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It has been a pleasure to speak of all this. Ordinarily I do not believe in living in the past and seldom speak of IT.

Sonia H. Davis to Sidney and Florence Moseson, and Leonore [Moseson] Goldberg, August 25, 1964, Autobiographical Writings, Box 9, Folder 1, John Hay Library, Providence, RI.

Goodbye 2024

The end of the year is always a time of remembrance—remembering what was gained, what was lost, or what never came to be. For someone who bullet journals, I am always referring back to my yearly goals page at the end of the year. Last year I divided my annual goals into Scholarly, Literary, and Personal categories, which I did again this year. For 2024, I had four goals for the scholarly section, three of which I’ll break down for this month’s post, and what that means for the new year in Sonia scholarship.

Goal 1: “Finish transcribing Sonia’s essays.”

While I was editing Two Hearts That Beat as One, I was also transcribing Sonia’s essays. The first essay I transcribed was on October 4, 2022, and the last was on June 3, 2024. In that span of time, I’ve transcribed 71 essays in total, which comprise of 4 fragments, 46 essays (9 of which are duplicates with variations, and 1 that was published in The Rainbow (Vol. 2) as “Commercialism—The Curse of Art”), and 21 book reviews and miscellaneous writings. While tedious work, transcribing her essays was also beneficial, since many of the essays helped strengthened the autobiography and several posts on this blog.

Goal 2: “post once a month in the blog.”

With the exception of July, (a month of rest from the blog), I’ve posted every month this year. While I’m proud of the research this blog provided in 2023, I think the topics of 2024 were extremely fascinating to present. We had unique posts such as “What is this Phenomenon?” and “Lot #45119” which presented scans of the original draft of The Psychic Phenomenon of Love and never before seen photos of Sonia’s entire passport. Then we had biographical sketches which magnified certain phases of Sonia’s life, such as her relationship with Florence Carol Greene, her correspondence with both Samuel Loveman and Alfred Galpin, her time as a historical researcher, and her friendship with a Korean spy, Kilsoo Kenneth Haan. The posts of 2024 were a remarkable bunch that covered an array of points that normally get overlooked in her life.

Goal 3: “Draft and finish Sonia on Amateur Journalism.”

I felt called this year to focus on Sonia’s contribution to Amateur Journalism, especially after my two-part posts, “Amateurdom and the Editor” and “Amateurdom of the Editor”, last year. After those posts, I felt there was more to say about it and so I’ve decided to expand the subject into a full length book called, An Ardent Recruit. For the majority of the year, I’ve studied amateur journalism and its history, reading book after book. This has taken up so much time that I haven’t had the chance to write the rough draft yet. Not all was lost, though. A short sample was published by The Fossils in their July issue: The Fossil, Vol. 120, No. 4, Whole No. 400.

I am delighted to think that you appreciate my short and sketchy biography.

Sonia H. Davis to Leonore Goldberg, September 11, 1964, Box 1, Folder 1, From S.H. Davis 1944 – 1970, John Hay Library, Providence, RI.

One goal that came true, but was not include on my list, was the release of Two Hearts of That Beat as One. In the publishing world, nothing goes according to plan; last minute editing, publication date changes, shipments delayed. In short, too many moving parts. The wait for this book was sooo long, but it has finally shipped out and from what I’ve heard from all of you, the book has been worth the wait. I’m exceedingly thankful for all the kind words, love, and support I’ve received for this project. This dream didn’t only come true for Sonia and me, but also for all those who have silently waited for years (even decades) for this book to come to be.

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If you haven’t gotten a copy yet, it’s available through Helios House and the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society:

Two Hearts That Beat as One

Two Hearts That Beat As One – Hardcover Edition

Two Hearts That Beat As One – Collector's Edition

Done reading? Please be sure to leave a review over at Goodreads. Any praise and/or constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated!

Goodreads: Two Hearts That Beat as One

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Hello 2025

So, what does all of this mean for the new year in Sonia scholarship? My goals for 2025 primarily focus on drafting An Ardent Recruit.  There is still so much more to unearth, many archives to scour, many threads to unite into a readable treatise. I’m aiming for this to be the next publication, but there’s still other projects that I hope to push further along the timeline.

While all of her essays have been transcribed, the next step is to decide how to organize everything. Her essays range from love, politics, book reviews, Jewish history, and even autobiographical. It’s hard to say how many books these essays could take up, especially if it went by topic, but this is certainly the next project after An Ardent Recruit.

Another project I’ve had in mind but have spoken very little about has been Sonia’s letters. There are 11 folders of correspondence from Sonia (and to Sonia) in the Sonia H. and Nathaniel A. Davis papers. Out of the 11, I only have the first 3 folders. The next step would be to hire a proxy researcher to get the remaining letters scanned. If this can be achieved in 2025, that would be amazing!

As for this blog, this will be my last post. A lot of work goes into drafting these monthly posts, and sometimes it’s hard to finish them when “real life” gets in the way. Aside from being a “scholar”, I’m also a substitute teacher at a Christian high school, which means my work schedule isn’t always predictable and sometimes I’m scheduled for weeks on end. My second job is administrative assistant for a self-defense program. Sadly, this blog is a one-woman show and whatever spare time I have going forward, I would like to spend it drafting the new book. I will provide updates on this blog whenever the necessity arises regarding current projects and/or rare finds. Until then, please enjoy the last two years worth of scholarship on this website!

And thus, choosing not to dwell too far into the future, this is what Sonia scholarship looks like in the ensuing months. At the end of the day, these are just goals. Whether they come true or not, it’s obviously not an assessment of my worth as a scholar. Originally, I had set out to only publish Sonia’s autobiography and post on this blog because I wish I had these resources when I first learned of Sonia. Whatever comes after, either by me or someone new, that’s just a bonus in the grand scheme of bringing awareness to the unique life of Sonia H. Davis.