Re: Nathan Webb’s diary. Whoa Nellie!!!!

I am a “retired” librarian (not really, just an at-home-mom as long as I can keep the gig going, anyhoo) and an amatuer historian as well. As background…I started out focusing on shipwreck stories on gravestones (tons in Maine) which led me to Mainers in the Gold Rush, which led me to a particular Mainer, George Washing Bartlett, who wrote a daily journal aboard the brig that carried him from Bath, Maine, around Cape Horn, to San Francisco in 1849.

Well, I found Bartlett’s journal and decided it had to be published!!! So, I sat in a local college library day after day transcribing it (enjoying every minute of it, indeed.) and now continue to research Bartlett’s life for a full fledged biography. I’ll skip the radical Unitarian minister phase of his very interesting life and jump right into his civil war experience. Turns out George Washington Bartlett was a Chaplain with the 14th Regiment, as well as the 1st Maine Cavalry. Just to make the whole story more exciting, Chaplain Bartlett was “literally blown into a thousand pieces” while at the head of a cavalry charge on the 1st day of the 2nd Battle of Cold Harbor.

So, that’s the Webb connection….you mention that you had portions of Webb’s diary copied. Wondering if the time period February-June 1864 was part of your research. If so, might I borrow them? I’m a rather accomplished local history researcher (last work gig was as a librarian at the Maine Maritime Museum) and will gladly help out with any Maine-based research that comes up for you. Also, I’m a NEHGS member have access to a lot of New England material as well.

While I’ve got you on the line…., have you ever heard of the Charles Henry Smith papers? There was a neat little history of the 1st Maine Cavalry based on Col. Smith’s papers published about 15 years ago. The author refers to a few letters written by Chaplain Bartlett that are in the Smith papers. Unfortunately, the author passed away and I’m having a great deal of difficulty finding the papers. The author’s son thinks they were donated to Colby College (Smiths alma matter) by his father, but I made a trip there and spent several hours with the archivist without any luck.

Well, thanks in advance for any suggestions for accessing the Webb diary (how did you find that undergrad??) or the Smith Papers. Let me know if there are any opportunties for us to collaborate.

Best regards,
Cathy

So…

I think that a bibliography of Maine sources would be a very useful tool, and I would not only encourage you to do the update, but to seek a publisher for it.

Eric

I’ve seen the Wells Bushnell diary, and I agree about it. Pieces of Roger Hannaford’s reminiscences have been published here and there, and they’ve always been good ones. I’m not familiar with the other two, but I will certainly take your word for it. Hopefully, somebody will pick up on these ideas and run with it. And I do hope that somebody publishes the Bigelow papers.

Eric

Regards
Andy

I will check it out–thanks for passing that along.

It’s really a sad statement on the state of the publishing industry if this is how it’s handling things.

Eric

FYI to all – very interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal (page B1) entitled “Publishers Say Fact-Checking Is Too Costly.”

The apparent lack of editing and fact-checking in modern publishing is a topic that has been raised in this forum several times. This piece attempts to explain why. The primary focus is the recent brouhaha over the James Frey “memoir,” however the economics that the article discusses can apply to any non-fiction work.

Paul

Agreed.

Eric