What Was Up With "Behind the Scenes"?
An ongoing mystery
I believe there is a lot of work still to be done in understanding the events surrounding Elizabeth Keckley’s 1868 book Behind the Scenes. It was part autobiography, part tell-all about the Lincolns. Keckley had been Mary Lincoln’s dressmaker and friend. This apparently ended the friendship, although something tells me it wasn’t quite that neat.
I say it was her book—well, she was attributed authorship, but her comments indicate she worked with at least one ghostwriter/editor, which was typical. I could say a lot about the drama surrounding this, but let’s start with the authorship issue. Keckley claimed that information was included without her permission, and that some of her statements were rewritten to the point of being misleading, among other things. There is no reason to doubt that this happened—the publisher wanted a sensational book and was probably serving other agendas. My impression, however, is that it would be a mistake to consider her a minor player in how the book turned out.
The focus of the book, what is included and excluded, etc., is suggestive of certain things, and that’s why I’ve always wanted to know more about who was involved. A few candidates have been put forward, but I recently came cross this image in an article about the book. It was published in the December 8, 1970, edition of The York (Pennsylvania) Dispatch:
Whoever signed this title page may have had nothing to do with its writing, but it just might be a clue.
Before reading further, look at it with fresh eyes and write down what you make out.
Didn’t want to prejudice you with my own thoughts. What I see are the initials “J. E.” and a last name beginning with “R” or “B.” If you have any ideas, let me know what you see! It doesn’t look like the name of any of the proposed candidates, particularly the way the last name ends. (Busbey and Redpath are the last names of the most frequently urged candidates, but the none of the letters seem to extend up or down very much, including the last one, which looks like it could be an “r”.) But it could just be messy handwriting.
Much interesting stuff has been written in recent years about Elizabeth Keckley, but I think we’re missing a lot. I’ll post more on Behind the Scenes eventually. It has been said more than once that she sued the publishers in 1869 for taking advantage of her, and made no money off book sales. Does anyone know how to find a record of such a lawsuit? Not sure if anyone has access to a digital database. If not, I’ll have to look around, although I imagine someone has beaten me to it.