How I Approached Research as a First-Time Biographer
How Laura La Plante: Silent Cinderella came to be!
Happy Sunday and Happy Father’s Day!
I hope everyone has had a great week!
Since my first biography, Laura La Plante: Silent Cinderella, is set to come out SO SOON with BearManor Media, I thought it would be the perfect time to go into detail about how I approached my research.
The truth is, everything that I did for the biography was executed in the moment. I had never undertaken a project of this size before, and I found myself learning as I went. What I want to emphasize is this: you don’t have to have a background in biography writing to make it happen.
When I first decided I wanted to write about Laura La Plante, I started VERY small. I got a notebook and some colorful pens and found the most basic facts about her: her date of birth and death, her birthplace, her family members, and a very general overview of her career.
Shortly after this, I bought books where she was featured. Some of these books included William M. Drew’s Speaking of Silents: First Ladies of the Screen, Anthony Slide’s Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses, and Calvin Thomas Beck’s Scream Queens: Heroines of the Horrors. While reading these books, I looked at their sources. Where did this information come from? If it was personal interviews, that was even better. Could I find the full-length interviews at libraries and museums? In some cases, YES.
Research, for me, was a snowball effect. I would find a small chip of information from one source, leading me to a deep dive into another area. Once, in a magazine interview with Laura La Plante in the 1970s, she mentioned someone’s work she admired as she was taking classes with him. I reached out to his stepdaughter and interviewed her for the book. I was so nervous for the interview and had all my questions ready. My pen couldn't move fast enough as I scribbled her answers down while we chatted on the phone. The experience was incredible—nerves aside—and I am grateful to say pieces of that interview are in the book, along with a BEAUTIFUL photo from her estate!!!
This brings me to another crucial source—newspaper archives. There are many places to access newspaper archives, but my favorite by far is GenealogyBank. I found SO MANY hidden gems that helped the book come together. To me, this is a must—along with fan magazine articles. Media History Digital Library is the PERFECT source for such magazines, and best of all, it’s free!
One of the essential pieces of advice I have is to reach out to museums, libraries, and archives. Send emails, write letters, make cold calls—don’t be afraid of putting yourself out there.
I contacted SO many different organizations while writing the book. Not everyone had information on Laura La Plante or even replied, but so many of them did. I was delighted to find that professionals in the business are so willing and eager to help with a project. If you never ask, you will never know.
Once you make the first contact with a different archive, you can make plans to travel and, in my case, do film viewings! This was my favorite part of the whole process. Getting to see these rare Laura La Plante films while also touring the museums and making connections with people who LOVE history all the same. What a joy! I can’t wait to do it again.
After you gather ALL of this information and then some, I encourage you to make an official timeline. I separated all of my sources and logged them in chronological order from every year of Laura La Plante’s life. This timeline helped me to organize the book and make sure that I wasn’t missing anything when going year-by-year for each chapter.
Keep learning; keep finding new areas to explore for your research. You may feel overwhelmed by how much information is out there, but this should excite you, too. There is a whole world to explore, as well as the entire life of a person who lived a life before you did. It is the biggest blessing in the world to get to know someone through research. I hope you feel the same about your research endeavors!
Well, this blog was all over the place…but that’s what research was like for me as a first-time biographer!
I hope you enjoyed this post and that you learned something! If you want to chat about research, please reach out to me!!! I am most active on Instagram at LauraTheLostPrincess.
Have a wonderful week! Stay cool!! Florida is in the mid-to-upper 90s every day. I really need to invest in a swimming pool!
Thanks for everything!!
Love,
Laura Jerrolds
Girl!!! This was soooo insightful!! I loved reading about how you undertook such an expansive project!!! Very impressive!! Cannot wait for the book!!