Stories about Mary

Got a story about Mary to share? If it doesn't fit in one of the other areas, put it in here.

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[Julia Mickenberg]

Someone put me in touch with Mary back in 1997 when I was starting research for my dissertation, which would eventually become the book manuscript that Oxford University Press will publish this fall (Learning from the Left: Children's Literature, the Cold War, and Radical Politics in the United States). I had read about Mary Elting and Franklin Folsom, but somehow assumed that because she was born in 1906 she must no longer be alive, or if alive, not really in a position to talk to me . How wrong I was.

When I called her I felt an immediate connection to her, and although I was a graduate student with barely enough money to pay my rent, she convinced me to come to Boulder, telling me: "I think I knew every left-wing writer of children's books!" She was not far from the truth...over the years she became, I would say, my principal human source for information...but also for inspiration. But the story I want to tell is of my first encounter with her.

I arrived in the morning (she had invited me to stay with her, but I decided to spend the first night elsewhere so that I wouldn't arrive too late...now that I think about it I'm quite struck by the fact that she would invite a perfect stranger to stay with her, but at the time it seemed natural). In any case, I arrived in the morning with a box of Godiva chocolates, and she insisted that we dig into them then and there, which struck me then as absolutely wonderful (I am the sort to never eat chocolate in the morning, which made the sinful pleasure of it that much more delightful). I spent three or four days there, and remember feeling guilty that I was having so much fun: I was supposed to be working (and I was, of course--Mary even took me to the archives at the University of Colorado, and showed me her own private collections, which I hungrily read through...but even that didn't feel like work). We went to the movies almost every night, and Mary made me fabulous dinners. As we drank glasses of wine in the evening Mary would say "it's so nice to have someone to drink wine with." And it was. We took walks with the shopping cart she had "borrowed" from the local supermarket to use as a walker. She was more than fifty years my senior but I felt as though we were the same age.

Over the years that I knew her I learned so much from Mary--I learned, of course, a great deal about children's books, writers, publishers, and the politics of these things. And I also learned about political commitment, the impact of the Depression on a generation, or several generations (I believe its impact is still felt). I learned about the balance between hope and disillusionment, about integrity, and about friendship across generations (I will say that I had one other visit with her, when my husband and I, and our two cats. were driving from California to Texas and Mary again graciously hosted us, cats included, while my car was being repaired...)

I've probably gone on too long, and I know there were many people who knew her far better than me, but Mary's impact upon me as a scholar and as a human being was quite profound, and I am so sorry to learn of her death. I had, perhaps naively, assumed she would stick around long enough to read my book, which draws so much upon her wisdom.

[mary]

Dear Julia,

What a lovely memory of your friend. I shall have to read 'learning from the left'. John and I enjoyed meeting your charming family at the Eugene Emeralds baseball game. Best of luck with your research at UO.

Sincerely ~ Mary

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