Biographical (to the degree that fictionalized accounts can be referred to as "biographical") pieces on former town resident Alice Gray ("Diana of the Dunes") claim that articles on her appeared in newspapers around the globe. We have collected stories from three dozen papers but they are all from four midwestern states. H.S.O.D. now has members living pretty far afield. If such, or even vacationers, have some time on their hands and are willing to look up old newspapers on microfilm in libraries in distant states, we sure would appreciate receiving copies of any material found, as representations of how one of our most famous Duners was perceived across the country.
The likeliest dates to find "Diana" articles would be within a week from when she was first taken notice of by the press--22 July, 1916, when she and Paul were spuriously connected to a murder--9 June, 1922, and when she died--9 February, 1925. Hearst's rags in particular hounded her throughout the years. Foreign accounts of her tale, whether accurate or outlandishly bogus, would be especially welcome additions to our archives. We are not only interested in history but also in the history of such mis-history.
This little article, in similar form, appeared in the January, 1998, (Vol. 6, #1,) issue of the Hour Glass under the editor's heading "DO IT!" We have yet to receive any response. We could sure use some assistance. I do not find it a pain to check out microfilmed newspapers for a few minutes at libraries while on vacation. In fact I rather enjoy it. Am I really unique?
Where did Diana of the Dunes live?
Alice Gray had various shacks in the Indiana Dunes over the years, none of them in Chesterton or Dunes State Park or on the planets most writers seem to beam down from. A couple of her homes were in Ogden Dunes. To give visitors to this web-page something to look at, here are a couple short, little, low-def videos.
As this page has now been found by the search engines and directories, I shall add a link here to the only page I have seen about Alice Gray on the Web worthy of being called historical (as opposed to fictional), that of the U.S. Naval Observatory.
This page is at http://Ogden_Dunes.tripod.com/diana.html.
Published 19th December, 1998; last altered 17th November, 2007.
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