Rethinking the Content of the Form

Maria Tamboukou,Centre for Narrative Research

University of East London

Here is my story May 8, 1953Dear Emma, Do please accept this letter in the same friendly spirit as it is being written, because it is I that is responsible for the misunderstanding.Many years ago you told me good naturedly, “Fannia, you are getting away with murder”. This remark stuck to me as a "pick of a raven", paraphrasing the famous American poet Edgar Allan Poe. Here is my story. I had one brother who was very dear to my mother and to all of us. He was almost killed in a little “pogrom" in Russia. Though I was young at that time my brother and I decided to migrate to the United States […] it was the Triangle fire that decided my life's course. This tragedy influenced then my decision to join the labor movement […] I joined Local 41, I.L.G.W.U. and went to work in a shop and kept my story to myself. […](FC to Emma, 1930, Correspondence, FCP/NYPL)

My life story I did not reveal to anyone. I kept it to myself as I wanted to avoid a sensational impression. The only person who knew about my story was Professor Charles A. Beard, and this was due to the fact that my brothers and Professor Beard had a mutual friend who revealed to him this “secret”. This explains why in his essay on the Workers’ Educational Bureau he refers to me in these terms, and I quote “of her life and labor an American epic, can be written.” […] But I admonished Professor Beard not to tell anyone about it, not even his wife who is a good friend of mine. So, he too joined the “conspiracy”.

(FC to Emma, 1930, Correspondence, FCP/NYPL)