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Hi Everyone,
Here is a note that Forrest created one afternoon in mid-October 2019.
Whenever we were sitting around swapping stories, he would occasionally say, "I ought to write that one up." And would jot the idea down on a handy piece of paper. This note is one example.
The "bob cat story" never made it into a print. It was about a Texas family that took in what they thought was a stray kitten and it turned out to be a bob cat. There were various misadventures before they realized that it was a bobcat.
We were looking through Forrest's first edition of the Trail Drivers of Texas when he wrote down that he should tell the "John Marchand" story. It became scrapbook 234. John Marchand is mentioned in the post, but the story is really more about Evetts Haley and Fred Rosenstock.
"Holding Declaration Library" is Forrest's shorthand for a story about holding a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the Library of Congress. He knew someone in Washington with enough pull to get him into a private room in the Library of Congress where they handed him one of the early drafts of the Declaration of Independence between two protective sheets. I'd like to think that maybe he distracted the curator for a moment and pulled the protective sheet back to touch it.
"China Erlichman" became scrapbook 214. This is my copy of The White House Doodles that prompted Forrest to write that note and it is mentioned in the scrapbook.
And here Forrest signed it on the same page as John Connally.
As far as I know, other than the gilded, hardcover version that Forrest created for himself, only three other copies of this book exist besides mine: Zoey and Kelly each have a book, and Forrest's lawyer has a copy. In the scrapbook, Forrest mentions "a friend in Cody has a copy." I have never lived in Cody so I am not sure what Forrest meant. Maybe there is one other copy out there.
I have gone through Forrest's special hardcover copy with him and he has a lot of White House memorabilia tucked into the pages at various spots: a letter Nixon had written to Forrest, a leaf from the White House lawn, letters from Erlichman, etc. As he was closing the volume, he looked at me and said, "What is something like this worth?" I had no idea, but was pretty sure that it was worth a lot more than my paperback version. Mine doesn't even have a leaf in it.
I thought that I would share the story of this Post-it note because a lot of people have said. "Hey, I sent Forrest an email and a scrapbook came out a few days later on the same topic." I know that he was getting story ideas from the emails that he read - the same way as our conversations would prompt ideas. So if you have a scrapbook that you think is related to an email that you sent ... you could be right.
Russ
Here is a note that Forrest created one afternoon in mid-October 2019.
Whenever we were sitting around swapping stories, he would occasionally say, "I ought to write that one up." And would jot the idea down on a handy piece of paper. This note is one example.
The "bob cat story" never made it into a print. It was about a Texas family that took in what they thought was a stray kitten and it turned out to be a bob cat. There were various misadventures before they realized that it was a bobcat.
We were looking through Forrest's first edition of the Trail Drivers of Texas when he wrote down that he should tell the "John Marchand" story. It became scrapbook 234. John Marchand is mentioned in the post, but the story is really more about Evetts Haley and Fred Rosenstock.
"Holding Declaration Library" is Forrest's shorthand for a story about holding a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the Library of Congress. He knew someone in Washington with enough pull to get him into a private room in the Library of Congress where they handed him one of the early drafts of the Declaration of Independence between two protective sheets. I'd like to think that maybe he distracted the curator for a moment and pulled the protective sheet back to touch it.
"China Erlichman" became scrapbook 214. This is my copy of The White House Doodles that prompted Forrest to write that note and it is mentioned in the scrapbook.
And here Forrest signed it on the same page as John Connally.
As far as I know, other than the gilded, hardcover version that Forrest created for himself, only three other copies of this book exist besides mine: Zoey and Kelly each have a book, and Forrest's lawyer has a copy. In the scrapbook, Forrest mentions "a friend in Cody has a copy." I have never lived in Cody so I am not sure what Forrest meant. Maybe there is one other copy out there.
I have gone through Forrest's special hardcover copy with him and he has a lot of White House memorabilia tucked into the pages at various spots: a letter Nixon had written to Forrest, a leaf from the White House lawn, letters from Erlichman, etc. As he was closing the volume, he looked at me and said, "What is something like this worth?" I had no idea, but was pretty sure that it was worth a lot more than my paperback version. Mine doesn't even have a leaf in it.
I thought that I would share the story of this Post-it note because a lot of people have said. "Hey, I sent Forrest an email and a scrapbook came out a few days later on the same topic." I know that he was getting story ideas from the emails that he read - the same way as our conversations would prompt ideas. So if you have a scrapbook that you think is related to an email that you sent ... you could be right.
Russ
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