The John Franklin Jameson Papers: A Giant Jigsaw Puzzle

Ed. Note. This article is reprinted with the permission of the Brown Alumni Monthly.

Only eight years and an estimated 200,000 documents stand between the editors of the John Franklin Jameson Papers and a selective multi-volume edi­tion of the writings of this remarkable individual. One might assume that producing a documentary edition is a rela­tively simple task. In outline, it is—you find all the relevant documents, choose the ones you want to print, transcribe them, annotate all the unfamiliar refer­ences, and send the manuscript to the publisher.

In fact, the actual process is often difficult, exasperating, and tedious. Since most documentary editing projects depend on a very uncertain supply of public and private funds, it is not too far from the truth to say that to be a documentary editor is to live in a state of constant anxiety.

While most of the documents we need to inspect are at the Library of Con­gress, chiefly in Jameson’s papers and in the records of the American Historical Association, many are scattered in ar­chives and libraries around the country. Some collections are well-cataloged, many are not, and as we have learned from visiting over twenty repositories through­ out the United States, it requires both good judgment and luck to find that one piece of paper that may illuminate a whole comer of Jameson’s life.

We are still in the collecting stage, and anticipate the selection process with some dread, because we know we won’t be able to print many of the letters and papers that this erudite, witty, thought­ful, and at times caustic man wrote.

Transcribing a document looks easy until you actually try to do it. For in­stance, do you reprint typographical er­rors that a secretary made? Jameson’s handwriting, always cramped, became progressively less legible as he grew old­er. Is that letter an “i” or “l”? ls it upper-case or lower-case? ls that a period or an ink mark? Did he mean to erase that comma? Transcription inescapably changes the nature of the document, and you are reminded that, above all else,  documentary editing represents a massive invasion of privacy. Empathy and understanding are even more nec­essary here than when writing a biogra­phy or historical narrative.

Once you have chosen, transcribed, and proofread the documents you think publishable (after a while, you imagine you are proofreading in your sleep), you then must uncover all the arcane references any piece of correspondence makes. Imagine a letter between your­self and a friend. How much of the meaning of that letter is hidden from the rest of the world? We are lucky to be located at the Library of Congress, where it seems somebody knows what you need to find out.

All the trials and tribulations of edit­ing are more than balanced by the satis­faction of getting beneath the surface of a complex, significant, and ultimately, highly appealing figure in American history. We wish we could magically dispense with writing reports, making necessary funding appeals, and the myriad administrative details that ab­ sorb so much of our time.

We are fortunate to have as sympa­thetic listeners as our sponsors: the Na­tional Archives and Records Adminis­tration, the National Historical Publica­tions and Records Commission, the National Endowment for the Human­ities, the American Historical Associa­tion, and the Library of Congress. We are also fortunate to have the support of interested individuals at libraries, ar­chives, and universities across the coun­try and for the counsel of an outstand­ing editorial advisory board, including the guidance from our publisher, the University of Georgia Press.

We glance up occasionally at the pho­tograph of Jameson in our office, and realize that our efforts are small com­pensation for the lifelong devotion of one man who ultimately made our work possible and who revealed so much of the past to a civilization which benefits from his labors far more than it realizes.

We would appreciate information concerning Jameson or materials relat­ing to his life, especially correspon­dence, writings, speeches, reminis­cences, photographs, or other materials. We welcome financial contributions to the project, and all correspondence may be directed to the Editors, J. Franklin Jameson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540. We may also be reached at 202/488-0899.