Louise A Jackson
Fern Elaine Nance Shumate was born on a farm near Montevallo in Cedar County, MO, October 3, 1910, to Mary Huff Nance and Samuel Roland Nance, and died February 11, 2003 in Springfield, MO. She married Roland Kelso Shumate on September 2, 1947, in Berryville,AR. They had one child, a daughter, Nancy Maryann Shumate.(1)
An early and voracious reader, Fern entertained herself as a child by making up stories and telling them aloud to herself if she could find no other listener.(2) Immediately upon graduating from Springfield High School (1927), she began work as a reporter on the Springfield Daily Press. A particularly enterprising writer, she often took advantage of the need of early airplanes to set down in Springfield for refueling on the way to Tulsa and managed to interview such well-known personages as Amelia Earhart, Will Rogers, and Jack Dempsey.(3) One other opportunistic interview, this one near a swimming pool in Galena MO, with the well-known Ozark folklorist, Vance Randolph, proved to be especially fortunate for her future writing career.(4) Randolph was impressed with Fern's youth and initiative and the two became lifelong friends as well as frequent writing collaborators. During her extended writing career, Shumate used several pseudonyms: Nancy Nance, Nancy Clemens, and Anthony Gish.(5)
When the Springfield Daily Press, the city's afternoon newspaper, merged with the morning Springfield Leader in ???? and all the Press' reporters were laid off, Randolph encouraged his young friend to become a free-lance writer and novelist, which she did. She wrote feature stories for a variety of well-known newspapers and magazines. (See attached bibliography) Using the pseudonym, Anthony Gish, she also produced several short books for Haldeman-Julius Publications. Under the same male pseudonym, Shumate became the first woman ever to write for Esquire Magazine.(6) With encouragement from Vance Randolph, her friend and mentor, she published several novels, including “Girl Scouts in the Ozarks” (NYC: Alfred Knopf, 1936) and “Under Glass” (Vanguard Press, ????). Titles in collaboration with Randolph include: “The Camp-Meeting Murders,”(Vanguard Press, 1936), “A Fifth Ozark Word List” (American Speech, 1936), “Ozark Mountain Party-Games” (Journal of American Folklore, 1936).These publications and others earned her a place in “Who’s Who of American Women, 1939-40.
In 1938, Shumate began an entirely new career as an innovative floral designer when she joined a family partnership in the Nance Greenhouse, located on N. Douglas Street in Springfield, MO. Marriage and motherhood followed and her writing career languished until 1978, when she began writing monthly articles for the “Ozark Mountaineer” magazine. They proved so popular with readers that the series continued for ten years.(7)
An avid birder and amateur photographer, as well as a prolific writer, Shumate was always and foremost, in her own words, “a hillbilly and proud of it.” (8)
Shumate Bibliography: Books: 1. Nance, Nancy. Girl Scouts in the Ozarks. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1936. 2. Nance, Nancy. Under Glass. NY: Vanguard Press, ????. 3. Randolph, Vance and Clemens, Nancy. The Camp Meeting Murders. NY: Vanguard Press, 1936.
Articles: 1. Gish, Anthony. "Yes, I'm a Hillbilly." Esquire, (April 1937):95,128,130. 2. Nance, Nancy. “The Sacrifice,” Arcadian Life, Sulphur Springs, TX (July, 1934): 5. 3. Nance, Nancy. “Missouri Caverns Lure Treasure Seekers,” Missouri Magazine, Springfield, MO, 5(January, 1934): 14-15. 4. Nance, Nancy. “Old Wiver’s Tales,” Ozarkian Magazine, Springfield, MO, 5(April, 1934):8,17. 5. Clemens, Nancy. “The Ozark Language Changes Little.” Kansas City Star, 21 August 1938. 6. Clemens, Nancy. “A Modern Daniel Boone.” Kansas City Times, 9 August 1933. 7. Clemens, Nancy, “Ozark Laughter.” University Review, Kansas City, MO: University of Kansas City (June, 1936) pp. 246-248. 8. Clemens, Nancy. “Grandma’s Charm String.” Mother’s Home Life, Winona, MN(November1936) pp. 3,11. 9. Clemens, Nancy. “Backwoods Sparkin’.” Atlantic Monthly, 159 (January 1937): 127-28. 9. Clemens, Nancy. “Supper at Ashcroft’s.” Kansas City Star, 2 May 1932. 10. Clemens, Nancy. “Heavenly Crown.” University Review, Kansas City, 3 (summer 1937): 263-66. 11. ___________. “Mountain Sibyl.” University Review, Kansas City, 4(Winter 1937): 105-107. 12. ___________. “Taking My Medicine.” Atlantic Monthly 161 (February 1938): 265-66. 13. ___________. “As Always, Vance.” The Ozarks Mountaineer 29:2-3 (April 1981): 20-21. 14. Shumate, Fern. “The Value of Recording Personal History.” Greene County Historical Society Bulletin, Springfield, MO, 3(May, 1960) 3. 15. Shumate, Fern. “Rose O’Neill—Neither Saint Nor Sinner.” The Ozarks Mountaineer 30:2-3(April 1982): 48-49,51. 16. Randolph, Vance and Clemens, Nancy. “A Fifth Ozark Word List.” American Speech 11 (December 1936):314-18. 17. Randolph, Vance and Clemens, Nancy. “Ozark Mountain Party Games.” Journal of American Folklore 49(1936):199-206.
Selected References: 1. Shumate Obituary, Springfield News-Leader, February 16, 2003. 2. Interview with Nancy Shumate, July, 2014. 3. Shumate, Fern. “I Knew Them Long Ago,” unpublished ms. 4. Shumate, Fern. “The Glory That Was Galena,” unpublished ms. 5. Cochran, Robert, Vance Randolph: An Ozark Life. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1985. 6. Harkins, Anthony, Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon. NY: Oxford University Press, 2004. 7. Ozark Mountaineer, 1981-1991.
Nomination of Fern Shumate for deletion
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A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Fern Shumate is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.
The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Fern Shumate until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.
Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:16, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
- “Keep”
This woman was a pioneer female journalist in Missouri and published nationally as well as regionally, books as well as newspaper and magazine articles. Her work continued from the 1930's to the 1980's. She was often the writer behind the scenes for the nationally known Ozark folklorist, Vance Randolph, whose biographical information is included in Wikipedia. He praised her work constantly and they collaborated until his death. I am convinced that her entry deserves inclusion if I can only figure out how to do things correctly.
I am a published academic and understand the process of research and documentation. I have consistently used primary references. Bear with me and I promise a usable article.
Louise A Jackson (talk) 22:01, 5 November 2014 (UTC)Louise A JacksonLouise A Jackson (talk) 22:01, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
Help me!
edit | This help request has been answered. If you need more help, you can , contact the responding user(s) directly on their user talk page, or consider visiting the Teahouse. |
Please help me with how to respond to the challenge of a proposed article I recently wrote. I don't know how to respond to the discussion. Jim said to write at the bottom of his page but I can't see where to do it.
Louise A Jackson (talk) 17:20, 5 November 2014 (UTC)Louise A Jackson
- See below. Yngvadottir (talk) 17:56, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
Help me!
edit| | This help request has been answered. If you need more help, you can , contact the responding user(s) directly on their user talk page, or consider visiting the Teahouse. |
Please help me with how to respond to the challenge of a proposed article I recently wrote about Fern Shumate . I don't know how to respond to the discussion. Jim said to write at the bottom of his page but I can't see where to do it.
Louise A Jackson (talk) 17:21, 5 November 2014 (UTC)Louise A Jackson
- You should make a new entry at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Fern Shumate. Start with *'''Keep'''. Then explain why she is notable, preferably with reference to this notability guideline. You should also explain the name issue that has been raised - I presume she wrote under a pseudonym? Yngvadottir (talk) 17:56, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
- No, not on this page: click on this link: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Fern Shumate and add your argument to the bottom there. Yngvadottir (talk) 19:52, 6 November 2014 (UTC)
Here are some links with information about how we do things, and a few specific pointers
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Have a look at WP:Notability and at the specific guideline WP:NAUTHOR. If she has not been discussed at length in multiple reliable published sources, or stated in at least one reliable source to have been important for her writing, the only other avenue is to show that she has been mentioned in a very lanrge number of individual reliable sources: see WP:GNG. You should also look at this concerning sources. Since we are an encyclopedia, we try to write only what can be sourced from secondary and failing that tertiary sources. Primary sources should be used only very sparingly, because our aim is to be a neutral summary, so we don't publish original research. The opposite of an academic article, except for a survey of prior publications: more like textbook writing. You have at least one newspaper reference in the article, the obituary. Someone at the deletion discussion has found a couple more book references. You need more like those. Hope this helps; this is a very different kind of writing environment for most people, including academics. Yngvadottir (talk) 20:02, 6 November 2014 (UTC)