Leonora or Leonore? A.Note on Mrs. Piper's First Name a I I I Jaurs G. Merocrr

3

ABSTRACT: In recent years, many authors in have come to spell Mrs. Piper's fint name as Leonora rather than as konora. Leonora, however, was the spelling commonly adopted by Mrs. Piper's contemporaries. Moreover, all known examples of Mrs. Piper's signature show the a ending. With konora established as the correct spelling, one wonders how the e variant came to dominate. An examination of publication patterns and responses to inquiries of recent authors who have used Leonore reveals no clear single source for the variant. There is, however, an evident tendency for authors to follow one another without firm or independent authority. Errors such as the spelling of Mrs. Piper's frst name, trivial in themselves, point to larger problems of reliability of sources in scholarly research.

Was Mrs. Piper's first name "Leonora" or "Leonore"? In recent years, Leonore has become the preferred spelling. Murphy (1969), Beloff (1977), Stevenson (1978), Alvarado (1980), Anderson (1985), Hovel- mann (1985), and Berger (1987) use Leonore. Tietze (19'12) upbraids So- merlott (197I) and Cook (1984) upbraids Gauld (1982) for using Leonora. Hamilton, White, and Henkel (1985) are so confident of the e that they change the spelling in the title of Lydia Allison's (1951) obituary of the medium in their centennial compilation of the tables of contents of the Journal and Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR), and Eysenck and Sargent (1982) go so far as to reproduce the page of the New York Herald showing Mrs. Piper's "Leonora E. Piper" byline (pp. 168-169), while they call her "Leonore Piper" in their text (p.166). The Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology (Pleasants, 1964) and Leslie Shepard's (1978, 1985) Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsy- chology agree to Leonore. It is noteworthy, however, that scholars who have worked closely with archival material-not only Gauld (1982), but also Mauskopf and McVaugh (1980) and Oppenheim (1985)-give ; Leonora instead. The Leonora spelling is supported by archival documents preserved by 1 the ASPR in New York and the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in ,l

"d My ,hunk, to those authors who responded to my inquiries about why they chose l-eonore. I am particularly grateful to Carlos S. Alvarado and Rodger I. Anderson for their many helpful comments and suggestions. I would also like to thank John Beloff for permis- -tsion to cite documents preserved in the confidential files of the SPR.

The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research Yol. 82, July 1988 282 Leonora or Leonore

London. In the s6ance records, the name always appears as "Mrs. Piper" or "Mrs. P.," and in the available letters Mrs. Piper invariably signed her name with initials only (i.e., "L. E. Piper"). However, I have found two autographed photographs, one at the ASPR and the other at the SPR,2 in which the full name appears. In both, it is clearly written as Leonorc. At the SPR, also, are a series of official documents ("Declaration of Trust for the Benefit of Mrs. Leonora E. Piper and her Daughters," 1910; "Decla- ration of Trust for the Benefit of Mrs. Leonora E. Piper and the Society for Psychical Research," 1910; "Deed of Release and Indemnity ," 1932; "Incorporated Society for Psychical Research," 1910), in all ofwhich the full name is written out and signed as "Leonora E. Piper." I have found no instances of the signature written as Leonore. I think we must accept Leonora as the correct name.3 But this leads me to wonder why so many writers have come to prefer Leonore. I have written to several of thema to inquire about their reasons. I have also ex- amined complete runs of the Journal ar,d Proceedings of the ASPR and the SPR, the Bulletin of the Boston Society for Psychic Research, and the Journal of Parapsychology (JP), as well as a variety of books, in an effort to learn when Leonore was introduced and how it came to ascendancy. William James (1886), in the first published mention of Mrs. Piper, referred to her simply as "Mrs. P." Thereafter (e.g., James, 1890) he called her "Mrs. Piper," and it was by that appellation that she was known throughout her career. Even Alta Piper, in her 1929 biography of her mother, called her "Mrs. Piper." Occasionally one ("L.") or two ("L. E.") initials were added, but it was only after Mrs. Piper's death in 1950 that her first name commonly came to be spelled out. Uses of the flust name within Mrs. Piper's lifetime are rare, but there are some. Fittingly, Mrs. Piper herself was the first to supply the full name (as Leonora), in the byline and signature to her famous "confes- sion" published in the New York Herald (Piper, 1901). Lilian Whiting (1902) used "Leonora" in an article published in Practical ldeals, and Clark Bell (1904) used "Leonora" ina collection ofpapers reprinted from the Medico-Legal Journal. "Leonora" appears in an editorial in the ASPR Joanral in February, 190'7 , written presumably by James Hyslop (1907). Bruce (1908, l9l4) and Robbins (1909) use Leonora, as do Tubby (1935) and Mulholland (1938). Hartmann's (1927) Who's Who also lists the name as "Leonora." Of Mrs. Piper's contemporaries, only Car- rington ( 1930, 1940, 1946), Fodor ( 1933), and Harry Price ( 1939) seem to have spelled the name Leonore (see Table). Both Lydia Allison (1951) and Helen Salter (1950), in their obituaries of Mrs. Piper, call her "Leonora." Interestingly, the index to the ASPR

2 I am indebted to D. N. Clark-Lowes, SPR Librarian, for this second photograph. 3 I have been unable to obtain Mrs. Piper's birth, marriage, or death certificates. a Authors contacted include Alvarado, Anderson, Beloff, Berger, Cook, Rogo, Ste- venson, Tietze, and White. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 283

Journal volume for 1950 lists "Piper, Leonore E." This, however, may have been a misprint. Before 1950, the first name was not spelled out in the ASPR Journal index, and after 1950 it was given as Leonora. If we ignore the 1950 entry, we find that Leonore first appears in the index to the ASPR Journal in 1978. "Leonore" first appears in the inder to the SPR Proceedings in 1966 and in the index to the ,IP in 1969. The SPR Journal is consistent in its use of Leonora, and no references to the full name appear in the Bulletin of the Boston Society for Psychic Research. The form of the name in the index does not always follow the form given in the text; usually the index form attempts to be more complete. Ducasse (1959) has the distinction of being the first journal author to use Leonore in print. The analysis of publication patterns has revealed no clear source for the Leonore variant. Carrington, Fodor, and Price-Mrs. Piper's contempo- 13f ies-r,vs1s all popular as writers. Carrington (1930), inhis The Story of Psychic Science, was the first author to use the e, but Fodor's (1933) Encyclopedia of Psychic Science is a reference work that has had wide circulation and influence. Indeed, one of the authors of whom I inquired about the choice of the e based his decision on Fodor's text. However, inasmuch as none of the other authors I contacted based their decision on this or any other reference work, I am reluctant to identify Fodor as the primary source. One other possible source for fronore must be considered. Tie1ze (1972) gives as his authority for Leonore "Mrs. Piper's signature, found in the archives of the A.S.P.p." (p. 225).However,Tietze does nothave in his possession a copy of this signature, nor is he now able to recall exactly where he saw it (personal communication, February 20, 1987). Because the only full signature I have been able to find in the ASPR archives contains the a variant, because legal documents in the SPR archives also contain the a, and because a is consistent with various contemporary pub- lished uses of Mrs. Piper's first name, I feel certain that Tietze was mis- taken. Although Tietze's remark came much too late to have been an orig- inal source for Leonore, it could have contributed to the establishment of the variant. Indeed, one of the authors who used Leonore did so on the basis of Tietze's remark. Most of the authors I contacted assumed that because so many usually reliable writers were using Leonore, this spelling must be correct. The impression that this "bandwagon" consideration was the overriding one is reinforced by the pattern of citations in the Table. After about 1970, au- thors in the field of parapsychology tended to choose Leonore, whereas authors outside the field (e.g., Brandon, 1983; Cavendish, 19741.Kurtz, 1985; Moore, 197'l) stayed with Leonora. The division between parapsy- chologists and lay writers is particularly clear in the case of Hovelmann (1985) and Kurtz (1985). Hovelmann (p. a7! spells the name Leonore, whereas Kurtz (p. 719), in the index to the volume in which Hovelmann's selection appears, says Leonora. 284 Leonora or Leonore

Table LroNon c. vs. LEoNoRE ar PuBusnro Sources, CrnoNorocrcALY ARRANGED

Source konora konore

Piper (1901) A whiting (1902) A Bell (1904) A Hyslop (1907) A Bruce (1908) A Robbins (1909) A Bruce (1914) .A Hartmann (1927) A Carrington (1930) Fodor (1933) Tubby (1935) Mulholland (1938) hice (1939) E Carrington (1940) E Carrington (1946) E Rinn (1950) A Salter (1950) A Allison (1951) A Swanton (1953) A Goadby (1954) A Bruce (1956) A Ducasse (1959) E Steinour (1959) E Ducasse (1961) E Edmunds (1961) E Smith (1961) E Dommeyer & White (1963) Pleasants (1964) E Pratt (1964) E Hansel (1966) E Dingwall (1968) A Murphy (1969) E Somerlott (1971) A White (1971) A Nicol (1972) A Tietze (1972) E Cavendish (1974) Rogo (1975) E Beloff (1977) E Moore (1977) Shepard (1978) E Stevenson (1978) E Alvarado (1980) E Mauskopf & McVaugh (1980) Brian (1982) E Eysenck & Sargent (1982) E Gauld (1982) A Alvarado (1983) E Brandon (1983) A Cook (1984) E Roll (1984) A Anderson (1985) E Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 285

Table (Continued) LEoNoRA vs. LBoNons D,r PuBusrmo Sounces, Cm.oNoLocIceLLv AtneNceD

Source Leonora lronore Hamilton, White, & Henkel (1985) E H

NOTE: Sources listed in the table include all those using a full form of Mrs. Piper's first name that have appeared in the Ja urnal and Proceedings of the ASPR and SPR and in the JP. Also included are all other known sources giving a full form of the name published within Mrs. Piper's lifetime. Citations to sources published in more recent years, however, are selective.

The question does not seem to involve contemporary variant spellings, as was the case with (see Alvarado, 1984). Leonore appears to have caught on only gradually, beginning a decade or so after Mrs. Piper's death. Although three of Mrs. Piper's contemporaries spelled the name Leonore, 10 others did not, and these 10 included James Hyslop, Anne Manning Robbins, and Gertrude Ogden Tubby, all of whom worked closely with the medium.5 Moreover, the earliest use of Leonore I have found (Carrington, 1930) occurred after the conclusion of Mrs. Piper's careef (see Table). I have found no indication that Mrs. Piper called herself or spelled her name other than as Leonora. Conceivably the e variant had a phonetic basis-if Leonorc was pronounced something like Leonore-but in the absence of testimony of those who knew her, I would not want to do more than raise this as a possibility. A phonetic basis for the variant spelling during Mrs. Piper's lifetime, moreover, would not account for the growing tendency of authors to use Leonore following her death. In conclusion, then, I think we may regard Leonora to be established as Mrs. Piper's first name. Although it has not been possible to identify a single source for the e vaiant, there is an evident tendency for authors to copy one another without firm or independent authority. At this juncture, I would like to apologize to those readers who feel that this paper has much ado about very little. I will now try to explain why I believe that the problem it addresses is more important than it may seem. First, because the question of the correct spelling was resolved largely through archival documents, we have here an example of the importance

-:Glrgro, also worked with Mrs. Piper, although not as extensively as did Hyslop, Robbins, and Tubby; his consistent use of Leonore nevertheless remains a mystery. 6 Although Mrs. Piper's agreement with the SPR was not terminated untll1932 ("Deed of Release from lndemnity," 1932), archival documents at the ASPR show that her last sittings were held in 1927. 286 I)eonora or Leonore of collecting and referring to such documents, a position I have defended at greater length elsewhere (Matlock, 1987a). Received opinion is not always correc! but often we cannot know where it is wrong unless we have done our homework with primary sources. Second, and more importantly, this example points up how easy it is for errors to enter the literature. If an error is repeated, it can soon gain the appearance of truth. Anderson (1985, p. l98n) notes the example of Worcester's (1932) confused account of the watch that stopped at the time of Hyslop's death. Worcester's version of the story has been picked up uncritically by almost all writers since. Anderson's example is only slightly less trivial than the issue of the correct spelling of Mrs. Piper's first name, but not all such situations are trivial. If the events about which errors are made are important, repercussions can be very wide. See, for an example, my recent paper on the Rhines' sitting with Margery in 1926 (Matlock, 1987b). Using archival documents, I was able to demonstrate that previous authors were wrong on significant points in that major epi- sode in the history ofparapsychology. The fact that so many writers of distinction have assumed-wrongly- that Mrs. Piper's first name was Leonore should make all of us more careful in our research and more cautious about the sources on which we rely.7

RerenrNces

ALLISoN, L. W. (1951). In memory of Mrs. . Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 45 , 37 -39. ALveneno, C. S. (1980). Letter to the Editor. Journal of Parapsy- chology, 44,293-294. ALVARADo, C. S. (1983). A century of psychical research: Comments on Ren6e Haynes's The Society for Psychical Research, 1882-1982: A H istory. J ournal of P arapsycholo gy, 47, 145 - 16l. Arvenaoo, C. S. (1984). Palladino or Paladino?: On the spelling of Eu- sapia's surname. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 52, 315-316. ANoensou, R. L (1985). The life and work of James H. Hyslop. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 79, 167 -204.

7 As this paper goes to press, a new authority for l.eonore has come to my attention. Gardner Murphy, in James (1971), says: "Mrs. Piper's marriage record and the birth records of her daughters (Mass. Registrar of Vital Statistics) spell her first name 'Leonora'; later sources,includingherdeathrecord,give'Leonore"'(James,1971,p.75).Itisunfortunate that Murphy does not state where the death record may be found. I have tried without success to obtain it in New York City where, according to Pleasants (1964), Mrs. Piper died. We may also ask what was the source of the e ending on the death record, inasmuch as this would not have been signed by Mrs. Piper herself. Finally, if Mrs. Piper did change the spelling of her name late in life, I find it curious that both Allison (1951) and Salter (1950) employed the a ending in their obituaries. Until I receive stronger indication to the contrary, I will continue to regard Leonora as the name by which Mrs. Piper called herself throughout her life. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 287

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TuBBy, G. O. (1935) . Psychics and Mediums. Boston: Marshall Jones.'. WHnE, R. A. (1971). Notes from the Society's library. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 65, 354-359. WtffTntc, L. (1902, July). Mrs. Leonora E. Piper: "The remarkable psy- t chic." Practical ldeals, pp. 1-7. I WoncesrER,E. (1932). Life's Adyen are. New York: Scribner's. x

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