6,282 research outputs found
Jim Shepard
No full textJim Shepard is the author of seven novels, including most recently The Book of Aron, which won the Sophie Brody Medal for Achievement in Jewish Literature from the American Library Association and the PEN/New England Award for fiction, and five story collections, including his new collection, The World To Come. Five of his short stories have been chosen for the Best American Short Stories, two for the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, and one for a Pushcart Prize. He teaches at Williams College. The free, public program begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Ole Miss-Oxford Depot.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/grisham_vis/1000/thumbnail.jp
Essere Paul Shepard. Verso un'ecologia del collasso
No full textPaul Shepard, primatologist, naturalist, ecologist, has written several books on the evolutionary relationship between man and the environment. In The Tender Carnivore he compares the cultures of hunter-gatherers and those of Neolithic farmers. His contribution is very important and has inspired much subsequent anthropological literature. Today, fifty years after the book's release, its relevance is evident and central in the understanding of the contemporary world
Figs. 3–4. 3 in Microparnus Shepard (Coleoptera: Byrrhoidea: Dryopidae), a New Genus from French Guiana
No full textFigs. 3–4. 3) The author in Crique à l'Est, looking upstream; 4) Doug Post and Cheryl Barr collecting in CriquePublished as part of Shepard, William D., 2019, Microparnus Shepard (Coleoptera: Byrrhoidea: Dryopidae), a New Genus from French Guiana, pp. 62-66 in The Coleopterists Bulletin 73 (1) on page 65, DOI: 10.1649/0010-065X-73.1.62, http://zenodo.org/record/483689
Mary Shepard: the artist who brought Mary Poppins to life
No full textThe success of Disney’s 1964 movie Mary Poppins has often obscured the fact the popular series of books describing the experiences of the enigmatic nanny were in fact written by the Australian born author P.L. Travers.
Travers’ own sense of ownership of her creation in turn obscured the contribution made by the illustrator Mary Shepard. Despite a 54 year collaboration, Shepard is regularly ignored in discussions of the books: the 2013 movie Saving Mr Banks, which detailed the genesis of the film, did not even mention Shepard or the pivotal role she played in the books’ success.
'The Conversation' articles provides important insights into Mary Shepard's contribution to the Mary Poppins series of books
Oral history interview with Yvonne M. Shepard
No full textTranscript, 33 pp.Yvonne Shepard was born in Puerto Rico and graduated in 1968 with a math degree from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, an all-women school in Indiana. She accepted a job at Bell Labs as a STA, while a male classmate (from Rose Polytechnic) hired in as MTS. Transferred to Chicago, she did master's work in engineering at Northwestern (graduating in 1976) and became MTS. She discusses several instances of male managers’ attitudes and anxieties about women employees. (She along with Mary Holt and Denise McGrew organized the Men and Women in the Work Environment workshops.) She took up a liaison position for the Bell Data Network, then assumed increasingly responsible managerial and executive positions with the AT&T organization, gaining an executive MBA in 1982 and further training in international business. Shepard became President and COO of AT&T Puerto Rico then worked in AT&T International’s marketing organization. She retired from AT&T in 1999, and pursued consulting assignments with Direct TV of Latin America and Advanta Corporation. Following 2001 she helped lead Hispanics Inspiring Students’ Performance and Achievement (HISPA).
This material is based on work funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award B2014-07 “Tripling Women’s Participation in Computing (1965-1985).”Shepard, Yvonne M.. (2015). Oral history interview with Yvonne M. Shepard. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/188469
2 prospectors the letters of Sam Shepard & Johnny Dark
No full text"Pulitzer Prize-winning author of plays such as True West, Fool For Love, and Buried Child, and Academy Award-nominated actor in many films, including The Right Stuff, Sam Shepard is arguably America's finest working dramatist. He has said many times that he will never write a memoir. But he has written intensively about his inner life and creative work to his former father-in-law and housemate, Johnny Dark. This book gathers nearly 40 years of their correspondence, which provides the most honest and complete record of Shepard's professional and personal lives that he is ever likely to publish. The book is illustrated with Dark's candid, revealing photographs of Shepard and their mutual family across many years, as well as facsimiles of numerous letters. It makes a perfect companion to Treva Wurmfeld's recent film, Shepard & Dark"-
Neoeubria inbionis Shepard & Barr 2014, sp. n.
No full textNeoeubria inbionis sp. n. Figs. 1–4, 25–27 Type material. Holotype (male): COSTA RICA: Guanacaste Prov., Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja, Las Pailas Trail, 14-VI-2001, William D. Shepard, leg. // reared from pupa collected on wood in seep basin // HOLOTYPE Neoeubria inbionis Shepard & Barr [red label]. Deposited in INBC. Allotype (female): locality data same as holotype // ALLOTYPE Neoeubria inbionis Shepard & Barr [red label]. Deposited in INBC. Paratypes (2 M & 5 F): ECUADOR: Napo Prov., Huahua Sumaco, Km 44 on Hollin-Loreto Rd., XII-15-1989, Malaise Trap, MS/ JS Wasbauer, H. Real // CALIFORNIA STATE COLLN AGRICULTURE // PARATYPE Neoeubria inbionis Shepard & Barr [yellow label] (1 M) (EMEC); data same, except XII-16-1989 (1 F) (CSCA); data same, except XII-18-1989 (1 M) (CSCA); data same, except XII-19-1989 (1 F) (CSCA); data same, except XII-21-1989 (2 FF) (CSCA, EMEC); data same, except XII-22-1989 (1 F) (CSCA). Adult Description. Body oval; males (Fig. 3) smaller than females (Figs. 1–2, 4); males 4.6–5.0 mm long and 2.75 mm wide, females 5.0– 5.6 mm long and 2.8–3.5 mm wide. Integument color medium brown, shiny where setae sparse; covered dorsally with a combination of different kinds of setae: widely-spaced, long, erect blond and dark brown setae; sparse, shorter, pale brown setae; and very dense, recumbent, pale blond setae forming a pattern of broad bands and large spots. Venter uniformly clothed in medium-length pale blond setae. Aedeagus of trilobed type (Fig. 25) and lightly sclerotized. Basal piece long, reduced to ventral plate basally with lateral flanges that clasp the base of parameres. Parameres long, widest at apical three-fourths of aedeagus; tips narrow, curved laterally; dorsally conjoined just anterior to midlength. Penis lanceolate; shorter than parameres; tip slightly curved ventrally and laterally compressed; base deeply cleft. 1. Ectopria is omitted from the key because it is probable that the Neotropical species belong in other genera. Ovipositor (Fig. 26) with bacula long, 1.4 times as long as coxites, thin, gently curved; only partially sclerotized. Coxites 0.7 times as long as bacula; joined medially in basal half, divergent medially in apical half; laterally gently sinuate. Styli short, one-segmented. Long, thin accessory sclerite dorsally in basal third of membrane between coxites. Immature specimens examined. COSTA RICA: Alajuela, Alta Masis, 9 VI 2000, Río San Lorenzo [WDS- A-1302] // William D. Shepard, leg. (1 larva); Guanacaste Prov., Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja, Las Pailas Trail, 18-I-2000, William D. Shepard & Cheryl B. Barr, collected on wood in seep basin [WDS-A-1283](24 larvae, 1 pupa); data same, except 14-VI-2001, William D. Shepard, leg. [WDS-A-1386] (3 larvae, 3 pupae); data same, except 15-VI-2003, William D. Shepard & Cheryl B. Barr [WDS-A-1541] (11 larvae); data same, except Quebrada Pailas below Catarata, 14-VI-2001, William D. Shepard, leg. [WDS-A-1387] (1 larva). NICARAGUA: Río San Juan, Refugio Bartola, 10 VIII 2002, riffle 3, Río Bartola, William D. Shepard, leg. [WDS-A-1492] (1 larva). PANAMA: Chiriquí, Fortuna Forest Res., March 2004, Checo Colón-Gaud, leg. (1 larva). All immature specimens are deposited in EMEC. Etymology. Named in honor of INBio, the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad in Costa Rica. The case is genitive. Distribution. Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador, based on adult and larval specimens. Habitat. The type locality in Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja at an 780 m is a series of seeps in a small basin connected by a spring run to a narrow, slow-flowing forest stream which is a tributary of the Río Colorado. The entire area around the seeps and both streams is heavily forested and generally heavily shaded. In the seep basin the water is only about 2–3 cm deep over a substrate composed of a thick deposit of silt and fine detritus on which lie sticks and larger pieces of rotting, waterlogged wood (Fig. 27). In the basin the water is extremely slowmoving but in a couple of meters it begins to flow downhill in a narrow spring run which is crossed by the Las Pailas Trail between Stops 3 and 4. Larvae and pupae of N. inbionis were collected on pieces of decomposing wood found in the seep basin. Larvae were positioned below the water’s surface and pupae were above. The water is likely hypoxic because of the fine organic detritus substrate, coupled with the lack of sunlight for aquatic photosynthesizers due to the heavily-shaded nature of the site. Possession of a plastron facilitates larval survival in this water. Neoeubria was the only psephenid present in the seep area, and the only other co-occurring aquatic byrrhoid Coleoptera was an unidentified ptilodactylid larva. Other arthropods present in the seep area included aquatic Hemiptera, Belostoma (Belostomatidae) and Ambrysus (Naucoridae), and the crustacean Hyallela (Amphipoda). No specimens were collected from the spring run formed by the seeps. A single larva was collected in a second, larger stream, Quebrada Pailas, a tributary of the Río Colorado, which is also located along the Las Pailas Trail. The other sites at which larvae were collected by the senior author are also forest streams, although with rocky substrates and faster flow. Although the particular microhabitat of the larvae at these sites is unknown, at all of them submerged wood was common. Neoeubria inbionis has been collected at elevations ranging from as low as 40+ m in Nicaragua, to as high as 780 m in Costa Rica. The Ecuadorian adults were all taken in Malaise traps which were set in a forested area to catch flies. Although we could obtain no further information beyond the label data, collection of adults via Malaise traps indicates that N. inbionis adults behave like other eubriine adults and fly near the aquatic habitat in which the larvae occur. Phylogeny. In the recent phylogeny of the Psephenidae by Lee et al. (2007), Neoeubria is included as “Genus A.” In the most parsimonious tree Neoeubria is placed in a basal trichotomy within the subfamily Eubriinae. The trichotomy positions Neoeubria in one branch, Sclerocyphon + Tychepsephus in another branch, and the remainder of the eubriine genera in a third branch.Published as part of Shepard, William D. & Barr, Cheryl B., 2014, Neoeubria inbionis Shepard & Barr, a new genus and new species of Neotropical water penny beetle (Coleoptera: Psephenidae: Eubriinae), with a key to the adult Eubriinae of the Neotropic Zone, pp. 553-568 in Zootaxa 3811 (4) on pages 564-567, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3811.4.7, http://zenodo.org/record/491902
Neoelmis guarani Shepard & Barr 2016, sp. n.
No full text<i>Neoelmis guarani</i> sp. n. <p>Figs. 1–12</p> <p> <b>Holotype, adult male.</b> Body slender, 2.1 mm long (pronotum + elytra), 0.7 mm wide at widest point; body color testaceous, appendages (antennae, palpi, legs) paler (Figs. 1–5).</p> <p>Head with frons moderately setose, setae long and pale; genae covered with fine, adpressed, plastron setae; eyes large, protuberant; antennal ridges produced, especially anteriorly. Antennae filiform, each with 11 segments; antennomeres 1–2 twice as long as wide, antennomeres 3–10 more than twice as long as wide; antennomere 11 clavate, slightly curved, longer than antennomeres 9+10 (Figs. 1, 2). Clypeus setose, transverse, apex feebly emarginate. Labrum transverse, apex arcuate; surface shiny with few setae; apicolateral margins with fringe of pale, dense setae. Maxillary and labial palpi each with three palpomeres.</p> <p>Pronotum (Fig. 1) elongate, 0.6 mm long, 0.5 mm wide at widest point about 1/3 distance from base; surface shiny, smooth, and sparsely clothed with pale, recumbent setae except for central disc where finely granulate and more densely setose; lateral margins bisinuate and irregularly crenulate; apicolateral angles acute, produced; posterior border bisinuate, notched medially to receive scutellum; prominent, wide transverse sulcus at 1/3 distance from apex, deeper fovea at midline with longitudinal groove which tapers posteriorly; two prominent, sinuate, sublateral carinae; broad, shallow depression between each sublateral carina and lateral margin, with a large fovea ventrally adjacent to transverse sulcus. Hypomeron with shallow depression on each side at basal 1/3 and a large fovea ventrally adjacent to fovea between lateral margin and sublateral carina; without plastron setae.</p> <p>Scutellum subovoid, longer than wide, feebly convex.</p> <p>Elytra (Fig. 1) elongate, 1.5 mm long, 0.7 mm wide at widest point 1/3–1/2 distance from elytral apices; shallow linear punctures and setae present. Each elytron with a short, prominent, basal carina on third interval separating shallow lateral and medial depressions; two long sublateral carinae extending posteriorly from humeral angle, inner one extending to apical 1/3, outer one extending nearly to apex. Epipleuron with plastron setae, notched just before apex to receive tooth from abdominal ventrite 5.</p> <p>Prosternum (Fig. 2) longer than wide, with flat, evenly and lightly setose, shiny disc bordered by two longitudinal carinae 3/4 length of prosternum, fading out anteriorly; episternum clothed with plastron setae; prosternal process wide, apex extending posterior to procoxae, margins raised and rimmed with narrow sulcus between. Mesoventrite (Fig. 2) shorter than wide; with a pair of large, posterolateral, ventrally projecting processes (Fig. 2, arrow) adjacent to and extending below mesocoxae; processes with ventromedially oriented, flattened surfaces; area between processes excavated; mesanepisternum with plastron setae. Metaventrite (Fig. 2) shorter than prosternum, longer than mesosternum; disc flat, shiny, sparsely setose, with distinct discrimen; with two sublateral carinae extending from mesocoxae to metacoxae and small, carinate tubercle near each posterolateral margin; plastron setae present laterad to carinae and on metanepisternum. Pro- and mesocoxae globular; metacoxae transverse. Pro- and mesotrochanters of similar size, metatrochanters larger.</p> <p>Prothoracic leg (Figs. 1–4) with profemur abruptly and deeply excavated on both anterior and posterior surfaces 1/3 distance from apex (Fig. 3), excavations lined with short, stiff setae (Fig. 4); anterior surface bearing a large, blunt, distally directed tooth at inner edge of excavation; plastron setae present except in excavations. Protibia (Fig. 4) slender, wider apically; posterior face with long setae present basally and apically and a deep excavation near apex; cleaning fringe of long, dense, pale setae on anterior surface. Protarsus (Fig. 4) shiny, tarsomeres 1–4 with long setae ventrally, tarsomere 5 with a pair of long, projecting setae at apex; tarsomere 5 longer than tarsomeres 1–4 combined; claws simple. Mesothoracic leg (Figs. 1, 2, 5) with mesofemur (Fig. 5) widened medially; a deep, longitudinal groove present on ventral surface to receive tibia when folded, posterior margin of groove with numerous, long, curved setae; plastron setae present except inside of groove. Mesotibia (Fig. 5) in lateral view with ventrally directed expansion at middle and shallow excavation on anterior face about 1/ 3 distance from apex; with anterior and posterior cleaning fringes (Fig. 1) having long, tuft-like setae that extend beyond tibial apex. Mesotarsus similar to protarsus; right mesotarsus missing tarsomeres 3–5 due to breakage. Metathoracic leg (Figs. 1, 2) with metafemur unmodified. Metatibia with cleaning fringe on posterior surface at central 1/3; inner surface flat at apical 1/4, glabrous and shiny with a small peg near ventral margin. Metatarsus similar to pro- and mesotarsus.</p> <p>Abdomen (Fig. 2) with five ventrites; ventrites 1–4 decreasing in length posteriorly, ventrite 5 longer than all but ventrite 1. Ventrite 1 longest, with basomedial depression bordered by two short carinae which extend from posterior margin of metacoxae nearly to posterior margin of ventrite; surface shiny and sparsely setose between carinae, plastron setae present laterad to carinae. Ventrite 2 with a pair of processes (Fig. 2, arrow) projecting ventrally from anteromedial border, size of each process less than half that of each mesoventral process; surface between processes shiny, plastron setae present elsewhere. Ventrites 3–5 covered with plastron setae; ventrite 5 with a dorsally projecting tooth on each lateral margin which serves to link with a notch in the epipleuron. Ventrite 5 removed from abdomen and mounted on a card point.</p> <p>Aedeagus (Fig. 6) in dorsal view with phallobase twice as long as parameres, widely open in basal half; parameres widely open at apical 2/3 exposing penis; penis stout, sides faintly arcuate at basal 1/2, then moderately constricted and nearly parallel-sided to apical 1/8, thereafter evenly converging to narrowly rounded apex which extends slightly past paramere apices. Penis in ventral view with fibula at middle. Aedeagus in lateral view with apices of parameres and penis acutely pointed. Aedeagus removed from abdomen and placed in genitalia vial.</p> <p> <b>Allotype, adult female.</b> Body slender, 2.3 mm long (pronotum + elytra), 0.8 mm wide at widest point about 1/ 3 distance from elytral apices (Fig. 7). Slightly larger but generally similar to male except as follows: Each elytron (Figs. 7, 8) with a dorsally projecting protuberance in the third interval at about 1/3 distance from apex (Fig. 7, arrow), pointed and subtriangular in lateral view (Fig. 8). Mesoventrite and abdominal ventrite 2 lacking modifications. All legs (Figs. 7, 8) without special modifications, similar to each other; tibiae with cleaning fringes. Ovipositor very elongate; valvifers more than 10 times longer than wide, thin basally then widest apically by coxites; coxites twice as long as wide, rectangular; styli 2-segmented, second segment very short.</p> <p> <b>Variation.</b> Although seven specimens (three males and four females) is a small sample with which to examine variation, some differences were noted. Most striking of these are the different external modifications of males and females, detailed in the descriptions and Diagnosis. In addition, the females (2.2–2.3 mm long, 0.7–0.8 mm wide) are slightly larger than the males (2.1–2.2 mm long, 0.7 mm wide). In some specimens mineral deposits on the dorsum obscure details of the surface, causing semi-glabrous, shiny areas to appear granulate. Specimens also exhibit varying degrees of surface abrasion which can lessen the number of setae present in the abraded area compared to that of an unabraded specimen.</p> <p> <b>Diagnosis</b>. The distinctive secondary sexual characters of <i>N. guarani</i>, present in both males and females, serve to distinguish this species from all other known species of <i>Neoelmis</i>. Males (Figs. 1–5) have strong modifications of the profemora, protibiae, mesofemora, mesotibiae, and metatibiae, and bear a pair of ventral processes on both the mesoventrite and second abdominal ventrite. Females (Figs. 7, 8) have a dorsal pair of elytral protuberances and unmodified legs.</p> <p> The aedeagus of <i>N. guarani</i> most closely resembles that of <i>N. simoni</i> (Grouvelle) which is known only from Venezuela (Hinton 1939). However, in <i>N. guarani</i> the phallobase is open only in the basal half and the penis barely projects beyond the tips of the parameres, whereas in <i>N. simoni</i> the phallobase is open entirely and the penis projects well beyond the tips of the parameres. The aedeagus of <i>N. guarani</i> bears no resemblance to those of <i>N. maculata</i>, <i>N. nelo</i>, nor <i>N. opis</i>, other species occurring in Paraguay (Hinton 1940a, 1972).</p> <p> <b>Type material.</b> <i>Holotype</i> (male): <b>PARAGUAY:</b> Paraguarí [Dpto.], Arroyo Naranjo at Balneario Salto Cristal 7.5 km S Piribebuy, 17 Feb. 2011, C. B. Barr // 25º32.026’ S 57º01.717’ W; elevation 214 m // HOLOTYPE <i>Neoelmis guarani</i> Shepard & Barr [red label, handwritten]. Deposited in EMEC. A <i>llotype</i> (female): <b>PARAGUAY:</b> Cordillera [Dpto.], Piribebuy-Barrio Santa Ana, unnamed stream, 820 ft [250 m], 25º27.95’S 57º01.99’W, 18 VI 2006, [WDS-A-1687, on underside of label] // W. D. Shepard, leg. // ALLOTYPE <i>Neoelmis guarani</i> Shepard & Barr</p> <p> [red label, handwritten]. Deposited in EMEC. <i>Paratypes</i> (2MM, 3 FF): <b>PARAGUAY:</b> Cordillera [Dpto.], Piribebuy-Barrio Santa Ana, unnamed stream, 820 ft [250 m], 25º27.95’S 57º01.99’W, 18 VI 2006 [WDS-A-1687, on underside of label] // W. D. Shepard, leg. // PARATYPE <i>Neoelmis guarani</i> Shepard & Barr [yellow label] (1M, EMEC); Cordillera [Dpto.], Piribebuy–B. Sta. Ana, 17 II 2011, 230 m, Arroyo Mborebi, S25º28.075’ W57º02.330’ // W. D. Shepard, leg. [WDS-A- 1830, on underside of label] // PARATYPE <i>Neoelmis guarani</i> Shepard & Barr [yellow label] (1M, INBP); Paraguarí [Dpto.], Arroyo Naranjo at Balneario Salto Cristal 7.5 km S Piribebuy, 17 Feb. 2011, C.B. Barr // 25º32.026’ S 57º01.717’ W, elevation 214 m // PARATYPE <i>Neoelmis guarani</i> Shepard & Barr [yellow label] (2 FF; EMEC, INBP); Paraguari [Dpto.], 15.3 km NE Paraguari, 18 II 2011, 282 m, Capilla Cue, S25º33.210’ W57º02.829’ // W. D. Shepard, leg. [WDS-A-1834, on underside of label] // PARATYPE <i>Neoelmis guarani</i> Shepard & Barr [yellow label] (1F, EMEC).</p> <p> <b>Etymology</b>. <i>Guarani,</i> a noun in apposition, was chosen to honor the indigenous Guaraní people who are native to the region and whose language is widely spoken in Paraguay.</p> <p> <b>Distribution.</b> <i>Neoelmis guarani</i> is known from four localities in the highlands area of the Cordillera de los Altos southeast of Asunción in the departments of Cordillera and Paraguarí. Although 42 streams have been sampled during our survey of the aquatic Byrrhoidea of Paraguay, the species has been found only in this small area. The elevations at the collection sites range from 214–282 masl and they are all less than 10 km apart (straight line distance) near the towns of Piribebuy and Chololó.</p> <p> <b>Habitat.</b> The type locality, Arroyo Naranjo (Figs. 9, 10), is a small to medium-sized stream with slightly turbid water and a substrate of orange sand with sparse gravel/cobbles, numerous bedrock outcrops and ledges, and small waterfalls. The three other streams are similar in size and substrate, except that Arroyo Mborebí (Fig. 11) lacks extensive bedrock outcrops, at least at the collection site (Figs. 11, 12). Other elmids collected in association with <i>N. guarani</i> include <i>Heterelmis</i> sp., <i>Hexacylloepus</i> sp., <i>Hexanchorus</i> sp., <i>Macrelmis</i> sp., <i>Microcylloepus longipes</i> (Grouvelle), <i>M. inaequalis</i> (Sharp), <i>Neoelmis nelo</i> Hinton, <i>Phanocerus</i> sp., <i>Stenhelmoides</i> sp., and <i>Xenelmis micros</i> (Grouvelle).</p>Published as part of <i>Shepard, William D. & Barr, Cheryl B., 2016, Neoelmis guarani Shepard & Barr, a sexually dimorphic new species from Paraguay (Insecta: Coleoptera: Elmidae: Elminae), pp. 418-430 in Zootaxa 4083 (3)</i> on pages 419-429, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4083.3.6, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/1053864">http://zenodo.org/record/1053864</a>
Creating Mary Poppins: Exploring the Dynamics of the Artistic Collaboration between the Illustrator Mary Shepard and the Writer P.L. Travers
No full textWriting about a fifty-four year collaboration between two people from different backgrounds and possessing remarkably different temperaments is a complicated undertaking. Richard Holmes described biographical writing of this sort as a "kind of pursuit, a tracking of the physical trail of someone's path through the past, a following of footsteps." Our pursuit of the relationship between the author P.L. Travers (1899-1996) and the illustrator Mary Shepard (1909-2000) was made possible by the generosity of a Friends of the Princeton University Library Research Grant rather than the accessibility of our subjects. Travers and Shepard are elusive quarry: both, to varying degrees, sought to cover their tracks. The former created her own personal mythology as a means of obscuring rather than illuminating her past, while the latter preferred the comfort of family and domesticity to the life of a public figure. Both were, as Holmes warned, fleeting figures who had done all in their powers to thwart pursuers. What remains is their literary and artistic output. Between them they created Mary Poppins, one of the most beloved and enduring characters in children's literature. It is that collaboration which interests us here
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