After years of hard work, professor and chair of the history department, Stacy Cordery, has had her book, “Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker,”  printed. Cordery put it this way, “As we say in Texas, I have been working on this book since God was a child.”

To promote her book, Cordery went on an extensive book tour that covered six cities and included multiple appearances.

Recalling some of her favorite memories of the tour, Cordery mentioned her experience in Chicago at the Women and Children First Bookstore. There, Cordery gave her talk on Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the subject of her book, in front of a crowd that included Monmouth College alumni and some of her current students.

Reacting to her book, Cordery said, “I am flattered, thrilled and humbled to be published by Viking and to have worked with the people I worked with.”

Though the book took a tremendous amount of time and effort, there were some great memories made during the process.

Cordery recalls being in Alice’s granddaughter’s basement, where there was a vast collection of Alice’s old correspondences. There she found letters from historical American figures like Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy and other members of the Kennedy family.

The very first artifact that Cordery pulled out of the basement storage area was a letter written by former United States President Benjamin Harrison.

“It was exciting finding love letters from Borah [to Alice]…reading letters that no one had before.”

There were difficult times writing Alice’s biography, according to Cordery. “The most frustrating part was writing about stuff that I could not pin down as a historian.”

Cordery mentioned that one of these frustrating moments came with the death of Alice’s daughter, Paulina, and whether it was suicide or not.

Reflecting on writing the book, Cordery mentioned that the hardest parts to write included the hardest parts of Alice’s life, including the death of her daughter, Paulina. “She had a sad and troubled life, was loved by everyone but still did not fit in. It was hard to write about Paulina,” Cordery commented.

This was in part true because one of Cordery’s chief sources was Alice’s granddaughter, Paulina’s daughter.

The laundry list of people who gave their time to help Cordery’s research and writing is littered with Monmouth College former and current staff. “We have an incredible staff at Monmouth College. Bev Scott,  academic secretary, was incredible at helping and supporting me. I could not have done this without the staff at our library.”

Cordery also said she benefited a great deal from working at a liberal arts college like Monmouth. “It means that when I have a question about a name like Paulina I can call the English department…and I can trust what they say and not have to check their research because I know them. It is not like at big universities where professors in other departments do not even know who you are,” Cordery said.

The ride has not stopped yet for Cordery who still has several upcoming appearances. On Tuesday, Nov. 27 she will appear live on the Prairie Public Radio Network in Fargo, N.D., on the station’s “Hear it Now” segment.

The show will be archived and available on the station’s website as a podcast. Cordery still has a scheduled appearance with WGN Radio, although a date has not been set.

She was also taped by C-Span TV giving a talk and that will be aired at a pending date.

Of all the publicity Cordery is very flattered, stating, “The book tour was very exciting; it was a look into a whole new world. I felt like a queen for a fortnight. It was strange to have people searching me out for autographs.”

Cordery recalls standing outside a bookstore in New York looking at her picture in the window next to Alice’s. “I asked a guy if he was going to the talk and told him that I heard the author was really good. He paused and then looked at me saying, ‘wait.’” The story still brings a childlike smile to Cordery’s face.

Cordery’s experiences have been once in a life time ones but now she finds herself back where she loves to be. “It has been fabulous and incredible, but also unbelievable because I am back in my office grading,” she said.

Although this book has one author and handfuls of contributors, there really is only one focus, the exemplary life of Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Cordery put it, “I have been living in Alice’s life for the past 20 years.”

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