Harvard Research

On Monday, October 8th (Columbus Day) I drove to Newton, MA, where I stayed with Emily's folks (John and Sheila) to begin my research at Cambridge. I hopped the "T" every morning at rush hour to begin my day at the Houghton Reading Room precisely at the 9:00 a.m. opening hour (very civilized). Upon my arrival Tuesday morning, the curator greeted me with a book truck full of resources specific to my subject. (We had been in touch via e-mail leading up to my arrival on the Harvard campus.) For the next three days, I discovered little treasures among the resources in the Theodore Roosevelt collection, among them the Anna Cowles letters and the notes of biographers Carleton Putnam and Hermann Hagedorn.

One evening I stayed in Boston to meet a friend and take in just a few of the sights - most notably the North End, where I've never tasted better canolis. If I had one regret about my time there, it would be that I didn't take full advantage of the sightseeing opportunities - but it's a mere four hour drive from north Jersey, so perhaps I'll return.

On my way back I took the long, scenic route, driving through places like Walden Pond, and Robert Frost and Norman Rockwell country. I stayed overnight in Bennington Vermont, took plenty of photos of covered bridges, and bought up the state's surplus of maple syrup. As the east coast has been having some unseasonably warm weather this fall, the leaves have not yet attained their peak color; however, the deciduous countryside is still beautiful and I'm continually amazed by the quaintness of the small towns of the New England and mid-Atlantic states.