Ebbets Field Project - We Have A Team

About a week or so ago, I wrote that Paul and I were considering a second father and son writing project. The idea came from a request for proposals for a book about Ebbets Field (pictured above right) to be published by McFarland and Co. as part of an historic ball parks series.

The good news is that Paul and I have decided to submit a proposal which is due to the series editors by May 1st. The most important thing in getting this organized is finding contributors who will write some of the chapters in the book. The even better news is that we are making real progress in putting together what I think is an impressive team. I don't want to mention names at this point, but two other published authors have agreed to be contributors so that with Paul and myself, four members of are team have already been published. I am in the process of talking to two more people both of whom are good writers and could round out our team in an exciting way. There is, of course, no guarantee that our proposal will be successful, but it looks like we will be able to make the strongest case possible.

While focusing on this, I am also moving ahead with the William Lloyd letters project. Lloyd was a member of the 33rd New Jersey, for whatever reason, more of his letters survive than for any other member of the regiment. I am now focusing on preparing commentary and footnotes for the letters. More research is also needed on Lloyd's long post war life (he died in 1928). I hope to have that manuscript ready by the end of the summer.

Of course, just to keep things interesting, there will be a meeting next week of the New Jersey Civil War 150th's book subcommittee to begin discussions about a book about New Jersey and the Civil War. Reading and writing some of the short bios for the website has reminded me of the many stories out there that should be told. There are two that especially appeal to me, one would be about Lincoln's two railroad trips through New Jersey, one on the way to his inauguration, the other his funeral trains journey on the way to Springfield. The second would be about the Newark newspapers during the Civil War, that could be called "A War of Words." There were three daily newspapers during this time, the Mercury was pro-war, the Daily Journal vehemently anti-war and the Daily Advertiser, more middle of the road. I think there is a real story there. Another possibility is an article about the two presidential elections in New Jersey - there are a lot of myths out there as to why Lincoln failed to carry New Jersey in either election - a well researched objective article would have some real value.

Originally the idea was that 2009 was to be devoted to Lloyd letters and then a break from research/writing. It doesn't seem to be shaping up that way, but all of the above is exciting and well worth pursuing.