Why a New Biography of William Herndon Is Needed (original) (raw)

William A. Brown and the Assessment of a Scholarly Life

The Journal of African History, 2023

It is something of an unusual task to put together a reflection on and assessment of a scholar whose formal academic publications totaled seventeen pages across an article, two research notes, a manuscript handlist, and a book review. 1 The career of Dr. William Allen Brown (1934-2007) illustrates, among other things, the limits of defining intellectual impact by the number of publications, or even PhD students trained or undergraduates taught. While Brown's core research, physically manifest in his 1969 Wisconsin PhD dissertation, long stood as a landmark for those in his subfield, he was, outside that small network, more admired than understood, and, tellingly, more ignored than admired. As deeply hostile to academic politics as he was unwavering in his personal ones, Brown was more likely to ghostwrite lectures for ivy league professors than to take the steps that would have brought his own work to a wider audience. That his scholarship nevertheless remains relevant is surely a testament to the seriousness of purpose with which he pursued it; but it is also only one facet of an academic life that has much to teach us in an era of decolonizing knowledge and institutional self-criticism. Raised in North Carolina, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, Brown completed a stint in the US military before graduating from what was then Kentucky State College (now University), Kentucky's only public HBCU. At Kentucky State, Brown was president of his class, editor of the student newspaper, and earned a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship allowing him to pursue his PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2 Completing his degree in 1969, Brown's professional career included short appointments at

A Tribute to Donald T. Campbell

Biology & Philosophy, 1997

Donald Campbell had scores of academic children. We are a privileged subset of the thousands of psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, biologists, educationalists and philosophers who have been, and will be long into the future, influenced profoundly by his quasi-experimental methodology and evolutionary epistemology. We inherited some of his precious insights not only by reading his densely-packed, richly-constructed, creatively-phrased publications, and attending his 'concertina-pleated', handout-supported, wittily-penetrating presentations. We also had the immense good fortune to spend stretches of time in his company. We basked in the role of pupil to this great teacher, and felt that, while we may never match the breadth and incisiveness of his scholarship, we could be a valued part of the conversation.

Diaz 2009 "Historiography Alive" (tribute to Greg Dening).pdf

The Contemporary Pacific , 2009

Greg Dening, historian and ethnographer of Oceania, passed away on 13 March 2008 while on a visit to Tasmania. The effects of his scholarship on the histories and ethnographies of the region are profound. Many of us, however, grieve the loss of not only a world-renowned scholar but also a generous colleague, encouraging mentor, and close friend. Greg touched lives everywhere, including here in Hawai'i. We would like to think that Hawai'i was one of his special places. Donna Merwick, Greg's wife and an acclaimed historian of colonial New York, wrote in a recent letter that Honolulu was an intellectual home for him, "a place of stimulation, challenge, and always welcome" (see fi gure 1). After completing his doctoral studies at Harvard University in 1967 under Douglas Oliver, Greg took up his fi rst academic appointment at the University of Hawai'i, Mänoa, where he taught for both the history and anthropology departments. Accounts of Greg's efforts to teach cultural history in Hawai'i can be found in his 1997 article, "Empowering Imaginations," for The Contemporary Pacifi c and also in his more recent book, Beach Crossings. He returned numerous times over the years, including a six-month visit as the John A Burns Distinguished Visiting Professor of History for the spring 1981 semester.

Notes on source materials: The L. J. Henderson papers at Harvard

Journal of the History of Biology, 1971

(1878-1942) was a man of such diverse interests that his personal papers should prove valuable to others besides historians of biology. Although he was primarily a biochemist and physiologist, his published works inelude treatises on subjects such as philosophy and sociology (see my article in this issue). He was an influential force at Harvard University during his career there, playing an instrumental role in the founding of the Department of Physical Chemistry in the Medical School, the Fatigue Laboratory, the Society of Fellows, and the history of science program. Jean Mayer commented in 1968 (]. Nutr. 94: 5): "To write of the history of science and its application to man in the United States during the first half of this century without mentioning L. J. Henderson would be to have missed one of the most important elements in the academic atmosphere in which they developed." The L. J. Henderson papers at Harvard University are located primarily in the archives of Widener Library and Baker Library, although the Countway Library also contains a few Henderson manuscript materials. These papers include correspondence, notebooks, unpublished lectures, rough drafts of publications, and similar items. Henderson's wide range of activities brought him into contact with scholars in many different fields. His correspondents included scientists (e.g.

Herndon's \Auction List\ and Lincoln's Interest in Science

2011

9. Readers of Allen C. Guelzo's excellent Abraham Lincoln as a Man of Ideas (19) might be misled into thinking that Lincoln was the main agent for the purchase of certain highly speculative philosophical works that were far more likely to appeal to Herndon than to Lincoln: "Herndon remembered that the Lincoln-Herndon law office filled up. .. with volumes [by, among others]. .. Thomas Carlyle,. .. the French "commonsense" realist Victor Cousin and his English counterpart, Sir William Hamilton, the biblical criticism of D. F.