...that Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking would not have been published if it were not for one-time Lincoln resident Avis DeVoto? Avis and her husband, Bernard, lived at 22 Weston Road, the “Donaldson House” (historically the 1818 Hoar House) across from the Pierce House. Bernard was an author of a series of popular histories of the American West (including the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Across the Wide Missouri); books on Mark Twain; and a regular column, “The Easy Chair,” in Harper's Magazine. (More on Bernard and Avis’ work as eco-warriors, and their fight to save public lands and our National Park system, in an upcoming post.) It was one of Bernard’s “Easy Chair” articles, an essay on the poor quality of American knives, that was the spark of a life-long friendship with Julia and Paul Child, and ultimately the US publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. After reading the DeVoto article on knives, Julia sent a fan letter, from Paris, to Bernard. Avis, who read all of Bernard’s mail, responded. That was the beginning of a pen-pal relationship that led to Avis’s interest in Julia’s culinary work in France and a life-long friendship. Avis soon learned that Julia was struggling to find a publisher for her newly completed cookbook. Avis and Bernard had many friends in the publishing business. Avis first approached her friend and Lincoln neighbor, Paul Brooks, an editor at Houghton Mifflin. But Houghton Mifflin had a failed attempt at cookbook publishing, so Avis moved her campaign to another friend and frequent dinner guest, Alfred Knopf. Avis would wow Alfred with dishs that she then revealed to be Julia’s recipes. Knopf took a gamble on the yet unknown Julia Child, based on Avis’s urgings and her fabulous dinners. And the rest is history. Come learn more about Avis and Bernard and their history as eco-warriors at the upcoming event on Thursday Oct. 5 at 7 PM at Bemis Hall with Nate Schweber, author of This America of Ours. This event is sponsored by the Bemis Free Lecture Series, with the Friends of Minute Man National Park, LLCT, the Lincoln Historical Society, and Walden Woods Project.
Sara Mattes, Trustee Bemis Free Lecture Series Lincoln Historical Society ------ Sara Mattes
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