Obviously much remains unknown or vague, even with great scholarship like Brad's (which was a huge help to me in assembling this). But it's fun trying to piece together the clues.
Should have also mentioned, in the resources section, some interviews I read with Mary Sweeney with made me inclined to include her here, even though it's mostly speculatory on my part, reading between the lines of things she's said and piecing together the suggestions. I've never read her comment on Laura directly, but the fact that Lynch apparently gives (or rather, gave) his editors lots of leeway, combined with her own humanist perspective and her obvious bond with Lynch (and feeling that she wanted to bring out that side of his work more, as she said in regards to The Straight Story) leads me to suspect she played a big role in shaping that film's perspective on Laura into what it is.
