Diana Parsell—Eliza Scidmore: The Trailblazing Journalist Behind Washington's Cherry Trees

ELIZA SCIDMORE:
THE TRAILBLAZING JOURNALIST
BEHIND WASHINGTON’S CHERRY TREES
Diana Parsell
Oxford University Press, March 1, 2023, $32.95
ISBN-10: 0198869428, ISBN-13: 978-0198869429

Parsell reports:

This is my first book. It took a decade to complete. While working in Indonesia as a science writer for an international environmental group in the early 2000s, I stumbled across an 1897 travelogue, Java, The Garden of the East, by E. R. Scidmore.

My online search revealed the author, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore (1856-1928), had published six travel books. She was the first female board member and photographer of National Geographic. She was also the earliest champion of Japanese cherry trees in D.C. I had lived in Washington for three decades. How had I never heard of her?

Having the Library of Congress in my backyard was a big plus. When the recession hit and my foreign work dried up, I started going to the LOC about three days a week to conduct research on Scidmore. That made me eligible to apply for a shared study office there, which I had access to for several years.

Once I discovered Scidmore’s pen name as a newspaper correspondent, I found some 800 articles she had published. Datelines gave me a chronology of her travels. I eventually found rich primary source material at two dozen libraries and archives. The research, which I self-funded, took me to Japan and Alaska. I juggled working on the book with freelance editing.

I started a website and blog on the project late in 2011, when I realized I would miss the centennial of the DC cherry trees in March 2012. I did it to stake my claim as Scidmore’s future biographer. A Washington Post reporter found me through the website; his article on Scidmore brought many inquiries. I ended up being interviewed and getting speaking engagements when I'd barely started the project!

My book includes many new findings on Scidmore’s achievements beyond the cherry trees, which included popularizing Alaska and Japan and activism in the early U.S. conservation movement.

My biggest regret is that I pitched the book too soon. I got 30-plus rejections from agents. A 30-minute coaching session with Cathy Curtis of Biographers International Organization helped me rethink the structure, which led to a much more coherent proposal.

I ended up signing with Oxford University Press after a fellow D.C. writer I met on an airplane referred me to his editor there. She loved the subject. Then Covid-19 intervened, causing multiple delays. Getting the book to the finish line felt Sisyphean.

Contact info:

• Diana Parsell: work: 703-538-7302, mobile: 703-297-9893, parselldb@aol.com, https://dianaparsell.com/, https://dianaparsell.com/blog/, @DianaParsell
• Book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/eliza-scidmore-9780198869429
• Publicist: Amy Packard Ferro, amy.packardferro@oup.com

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