Come up and see my etchings...

This morning the Stumpers-L mailing list, a discussion forum for reference questions that have "stumped" reference librarians, had an interesting question. It seems that the famously insinuating suggestion that a member of the opposite sex "come up and see my etchings" is thought to have originated in the notorious Evelyn Nesbit Thaw affair of the early 1900's, in which Harry Thaw (the husband of showgirl Evelyn) shot Stanford White (one of her past lovers) in spectacularly public fashion during a play. Evelyn, the "Girl in the Red Velvet Swing", is said to have testified in her husband's subsequent murder trial that his actions were justified because White had taken advantage of her after luring her into his home with an invitation to view his etchings.

But did she really say it? Or is it just another urban legend?

As recently as a year ago, a nearby university library held a copy of Evelyn's autobiography, which might reasonably be expected to contain her account of the trial and the events that led up to it. Unfortunately, it seems to have been discarded since then. Library "weeding" enthusiasts and techno-dogmatists who believe that "everything's on the internet", take note. To my knowledge, this book is out of print and nowhere available on the internet. Secondhand copies I found through Bookfinder are priced in the hundreds of dollars. Think before you weed.

There are times when the librarianly struggle to preserve the published and historical record seems doomed to be nothing but a long defeat.

Theology and Tolkien's "Long Defeat"

While Googling for the phrase "long defeat", I came across this interesting article from Crisis Magazine, which describes Tolkien's religious views and how they influenced the creation of Middle Earth. Excellent reading for anyone who's interested in Christianity and fantasy literature, or who wants to contrast Tolkien's authorial intentions with Peter Jackson's ongoing film adaptation.