| Just as library school graduates went west in search of professional positions nearly one hundred years ago, I too went west for my first faculty position. My move from Bloomington, Indiana, to Los Angeles, California, seemed almost as adventurous as the experiences of those women who left family, friends, and all that was familiar in their quest for personal and professional development. As I traveled about the West in search of their records I came to love the arid New Mexico landscape, Colorado's snow-capped Rockies, and Washington's rolling wheat fields. I began to appreciate the loneliness and isolation, as well as the warm western hospitality, that these early western librarians had described. |
| It is impossible to undertake, let alone complete, a book of this nature without assistance from numerous sources. At Bluffton College, Bowling Green State University, and Indiana University I had the fortune to study with several historians who made a lasting impression on their student. These include Von Hardesty, James H. Madison, and Bernard Sternsher. I am especially indebted to the late John D. Unruh, Jr., an outstanding teacher and rigorous scholar who encouraged this student's interest in historical research and the American West. |
| David Nordloh, Jeanne Peterson, Bill Reese, and Jean Robinson, colleagues at Indiana University, have provided timely words of encouragement and advice. Gail Londergan, Deanna B. Marcum, and Wayne A. Wiegand gave generously of their time by reading and commenting on the manuscript. I also appreciate the interest Barbara Guth, my editor at the University of New Mexico Press, has shown in this project, and I have benefited from her suggestions. Many people have provided comments and advice, but any errors of fact and interpretation that remain in this text are mine alone. |
| Several agencies provided grants that enabled me to conduct extensive research travel to western archives, manuscript repositories, and libraries throughout the country. They are the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Association for State and Local |
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