ON THE AFTERNOON OF SEPTEMBER 7, 1968, members of the Corporation of Yaddo, the reclusive artists' retreat located in Saratoga Springs, New York, met to pay tribute to Elizabeth Ames, Executive Director of Yaddo from 1924-1968 (see Figure 13). Ames was then 88 years old and had held her title since Yaddo first opened its doors to creative "guests" in 1926. John Cheever, whose relationship with both Ames and Yaddo was especially intimate, recognized Ames' 42 years of service by describing the tremendous creativity, which occurred at Yaddo during her tenure, Reference to Yaddo's guest list helps to corroborate Cheever's, seemingly, presumptuous claim. Since 1926, Yaddo has helped foster the work of Newton Arvin, James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein, Elizabeth Bishop, Aaron Copland, Malcolm Cowley, Truman Capote, Langston Hughes, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Lowell, Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor, Katherine Anne Porter, Clyfford Still, and William Carlos Williams.
