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Archive 1

The Boston link could do with updating to point to the appropriate Boston article, but I'm not sure which it is. --John 23:29, 11 May 2005 (UTC)

Bibliography and dates

I've cleaned up the bibliography - put it in chronological order, bracketed the dates, separated those she published under another name - I double checked everything on the web and yes before I'd realised it, I'd changed some of the dates. As far as I can find from my research, for some books there is no definitive date as it seems to skip between years depending on which reference source you use. So by all means change them back but I'm not sure what the point is. I also removed the direct links to the text of the books as these are covered in the external links section - where most of the books can be found online.

I've also added a general clean up tag to highlight the page to other editors Madmedea 20:05, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Hey i think this article is really factual about Louisa May Alcott's life. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.189.252.203 (talk) 23:14, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Should this page be protected?

There is so much vandalism on this page. Can it be protected so that only registered editors can edit it? — scribblingwoman 15:57, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

I just requested semi-protection. Maybe we'll have a break from the silliness! — scribblingwoman 19:37, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Really needs work

Louisa May Alcott was (and is) a major American novelist and deserves better than this article. Thanks are certainly due to the people who did some cleanup on the facutal side, but a far more comprehensive biography and critical assessment of her work are needed. Grammar, syntax, and style need a complete overhaul. Alcott was a consummate writer whose command of the language puts this article to shame. No film version has ever done justice to Alcott's work; let's see if we can do better in print.

Litlady 22:42, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Louisa-may-alcott-200x292.jpg

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Nationality: New England...?

Why does it say that New England is one of her nationalities? I don't recall New England ever being a nation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.78.10.47 (talk) 20:20, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Dangerous for little minds?

The article says: 'and were later referred to as "dangerous for little minds" in Alcott's own novel Little Women'

I have found no such a reference in the book (searching in the electronic text by "dangerous" or "minds").May be the sentence comes from another book?--Bradomín 12:58, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

This topic is the centerpiece of chapter 34. I replaced the misquote. Jtdunlop (talk) 17:56, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

mercury poisoning

Alcott wrote through the rest of her life, finally succumbing to the aftereffects of mercury poisoning contracted during her Civil War service

This could benefit from some explanation -- what was she doing during the war to contract mercury poisoning? Something to do with the treatment of syphilis perhaps? Flapdragon 7 July 2005 16:23 (UTC)

Alcott actually contracted Typhoid fever while serving as a nurse in the civil war. She had continuing ill health for the rest of her life. Jgood898 17:00, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
This needs a citation. The article is sadly lacking in detail - and some of it may not be at all accurate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Levalley (talk • contribs) 05:31, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Clean up!

This page needs to be cleaned up-- I don't have time now, but I'll check later if need be. Diimmortales 22:18, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

You're a lot like me - 2 or more years will go by before you find the time. I don't know what your time constraints are, but someone should assign some graduate student somewhere to rewrite this - surely there are still people studying literature who need a go at practicing their craft in writing an encyclopedia article? If not, Wikipedia is doomed. You and I can't edit everything ourselves, Diimortales. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Levalley (talk • contribs) 05:32, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Critical discussion still needed

At least a few quotes from critics -- there is not much hint of the nature of her works or appeal here.Geneven (talk) 22:39, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Lupus

The Wikipedia article on lupus says Alcott had the disease - it should be mentioned here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.97.18.101 (talk) 20:28, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Then the wikipedia article on lupus might need correcting. Alcott was never diagnosed with lupus during her lifetime. Doctors today speculate that she might have had the disease, but short of exhuming her body in order to do tests that would confirm that diagnosis, all they can do is make an educated guess based on her symptoms. So if a mention of lupus is included in this article, it should state it's a speculative diagnosis and not a confirmed one. LoneStarWriter82 (talk) 20:31, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
If it's wrong or unconfirmed it shouldn't be in either article. There is however no one who will notice and change it, is my bet. I hope to be proved wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Levalley (talk • contribs) 05:37, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
There's an article in a medical journal arguing that Alcott's health symptoms aren't consistent with acute mercury poisoning, and that lupus is the most likely suspect. True, doctor's will never know for sure, but I'd trust modern medicine's analysis over 19th century speculation. More recent biographies of Alcott have adopted lupus as her likely cause of death. I've updated the article to reflect this.--Bkwillwm (talk) 23:40, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Alright, I'll bite ...

How in the merry hell does someone dead for a century and a quarter have an "official website?" "Official" according to whom? louisamayalcott.org might serve in the external links section, but not otherwise.  RGTraynor  07:34, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

List of sources I plan on using to improve this article

Katierenee88 (talk) 21:40, 5 March 2012 (UTC)katierenee88

Be sure that you do not use primary sources, such as letters and diaries when writing this article. Wadewitz (talk) 18:56, 7 March 2012 (UTC)

Outline of possible edits to this page for my class assignment.

I. Intro

A. In the introductory paragraph before it talks about the work Louisa May Alcott is known for, I want to put some information. I would also like to add a few other things towards the end.

1. Where she grew up.

2. If she went on to do anything else

3. When and where she passed away.

II. “Childhood and Early Work” section

A. I would edit things, like her father’s birthday she is born on, and maybe even the quote from him to a friend about his daughter’s birth. It’s a nice touch, but seems out of place. Even so, the quote should come after the location of her birth.

B. I would edit and change around things to put them more eloquently, maybe putting paragraph changes in.

C. There is also some copyediting to be done.

D. I would add more about her and her father’s relationship, which seemed to be close, but not healthy.

E. I would condense the places they moved into one paragraph, not multiple

F. I would add information about her sisters and how they ended up, seeing as they were integral to her most famous story.

G. I would move the short paragraph “as an adult” to the next section because it doesn’t fit.

III. “Literary Success and Later Life” section

A. I would talk a bit more about how hard/not hard it was for her to be published.

B. Where it talks of her advocacy of women’s suffrage, this is where I would move the paragraph from the previous section about her abolitionism and feminism.

IV. I am debating on adding a new section called “Legacy”

A. Reasons being:

1. Her books are very famous and studied in schools and beloved by many.

2. I want to see how they have impacted us today slightly, for I have found articles on such things.

B. I would also discuss here how her work was received then and now.

V. I am also debating on adding a section called “Adaptions”

A. Little Women had been made into 3 movies over the years (1933, 1949, and 1994) along with multiple TV series (one called “Good Wives)

B. Jo’s Boys has also been a TV series.

The sources I will officially be using (as of now) are:

  • Louisa May Alcott: A Personal Biography by Susan Cheever
  • Alternative Alcott By Louisa May Alcott by Elaine Showalter
  • Louisa May Alcott: The Contemporary Reviews by Beverly Lyon Clark
  • Louisa May Alcott: Success and the sorrow of self‐denial by Eugenia Kaledin
  • The Louisa May Alcott Encyclopedia by Gregory Eiselein, Anne K. Phillips

If any other sources occur to me, I will add them to this list. Katierenee88

This is an excellent list of changes! I like your idea of an "Adaptations" section - many readers will come to the article looking for that information. I look forward to reading your improvements! Wadewitz (talk) 18:06, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
Feedback I agree that you're on the right track here and I think it is definitely wise to sort out purely biographical data from other parts of this article--that is, it's a good idea to have some chronological description of her life (where she was born, schools she attended, when and how she died) and then also have a separate discussion of her legacy and themes in her work. I would like to initially caution you that sections about adaptations are completely fine (and a good idea!), but you want to be careful about creating a long list of every single adaptation of her work, as there are likely to be many. There are guidelines about trivial information and simply put, it makes for a better article to focus on biographical content and literary themes than long lists of adaptations made after the fact. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 03:46, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Peer Review

You have a really solid start to your page. There is a lot of depth in this article and about Alcotts life. At first glance at the article I think that the two sections there are could be made into their own. I like your idea about the more eloquent look that paragraph breaks would give the article. There is a lot of good information so I think you should be hesitant at what you delete and decide to keep for use. Great start and should be a great article Dmbfan85 (talk) 20:45, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

I agree with User:Dmbfan85 that paragraph breaks would improve the visual of the article and the readability of it. I was looking for more in the lead though. I'm not exactly sure what I would add, but I felt like I wanted more. The second list of resources looks like a good start. I definetly feel like there needs to be more sections or at least a better breakdown of the sections already in place. Crazykaystar (talk) 21:52, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
These are good suggestions! Nice work so far! Wadewitz (talk) 13:58, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Comments by User:Ssilvers

Hi. I took a look at the article, made some copy edits and fixed some of the reference formatting. I indicated some places that need a reference. I also moved all of the 1850s and 1860s information together chronologically and eliminated some repetition. Finally, I left a few hidden comments for you in the text. To see them, hit the edit tab, and you will see them in CAPS. After you address the hidden comments, just delete them. Here are a few random thoughts:

  • Punctuation always goes *before* the <ref> tag.
  • In discussing the content of novels and other works, we usually use present tense. For example: The novel *is* set in New England. However, in discussing the history of the work, we use past tense: The novel *was* well-received.
  • You don’t need to describe someone as "noted", because everyone who is blue-linked should be a famous person. If you want to explain in what way they are noted, you can give the specifics: "She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004 for her novel X".
  • The WP:LEAD section should be an overview of the article, containing a brief summary of the highlights. The first sentence or two of the Lead usually state what the person is most famous for. You don't need to repeat, in the Lead, most of the details that are given below, but rather select the most important facts. I took a crack at it, but as the article expands, the Lead will need to be adjusted. I usually recommend that people worry about the Lead later, towards the end of their editing process, after they have expanded the article.

In general, the writing is good, and it looks like you are really picking up Wikipedia. Make sure that every reference or cite includes all of the following information, to the extent that it is available: author name (last name first), title of the article, the name of the publication, the name of the publisher, the date of publication (or just the year if it's a book), the url or page number, and the access date if it is an online source. See WP:CITE. Feel free to ask me on my talk page if you have questions about any of this. Happy editing! -- Ssilvers (talk) 02:22, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

By the way, I notice that an anonymous editor recently removed this information from the article without any explanation. I do not feel strongly either way about it. If someone feels that the information really should be in the article, feel free to re-insert it, giving an explanation on this page as to why you think the info is useful (and referencing the talk page in your edit summary). Then, if anyone minds, they can discuss it here. -- Ssilvers (talk) 23:23, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

Categorization

Alcott is in Category:19th-century American novelists. There is no reason to put her in any parents of that category when she is in that caegory.John Pack Lambert (talk) 16:49, 8 May 2013 (UTC)


WeRelate

A record for this person has been created in the WeRelate genealogical website. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 01:12, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

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Married?

was she ever married — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.130.193.254 (talk) 19:52, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

No. She had at least one serious sutor, but she dedicated her life to the support of her aging father. She very possibly might have married if she'd lived after his death. Saxophobia (talk) 13:04, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
Ok, I need to source this, but there was an interview of hers in which she answers why she was never married- she says she has never fallen in love with any men, but has had fallen in love with a great many girls. So, I think that just about says it./ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Clodya (talk • contribs) 05:28, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
RE: << I think that just about says it. >> Mmmm-hmmmm. Deal with it, world.Codenamemary (talk) 17:31, 4 August 2011 (UTC)
Nope, you don't understand the period, or what expressions of that type meant. Reading through her letters should help explain, and why she never married the man who was her great love. Now if you want to talk about people like Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, who knows? 12.201.7.201 (talk) 23:04, 16 September 2017 (UTC)

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Why the move?

@AprilShowersBringMayFlowers: - why move the article? --John (User:Jwy/talk) 15:04, 13 March 2018 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

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Alcott's death

At the end of the introduction, I added "citation needed" for the cause of her death. The American Transcendentalism Web, which doesn't let me paste its URL here, states that she died from the long-term effects of mercury poisoning. Of course, she could have died from a stroke brought about by mercury poisoning. I don't know what she died from. Perhaps someone with a reliable biography can edit this and cite a source. I also changed "passed" to "died." We say "passed" in order to be gentle to the bereaved. On Wikipedia, I think that we should be straightforward and not use euphemisms. Maurice Magnus (talk) 02:13, 9 January 2023 (UTC)

'stroke' has a citation in the body of the article - and in most articles the lead need not have citations as it is a summary of the content. That doesn't mean a discussion of the validity of the citation might not be in order - but not as an objection of the lead (which might be changed after the article changes with any clarifications from this discussion). I'm completely with you on the euphemism aspect and left what you had in that respect. --John (User:Jwy/talk) 06:14, 9 January 2023 (UTC)

Broken link, and I do not know how to fix it.

The link is in the Selected Works tab under "in popular culture", it is to the 2005 musical adaptation, which does have a wikipedia page at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Women_(musical) the link is broken and I do not know how to fix it. 2603:9009:BF0:A750:5569:8877:7611:DECC (talk) 05:47, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Alcott's gender

This historian found evidence that Louis Alcott was actually a trans man: https://twitter.com/peytonology/status/1516612189687324673 . Therefore, the article should be updated to talk about this - as well as including Alcott's actual name and pronouns. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.0.35.8 (talk) 01:45, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

That person is not a historian but a novelist, and Twitter is not a reliable source. Schazjmd (talk) 14:59, 22 April 2022 (UTC)
I concur this is a pretty significant bit of research from Peyton. While Twitter isn't a reliable source, he does hint at sources which I'm sure he expands upon more explicitly elsewhere. ZoeB (talk) 16:44, 22 April 2022 (UTC)
Yes. I think these sources should be investigated, with Alcott's page amended if his sources are reliable. I'd do it but it's late where I am and I need to sleep. 92.0.35.8 (talk) 21:42, 22 April 2022 (UTC)
(As in, I'd investigate the sources myself were it not late here) 92.0.35.8 (talk) 21:43, 22 April 2022 (UTC)
She was not trans. It is misogynistic as hell to act like gender non conforming women were men. She was not like James Barry or Billy Tipton who actually lived as men, she lived as a woman. 47.147.26.14 (talk) 00:36, 23 April 2022 (UTC)
The tweeter said that Alcott called herself a man and was referred to as such by her family - which is different from being gender-non-conforming. 92.0.35.8 (talk) 01:55, 23 April 2022 (UTC)
Maybe it had to do with the extremely misogynistic times she was living in. Also how do we even know to trust that person. All /i know is that I am tired of hearing that these trailblazing women were really men. 47.147.26.14 (talk) 15:01, 23 April 2022 (UTC)
Also, I was looking into bios on Alcott and every single one refers to her as a woman. If this wiki is updated with calling her a man, I will completely lose respect for wikipedia. It is completely ahistorical to label her a mann. Sure, if they are like Alan Hart or James Barry gender them as men. But even if Alcott had gender dysphoria--which you can't prove, she lived her life as a woman. 47.147.26.14 (talk) 15:11, 23 April 2022 (UTC)
If these speculations are ever published in a reliable source, at best it would be a mention in the article. Unless it becomes widely accepted scholarship, it would not change how Wikipedia refers to her in the article. Schazjmd (talk) 15:27, 23 April 2022 (UTC)
I would like to say that even though we now know the Peyton was lying, your two previous comments above this are transphobic and deeply upset me (as a trans woman). I'm not upset at you, but saying that "even if Alcott had gender dysphoria, she lived her life as a woman" is transphobic. As your statement boils down to 'even if they were trans, they lived in the closet all their life and therefore their actual gender shouldn't be acknowledged' (Alcott wasn't trans, but this goes for any figure). And it was transphobic to say "which you can't prove" - because you said this before we had finished discussing whether she was or wasn't trans - rather than considering the historical evidence knowing that either could be true. Additionally, you said "if they are like Alan Hart or James Barry" - but if they hadn't come out of the closet when they were alive, it wouldn't be fair for you to have a different attitude if historians retroactively found evidence of them being trans. I am not trying to start a flame war. I only want to tell you my feelings on this, and hope u will take on board my criticism in the future :) 92.0.35.8 (talk) 00:51, 25 April 2022 (UTC)
Everyone sit down. Peyton's a liar.
Peyton's a liar, a damned liar, and a long-held liar at that. This isn't the first bullshit he's made up and it won't be the last. See here.
For anyone who's gonna jump in with "it's transphobic to not assume someone could be trans back then" – I am trans, and we have examples of trans people from back then. Alcott isn't one of them.
The statement that "lou alcott simply did not live his life as a woman" simply isn't true. We have examples of people we could probably call trans from centuries ago, such as James Barry, but Lou Alcott, whatever her relationship with gender was, really doesn't fall into this category. We can acknowledge that Alcott had, for the time, an unusual relationship with her gender and sexuality, but the leap that Alcott was a trans man is just that. A leap.
For anyone to call Peyton a historian is ridiculous; he isn't. The fact no-one on this thread has thought "hey, I wonder what Peyton beachdeath's track record is on reliability" depresses me. Peyton's thread is WP:SYNTHESIS on steroids, and it's nonsense to add this synthesis to the article, as it steamrollers over the existing truth of Alcott's relationship with gender and sexuality.
Peyton's being doing this shit for years, and this is the latest in a long string of bullshit.--Ineffablebookkeeper (talk) ({{ping}} me!) 20:17, 24 April 2022 (UTC)
I think you might be able to get your point across with less vitriol.--Bbb23 (talk) 20:24, 24 April 2022 (UTC)
@Bbb23: I'm sorry; I'm tired and stressed, and I don't like seeing stuff like this pop up, cus more often than not, it sticks around for years, with various editors turning up just to add it in over and over again, despite editor warnings. It's like looking into a future filled with tedious edit-warring over stuff that isn't even true.--Ineffablebookkeeper (talk) ({{ping}} me!) 22:04, 24 April 2022 (UTC)
...So any thoughts on this now that Peyton's published an extensively fact-checked guest essay in the New York Times in which the sitting president of the Louisa May Alcott Society agrees that Alcott "never fit a binary sex-gender model?" Or does Tumblr user marzipanandminutiae hold more weight here? 174.91.176.3 (talk) 19:21, 3 April 2023 (UTC)
Why do you think an opinion essay is "extensively fact-checked"? Schazjmd (talk) 19:31, 3 April 2023 (UTC)
Because the New York Times extensively fact-checks guest essays. This isn't the Huffington Post. Peyton Thomas cites and interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning Alcott scholars in the piece. So, again: why are we deferring to an anonymous Tumblr blog and the above editor who clearly has a years-old grudge against the author of the piece? 174.91.176.3 (talk) 13:31, 4 April 2023 (UTC)
"Why are we deferring to an anonymous tumblr blog." Peyton is a twitterist and tumblr person, not a historian. He took the quotes from LMA & real scholars (including the LMA society) totally out of context. The NY fact-checkers do not do particular in-depth scanning of purported facts. These same fact checkers let through horrible opinions on trans people. I highly suggest you pick up scholarship on LMA instead of parroting a racist rich white boy chasing clout. Kleopatra I Syra (talk) 08:32, 7 August 2023 (UTC)
Also to note - a Pultizer Prize does not make a writer correct. Stacy Schiff won a Pulitzer Award for a book on Vera and she is widely condemned by essentially every scholar of every topic she writes on. John Matteson, the writer cited (who Peyton also misquoted) is well-known for being a fairly nasty person and dismissive of primary source material (including Louisa's papers where she says she wanted to marry) when it does not fit his narrative, especially when being an apologist for Louisa's selfish and mentally abusive father.
Dismissing an "anonymous tumblr blog" because they do not have Peyton's wealth and connections is pretty petty and...super elitist.
I highly suggest keeping your chronically online beef to yourself. Wikipedia is for scholarly consensus, not for public grifting. Kleopatra I Syra (talk) 07:30, 8 August 2023 (UTC)
Sorry, again, the president of the Louisa May Alcott Society AND her Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer concurring in the New York Times that Alcott "did not fit a binary sex-gender model," in a fact-checked article supported by extensive archival evidence, is far closer to "scholarly consensus" than your bizarre Tumblr grudge or your opinions about Matteson's "nastiness." It's not elitist; it's a fact! Eyes off the pot, kettle!
Plus, "Peyton's wealth?" "Rich white boy?" [citation needed] 174.92.48.180 (talk) 02:52, 25 August 2023 (UTC)
Oh, and the NYT article didn't take quotes from "real scholars" out of context - Peyton conducted original interviews for the piece. Maybe read the piece before you complain about it? 174.92.48.180 (talk) 02:55, 25 August 2023 (UTC)
I actually think you are full of it and have no interest in real research or the truth here. I am a trained historian. Matteson is known for making xenophobic and fatphobic comments. You and I both know what Peyton is known for. I highly suggest you look at what Matteson and the other scholars, including the president of the LMA Society actually clarified in other articles. None of Peyton Beachdeath's archival resesearch was original or scholarly. It is time for you to grow up. Kleopatra I Syra (talk) 22:39, 28 August 2023 (UTC)
For future editors, here are receipts on Peyton being an abuser, violent racist, and liar. https://www.tumblr.com/1892/189991136363/another-beachdeath-callout?source=share Kleopatra I Syra (talk) 22:47, 28 August 2023 (UTC)
A Tumblr callout is not a scholarly source. 174.92.48.180 (talk) 21:35, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
To even point out one omission from the article, Peyton purposely misquotes/misuses this quote from LMA.
The actual quote: "I have often thought that I may have been a horse before I was Louisa Alcott. As a long-limbed child, I had all a horse's delight in racing through the fields and tossing my head to sniff the morning air. Now, I am more than half-persuaded that I am a man’s soul put by some freak of nature into a woman’s body … because I have fallen in love with so many pretty girls and never once the least bit with any man."
(For context, this is from an interview with her friend and fellow writer Louise Chandler Moulton for a larger biographical work entitled "Our Famous Women: An Authorized Record of the Lives and Deeds of Distinguished American Women of Our Times." A free copy is available to read here on Harvard Library's website.)
In the first half of the quote, Alcott sets up the type of metaphor she uses in the second, which is why it's so important contextually when you want to interpret the second half. Now, in the first half, it's obvious that Alcott is not saying that she literally identifies as a horse. Rather, that in girlhood, she partook in activities that were attributed to horses ("racing through the fields" and "tossing my head to sniff the morning air"). In the second half, she uses the same device. She's not saying that she identifies as a man, she's saying that she partakes in activities attributed to men ("fall[ing] in love with...pretty girls")."
https://www.reddit.com/r/SapphoAndHerFriend/comments/wo84gw/louisa_may_alcott_author_of_pretty_women_could/
I agree that she did not live in the "binary" (I myself am non-binary, they/them, lesbian) and LMA often refers to herself as a woman in her letters and diaries which are omitted by Peyton, who is attempting to force LMA into the sexual binary. As pointed out by Gregory Eiselein in the very NYT article, LMA's relation with gender was very in line with transcendentalist thinking. In her letters and diaries, LMA dismissively and sarcastically refers to men as “lords of creation.”!
Additionally, I find it bizarre and lesbophobic of Peyton to dismiss LMA's own words about her possible attraction to women. According to Eiselein, the LMA Society president, in one of his scholarly papers (Sentimental Discourse and the Bisexual Erotics of Work), LMA demonstrated her BISEXUALITY in "Work". Peyton seems to imply LMA was a heterosexual woman or gay trans man. Because women and women being attracted to women is gross, right?
From Niina, the host of the Little Women Podcast and a historian, makes this interesting observation:
"I think it was in the biography “Louisa May Alcott the writer behind Little Women” by Harriet Reisen, Reisen wrote that Alcott, often wanted to lead the interviews away from the topics she was asked about, for example if she was asked why she wasn’t married or why she didn’t have a family. She would joke around and sometimes say unflattering things about herself. Susan Bailey has also pointed out the same thing about Louisa. She seemed to have been quite embarrased sometimes by the fact that she wasn’t married and even sad about it, but she was too proud to talk about that in interviews.
Of course when we read Louisa’s diaries, we know that she did fall in love at least twice perhaps three times, my guessings are Henry David Thoreau and Laddie Wisniewski, and of course Emmerson. One of my friends pointed this out to me, if you read any Alcott book and you spot Henry David Thoreau there, you know that it wasn’t such a mere crush.
There is also the quote in her journals, that Louisa wrote after Niles had asked her to write a book for girls and she wrote that, she doesn’t know any girls and doesn’t like girls, she liked only boys and and her sisters. So it’s pretty much in contradiction :D
When people asked her about her relationship with Laddie, she always praised him, but in her letters between her sister, they are often quite critical about him. So what it comes to “ interviews” of LMA, in the back of my head I always wonder if she is telling the truth. Being bi myself, I think she might have been bi and confused about it, but people shouldn’t take her always so literally, without knowing the context."
Littllewomenpodcast.tumblr.com/post/725347225347178496/what-are-your-thoughts-on-this-louisa-quote-from
It is also likely that Bhaer is based on Henry David Thoreau, the man that LMA loved. LMA wrote in her diaries and letters of her desire to marry and have children. https://littlewomenpodcast.tumblr.com/post/675885956783603712/what-do-you-make-of-the-of-repeated-quote-than-lam
A few other notes: "A. "Lou" was her family nickname, not a Preferred Gender-Neutral Name(TM) the way we might think of it today, and it was a common diminunative of Louisa.
B. She also referred to herself as a woman and exclusively used she/her pronouns, so I will be respecting her right to self-determination just as I would a living person's.
C. According to one of my friends who is an Alcott scholar, her niece and nephews did not refer to her as their father or Papa. She compared herself to a father figure in the sense of financially supporting them, in a few letters, but they called her Aunt (her niece Lulu specifically called her "Aunt Wee," from her own earliest fumbling attempts to pronounce "Louisa").
[LMA also refers to herself as "grandma" in her letters and diaries.]
Would she be a trans man given today's range of more socially accepted options? Maybe. I'm not discounting the possibility and I think the fact that some of her experiences resonate so strongly with trans men should be acknowledged. But in her own context- at a time when some AFAB people did transition, like Charley Parkhurst or Albert Cashier -she ultimately understood herself as a woman. Something I think we should respect instead of acting like she was too stupid or ignorant to interpret her own experience of gender."
Finally, the quote from Matteson is from his book and is taken out of context by Peyton in the NYT article.
Now, here is a bibliography of everything I have read, and I suggest you pick it up yourself (and anyone interested in contributing to this article or learning more on Alcott):
Primary Sources:
The Journals Of Louisa May Alcott By Louisa May Alcott, Joel Myerson
The Selected Letters by Madeleine B. Stern, Louisa May Alcott, Daniel Shealy, Joel Myerson
Little Women Abroad: The Alcott Sisters' Letters from Europe, 1870-1871 by May Alcott Nieriker, Louisa May Alcott, Daniel Shealy
Alcott in Her Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of Her LIfe, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates by Daniel Shealy
Lis Adams' new and wonderful Little Women Letters to Laurie: The Alcott Family Correspondence with Alfred Whitman, 1858 - 1891
Secondary Sources:
Little Women: An Annotated Edition by Louisa May Alcott, as annotated by Daniel Shealy
Louisa May Alcott: Critical Insights by Gregory Eiselein and Anne K. Phillips
Louisa May Alcott by Harriet Reisen
The Louisa May Alcott Encyclopedia By Gregory Eiselein and Anne K. Phillips
American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Workb By Susan Cheever
May Alcott a Memoir by Caroline Ticknor
Little Women at 150 by Daniel Shealy
Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by Anne Boyd Rioux
Little Women: Critical Insights by Anne K. Phillips, Gregory Eiselein

Christine Doyle

Louisa May Alcott and Charlotte Bronte: Transatlantic TranslationsLouisa May Alcott and Charlotte Bronte: Transatlantic Translations
Scholarly Articles (Commentary Courtesy of Niina):
"Christine Doyle’s “German literature and culture in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women” is a must-read for every Jo and Friedrich fan on the planet, and one of those essays that very thoroughly explained that Friedrich was definitely not an afterthought. It goes very much in depth to LMA’s germanophilia and her obsession with German literature. Doyle manages to trace both Laurie’s and Friedrich’s character arcs from these stories. It is also a wonderful read for those who wish to understand Laurie’s character better and his origins.
The Alcott’s through thirty years, Letter to Alf Whitman by Elizabeth Bancroft, This essay includes letters between Louisa and one of the real-life Laurie’s Alf Whitman. It also gives a nice glimpse into the lives of the Alcott sisters, and how they pretty much adopted this young boy into their lives (Alf was quite a lot younger than Louisa, but his and May’s age difference was only two years). Great read esp. for pro-Laurie and Amy fans.
“Louisa May Alcott’s New American religion” by Gregory Eiselein. This is a very interesting read about Louisa’s religious views and how her worldview was affected by Christianity through transcendentalism and her fascination for Buddhism and other religions in the east.
The cosmopolitan project by Louisa May Alcott by Laura Dassow Walls. This is another awesome read for Jo and Fritz fans. It goes in-depth into the transnational project of the transcendentalists and their views about “the brotherhood between all nations” and Walls describes how Alcott creates this cosmopolitan atmosphere in her novels, within the mixed-race and mix-cultural marriages, which appear very often in her books.
Wedding Marches By Daniel Shealy. This was one of the first Alcott studies that I ever read and later found out that Shealy is one of the world’s top Alcott scholars. He also made several studies on how Louisa and her publisher Thomas Niles created the “Louisa May Alcott the spinster writer” brand, and how this brand became a burden for Louisa. He has a very realistic take on the marriages of Little Women, it includes very interesting parts from Louisa’s writings that handle her (surprisingly pretty conservative) views related to marriage and love. This was also one of the things that led me to believe @joandfriedrich theory on Louisa (and Jo) being demisexual.
Jo Marries Goethe By Meghan Armknecht. If you have listened to my Goethe episodes this is the main source for that. Armknecht shows how Friedrich and Goethe are very much alike and how Louisa May Alcott, indeed married Jo to her favourite writer..and I love it."
https://littlewomenpodcast.tumblr.com/post/706822727867187200/do-you-have-any-suggestions-for-some-of-the-best
Also:
Sentimental Discourse and the Bisexual Erotics of Work by Gregory Eiselein
The Newness of Little Women by Gregory Eiselein and Anna K. Phillips (and this whole series for the Women's Studies Journal)
“Who are your heroes? Thomas Carlyle and Louisa May Alcott" by Clayton Carlyle Tarr
“Fun Forever”?Toys, Games, and Play in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women by Anne K. Phillips
Biography of Louisa May Alcott: Delineating Fiction from Memoir in Little Women by Anne K. Phillips
Women's Control of Passion: Louisa May Alcott's Revision of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre and Societal Restrictions of Passion in the Ninteenth-Century By Erica Eileen Cicero-erkkila
Once you have read ALL of this, please come back here to talk. Kleopatra I Syra (talk) 00:27, 29 August 2023 (UTC)[reply] Kleopatra I Syra (talk) 00:28, 29 August 2023 (UTC)
Now to get back to the point of wiki - not as a place of petty squabling but improving the articles, I will soon be adding many of these SCHOLARLY sources in the further reading section! Kleopatra I Syra (talk) 02:57, 29 August 2023 (UTC)
Gregory Eiselein, the scholar you cite here, says in his interview with Peyton in the New York Times piece that Alcott "did not fit a binary sex-gender model." 174.92.48.180 (talk) 21:36, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
did you not read anything I wrote? Including about Gregory, including his quote in the NYT article, who is a wonderful scholar and who I specifically wrote that I agree with, particularly his analysis of transcendentalism and gender (which he has written of in his scholarship)?
If you want to keep this asinine back and forth going in which you clearly have disregardrd everything I proved, I suggest you take it to my page so we can find a way to communicate outside wiki. This page is specifically for addressing the wiki editing process.
Also as far as Peyton's recorded behavior, well of course it is not scholarly lol You don't need "scholarly" analysis for his own racism and his abusiveness of his ex. (Nor is his is NYT Opinion article scholarly at all, as I clearly demonstrated). I specifcally gave you tonnes of scholarly material that I have read, have advised you to, and you have chosen to ignore. You clearly are not here to help wiki in any sort of way. You actually just simply seem to not care about LMA at all, which is really quite pathetic.

Kleopatra I Syra (talk) 22:32, 30 August 2023 (UTC)

From the NYT's website:
Fact-checking: Before we publish your article, it must be fact-checked. If an essay is accepted for publication, the guest writer will be asked to submit an annotated copy of the essay, listing the relevant sources for each factual assertion.
  • We focus our checking on verifiable facts. For example, the number of Americans without health insurance, the median household income or the date a law was enacted.
  • We also investigate broader factual assertions (“No one named to the court in the postwar period was as conservative as Justice Scalia or as liberal as Justice Brennan,” “Laos is one of the world’s most corrupt nations”) that may need to be qualified, explained or stated with greater precision or nuance.
  • We look at the factual evidence cited to verify that the methodology is sound and that the data is presented with precision and balance.
  • We prefer primary sources (an N.I.H. research paper) to secondary ones (a news article about the paper’s findings).
  • If we determine that a particular fact cannot be verified, we will not publish it.
174.91.176.3 (talk) 13:34, 4 April 2023 (UTC)
That's a helpful link, thank you. Schazjmd (talk) 15:38, 4 April 2023 (UTC)
These same fact checkers let through horrible opinions on trans people.(For example, transphobic, highly biased opinion piece article which has been now been cited in anti-trans legal briefs.
It's important for us all to keep this in mind. SalomeofJudea (Maria) (talk) 23:13, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
@Ineffablebookkeeper: Er, how do you know that James Barry isn't also trans? HighwayTyper (talk) 23:56, 24 April 2022 (UTC)
@HighwayTyper: no, I meant Barry likely was trans. Not much cisgender about asking someone to bury you in your clothes and never examine your body.--Ineffablebookkeeper (talk) ({{ping}} me!) 09:50, 25 April 2022 (UTC)
HighwayTyper, your "gender neutral" edit was unnecessary. Alcott's gender is not in question simply because somebody posted on Twitter. Schazjmd (talk) 00:14, 25 April 2022 (UTC)
My bad. My impression was that this kind of edit would fall within the range of minor-ness. HighwayTyper (talk) 00:17, 25 April 2022 (UTC)
@HighwayTyper: we do neutralise mentions of gender in some articles, like Public Universal Friend, but that's only after an agreement to avoid all use of pronouns. No point neutralising anything if there's no evidence for it being necessary.--Ineffablebookkeeper (talk) ({{ping}} me!) 09:52, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

Revisions

Hello, there. I am a student employed and paid hourly by the BYU library to edit Wikipedia. The library has a Louisa May Alcott collection that my co-worker Adri-at-BYU and I will draw upon as we contribute to this article. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 20:54, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

I should have mentioned this earlier, but revisions to the article include making the citation style more consistent. When we first started, some of the citations were in sfn and others were basic. We are styling all the citations in sfn to not only create consistency among the citations but to also make it easier for viewers and other editors to tell where the information came from (page numbers, for example). Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 23:08, 24 June 2024 (UTC)
I've just fixed a couple of sfn no-target errors – you might like to double-check my work. Also, if you don't have this script yet, please consider installing it – it highlights any problems with sfns in a very clear and helpful manner. Thanks for your work on the article. Wham2001 (talk) 09:29, 29 June 2024 (UTC)
Ah, thank you! I did have it wrong, silly me. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:16, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

Civil War Volunteer work

I know that L.M.A. Volunteered in the civil war, but this article states nothing about what she did! (I was looking for that for an assignment.) Could someone please find out and pop in a section, possibly titled "War Times" or similar.

Much Appreciated,
Vikedal 15:41, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

I believe that her work "Hospitality Sketches from the Civil War" published in 1863 would be useful to this section. I will reread and see if I can get some information in. Dawn742 (talk) 17:21, 10 July 2024 (UTC)
@ Dawn742 I've added some information to this section in the past couple weeks (it's in "Hospital Sketches"). If you find anything else to add to this section, it would be great if you could add it! Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 21:38, 10 July 2024 (UTC)

Comments

Hi Heidi Pusey BYU, I've been watching your work here and am thrilled to see the progress. It's an article that's been on my watchlist since forever with the intention of someday getting to it with a rewrite. But I never had access to good sources and more than a decade slipped by as the article never received the attention it deserves. So congrats on a job well done. I'm posting a few comments in the subsections below, about issues that I noticed when I started reading through. Victoria (tk) 23:15, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Names

It's really awkward when writing about a family and using surnames. My suggestion would be to follow the advice laid out in the essay Wikipedia:Writing about women, specifically the second paragraph in the "Use surnames" section which says First names are sometimes needed for clarity. For example, when writing about a family with the same surname, after the initial introductions they can all be referred to by first names. A first name might also be used when a surname is long and double-barreled, and its repetition would be awkward to read and write. When a decision is made to use first names for editorial reasons, use them for both women and men.

In this case I'd introduce each family member with full name (first name, last name), i.e Bronson Alcott, Abigail Alcott and Louisa May Alcott, and thereafter use first names, i.e, Bronson, Abigail and Louisa. Furthermore, it's probably better to refer to the mother with the more formal "Abigail" rather than the informal "Abba". Victoria (tk) 23:15, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Thank you so much for looking at this and giving feedback! I have also felt that the surnames were a bit awkward, so I'm glad to know that using first names is allowed. Good point about the mother, as well. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:16, 26 July 2024 (UTC)
In this case, yes, I'd say it's much less awkward to use first names. And if it's challenged, there's this thread to point to. And I'll be watching the article. So, no worries. Victoria (tk) 22:59, 26 July 2024 (UTC)
Hi, I'm Heidi's supervisor at the BYU Library, and I am not sure if referring to Alcott by her first name in the article adheres to MOS:SAMESURNAME ("When referring to the person who is the subject of the article, use just the surname unless the reference is part of a list of family members or if use of the surname alone will be confusing"). To me, it makes sense to refer to Alcott as Louisa in sections that discuss her other family members a lot (like the Early Life section and "Life in Dedham" sub-section). However, I think sections and paragraphs that don't mention her other family members as much, like "Literary success" should refer to her as "Alcott." What do you think Victoria? Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 18:56, 29 July 2024 (UTC)
A solution has been put forth for situations such as these by a a now deceased editor in the essay Wikipedia:Writing about women, which in my view, applies here. However, I'm simply an unpaid volunteer, and I'm not interested in conflict. So, let's let it go, as well as my other suggestions. Will cease to muddy the waters and unwatch the page. Best, Victoria (tk) 19:34, 29 July 2024 (UTC)
It wasn't my intention to silence you, Victoria. I'm asking you as someone who is invested in this page how you think we should proceed. I've been giving Heidi editorial advice behind the scenes, and you identified some issues that we should address (which I missed). I love SV's essay about writing about women and I recommend it to all my students. I think that using the first name for Louisa can be very helpful in distinguishing her from her other family members. Rachel Helps (BYU) (talk) 19:56, 29 July 2024 (UTC)
Yes! We value your feedback very much, Victoria. I apologize if I haven't made that come across very well. (To be frank, I'm excited that you're excited about Louisa May Alcott.) If you're still interested in collaborating on this, I'd love to continue. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 20:36, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

Works

Instead of focusing much on the works, use this page to bulk up everything we know about Louisa May Alcott and then use the individual works pages to spin out info about each book. If there's isn't an article, redlink it and either start it yourself, or hope someone might come along and start it. My sense is that this page is getting quite long, and might do better if some info is spun off elsewhere. See for instance how I structured Jane Austen. All that's lacking in that main bio page is finishing the themes and style section, which I've not quite finished but have sandboxed. Also while digging around, note how many subarticles there are. That's all for now. Please don't hesitate to ask questions if you have any. Victoria (tk) 23:15, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Okay, here's a proposal. I could remove the sections on Moods and Work. I could also remove most of the second paragraph of Hospital Sketches and rename it to something like Civil war service. The context of Little Women and Little Men is pivotal to Alcott's life and I want to leave it in, so would you recommend I shorten those sections by removing the plots and the critical success? I don't think I have much else to add to the article at this point. Once again, thank you Victoria! Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:26, 26 July 2024 (UTC)
In order that the research is not lost, I could transfer the information I found about her works to their main articles. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:40, 26 July 2024 (UTC)
Okay, newish idea because I like the way you structured Jane Austen. I noticed that the "Published author" section largely focused on her novels in general. Perhaps that would be a good way to handle Louisa May Alcott's literary success. What I mean is that perhaps instead of dedicating so much space and several little sections to her works, we could consolidate it, remove the plots, and make it more general. For example: Instead of naming the individual times she was surprised when a book sold well, it could be more general, such as "Louisa May Alcott was surprised when her first few novels sold well." Of course the phrasing would be more polished, but hopefully you get the idea. What do you think? Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 18:31, 26 July 2024 (UTC)
Yep, consolidate, remove the plots, adhere to summary style, and spin out whatever can be spun out. I've not dug into it yet, so give me a few days to see what there is for subarticles and what can be created. For examples take a look also at the structure of Ernest Hemingway and Ezra Pound and even H.D. Sadly our literature editors have mostly left the project but examples of literature biographies at featured article level can be found on the user pages of User:Yllosubmarine, User:Moni3 and User:Wadewitz. Wadewitz wrote most of Jane Austen then I took over but have let it languish. Anyway, you might find some inspiration in those articles. Once I get a chance to look through what you have here, I'll post again. Victoria (tk) 23:07, 26 July 2024 (UTC)
Sounds good! Also, I've started on Work: A Story of Experience in hopes of expanding it (and I'll move some of the info from this article to that one). I happen to know that Adri-at-BYU is interested in creating a page for the novel Moods, likely starting on it in the near future. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:18, 29 July 2024 (UTC)

Continuing work

Hello all! I've just gotten back from a trip and am planning to see what I can do about citation errors (if I can figure that out) and replacing some things with the Matteson source. To everyone participating, thanks for all your work! Adri-at-BYU (talk) 20:27, 5 August 2024 (UTC)

Sources

I've been performing some research on some of the sources used in the article, including ones that I added. Here I will include my findings. Louisa May Alcott: A Modern Biography by Martha Saxton appears to be a questionable biography. Saxton's fellow Alcott scholars (such as Ruth K. MacDonald and Geraldine Brooks) have pointed out that Saxton goes too far in her psychoanalysis of Alcott and sets her up as a victim of her father. The biography is not neutral and I am considering removing it as a source. A Hunger for Home by Sarah Elbert is mostly biographical but also discusses Alcott's major works. Ruth K. MacDonald has called it one of the best biographies about Alcott. Kate Beaird Meyers from the University of Tulsa has explained that the 1987 edition, which is the one used for this article, is better than the 1984 edition. Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs is a biography written for children. It won the Newbery Medal.

For those who wish to verify my findings, I include the links:

SAXTON: https://www.jstor.org/stable/364624 and https://muse.jhu.edu/article/246027 —Ruth K. MacDonald, Alcott biographer

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/may/06/featuresreviews.guardianreview6 -Geraldine Brooks, author of March

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3177865 -Karen Halttunen, professor of history and American studies at University of southern California; look at page 245

ELBERT: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/248352 —Ruth K. MacDonald

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25679037 —Kate Beaird Meyers, works at University of Tulsa

https://kb.osu.edu/bitstreams/14eafe49-d126-5028-abb5-284208b5fcb8/download —Maria Goodchild, English professor at Ohio State University Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 19:17, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

Hi Heidi, as it happens I was just looking at Saxton based on a comment on Rachel's page. So a couple of replies:
  1. any source that's more than 50 years old probably should be eliminated.
  2. any source that appears to be a blog, random webpage, or somesuch should be eliminated.
  3. there are citation errors that need resolving. Please read User:Trappist the monk/HarvErrors regarding errors. There's a script that easy to install, as described in the "Installation" section. Otherwise others will have to fix the errors.
  4. the links above should be added to the citations.
  5. books need identifiers such as ISBN numbers. (Not required, but makes finding them easier).
I took a look at the first sentence of the first occurrence of Saxton (first sentence, second para, in the "Birth and early childhood" section. The sentence says: Louisa kept a journal at as early as six-years-old. Bronson and Abigail often read it and left short messages for her on her pillow, encouraging her to be well-behaved.[1] Delamar does not say she was aged six when she started keeping a journal (six years old in this context doesn't take hyphens); Saxton tells us Abigail Bronson left notes on her pillow (be careful of close paraphrasing), Moses doesn't tell us anything other than the journal was started early in childhood (and it should be eliminated as a source). This in only the first sentence I've looked at, so, unfortunately I'll be looking through more carefully. In terms of whether it's NPOV, Bronson was not a stern man, to say the least. It's difficult to tell without looking more closely.
Off topic, but please take a look at WP:Overlink. Victoria (tk) 19:50, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
Adding: in a 30 second search I found, Whispers in the dark : the fiction of Louisa May Alcott and The world of Louisa May Alcott : a first-time glimpse into the life and times of Louisa May Alcott, author of "Little Women". Might be worth taking a look at. Victoria (tk) 20:07, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
Adding: Matteson won a Pulitzer Prize for Eden's Outcasts, so suggest swapping out that for Saxton's A Modern Biography. That said, Saxton is probably fine for basic facts. Victoria (tk) 20:41, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
reflist

References

  1. ^ Delamar 1990, p. 10; Saxton 1995, p. 146; Moses 1909, pp. 33–34
Do you think you could point me to what sources you noticed are blogs? Most of the websites were already sourced on the page before I started editing, so I'm not really familiar with them. Also, it was probably Saxton who said Alcott was six; since I'm probably removing that source, that will also be removed. I do not have access to Eden's Outcasts, but you're right--that will be a good source. The older sources I used mostly to supplement the newer sources, so they can easily be removed. I'll fix the hyphen thing, and feel free to make changes of your own. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 21:37, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
Whispers in the Dark is a good source, but it focuses on analysis of Alcott's works, making it a good source for articles about her individual works. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 22:51, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
Regarding blogs, I clicked on something randomly and it took me to a blog. I'll go through again and search for it.
Re Eden's Outcasts, it might be interesting to try your library's ILL (Interlibrary loan). It's brilliant; any book from anywhere in the country can be sent to your institution.
Yes, agree about Whispers in the Dark - it seems to focus on individual works. I only glanced quickly and wondered if there was biographical material woven throughout.
Re cutting Saxton; be judicious, is the best advice. We don't want to lose facts like Concord Academy and without Matteson, you may need to lean on Saxton more than you want. I believe the material regarding Bronson is generally correct; of all the transcendentalists he was the most rigid. From the review I glanced at, the issue is about his relationship with Louisa.
Finally - I understand this is information overload and both your time and remit are limited. Take your time and please please don't feel pressure from me. I'll take care of the citation errors when I get a chance to run through the article, and I'll give it a copyedit. You've done a stellar job here and have the makings of a strong Wikipedian. Anyway, I'm backing off for now and will swing back through in a few days. In the meantime think about sources and time allocation and stuff like that. And give yourself a pat on the back for the work you've done here. Victoria (tk) 23:16, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
Thank you for the constructive feedback. Just for clarification, by time allocation do you mean the amount of time I spend on revisions, or do you mean proportions of different events in the article? I think you might mean the former, but I just want to double check. As far as Whispers goes, I'll skim through to see if there is any biographical content. Regarding Saxton, I have kept some information that was sketchy in other biographies, such as dates (Saxton was the best at providing dates; some of the chronology in others was a bit difficult to sort out). There are some bits I removed that I may restore, such as being tended by Elizabeth Peabody. I'm going to keep out Saxton's information about Alcott's father since that's the biggest issue with the biography. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:27, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
Not so quick reply: so yesterday I read Macdonald's review of Martha Saxton, JSTOR 364624, and then had only a small amount of time to find & very briefly to read a blurb about Matteson's Eden's Outcasts, which seems to cover the same territory (Bronson & Louisa's relationship), but unlike Saxton, Matteson received a Pulitzer Prize and it was published fairly recently. So I thought it would take me some time to compare the two sources. It takes time to research sources; it takes time to determine which sources are better than others; it takes time to read, take notes, and then to write. That's what I meant by time allocation. This morning I found that my local library system holds Eden's Outcasts and placed a hold. This evening before tidying this talk page (so that it archives), I found and interesting review of Eden's Outcasts (JSTOR 25650739) that I've scanned but needs a deeper reading because it's fairly long and explains how Bronson and Louisa's lives were inextricably woven together (beyond the father/daughter relationship). Given the "Critical reception" to avoid WP:UNDUE issues, maybe Matteson needs to be researched a bit more, the book found, read, digested, and material from it added here. And then a similar process applies to other sources. If that makes sense?
Just to be clear, if you're unable to locate a copy of Matteson, then I can put info in from that source when it arrives to my local library branch. I'm not saying you have to go through all of this. All I'm saying is that it takes time on topics this big to figure out how to allocate time to research, write, rewrite, format citations & so on. Victoria (tk) 00:45, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
Yep! Makes sense. Let me know if you want to look through the Eden's Outcasts review or if you'd like me to do it—I know your time is limited. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:17, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
I read the review the other day and will take a look at the book whenever it arrives and I can get to the library. My advice is to follow your interests: read the review if you're interested or curious. It's on jstor, here's the link again (JSTOR 25650739). Victoria (tk) 15:45, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
Adding: see my comment to Rachel below, link. In my view some sources need to go, and swapped for others. The "Further reading" section is stuffed (and a mess after years of no tending), so if until you get the go-ahead for Matteson you might find something there that's useful. But Matteson seems to be the source to use. Victoria (tk) 20:34, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
Whispers in the Dark has very little biographical information. However, the introduction will be helpful for the genre section. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:38, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
So it will be somewhat helpful. That's good. Victoria (tk) 15:45, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
I've removed some occurrences of the 1909 Moses biography. There are still some there, but they will be addressed. I am currently working on another project, so it's going to take at least a week to address some things. Adri-at-BYU is also going to work on addressing some of these things.
I agree that newspaper articles about Alcott's life should be replaced with information from biographies. However, I do think some web sources should remain; for example, the National Women's Hall of Fame should remain, since it provides the information about Alcott's induction. The websites that discuss Alcott's possible new pseudonym should remain, as should those that discuss the novels written about Alcott. I made sure to take these from reliable sources (these are the web sources I did add). I added some web sources for the movies based on her works—are the movie ones some of the ones you're concerned about? Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 20:20, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
Those are probably all good decisions. I was working quickly and didn't take the time to match up each source to its ref. Things like lousiamayalcott.net can go & be swapped w/ book sources. The others have to be determined on a case-by-case basis. Victoria (tk) 22:49, 5 August 2024 (UTC)

Citation clean up

I spent some time cleaning citations but there's still a lot to do. In my view, that's the first place to start. The sources don't need links to google books, and definitely don't need links complete with search strings. The "website" section should probably be evaluated. Some could be swapped out for scholarly biographies. There are still error tags but I'm not finding the errors; will swing through again later in a day or two to work in this. Am very tired at the moment. Victoria (tk) 20:34, 4 August 2024 (UTC)

I will start working on removing links to Google books; that's good to know. Should links to journal articles remain?
I can take a closer look at the websites; there are a couple that can be removed altogether and replaced with information in biographies, like you said. Sorry about the citation errors—I wish I could help but I'm not sure what's going on. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 17:41, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
Actually, I'm going to keep the links to the Google books and just fix the links. Heidi Pusey BYU (talk) 18:11, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
I've got it on my list to see about switching some websites out for scholarly biographies. Also, Victoriaearle if you have time, would you mind sharing where the citation errors are showing up? I installed what you suggested and the test page worked for me, so I can't tell if you've already fixed things or if something isn't working on my end. Adri-at-BYU (talk) 21:04, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
I'll try to fiddle with it later and see what's going on. If I click the edit button to open the entire article instead of section editing, I get error messages but I can't find them. It's possible they're being picked up in the "Further reading" section, or being picked up because fields are missing in the citations. I'm not seeing clear messages in the references, so it's weird. It could be a caching error on my end. Will try troubleshooting later. The more important task is to make sure all the needed fields are supplied, i.e, isbns and so on. But again, I didn't look too closely yesterday - was just moving stuff around to resolve the most noticable errors. Victoria (tk) 21:43, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
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