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Lou Henry Hoover is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so. | |||||||||||||
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A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on January 23, 2023. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that American first lady Lou Henry Hoover secretly sent money to families in need during the Great Depression? | |||||||||||||
Current status: Featured article |
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She does not have the Stanford alumni category. Would her attendance qualify her for List of Stanford University people#Notable Stanford alumni? Ronbo76 12:18, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
"As First Lady, she entertained frequently and at times threw together informal dinners on the spur of the moment, placing unwelcome strain on the White House staff."
What is this assertion based on? Catering and serving dinner to teh first family is what the staff was hired to do. They serve dinner every night anyway, an informal one is a strain? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.90.218.107 (talk) 19:07, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
Anybody have a RS for "Louise"? Wasn't her given name "Lou"? Yopienso (talk) 22:34, 21 April 2010 (UTC)
Her son, Henry Clark, is called Henry Charles in the boxed information. Should be changed? kpeck1916 (talk) 20:14, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
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I'm really curious about the nature of the Chinese language ability of the Hoovers, a claim I have heard about for a long time. Here's my cursory understanding:
Sounds like maybe a little more than a year and a half of potential exposure to Chinese. How proficient could they have been? Could they read? How were their tones? Could they write? Did their Chinese have any Chinese dialect influence? Did any Chinese people of that period give an account of the Hoovers' Chinese language ability?
I have no doubt that with a year and a half of experience with Chinese, they could probably have "conversed in Chinese to foil eavesdroppers". But in my mind, that is in no way equivalent to the statement that "Mrs. Hoover learned and became proficient in Chinese" or that "Hoover's wife learned Mandarin Chinese (she was a first-rate linguist)". It's a bold claim that is made in trivia books and second hand sources throughout the world and wikipedia deserves better than that. Apparently the Ambassadors of China to the United States at that time were Wu Chaoshu and then Yan Huiqing; surely they would have said something about the Chinese language ability of the Hoovers. I'd like to see some first hand accounts. Geographyinitiative (talk) 13:47, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
I would like to add a word or two about the Hoovers in China. As Ron notes, the evidence for Mr. Hoover speaking Mandarin is slim. It is likely that he understood what was being said to him in Mandarin, but could neither read or write the language. Mrs. Hoover was a different case, however. Among her papers at the Hoover Library is her English-Mandarin dictionary. It is clear from contemporary evidence that she not only understood Chinese, but also wrote and read the language.
So it looks like Lou was moderately literate while Herbert far less so. --Erp (talk) 16:58, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
It is remarkable that the remarkable Lou Henry Hoover could learn Mandarin from scratch (?) and write a dictionary in such a short time. How come?
Updated timeline, based on the quotation of Ronald Hilton from the written correspondence of Timothy Walch:
Maybe a year and four months in China, plus maybe four months in transit; Ronald Hilton - 11/21/01:
The Hoovers lived in China just over a year.
Wow. She wrote this dictionary and she wrote it while in China; sounds like a handwritten manuscript. What type of entries are there in this dictionary? Daily life? Geology? That should be included in this article with a citation to pictures of that dictionary. If possible a picture of some of the text should be added to wikipedia: it would be cool to see her Chinese handwriting. The Herbert Hoover article links to Standard Chinese, but Mandarin (late imperial lingua franca) could also be appropriate (History of Modern Standard Chinese). Did she use some form of the Wade–Giles romanization scheme for her dictionary?Among her papers at the Hoover Library is her English-Mandarin dictionary.
That's exactly the evidence I want to know about: let's see that 'contemporary evidence'. There has got to be something outside the dictionary itself that proves her ability right? Writing a dictionary could be evidence that "she not only understood Chinese, but also wrote and read the language" and that (as we have in on wikipedia now) "Mrs. Hoover learned and became proficient in Chinese" or further that "Hoover's wife learned Mandarin Chinese (she was a first-rate linguist)". But to say "first-rate linguist", wouldn't you need an assessment from a scholar or something like that?It is clear from contemporary evidence that she not only understood Chinese, but also wrote and read the language.
Let's see documentation of that 'anecdotal evidence'. Who said what and when? Which specific persons (especially anyone who could actually speak some form of Chinese) ever said 'I was there on such and such a day when they spoke Chinese in the White House'. I imagine if they were doing that in their White House years, then they were probably were doing it between 1900 and 1929 as well as between 1933 and 1944: any evidence of that? Geographyinitiative (talk) 02:10, 13 January 2018 (UTC)There also is anecdotal evidence that Mrs. Hoover would occasionally speak to Mr. Hoover in Chinese during their White House years.
Reviewer: Unexpectedlydian (talk · contribs) 23:13, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
Hi @Thebiguglyalien, I'll take this one :) Comments to follow shortly in the table below. Unexpectedlydian♯4talk‽ 23:13, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
Rate | Attribute | Review Comment |
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1. Well-written: | ||
1a. the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct. |
Lead Early life and education Marriage and travels Marriage and travel to China London and World War I Return to the United States First Lady of the United States
Later life and death Political beliefs Languages Legacy
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1b. it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation. |
Lead sections Layout Words to watch
Fiction
List incorporation
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2. Verifiable with no original research: | ||
2a. it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline. |
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2b. reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose). |
Source check I have spot-checked the following sources (only a few minor comments): Allen 2000
Caroli 2010 Schneider & Schneider 2010
Schwartz Foster 2011
Watson 2001
"First Lady Biography: Lou Hoover". National First Ladies' Library. "Herbert Hoover and China". World Association for International Studies. November 21, 2001.
"Lou Hoover and Girl Scouts". Hoover Presidential Library.
"An Uncommon Couple: Herbert and Lou Henry Hoover". Hoover Institution Library & Archives. "The red brick dorms at San Jose State come down". The Mercury News. "Girl Scouts Palo Alto, California". Palo Alto Service Unit.
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2c. it contains no original research. |
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2d. it contains no copyright violations or plagiarism. |
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3. Broad in its coverage: | ||
3a. it addresses the main aspects of the topic. |
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3b. it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style). |
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4. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each. |
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5. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute. |
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6. Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio: | ||
6a. media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content. |
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6b. media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions. |
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7. Overall assessment. |
General: Article is new enough and long enough |
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Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation |
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The result was: promoted by Bruxton (talk) 18:44, 16 January 2023 (UTC)
Improved to Good Article status by Thebiguglyalien (talk). Self-nominated at 18:19, 3 January 2023 (UTC).
Policy compliance:
QPQ: Done. |
Overall: @Thebiguglyalien: Good article. Though I am somewhat confused. While your source does say that she was the first, I'm king of getting confused with Florence Bascom somehow. Though I think that's mainly because the source provided doesn't state when she got her geology degree, whille Florence says she got it in 1893. So if you can supply a year then i'd approve. Onegreatjoke (talk) 21:44, 3 January 2023 (UTC)
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