Edith D. Pope and her Nashville friends
Subtitle: guardians of the lost cause in the Confederate veteran
By: John A. Simpson.
Publisher: University of Tennessee Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Knoxville
Language: eng
Number of pages: 276
Subjects: Pope, Edith Drake, 1869-1947.; United Daughters of the Confederacy -- Biography.; Confederate veteran (Nashville, Tenn.); Women newspaper editors -- Tennessee -- Nashville -- Biography.; Newspaper editors -- Tennessee -- Nashville -- Biography.; Nashville (Tenn.) -- Biography.; Southern States -- Politics and government -- 1865-; Southern States -- Social conditions -- 1865-1945.; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Influence.
Genres: Biography.
Description: "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 backward-looking 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."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 200-258) and index.
Table of contents: title: I have often read of war, but I have never felt it before : Pope family ties to the Confederate heritage; title: We are feeling the loss of our editor very keenly : the struggle for editorial control; title: There is much error yet to be corrected : continuity and change in the new Confederate veteran; title: One grand whole of sisterhood : the Daughters unite; title: Always pleasant, always present : years of leadership in Nashville No. 1; title: What are you, a lot of organized anarchists? The Nashville Daughters as clubwomen; title: The end is here : the Confederate veteran passes into history; title: It's your story. Tell it your way : guardian of the lost cause; title: Southern to the core : the unpretentious legacy of Edith Drake Pope; title: Appendix A. Membership roster of Nashville No. 1; title: Appendix B. Membership profiles of Nashville No. 1; title: Appendix C. Location of meetings by year during the lifetime of Edith Drake Pope; title: Appendix D. Direct lineal ancestors of Edith Drake Pope; title: Appendix E. Nashville residency pattern of Edith Drake Pope.