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Books by Skip Moskey
he Turkish Ambassador’s Residence in Washington, D.C., is one of many grand examples of early 20t... more he Turkish Ambassador’s Residence in Washington, D.C., is one of many grand examples of early 20th century architecture in Washington that now serve foreign governments. Built as the winter residence of Edward Hamlin Everett (1851-1929), an Ohio industrialist who sought to enter society in the nation’s capital, it assumed its new function in the 1930s as the embassy and ambassador’s residence of the then-recently founded Republic of Turkey. The building, designed by the renowned Washington architect George Oakley Totten, Jr. (1866-1939), speaks to the cultural, social, and political history of the nation’s capital and those who put their stamp on the city’s built environment. Three American scholars have recently completed more than six months of research on Everett House and its place in the cultural history of Washington, D.C. What sets Everett House apart from other distinguished Beaux-Arts inspired houses in Washington, embassy-related or otherwise? When we started our research on the history of the house, we sensed this was an extraordinary building from a number of perspectives. Perhaps the most apparent is its massive presence on Sheridan Circle, an entity that exudes authority and affluence. Its interior spaces and the events that have taken place in the house over the past century are just as arresting. What we discovered about its commissioner and architect, its exceptional artwork and meticulous restoration, and its role in smashing racial barriers as the site of inter-racial jazz sessions held by the two sons of Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegün (1882-1944) at Everett House, make for exceptionally heady reading. Part of the challenge we set for ourselves was to make a critical assessment of the literature and oral history of the house. From the outset, our research questioned and ultimately refutes many accepted and frequently repeated “facts” about the house and the individuals associated with it. In numerous and important ways, our work breaks new ground not just in how the house is viewed aesthetically, but also in its political and cultural importance to the history of Washington, D.C., during the second half of America’s Gilded Age (roughly 1900-1929) and during a critical period of Washington’s and the nation’s struggle with race and national identity (1930s-40s) as the groundwork was laid for the desegregation in the 1960s. There are four components to our research: 1. The social, architectural, and cultural evolution of Washington, D.C., from 1800, through the mid-19th century impact of the Civil War on the city’s development, to the end of the 19th century when the city had become America’s “Winter Newport.” 2. The story of Edward Hamlin Everett, a self-made man whose rise to a position of enormous wealth through hard work and native ingenuity is emblematic of many thousands of men like him who helped shape America’s industrial and economic strength in the late 19th century. 3. A new aesthetic assessment of Everett House, documenting its art and architecture, its diplomatic history during the 1930s, and its recent restoration. This section includes many previously unknown aspects of Totten’s work for the U.S. Embassy in Istanbul, and his vision to transform the old Ottoman city into a modern capital. 4. Finally, a completely new study of the place of Everett House in Washington’s jazz history and race relations in the 1930s and ‘40s. For the ten years that Ambassador Ertegün lived in the residence, his sons, Ahmet and Nesuhi, challenged Washington society to better appreciate American vernacular music and to soften the city’s rigid racial segregation. This experience of working with and in the city’s African-American jazz scene would shape the course of Ahmet Ertegun’s life. He would go on to found and run Atlantic Records, one of the most significant and influential companies in the history of American music.
Drafts by Skip Moskey
In January 2010, I began an informal research project that eventually led to the publication in 2... more In January 2010, I began an informal research project that eventually led to the publication in 2016 of a full-length biography of a remarkable Gilded Age elite couple, Larz and Isabel Anderson: Wealth and Celebrity in the Gilded Age (iUniverse.com).
Larz and Isabel led extraordinarily interesting lives that spanned almost a century of American history. Descended from great families, they came of age during the post-Civil War reconstruction and expansion of the American economy.
The cultural and political connections between Italy and the United States during the Gilded Age emerged as a constant theme in my research. In the 1890s, Larz served as first secretary and later chargé d’affaires of the American Embassy in Rome. His mother Elizabeth was a prominent member of the Anglo-American community in Rome at the end of the 19th century. She gave lavish parties and dinners at her home in the Villa de Renzi. And then the most important connection of all: Larz and Isabel met in Rome in 1896 when Isabel was the guest for several months of the American writer Maud Howe Elliott and her Scottish artist husband John Elliott at their home in the Eternal City, the Palazzo Rusticucci on the Via della Conciliazione.
There were other ways in which connections between the Andersons and the people of Italy emerged as I wrote my book. In 1896, Larz was involved in a delicate diplomatic negotiation with the Kingdom of Italy after three Italian-born Americans had been lynched in Louisiana in the wake of anti-immigrant sentiment. Then, in Boston in 1931, Isabel Anderson singlehandedly fought for the freedom of an Italian immigrant who had been condemned to life in prison in America for a murder he did not commit. I was overcome by emotion when I first I read the story of Antonio Scali, and I knew I had to include his story in my book. For many years, I searched for his descendants in Italy. I was eager to know what happened to Antonio after he returned to Italy in 1931.
In October 2015, as my book was being readied for publication, I received a phone call from Antonio’s grandson in Italy. He told me that the Scali family was overjoyed to know that the story of their ancestor would be told in an American history book. I learned that Mr. Scali had a long and happy life after he left Boston. He married Giuseppina De Marco in 1932, and together they had four children: three sons, Dominic, Frank, and Angelo, and a daughter, Isabella, named after Isabel Anderson. Antonio found work as a private school English teacher. In 1959, he and his family immigrated to Australia, where they lived for many years. When Antonio died in 1977, his remains were returned to Italy and he was interred in the cemetery of his home village in Calabria. He has many grandchildren and great-grandchildren who continue to revere the woman they call “Principessa Isabella.” Antonio painted a portrait of Isabel, which still hangs in the family home, where it will rightfully be revered for generations to come.
The text is presented in English and Italian
Conference Presentations by Skip Moskey
Powerpoint to accompany the presentation "Discovering President Wilson's Voyage to France," Deliv... more Powerpoint to accompany the presentation "Discovering President Wilson's Voyage to France," Delivered April 23, 2019, at the Woodrow Wilson House, Washington, DC
This is the powerpoint that accompanies the text of "Une fille de la révolution américaine, Madam... more This is the powerpoint that accompanies the text of "Une fille de la révolution américaine, Madame Isabel Anderson" presented in Paris in November, 2018.
This is the text of a presentation given in French to the Rochambeau Chapter of the Daughters of ... more This is the text of a presentation given in French to the Rochambeau Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Filles de la révolution américaine) in Paris in November 2018. It presents an overview of the life of Isabel Anderson and her service as a volunteer nurse in France during the waning years of World War I. (In French)
This is the speaking text of a presentation at the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, DC, on Apr... more This is the speaking text of a presentation at the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2019, in which I discuss the research and historical discoveries made during the writing of "The Pilgrim's Passage: President Wilson's Voyage to France on the USS George Washington, 1918" published in White House History Quarterly, Number 51 (November 2019), pp. 39-53.
This is the powerpoint to accompany the paper that appears elsewhere in this collection.
Extrait: "Cet après-midi je vais vous parler d’un bref chapitre dans l’histoire des relations di... more Extrait: "Cet après-midi je vais vous parler d’un bref chapitre dans l’histoire des relations diplomatiques entre la Belgique et les Etats-Unis d’Amérique, notamment entre novembre 1911 et novembre 1912. J’espère vous pouvoir donner une meilleure idée de l’histoire de l’infrastructure de ce Palais dans cette époque. Je vais vous aussi parler de vie de Monsieur Larz Anderson et sa femme Madame Isabel Perkins Anderson qui habitaient ce magnifique Palais pendant leur année diplomatique juste avant la première guerre mondiale."
"Weld" was the Brookline (Mass.) summer home of Larz and Isabel Anderson from 1899-1948. This po... more "Weld" was the Brookline (Mass.) summer home of Larz and Isabel Anderson from 1899-1948. This powerpoint presents images that accompanied a lecture on the architecture and landscapes of the estate. The former estate is now the Larz Anderson Park. For more information on the Andersons, please link to: amzn.to/1VxLyMN
Larz and Isabel Anderson were an American elite couple whose lives spanned a hundred years of Ame... more Larz and Isabel Anderson were an American elite couple whose lives spanned a hundred years of American history. This presentation reviews the place of food and beverage in their private lives at home and abroad, and how they entertained in their mansion "Anderson House" in Washington, DC.
he Turkish Ambassador’s Residence in Washington, D.C., is one of many grand examples of early 20t... more he Turkish Ambassador’s Residence in Washington, D.C., is one of many grand examples of early 20th century architecture in Washington that now serve foreign governments. Built as the winter residence of Edward Hamlin Everett (1851-1929), an Ohio industrialist who sought to enter society in the nation’s capital, it assumed its new function in the 1930s as the embassy and ambassador’s residence of the then-recently founded Republic of Turkey. The building, designed by the renowned Washington architect George Oakley Totten, Jr. (1866-1939), speaks to the cultural, social, and political history of the nation’s capital and those who put their stamp on the city’s built environment. Three American scholars have recently completed more than six months of research on Everett House and its place in the cultural history of Washington, D.C. What sets Everett House apart from other distinguished Beaux-Arts inspired houses in Washington, embassy-related or otherwise? When we started our research on the history of the house, we sensed this was an extraordinary building from a number of perspectives. Perhaps the most apparent is its massive presence on Sheridan Circle, an entity that exudes authority and affluence. Its interior spaces and the events that have taken place in the house over the past century are just as arresting. What we discovered about its commissioner and architect, its exceptional artwork and meticulous restoration, and its role in smashing racial barriers as the site of inter-racial jazz sessions held by the two sons of Turkish Ambassador Mehmet Munir Ertegün (1882-1944) at Everett House, make for exceptionally heady reading. Part of the challenge we set for ourselves was to make a critical assessment of the literature and oral history of the house. From the outset, our research questioned and ultimately refutes many accepted and frequently repeated “facts” about the house and the individuals associated with it. In numerous and important ways, our work breaks new ground not just in how the house is viewed aesthetically, but also in its political and cultural importance to the history of Washington, D.C., during the second half of America’s Gilded Age (roughly 1900-1929) and during a critical period of Washington’s and the nation’s struggle with race and national identity (1930s-40s) as the groundwork was laid for the desegregation in the 1960s. There are four components to our research: 1. The social, architectural, and cultural evolution of Washington, D.C., from 1800, through the mid-19th century impact of the Civil War on the city’s development, to the end of the 19th century when the city had become America’s “Winter Newport.” 2. The story of Edward Hamlin Everett, a self-made man whose rise to a position of enormous wealth through hard work and native ingenuity is emblematic of many thousands of men like him who helped shape America’s industrial and economic strength in the late 19th century. 3. A new aesthetic assessment of Everett House, documenting its art and architecture, its diplomatic history during the 1930s, and its recent restoration. This section includes many previously unknown aspects of Totten’s work for the U.S. Embassy in Istanbul, and his vision to transform the old Ottoman city into a modern capital. 4. Finally, a completely new study of the place of Everett House in Washington’s jazz history and race relations in the 1930s and ‘40s. For the ten years that Ambassador Ertegün lived in the residence, his sons, Ahmet and Nesuhi, challenged Washington society to better appreciate American vernacular music and to soften the city’s rigid racial segregation. This experience of working with and in the city’s African-American jazz scene would shape the course of Ahmet Ertegun’s life. He would go on to found and run Atlantic Records, one of the most significant and influential companies in the history of American music.
In January 2010, I began an informal research project that eventually led to the publication in 2... more In January 2010, I began an informal research project that eventually led to the publication in 2016 of a full-length biography of a remarkable Gilded Age elite couple, Larz and Isabel Anderson: Wealth and Celebrity in the Gilded Age (iUniverse.com).
Larz and Isabel led extraordinarily interesting lives that spanned almost a century of American history. Descended from great families, they came of age during the post-Civil War reconstruction and expansion of the American economy.
The cultural and political connections between Italy and the United States during the Gilded Age emerged as a constant theme in my research. In the 1890s, Larz served as first secretary and later chargé d’affaires of the American Embassy in Rome. His mother Elizabeth was a prominent member of the Anglo-American community in Rome at the end of the 19th century. She gave lavish parties and dinners at her home in the Villa de Renzi. And then the most important connection of all: Larz and Isabel met in Rome in 1896 when Isabel was the guest for several months of the American writer Maud Howe Elliott and her Scottish artist husband John Elliott at their home in the Eternal City, the Palazzo Rusticucci on the Via della Conciliazione.
There were other ways in which connections between the Andersons and the people of Italy emerged as I wrote my book. In 1896, Larz was involved in a delicate diplomatic negotiation with the Kingdom of Italy after three Italian-born Americans had been lynched in Louisiana in the wake of anti-immigrant sentiment. Then, in Boston in 1931, Isabel Anderson singlehandedly fought for the freedom of an Italian immigrant who had been condemned to life in prison in America for a murder he did not commit. I was overcome by emotion when I first I read the story of Antonio Scali, and I knew I had to include his story in my book. For many years, I searched for his descendants in Italy. I was eager to know what happened to Antonio after he returned to Italy in 1931.
In October 2015, as my book was being readied for publication, I received a phone call from Antonio’s grandson in Italy. He told me that the Scali family was overjoyed to know that the story of their ancestor would be told in an American history book. I learned that Mr. Scali had a long and happy life after he left Boston. He married Giuseppina De Marco in 1932, and together they had four children: three sons, Dominic, Frank, and Angelo, and a daughter, Isabella, named after Isabel Anderson. Antonio found work as a private school English teacher. In 1959, he and his family immigrated to Australia, where they lived for many years. When Antonio died in 1977, his remains were returned to Italy and he was interred in the cemetery of his home village in Calabria. He has many grandchildren and great-grandchildren who continue to revere the woman they call “Principessa Isabella.” Antonio painted a portrait of Isabel, which still hangs in the family home, where it will rightfully be revered for generations to come.
The text is presented in English and Italian
Powerpoint to accompany the presentation "Discovering President Wilson's Voyage to France," Deliv... more Powerpoint to accompany the presentation "Discovering President Wilson's Voyage to France," Delivered April 23, 2019, at the Woodrow Wilson House, Washington, DC
This is the powerpoint that accompanies the text of "Une fille de la révolution américaine, Madam... more This is the powerpoint that accompanies the text of "Une fille de la révolution américaine, Madame Isabel Anderson" presented in Paris in November, 2018.
This is the text of a presentation given in French to the Rochambeau Chapter of the Daughters of ... more This is the text of a presentation given in French to the Rochambeau Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Filles de la révolution américaine) in Paris in November 2018. It presents an overview of the life of Isabel Anderson and her service as a volunteer nurse in France during the waning years of World War I. (In French)
This is the speaking text of a presentation at the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, DC, on Apr... more This is the speaking text of a presentation at the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, DC, on April 23, 2019, in which I discuss the research and historical discoveries made during the writing of "The Pilgrim's Passage: President Wilson's Voyage to France on the USS George Washington, 1918" published in White House History Quarterly, Number 51 (November 2019), pp. 39-53.
This is the powerpoint to accompany the paper that appears elsewhere in this collection.
Extrait: "Cet après-midi je vais vous parler d’un bref chapitre dans l’histoire des relations di... more Extrait: "Cet après-midi je vais vous parler d’un bref chapitre dans l’histoire des relations diplomatiques entre la Belgique et les Etats-Unis d’Amérique, notamment entre novembre 1911 et novembre 1912. J’espère vous pouvoir donner une meilleure idée de l’histoire de l’infrastructure de ce Palais dans cette époque. Je vais vous aussi parler de vie de Monsieur Larz Anderson et sa femme Madame Isabel Perkins Anderson qui habitaient ce magnifique Palais pendant leur année diplomatique juste avant la première guerre mondiale."
"Weld" was the Brookline (Mass.) summer home of Larz and Isabel Anderson from 1899-1948. This po... more "Weld" was the Brookline (Mass.) summer home of Larz and Isabel Anderson from 1899-1948. This powerpoint presents images that accompanied a lecture on the architecture and landscapes of the estate. The former estate is now the Larz Anderson Park. For more information on the Andersons, please link to: amzn.to/1VxLyMN
Larz and Isabel Anderson were an American elite couple whose lives spanned a hundred years of Ame... more Larz and Isabel Anderson were an American elite couple whose lives spanned a hundred years of American history. This presentation reviews the place of food and beverage in their private lives at home and abroad, and how they entertained in their mansion "Anderson House" in Washington, DC.