Introduction

After outlining Edith’s achievements, this chapter lists the sources used in this biography. They mainly include the Diaries that Edith wrote between 1896 and 1906; lightly fictionalized autobiographical fragments that she wrote in the 1920s; family letters written when she was at Vassar College; letters to and from Lucy Maynard Salmon (1853–1927) and to and from John Burroughs (1937–1921); and letters from Kate Platt (1866–1940). Later family letters and just about all letters between Edith and Manly are missing. They were probably destroyed after Edith’s death by her sister and only heir, Margaret Rickert (1888–1973).