Edith D. Pope and her Nashville friends : guardians of the lost cause in the Confederate veteran / John A. Simpson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Simpson, John A., 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Pope, Edith Drake, 1869-1947.

Pope, Edith Drake.

United Daughters of the Confederacy--Biography.

United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Women newspaper editors--Tennessee--Nashville--Biography.

Women newspaper editors.

Newspaper editors--Tennessee--Nashville--Biography.

Newspaper editors.

Confederate veteran (Nashville, Tenn.).

Nashville (Tenn.)--Biography.

Nashville (Tenn.).

Southern States--Politics and government--1865-.

Southern States.

Politics and government.

Southern States--Social conditions--1865-1945.

Social conditions.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Influence.

United States.

History.

Tennessee--Nashville.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xv, 276 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, [2003]

Summary:

Founded in 1893, the Confederate Veteran was a monthly magazine devoted to the wartime reminiscences of Confederate soldiers. In 1913 founding editor Sumner A. Cunningham died, and his longtime secretary, Edith Drake Pope, succeeded him. Over the next twenty years, she transformed the journal into the official mouthpiece of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which played a leading role in the transmission of the Confederate past to a new generation in the twentieth century. John A. Simpson explores Edith Pope's life, work, and legacy, demonstrating that, as editor of the Confederate Veteran, Pope guarded the interests of the Lost Cause with grace, strength, and unswerving loyalty. Having secured editorial control from the Confederate memorial associations that opposed her, she skillfully navigated between time-worn practices established by Cunningham and her own inclination toward change in order to attract a younger and more contemporary readership. Her personal connection to the Confederate heritage, through the Civil War experiences of her parents, played an important role in her outlook and her motivations as editor.

Even under Pope's able-bodied leadership, however, the magazine faced financial challenges to its survival. To meet these challenges, Pope formed a lasting and mutually beneficial relationship with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which became the largest and, arguably, the most influential women's organization in the South. Simpson pays special attention to the local chapter, known as Nashville Number 1, and its alliance with Pope and the Confederate Veteran. He refutes the notion that members were backwardlooking dilettantes and instead draws a complex portrait of women who were actively involved in a broad spectrum of civic, patriotic, religious, educational, and even reform activities. As Simpson reveals, this alliance of women actively shaped southern culture in the early decades of the century, and his analysis sheds new light on the role of professional and club women in southern history.

Contents:

I have often read of war, but I have never felt it before : Pope family ties to the Confederate heritage

We are feeling the loss of our editor very keenly : the struggle for editorial control

There is much error yet to be corrected : continuity and change in the new Confederate veteran

One grand whole of sisterhood : the Daughters unite

Always pleasant, always present : years of leadership in Nashville No. 1

What are you, a lot of organized anarchists? The Nashville Daughters as clubwomen

The end is here : the Confederate veteran passes into history

It's your story. Tell it your way : guardian of the lost cause

Southern to the core : the unpretentious legacy of Edith Drake Pope

Appendix A. Membership roster of Nashville No. 1

Appendix B. Membership profiles of Nashville No. 1

Appendix C. Location of meetings by year during the lifetime of Edith Drake Pope

Appendix D. Direct lineal ancestors of Edith Drake Pope

Appendix E. Nashville residency pattern of Edith Drake Pope.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 200-258) and index.

ISBN:

1572332115

OCLC:

50316233