Eggleston's History of the US and Perspective

A Lesson in History

The biggest decisions in life are almost always made before we know the full story. 

When I was about fifteen years old, my great aunt Anne gave me her first edition copy of Edward Eggleston’s “The Household History of the United States and Its People,” published in 1901. Aunt Anne was born in 1894 in Skippack, Pennsylvania. She wrote this note inside the front cover: “Jay – This is a book your great grandmother bought for us children when we were about ten years old. She often read parts to us in the evenings. Maybe you can find something interesting in it also.” 

The thick, heavy, leather-bound book was specifically written for younger readers and is punctuated with beautiful illustrations. An avid reader, I poured over the pages. Eggleston’s writing captured my imagination. I loved it. 

But, especially toward the end of the book, I remember being confused by certain passages. Here is one example:

“There have been other Indian wars, but, of course, the rash tribes are always worsted [defeated] in the long run. The old life to which the savages were so much attached is fast breaking down. All the hunting grounds will become farms, mines, and cities. There is nothing left for the Indians but to become civilized or to perish.”

There were other examples - each left me scratching my head. I was perplexed by what seemed to be a version of history that didn’t jibe with what I knew. This was not the same material I was learning in school, or from my family, including from my beloved aunt Anne, who had seemed refreshingly “open” and “progressive” in her thinking. Perhaps I should have taken time to read Eggleston’s preface, which includes:

“One word is due in regard to the treatment of recent events. Occurrences of our own time do not properly belong to history, nor can a dispassionate and historical judgment be formed regarding the debates and conflicts in which living men have borne a part. We who were in some sense victims of the passions of the Civil War period are not the best judges of questions between the participants.”

Remember, Eggleston wrote this at the end of the nineteenth century.  His history was thoughtful, careful, and influential. Yet today we recognize that his account was necessarily incomplete - not because he lacked integrity, but because he lacked distance.

Eggleston wrote about the Civil War and westward expansion only a generation after they occurred. He was an excellent historian by the standards of his day. But he lacked something we possess today:

Perspective.

Time revealed voices that had been overlooked.
Consequences that weren't yet visible.
Effects no one could fully appreciate.

History didn't necessarily change. Our understanding of it did.  Perspective is history’s greatest editor. 

(I’ll refrain from delving into an obvious parallel to current events, including efforts to rewrite history, and the dangers of viewing historical events through a single political lens.)

Finding Perspective in Wealth Planning

A liquidity event – or other financial markers such as receiving an inheritance - can feel like the end of a story. In reality, it's only the end of the first chapter.

The first decision - creating wealth - often happens under tremendous pressure: building a company, selling it, exercising options, managing taxes.

The second decision comes later.

It asks different questions.

Instead of: “How do I preserve this wealth?”

The question could be: “What story will this wealth eventually tell?”

The difference is perspective.

Eggleston wasn't intentionally omitting perspectives.
He simply couldn't yet see them – and he acknowledges this in his preface. 

Likewise, when someone has a significant financial windfall, nearly everyone around them focuses on what is immediately visible: taxes, trusts, investments, liquidity, and risk.

Those things are all important.

But they're also the parts of the story that are easiest to see.

The harder questions only become visible with distance.

How did this affect my family?
What values did this wealth reinforce?
What community did it shape?
What legacy did it leave?

Those are questions that only emerge over time.

Asking the Right Questions

Edward Eggleston couldn't write with the perspective of 2026. None of us can write from the future.

But we can pause long enough to ask better questions.

That's what our work is really about.

Not predicting the future.

But making today's decisions with enough perspective that, years from now, the story we tell about our lives - and our wealth - is richer, wiser, and more complete than the one we could see in the moment.

By The Numbers

• A February, 2024 Bridgespan study of nearly 280 philanthropic collaboratives showed that nearly 70% reported that building measurement and learning capabilities was one of their highest priorities. Leaders said they wanted to better understand what wasn’t working, make course corrections, and improve future grantmaking decisions. 

• An August, 2025 Bridgespan Survey of Donors to Philanthropic Collaboratives revealed that nearly all respondents said they joined collaboratives because they believed they could make better decisions together – benefitting from shared expertise and ongoing learning. 

• One outcome from a January, 2022 webinar co-hosted by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project and Center for Evaluation Innovation: Traditional evaluation often allows funders to see only a small piece of the puzzle, causing them to miss the broader picture of change and the obstacles communities face.