Portraits from Our Past:
FAMOUS AUTHORS
Southwest
Virginia Authors
Napoleon
Hill (1883
- 1970)
 Napoleon Hill was born in 1883
in a one room cabin on the Pound River in Wise County and became
one of America's best know motivational authors. He began his
writing career at age 15 as a reporter at small town newspapers.
One of his early jobs was working for Rufus Ayers, one time Attorney
General of Virginia and builder of the mansion that houses the
Southwest Virginia Museum. Hill wanted to work for Ayers because,
he thought he was the richest man in Southwest Virginia.
At age 18 to earn tuition money for law school, Hill decided
to write stories for several magazines about successful people.
His first step was to approach former Tennessee Governor Robert
L. Taylor, publisher of Bob Taylor's magazine. Taylor offered
to compose letters of introduction for Hill to prominent individuals
who might make good subjects for profiles, names like: Thomas
Edison, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, and Andrew Carnegie.
Dazzled by these prospects, Hill decided to give up his plans
to study law and spend all his time writing.
In 1908, Hill interviewed Andrew Carnegie who challenged him
to organize the world's first philosophy of individual achievement.
Carnegie advised Hill that he would need to devote 20 years of
his time and money to his research. In 1923, Hill began to transcribe
his voluminous notes into his book Law of Success, which was
printed in 1928. It had taken Hill 20 years to complete the project-exactly
as Carnegie had predicted.
When the United States entered World War I, President Woodrow
Wilson asked Hill to come to the White House to serve as his
public-relations advisor. Hill also served President Franklin
D. Roosevelt as an advisor throughout most of the Depression
years. As a presidential speech writer he wrote much of the contents
of the famous Fireside Chats. Hill is credited with coining the
phrase made famous by Roosevelt "We have nothing to fear,
but fear itself." While in Washington, Hill wrote six more
books, among them his widely acclaimed philosophy of personal
achievement, Think and Grow Rich, published in 1937. It is the
all time best-seller in the field of personal development books.
In his lifetime, Napoleon Hill lived his personal motto which
is his most famous repeated quote: "What the mind can conceive
and believe, the mind can achieve."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Southwest Virginia Museum is a
member of the American
Association of Museums, the American Association of State and
Local History, and the Virginia Association of Museums.
|
|
|
