Talk:Vera Caspary

message: This is only a first draft, but I thought I should get it up so that my worst mistakes can be cleaned up quickly.  I have broken my own rule about relying too heavily on a single source, but I am waiting for more research materials, so I can crosscheck everything. Sometimes if I wait too long to finish something I become stalled and overwhelmed.  I am also trying to track down the Emrys pieces.  Surprisingly a number of the 'reference' materials so far have too much bad data in them to use. For example nearly every reference guide, including the library systems give her birthday as 1904, where she says it herself on page one of her memoir, she was born prematurely in November 1899. No woman anywhere ADDS 5 years to her birthdate.  The original compiler also stated that she died in San Jose, this is blatantly wrong, as the San Jose paper merely reprinted the New York Times Obituary without altering the location of the hospital. She died in New York city. I am also trying to work in excerpts from her book reviews and commentary on her writing style in the next draft.  So, like the rest of my subjects I will keep on looking for more and better sources to cite.  EraserGirl (talk) 04:30, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: current revision

message: I am still working on replacing the majority of the citations from her autobiography with ones from other sources.  There is not a lot of book material published about Caspary that doesn't draw on that autobiography.  I finally bought the edition of Bedelia with the Emory essay and am using it to shore up the cited material. But good new is that the essay includes a bibliography of her source material, the bad news is that much of it is unpublished or research materials, to which I will not have access. So, we will have to take her word for it, which will probably be better than taking Vera's.  EraserGirl (talk) 17:32, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: sources

message: Regarding both mentions in the article regarding her activities in the Communist party:" She joined the Communist party under an alias, but at odds with the Party's code of secrecy, Caspary was not totally committed and confined her activities to fund-raising and hosting meetings.[2]" As it stands is it is fine, but so far the only source I have for such a low level of activity in the group is her autobiography written much later in life. My suspicion is that she has made it sound like she was much less active than she may have been.  When I get further sources, I may alter it to sound less passive.  Indeed McCarthy and the HUAC were on a deliberate, unmerited witch hunt, and regardless of political views, one can't blame people for soft peddling their activities in retrospect. EraserGirl (talk) 20:00, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: What you say makes sense – I'll look forward to seeing your changes if you find more damning evidence. --Red Sunset 20:58, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I doubt it will be all that damning, celebrity members were useful for public relations.  Perhaps hosting parties at her house was indeed the extent of her participation. I just want to be sure of what I am typing and not have it thought that the WP article was also soft. EraserGirl (talk) 23:25, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Communism