Authentication Materials: 

  1. Speech Title exactly as it to be printed: “‘And The Truth Shall Make You Free.’ A Speech On The Principles Of Social Freedom Delivered In Steinway Hall.”
  2. Exact Date and Place of Speech Delivery: 20 November 1871. Steinway Hall, New York City.
  3. Complete Name of Speaker, with year of birth and year of death: Victoria C. Woodhull (1838-1927).
  4. Complete name of editor or compiler of electronic text, with indication of role: E. Brooke Phipps, compiler and editor.
  5. Date of electronic edition: 2020.
  6. Languages: English (100%).
  7. Library of Congress Classification: HQ964 .M37
  8. Indication of editing functions performed: E. Brooke Phipps transcribed version from speech transcript, June 2020; E. Brooke Phipps proofread edited electronic text, June 2020.

Bibliographic List of Sources: 

Woodhull, Victoria C. “‘And the Truth Shall Make You Free’: A Speech on the Principles of Social Freedom.” Library of Congress, November 20, 1871. https://lccn.loc.gov/09008216. Electronic Copy. [=A]

Statement of Editorial Procedures: 

The copy-text of Woodhull’s 1871 address (=A) represents the electronic manuscript version of this speech found in the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection of the Library of Congress. The manuscript was printed by Woodhull’s publishing company after she delivered her speech on November 20, 1871. This text represents Woodhull’s intended remarks for her planned Steinway Hall lecture. Applause and other audience responses are not represented in the text. However, news coverage of the speech indicates that the address was not delivered in its entirety, due to an interruption from the audience which was not reflected in the text held at the Library of Congress. Therefore, Phipps has cross referenced multiple news reports of the event to determine the likely stopping point of the address.

The following newspaper clippings were used for cross-reference purposes to determine the end of the speech:

“Mrs. Woodhull’s Lecture: She Glories in Her Free-Love Doctrines-Is Rebuked by Her Sister-A Stormy Scene-An Audience That Would Not Be Convinced,” Chicago Tribune, November 24, 1871. [=B]

“Free Love Expounded By Mrs. Woodhull,” Hartford Daily Courant, November 22, 1871. [=C]

“A Free-Love Rumpus: Scene Between Two Sisters,” Baltimore Sun, November 22, 1871. [=D]

“Uproar in Steinway Hall,” The Sun, November 21, 1871. [=E]

For the full text of the intended remarks, please refer to the electronic copy referenced above (=A).

All paragraphing, capitalization, spelling, use of italics, use of quotation marks (or lack thereof), and hyphenation of words (or lack thereof) are consistent with copy-text (=A).

Paragraph numbers have been added in square brackets.

The text of this edition has been thoroughly checked and proofread.

All double quotation marks are rendered with “, all single quotation marks with apostrophe ‘.

This copy-text is not subject to end-of-line hyphenation.

Special characters and characters with diachronic marks: non.

Departures from the copy-text and general editorial procedures: There are grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors in the Library of Congress (LOC) copy that were kept in this text transcript because we chose to present the wording as close to the original as possible. In most cases, we did not designate these errors with the denotation of [sic] because these errors are apparent. One exception involves the word “Marker” that we feel certain should be “Maker” [81]. We opted to add in the designation of [sic] to alert the reader to the error. Another such possible error relates to the date that Paulina Wright Davis allegedly put forth resolutions at Apollo Hall. The LOC version of the speech indicates it was on May 12, 1871 [8]. The National American Woman Suffrage Association identifies this date as May 11, 1871. The transcript concludes at the stopping point as depicted in copy texts-B, C, D, and E.