Communicating History

[Rich Curilla]

I just came across this very insightful paragraph from historian Archie P. McDonald, author of William Barret Travis: A Biography (Eakin Press, 1976). It is actually an afterword to the 1995 reprint of the book. He says:

"Rarely does a historian get a second chance to express his views on a subject once it reaches print. Then, for all time, for ill or good, he is on record. This will be the case so long as the world continues to use the printed page. Perhaps in a little while we will have no printed books, only floppy disks. Then we can keep our work in a constant state of revision and everyone can tune in via a modem to our data base and find out our latest thoughts and findings. In the idiom of my native East Texas, you can lick your calf over again and again.

"Probably my day will have passed before this comes to pass. For me, it is enough that Eakin Press asked me to revisit my friend William Barret Travis twenty years after the initial appearance of my biography on him."

Fortunately, Mr. McDonald is still around and hopefully is enjoying these forums as much as we are, and is seeing the reality of the futuristic world of literature he so accurately predicted sixteen years ago in the form of Kindle and the like.

[Rich Curilla]

How do you author-historians in the group feel about the digitization of everything? Are we gonna end up with no books, no libraries, etc., in exchange for Kindles and forums? What are the fears?

[Allen Wiener]

Not crazy about an end to paper books and records, but digitization is not only inevitable, it's here. And it definitely has its advantages. New, searchable data bases compiling centuries of original newspapers, for instance, are a terrific boon to researchers and writers. We are finding things that have been missed for at least a century by earlier scholars, who went through the newspapers (the ones they could find) by hand and eye. I know that Gary Zaboly mentioned this in his new book "An Altar for Their Sons" and I know what he means.

Still, I hope there is not a complete end to paper, physical books. I'm still not comfortable with doing all reading on a computer screen or e-reader, tablet or whatever. They do serve a purpose, especially when travelling, and can save money on books, but I've been at the old ways too long to not want my books and files at hand, where I can reach for just the item I want and find whatever I'm looking for.

Nonetheless, I'm getting a definite, sinking vibe that Santa is bringing one of these contraptions to my stocking. I am still clinging to my flip-phone and refuse to cave to the current rage in iPhones and constant messmerization by these things. I'm wondering how long before we see stats on numbers of people hit by cars while texting and crossing streets. I'm beinning to feel like I'm in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"; serioiusly.

[Valerie Hyatt Martin]

Rich,
You found an interesting quote and an interesting observation. I enjoy the ability to research and write (and rewrite) on the computer, but I'm not ready to turn in my books. I find it hard to enjoy reading on a screen, the way I do with a book. A book is somehow comforting to hold, as I read.

I hadn't thought about it, until reading the quote from McDonald, but reprinting a book , revisiting the subject again, may become obsolete because it is so easy to add, delete information as it changes. As I research for my work, or to learn more about those who lived in the past, I enjoy the ease of finding and saving information. I have yet to acquire a tablet, but those I know who have them, find them very useful.

I believe digitilization will give us ease of access to information and perhaps we may find new information which was hidden in files, or microfiche.
I have a Kindle App on my cellphone and even though I have to read it on a small screen, I keep something there I can read when I get the opportunity.

As a reader, I don't want books to leave me, but I will keep reading in whatever format is offered. I like to believe as a researcher, it will offer easier access to information. I have to believe someone is out there transferring all the information I want and need from the written word to formats accessible on the internet...