking any fertility medications. This time they decided to go with a birth center, and ended up with a beautiful and unplanned waterbirth. She currently calls Denver home, along with her husband of eight years and their two boys, Julian (3) and Finley (11 months). Alaina is a freelance editor and writer, and you can find her online at alainaisbouts.com. She is on Instagram and Twitter @alainaisbouts.
Alaina recommends reading Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth and taking a birth preparation class.
Listen to me chat with Whitney about BabyList at the end of today’s episode and check out my sample registry of some of my favorite items for pregnancy and postpartum!
*photos by Monet Nicole Birthing Stories. Monet has also shared her birth stories on The Birth Hour.
A Story of Loss and A Rainbow Baby Birth
Today’s birth story is with Jenna who also happens to be my best friend. First, she shares the story of her son Greyson’s birth; Greyson was stillborn at almost 34 weeks gestation due to unknown causes. I was with Jenna when the doctor told us there was no heartbeat and walked with her in her grief for the days, weeks and months after his birth.
Her pregnancy with Greyson’s little brother, Gavin, was so exciting but also very stressful for Jenna as she was always concerned about losing another baby. The day she and her husband, Adam, met their rainbow baby was a day they will never forget.
Greyson on the left and Jenna meeting Gavin through the clear drape during her cesarean on the right.
Jenna Edwards Bio
Jenna Edwards is the mother of two boys, Greyson Lewis, who was stillborn in September 2014, and Gavin Lee, who is 7 months old. She and her husband live in Austin, TX and are learning each day how to parent one child in heaven while having one in their arms.
Healing Hearts Comfort Kit
Grieving Parents—Surviving Loss as a Couple
Pregnancy After Loss Facebook Group
CarlyMarie Project Heal
Landon’s Legacy Retreat for Mothers Who’ve Lost a Baby + Amelia’s Birth Story
A Story of Loss and Strength
Jessica shares the story of her miscarriage at home, and her experience coming to terms with that unexpected loss of a child. She also shares her subsequent pregnancy and birth stories including the anxiety that often accompanies a pregnancy after loss, as well as the indescribable joy that came with welcoming her rainbow baby.
Dr. Jessica Zucker Bio
Jessica Zucker, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist based in Los Angeles. She specializes in women’s reproductive and maternal mental health. Dr. Zucker is the creator of the #IHadAMiscarriage campaign, and a line of pregnancy loss cards. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, BuzzFeed, anthologies, and elsewhere. Jessica has been featured on Good Morning America, CNN, and NPR. Connect with Jessica on her website where she sells cards to send to women who have suffered a loss as well as her new rainbow mama and babe tees. Instagram: @ihadamiscarriage.
Rainbow Mama and Babe Tees
photo by Vaughn Danny
“Rainbow babies” are babies born after loss. Approximately 1 in 4 pregnancies result in loss and therefore there are lots of rainbow babies out there. I recently found out that I myself am a rainbow baby—my mom had a miscarriage between my older brother’s birth and me.
With the rainbow tees, Dr. Jessica Zucker aims to break the silence and shatter taboos around this very poignant and ubiquitous experience, honor our losses, and connect women who have experienced loss.
Buy a Rainbow Tee
These tees work against the shame and guilt that often surround loss and instead show a sense of pride for our histories/journeys and allow women to say “I had a miscarriage/pregnancy loss(es) and I stand with and support all the other women who have been there or are currently going through this.” All proceeds from the sale of these tees are being generously donated to The Birth Hour as we work together to destigmatize pregnancy and infant loss.
I Had a Miscarriage from Jaki Covington on Vimeo. Video by Jaki Covington
Amelia Barnes’ Pregnancy and Birth Stories
Today’s guest is Amelia Barnes. Amelia is going to share the stories of her two children’s births. Her son Landon was born in July of 2014 and lived for just four days. I don’t want to tell much of her story for her because she tells it so beautifully but I do want to say how thankful I am for this mama. She began sharing Landon’s story on Instagram during his pregnancy and continued after he was born and was so unbelievably honest and raw about all of her experiences and emotions that she quickly found herself surrounded by a virtual support system of women who had also experienced a loss.
Amelia’s story is especially close to my heart because it helped me navigate the unbelievably hard journey of supporting my best friend through the loss of her son around the same time. Amelia shared her most private thoughts of grief, jealousy, anger and healing in ways that not every mother who’s experienced a loss is able to express but most are feeling. It was so helpful to me to read her posts and know some of the things my friend was struggling with and be able to offer support in the right ways. She’s since created a retreat in Canada for women who’ve experienced the loss of a child to attend called Landon’s Legacy. Amelia gave birth to her daughter Lily very recently and will also be sharing the story of her pregnancy and birth which ended up bringing some answers as to what may have caused Landon’s death. Both stories are beautiful and emotional and so worth the listen.
Amelia Barnes’ Bio
Amelia is a mother, yoga teacher, retreat facilitator, and writer from Winnipeg, Canada. She is also the creator of PranaVidaStyle.com , a unique line of inspired and custom-designed yoga apparel made in Canada.
Landon’s Birth Story
Amelia’s life took an unexpected turn in July 2014, when her first-born baby Landon passed away at just 4 days old, due to brain damage sustained when his hearth suddenly stopped beating during his birth. Her and her husband were given no answers as to what happened, no reason as to why their perfectly healthy baby boy died. Thrown into an intensity of pain beyond what she’d ever imagined possible, she started sharing her feelings and experiences on social media to help her heal and create something beautiful of Landon’s short life. Within less than a year, her community of Instagram followers @ameliakyoga grew from 10,000 to over 100,000.
Lily’s Pregnancy and Birth Story
In November 2015, at 37 weeks pregnant with her daughter Lily, Amelia discovered that she had Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy (ICP) and that this had most likely been what cause Landon’s death. This was an terrifying and stressful time, but ultimately lead to a very beautiful healing c-section birth of a healthy, adorable baby girl (read Lily’s birth story here).
Her journey of loss, grief and healing is compiled in her book Landon’s Legacy, soon to be available in Spring/Summer 2016. She is also a guide at the online yoga and healing community www.oneOeight.tv and hosts Landon’s Legacy Retreat, an annual holistic healing yoga retreat for bereaved moms. You can make donations to help mothers attend Landon’s Legacy Retreat and support them in their grief by going here. My best friend attended the 2015 retreat and it was such a healing experience for her.


Purchase the link to watch at home, or in the classroom for:
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
Book and Lyrics by Douglas Jones Music by Ron Barnett
This stirring drama with music is a classic tribute to the great American who freed herself and hundreds of others from the bonds of slavery. Her courage helped to change the world. Share her adventurous life with your students in this accurate and deeply moving musical history lesson.
In addition to the video of the performance you will receive Ancillary Materials for this video. They include the Q&A with the cast using questions most often asked for that particular show, some “Get the wiggles out” videos, and the Teaching Guide. Links to the performance and Ancillary Materials will be in the confirmation email.