Acknowledgments

When people ask me how long I have worked on this project, I need only mention that my research notes are on 3x5 file cards, not computer disks. The history of this project is a long one, and an important element of that history is the valued contributions I am pleased to acknowledge here. First, I wish to thank William Harbaugh for his willingness to assume the direction of this project in its earlier form as dissertation. I relied on his firm guidance, forbearance, supreme professionalism, and good humor then, and subsequent experience has ripened my appreciation of his skillful mentoring. I wish to thank others who heroically read all or part of one of the much lengthier versions of this manuscript. The friendly criticism of Charles McCurdy, Cindy Aron, David A. Martin, Sara Piccini, Wayne Terwilliger, Dottie Broaddus, Emily Cutrer, and Phil Merkel inspired several improvements in the substance and organization of this book.

The generous assistance of the research consultants and reference staffs at the various libraries and archives I visited was invaluable. Peggy Holly of Alderman Library at the University of Virginia and John Spencer, Elizabeth Smith, and Dennis Isbell of Fletcher Library at Arizona State University West all cheerfully accepted my seemingly endless requests for interlibrary loan materials, even when it meant searching for the obscure. And Walter Newsome, Government Documents' librarian at Alderman, generously provided long-distance assistance. The archivists at the Judicial and Fiscal Records Branch of the National Archives offered their expertise in plotting the course of my investiga-

tions. The staffs of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, California State Archives, and Bentley Library at the University of Michigan ensured the success of brief research trips that placed high demands on my use of time. I also wish to thank Rabbi Moshe Kolodny at the Agudath Israel Archives for allowing me to look at the papers of Bella Roiter-Nyclich. I particularly wish to express my gratitude to the Schlesinger Library for its contribution to this project and for staff members who made my weeks there one of the highlights of my travels. I am also very grateful to Arizona State University and my department for a grant and travel funds to support the final stage of my research.

Special thanks to my editor at the University of California Press, Monica McCormick, for her interest in this project, her professionalism, and her willingness to expedite the publication process at a critical stage. I also wish to thank Rose Anne White and Pamela Fischer for their editorial support and patient consideration of my inquiries and concerns. The assistance of Laurie Goldberg, Michael I. Smith, and Kathy Franklin freed me from certain of the more tedious aspects of research and manuscript preparation. Their diligence, meticulousness, and amiability regardless of the task made working with them a pleasure.

Several friends and colleagues also assisted with the completion of this project in ways that they might not fully realize or that I cannot express adequately here, but their encouragement and enthusiasm are deeply appreciated. Thanks to Manny Avalos, Sara Gutierres, Cindy Kierner, Richard Hamm, Ellen Litwicki, and Rich Fiesta, who have always been ready to congratulate, commiserate, cajole, and advise.

My family always afforded a respite from academic life that reenergized me. My parents, who have provided examples of unwavering faith and compassion, have always attached to my endeavors a measure of confidence and optimism that I sometimes have not equaled. Those readers who share with me the blessings of sisters know that those siblings who as teenagers managed to distinguish themselves as your most candid critics often stand as adults among your most enthusiastic supporters. And so, Melody and Tami, in overdue recognition of your displays of sisterly devotion, I declare that I will hereafter refrain from any further accusing references to the mysterious disappearance of certain Girl Scout cookies twenty-odd years ago.

And, finally, I dedicate this book to the memory of Irene Watson,

who offered me the opportunity to discover the unanticipated richness of a friendship that links generations.

I am grateful to the editor of Cañon for permission to use in revised form portions of "Defining the Woman Citizen: Marriage as a Measure of Feminine Patriotism," Cañon I (Spring 1994): 29–39, copyright 1994, American Studies Program, Arizona State University West; and to Harvard University Press for permission to reprint the quotation from Judith Shklar, American Citizenship , copyright 1991 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.