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Title details for Eliza Scidmore by Diana P. Parsell - Wait list

Eliza Scidmore

The Trailblazing Journalist Behind Washington's Cherry Trees

by Diana P. Parsell
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'A wonderful connecting of two women writers' stories more than a century apart.' Julia Kuehn, The University of Hong Kong The first-ever biography of the pioneering female journalist who fought to bring Japanese cherry trees to Washington, DC Every age has strong, independent women who defy the gender conventions of their era to follow their hearts and minds. Eliza Scidmore was one such maverick. Born on the American frontier just before the Civil War, she rose from modest beginnings to become a journalist who roamed far and wide writing about distant places for readers back home. By her mid-20s she had visited more places than most people would see in a lifetime. By the end of the nineteenth century, her travels were so legendary she was introduced at a meeting in London as "Miss Scidmore, of everywhere." In what has become her best-known legacy, Scidmore carried home from Japan a big idea that helped shape the face of modern Washington: she urged the city's park officials to plant Japanese cherry trees on a reclaimed mud bank-today's Potomac Park. Though they rebuffed her suggestion several times, she finally got her way nearly three decades later thanks to the support of First Lady Helen Taft. Scidmore was a "Forrest Gump" of her day who bore witness to many important events and rubbed elbows with famous people, from John Muir and Alexander Graham Bell to U.S presidents and Japanese leaders. She helped popularize Alaska tourism during the birth of the cruise industry, and educated readers about Japan and other places in the Far East at a time of expanding U.S. interests across the Pacific. At the early National Geographic, she made a lasting mark as the first woman to serve on its board and to publish photographs in the magazine. Around the same time, she also played an activist role in the burgeoning U.S. conservation movement. Her published work includes books on Alaska, Japan, Java, China, and India; a novel based on the Russo-Japanese War; and about 800 articles in U.S. newspapers and magazines. Deeply researched and briskly written, this first-ever biography of Scidmore draws heavily on her own writings to follow major events of a half-century as seen through the eyes of a remarkable woman who was far ahead of her time.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 14, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780192889997

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780192889997
      • File size: 8417 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      February 1, 2023

      Journalist Parsell's debut is the first biography about pioneering woman journalist and writer Eliza Scidmore, whose vision of Japanese cherry trees along the banks of the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, became her lasting legacy. Born in 1856, Eliza moved as a child to the nation's capital during the Civil War. She got her first big breaks in journalism covering the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia (under the pen name "Ruhamah") and later as a popular society columnist in Washington. Voyages to Alaska and lengthy stays in Japan made her an esteemed travel writer (who befriended naturalist John Muir) and an expert in both regions. Yet, for all her fame and accomplishments--the author of seven books; National Geographic magazine's first official woman writer, photographer, and board member; her determination to bring cherry trees to Washington, DC, despite repeated rejection; and Mount Ruhamah and Scidmore Glacier and Bay are named for her--she is relatively unknown today, due in part to the burning of her personal papers by a relative shortly after her death. VERDICT Parsell's readable, well-researched biography will bring Scidmore back into the limelight, appealing to readers with an interest in geography, journalism, conservation, and women's studies.--Denise Miller

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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