The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.3, page xxii, in Introduction, U. of Illinois Press

The page presentation framework of the Booker T. Washington papers is designed to provide researchers worldwide with searchable access to the thousands of pages comprising the fourteen volumes, most of which are out of print. Adapted from the National Academy Press's Open Book framework, this framework allows searching down to the page level, provides sorting of search results chronologically, enables easy navigation across multiple volumes, and allows page-by-page local printing (via PDF) of every page.

[ Top of Page ]

[ Home ]

[ Contact Us ]

[ Help ]

OCRed data provided for searching only.
The BOOKER T. WASHINGTON Papers of the hour, emerged from the wings to bid for a place as the leader of his race. Continuing an editorial policy established in Volume c, the editors include much incoming correspondence. In the earlier volume this was necessary primarily to compensate for gaps in the documentary record and to give greater dimension to Washington's life and times. In this volume, however, the main reason for including incoming letters is to reveal the rich social history they contain. Incoming letters from members of Washington's family, including his sweetheart and third wife Margaret James Murray Washington, his daughter Portia Marshall Washington, his sister-in-law Mary A. Elliott, and others, provide additional insight into Washington's personal life. Letters from former Tuskegee students to their mentor also add depth to the papers. Letters of northern philanthropists and foundation agents, who supported Washington and his school regularly for years, often illustrate important friendships with Washington. Many of the donors to Tuskegee were women, often descendants of abolitionist families. Their role in reform movements and philanthropy deserves not to be overshadowed by that of the industrial millionaires such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, important though they also were. The editors will not hereafter cite sources of quotations or literary allusions in Washington's speeches, except where their importance warrants mention. Many of the quoted passages appear in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Errors in annotation or attribution will be corrected in the next mention after discovery. Any textual errors will be cited in an Errata section in the introduction of the subsequent volume. Documents that involve conduct or allegations of a scandalous nature are included only if they substantially contribute to understanding Washington and his milieu. These references range from idle gossip to criminal conduct. Inclusion of a document does not mean a judgment of the validity of the statements it contains. Although the editors believe that the omission of names would be a disservice to history, in some cases they have avoided full identification of the persons involved, on the ground that the event itself and Washington's response to it are more important than the persons. A number of documents cited in Volumes ~ and 3 from the Tuskegee Institute Archives were photocopied by our staff in 1968 and 1969. Subsequently the originals in Containers ~ through fig were inadvertently destroyed by fire. In this and future volumes wherever reference ·— XX11