First posted: Thursday 6 April 2006. Last revised: Sunday 22 October 2023.
Currently hosted by: ITNetUK, Carnforth (Tuesday 16 December 2014).
Previously hosted by: virgin.net (Thursday 6 April 2006); zymichost.com (Wednesday 28 July 2010).
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The main function of this site relates to my activity with the Procter-Gregg Papers.
I am working with some family papers encountered in the attic of a house in Windermere, Cumbria, in summer 1993. These papers used to belong to Prof Humphrey Procter-Gregg (1895-1980), CBE, who was born in Kirkby Lonsdale and became the first professor of music at the University of Manchester. The Procter-Gregg Papers now belong jointly to his residuary legatees: (1) the music department at the University of Manchester (to which I have provided many progress reports); (2) the Royal College of Music, London.
I have two books in mind and I am working full time toward their publication. I have done a lot of preparation for both books and I am currently concentrating on the first one: a biography of Rev AR Hoare (1871-1920), an uncle of HP‑G, whose story is best set out in the form of an annotated chronological compilation, using matter from a variety of sources.
The
second book has lots of strands to it - involving the Procter, Gregg, Procter-Gregg, etc, families.
Both books have elements that are suitable for radio programmes.
When
I first got permission
to pursue my investigations I spent a deal of time writing to people. (I had access to HP‑G's address books,
and to a lot of correspondence which had been carefully saved over many
years.) With very few exceptions, the
people I managed to contact were cooperative and helpful, even
enthusiastic. I wanted to find things
out, but I was also concerned to establish that I was not interfering in a way
that was not warranted.
At the very beginning, I expected to need no more than 12‑18 months. Intending to restrict myself to the Procter-Gregg Papers, this was - so I thought - a reasonable expectation.
I did not know what to make of the Reginald Hoare material, partly because there were indications that the story had already been published. Instead, I concentrated on other material among the Procter-Gregg Papers. But by summer 1994 I knew that Reginald Hoare's story had not been published, and I realised it should become the top priority.
For a while, I continued to think
there was not much to the telling of the story.
I expected to rely almost entirely on the material among the Procter-Gregg
Papers. I did not expect to encounter
other archival material. Nor did I
expect to have to consult many books on the subject - indeed, I did not
consider there would be many. Such books
as there might be, I expected to be able to borrow the few I would need through
the inter-library loan scheme; I had no expectation of finding copies for sale
- in any case, I had strictly limited funds and considered such expenditure out
of the question.
But gradually I began to discover
additional information, and I came to realise there might be more to the story
than I had first imagined. Also, I
discovered that although the material I found is fascinating in itself, it is
incomplete and at least some of the missing pieces are in archives in England
and the United States. Additionally, to
counterbalance the pious and patronising sentimentality of some of the material
I encountered (especially in the missionary magazines), I felt the need to get
other points of view about contemporary circumstances.
At the outset (beginning September
1993), because I had a very limited budget, I had shunned the possibility of
book-buying: I simply refused to enter bookshops; I positively did not want to
buy books. But book-buying was
unavoidable, and I decided to do the best I could within my budget.
Beginning about June 1995, or soon
afterwards, I began to acquire my own copies of books and I spent much time
compiling a list of relevant titles: mostly by pursuing them through secondhand
book dealers, but also, initially, by visiting bookshops and charity shops in
search of anything that would allow me to get some sort of traction, and by
borrowing books from libraries.
NOTE
Books of interest were mostly out of print, and frequently not available
in libraries in England (or difficult to get access to); also, I often needed
copies over an extended period. So I had
no option but to buy or to photocopy.
I found the inter-library loan
system somewhat hit-and-miss. It had
supplied me with a copy of Dean, Breaking Trail (1988) quite quickly (in
about three weeks) in March 1994, but it took more than three months to obtain
a copy of Jenkins, The Man of Alaska (1943) on Friday 10 June
1994. And when I requested copies of
Stuck, Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled (1914) and Stuck, The
Alaskan Missions of the Episcopal Church (1920) in December 1994, the reply
eventually came back that no copies had been located. (Subsequently, all four of these books became
available on line; accessible instantly, and for "free".)
I have been full-time self-employed on this project since Monday 27 September 1993, and I have maintained myself entirely out of my own financial resources.
During 1993-99 these resources were a small fund of savings and letting income from my house in Bracknell while I lived in modest rented rooms: a precarious and unstable situation, but the best I could do. I made a small sum go a long way by exercising the greatest personal economy and by not moving away from my base unless I really had to.
On Monday 10 May 1999 I went to Bracknell expecting to be there between tenants for no more than two or three weeks. But a lack of suitable tenants forced me to consider selling the house (which I had already committed myself to do, if and when necessary). Presently, I learned that in about spring 1999 the capital value of the house had increased sharply, and possibly sufficiently to allow me to sell it (in a very strong sellers market), pay off the mortgage, buy a smaller and less expensive property (in a buyers market), and still have enough cash remaining to survive until publication. Meanwhile, I did innumerable small jobs around the house, and eight major ones.
Also while still in Bracknell I began to contact appropriate estate agents to enquire after:
(1) the least expensive property on their books; and (2) properties with one or two bedrooms within 10-15 miles of Kirkby Lonsdale, in any condition but preferably solidly built, within reach of public transport.
My aims were:
(1) to live in the area of interest for my second book; (2) to tie up as little capital as possible; (3) to be able to move in rapidly; and (4) to be able to resume work on my first book with minimal delay.
In due course, I was entirely successful in the first three aims, and a rank failure in the last one.
I played a full part in moving my belongings (Wednesday 20 October 1999 to Saturday 30 October 1999) and found it pretty hard to move from two places (a well-maintained four-bed house with excellent storage facilities, and lodgings) into one (nominally a two-bed house, but more like one-and-a-half). I had intended to ignore many of the shortcomings in the accommodation, but that proved impossible. In order to make efficient use of the limited space I had to scrap my original ideas and start again. In addition, maintenance on the property had been neglected in the period before I bought it (which I was well aware of). The combined effect was that refurbishment to make the house suitable to my needs became a major exercise during which I fell ill for several months and was greatly restricted in what I could do.
NOTE 1 By doing the work myself I protected my
modest financial resources.
Also,
because of having to live frugally, I have become particularly successful at
living entirely satisfactorily on an annual expenditure that most would
consider impossible. (But if everyone
lived as I do the national economy - as presently organised - would collapse.)
NOTE 2 When I first fell ill (on Sunday
28 November 1999 for a week), I thought it was due to an infection and I
expected to recover by exerting myself.
It was not until November 2000 (after repeated and longer bouts) that I
began to suspect the problem was exhaustion.
But I failed to act accordingly and I made a bad situation much
worse. On Thursday 22 March 2001 I
was "nearly certain it's nervous exhaustion". It was an exceedingly uncomfortable situation
to be in, and thoroughly perplexing as to how to recover.
NOTE 3 I find some difficulty as a diarist in
recording the tough times. I am inclined
to minimise difficulties, even to dismiss them altogether from the record. This is a mistake, because my record is
thereby false, and I am denied the opportunity of looking back with a clear eye
and so either learning from the tough times or gathering strength from the
knowledge that I found the resources to come through them; or both.
But
I was not so reticent - for a non-swearing man - on Saturday 11 March
2000, as the following extracts show: "annoyed and frustrated to discover
that I have regressed yet again: I feel like throwing things around." "Currently - presumably, I hope, because
of temporary gloom - I feel I've made a wretched mistake in buying this bloody
house. Am fit for next to nothing, with
poor prospects for recovery."
"The time I am losing at present is infuriating."
The period which began energetically in Bracknell on Monday 10 May 1999 and petered out in Millhead (my having refurbished the house, established order, and recovered from exhaustion) on Saturday 17 November 2001 was a tough time. When it began, I was living in rented rooms and my finances were precarious and unstable. When it ended, I was living in my own house, without any debts whatsoever, and my finances had become secure and stable. This remarkable transmutation was entirely unexpected and quite unpredictable: pure alchemy.
Another
astonishing development around
this time concerned the internet: it became peculiarly well-suited to the
pursuit of secondhand books.
Since at least Saturday 11 April 1998 - when I received a generous and stunning response from Candy Waugaman, Fairbanks, Alaska, to an enquiry about secondhand books - I had been well aware of the internet as a tool I would have to investigate. At that time there may have been internet access at public libraries; if so, it included a charge: at some time the hourly fee was £5.00 or £10.00, I cannot remember which; prohibitive in either case. But by Monday 25 February 2002 some public libraries were providing free internet access.
Together, these two developments - viz: (1) the transformation of my finances, and (2) the suitability of the internet for my purposes - allowed and required me to raise my intentions and expectations: I felt that I could, and must, go wider and deeper. But there was no fundamental change in direction concerning the telling of Reginald Hoare's story: simply an empowerment to do better.
So, on Wednesday 29 May 2002 I
began an intensive, internet-assisted, pursuit of secondhand books.
Between about June 1995 and Sunday
6 April 2003, I acquired more than 400 books; and - after a pursuit
which began Wednesday 29 May 2002 and continued at high intensity for
almost 12 months - it remained (so I thought) to pursue but few
others. I was lacking principally the
very-hard-to-find or too-expensive-to-buy titles, and I expected to be able to
get sight of those through inter-library loans (some international), or by way
of electronic copies, or on-line editions.
Eventually, by the tax year 2019/20,
I had acquired more than 700 books, 112 magazines, and 34 DVDs /
CDs.
The internet evolved dramatically
and significantly during the 1990s (and after I began this project; and it has
continued to develop). In addition to
its suitability for the purchase of secondhand books, the internet was also
permitting transmission of electronic copies of books, and giving access to
on-line editions. For these reasons,
among others, the internet had become indispensable for my purposes. When I was spending a lot of time booksearching
and not certain of the internet's long-term value to me, it made good sense to
take advantage of free access at public libraries. But by December 2003, it had become
inefficient and irksome to be going to libraries regularly for short
visits. The time was ripe to update my
word-processing hardware and software (which had served me well since 1994): to
include a CD‑ROM drive and associated facilities; and internet access.
In due course: I was the successful
bidder (eBay) for a "remanufactured Compaq Presario 2134EA" on
Thursday 17 June 2004. I began
serious pursuit of ISPs on Tuesday 22 June 2004. And gained personal internet access on
Wednesday 3 November 2004. Just
amazing. The floodgates were wide open.
I continue to be astonished by the internet. By its essential agency, together with the entirely unexpected and quite unpredictable transformation of my finances (not to mention my expertise in frugality), I am in a situation now that was previously undreamt of.
During the pursuit of my own copies
of books, I was also building a bibliography, thus:
From an early stage I enquired of
many correspondents about source material, but got little by way of
response. At first, the building of a
bibliography was slow. It was June 1995
before I began to make serious enquiries, and it was not until October 1995
that I began to pursue my own copies of books quite vigorously.
Once I began to acquire books - some
of which had their own bibliographies - it was only a matter of time before I
had assembled a respectable bibliography of my own. And during the intensive, internet-assisted,
pursuit of titles of interest, which began Wednesday 29 May 2002, the
bibliography was all but completed (at least in principle).
As I came across more and more
information, documenting the project became a major exercise - the essential
purpose of which has been to maintain appropriate records in such a way that
information is stored efficiently, and is readily accessible.
In the beginning, I had very modest
expectations of the amount of information available. As those expectations changed, and I came to
realise that there was a good deal of information available, I began to make
more and more use of computerised information storage. At first, and for quite some time, I was wary
of this. In due course, by November 2004
when I had personal internet access, my dependence on electronic communication
and information storage was total.
I have stored information
electronically in 11 principal files (or documents). These are essential to the Humphrey
Procter-Gregg Project. For present
purposes, it is appropriate to mention by name only the following two. (The statistics are as at my annual progress
report dated Wednesday 21 December 2022.)
(1) HP‑G Information Sources (2310 pp; 625,707 words) is
one of two complementary documents that concern source material - archival and
published - relevant to the Humphrey Procter-Gregg Project. (The other document is specifically for the
Procter-Gregg Papers and some closely similar material.)
The
two principal functions of HP‑G Information Sources are (1) to
keep track of what there is (and where it is) and (2) to record whether I have
been able to get access to it (or to acquire a copy). For published material, I have made a
sufficient record of each item with two objects in view: (1) to have some idea
of its content (and therefore its relevance); and (2) to know whether to pursue
a personal copy (and at what cost).
Both
archival material and published material became accessible on line during the
course of this project.
(2) HP‑G Miscellaneous Notes (4180 pp; 1,834,039 words) has
served a number of purposes relevant to the Humphrey Procter-Gregg
Project.
Currently,
I am using this document primarily to develop the prototype of my first book
(in §1.1 Chronology (3546 pp;
1,640,246 words).
Where I
am heading - and some measure of where I am now - might most simply be
indicated by one possible title for my first book: AR Hoare
(1871-1920), Missionary in Alaska, An Annotated Chronological Compilation
1582-1991.
NOTE 1 The resulting prototype is a growing and
improving account that facilitates a proper understanding of the matter in
hand. Not only is the account
chronological and liberally supplied with explicit and precise dates, but,
notably, it includes sources up front: not in footnotes; nor - worse - in
endnotes. (This would not have been
possible but for the electronics industry, its associated applications, the
ingenuity of many people, and the selfless generosity of others: a truly
cooperative undertaking.)
NOTE 2 The opening up of Alaska (formerly Russian
America) was a slow and relatively recent process, involving explorers, traders
(furs, whale oil), and prospectors (gold, initially). Missionaries of the Orthodox Church were
somewhat slow to become involved (1793).
An Anglican missionary from British North America began work on Yukon
River (1861) while Alaska was still Russian America, and before the arrival of
the first gold prospectors (1873). Not
until the Klondike gold rush (to Canada, initiated 1896) was Alaska booted into
connection with the outside world (or vice versa).
I am
thinking - and acting - in terms of perhaps two simultaneous versions: (1) the
full account, on-line, searchable; (2) a shorter account, conventional hardcopy
/ e-book. I do not know whether this is
feasible.
NOTE The full account, especially, would encourage
active reading: read and search; search and read.
I had been aware of on-line editions
of books (and other publications) that suit my purposes since at least Monday
18 November 2002. During 2005-06,
especially, I became aware of several more such on-line editions. The situation continued to develop
subsequently, with relevant and rare material being posted on the web in ever
greater quantities. I downloaded a few
such items, but very largely I added them to Favorites / Bookmarks. The situation reached the point where on
Monday 21 July 2008 I felt the need to begin more systematically to
document what was available on line. I
began to note in HP‑G Information Sources many websites and web
pages, and I began to search them using the same criteria I had used to search
eBay for titles of interest; and so, in time, I terminated eBay regular
searches (begun June 2004, at intervals of two clear days, ended Monday
6 October 2008) in favour of this more productive phase of trawling.
On Saturday 20 November 2010 I
finished the task begun Monday 21 July 2008.
My main purpose in this endeavour re
websites and web pages was to have access to on-line publications. Foremost among such sites is the Internet
Archive website (archive.org), founded in 1996 (first encountered by me on Saturday
3 March 2007).
NOTE 1 The supreme advantage of having documents in
electronic format - on line or downloaded - is being able to search them. (Search functions have improved considerably during
the course of this project.) However,
on-line material is sometimes flawed: operatives can make mistakes, and matter
might be lacking.
NOTE 2 From my progress report dated Thursday
22 December 2011:
... sometime (before 1999) I had
searched Palmer's Index to The Times Newspaper pretty carefully at the Harris Library, Preston, re Klondike. I
found this index to be lacking four
long items on the Klondike by Flora Shaw, which I discovered via another
source. Quite probably it lacks other
items. Such past activity compares very
badly with now being able to access and search The Times Digital
Archive 1785-1985 website at home [until the library cancelled its subscription
sometime during 2021-23] ...
I began to search the Internet
Archive website systematically on Monday 17 November 2008, and finished
the task on Friday 10 April 2009.
I had mixed feelings during this
search: satisfaction at finding directly relevant material, often not
previously encountered; ruefulness at finding on-line editions (accessible
instantly, and for "free") of titles that I had spent much time, and
not inconsiderable finance, pursuing and obtaining in print copy.
I finished my widespread systematic
search for relevant published material on Saturday 20 November 2010 (begun
about June 1995, or soon afterwards). At
that time, I had identified, and gained access to, well in excess of one
thousand published items (more subsequently).
On Monday 13 June 2011 I began
to sift HP‑G Information Sources systematically, applying each of
three symbols (triage) as appropriate.
My intention (during this particular activity), so far as it was
appropriate to do so, was to minimise the amount of detailed reading and note
taking: my objective was to decide upon the level of importance and degree of
usefulness of the various identified sources; I would also keep in mind the
manner of their usefulness, and to this end I would also make brief electronic
notes, primarily in HP‑G Miscellaneous Notes and HP‑G
Information Sources.
This is a rewarding task, though not
without difficulty:
From time
to time I grind my teeth in exasperation that the task of
sifting HP‑G Information Sources (triage) re articles in The Spirit of Missions is painfully tedious. But then I uncover yet another item that I
would not have found otherwise.
Similarly, I fret that the job is taking so long. And yet things continue to work out
(remarkably and rewardingly so) along the lines on which I embarked near the
beginning: put things in chronological order.
And with ominous ability to expand:
(1)
I have continued the task of sifting HP‑G Information Sources (triage) re articles in The
Spirit of Missions (begun Saturday 24 September 2011), copies of which began to be on line in
significant quantity during 2010 via the Hathi Trust website [first
encountered by me on Tuesday 12 January 2010]. This activity includes making
a proper and comprehensive record of relevant items. It requires a good deal of skimming, reading,
note taking, and cross checking; and some digressing.
(2)
While Internet Archive and Hathi Trust - and, increasingly, other
websites - are wonderful resources for hunting down and accessing relevant
source material, they thereby add somewhat to the magnitude of the task in
hand.
Also, I soon found that my original
intention (sift, and read later) was not feasible; rather, it was better to
sift and read at the same time; and use the associated note taking to continue
developing the prototype of my first book.
I realised at a very early stage
that to have a proper understanding of ARH's story I needed to put things in
chronological order. (Obvious.) This was when matters seemed pretty
straightforward, and appeared to be contained within a small compass.
The same general principle applies -
with stronger reason - now that the compass is anything but small.
Also, at a relatively early stage, I
realised the importance of patience: persevere, and things will fall into
place.
Again, this principle applies to the
activity of sifting HP‑G Information Sources. Thus: it has proved useful to note what seems
to be relevant in a given source at its appropriate place in the chronology,
though a full understanding may be elusive at the time of making those notes. (It is exceedingly satisfying, some time
later, when a fuller understanding does indeed emerge, and at its appropriate
place.)
However, a simple principle fails -
or, at least, requires modification or amplification - as knowledge
increases. For the matter in hand, this
translates into having to revisit a source - sometimes several sources on the
same topic - because of a failure to realise the significance of certain
material therein at a first pass. This
can be frustrating, but it is an inescapable truth which I acknowledged as a
possibility at a relatively early stage: witness, the pursuit of my own copies
of books and the concomitant building of a bibliography.
Throughout the project, I have
edited my files regularly (many times, in minor respects), so that they have
always been in relatively good shape.
Sometimes, editing digressions have been substantive, with the eventual
reader in mind, and this has given rise to additional topic-based digressions.
These topic-based pursuits are
something of a pain (not least because it is all too easy to get lost in the
ramifications and by-ways - inevitable spillover - of a wide-ranging pursuit),
but appropriate and necessary at some stage, it seems. Far preferable, so far as possible, is my
more usual practice: sift HP‑G Information Sources sequentially,
patiently and persistently, and matter will fall into its (chronological) place
automatically.
Since 2020 I have been enmeshed in a
protracted series of topic-based pursuits which are entirely appropriate, and
which are contributing toward a thoroughly informative and reliable piece of
work. However, the magnitude of the task
now in hand is giving me much cause for concern. My files are in good shape. And I am well able to keep track of where I
am, despite the large accumulation of topic-based pursuits. But it is possible that at some point I may
have to resort to Gordian-knot-cutting.
I very much hope not, because, in reading about ARH during 1898-1920 -
in the prototype - it is very satisfying to come across the name of a person or
event that is evidently important and of some significance, then to be able to
search previous years for that name and discover - in correct chronological
context of other significant persons and events - the who, what, where, when,
and why of that particular person or event.
Just as, when building a
bibliography, one item leads to others, so also with topic-based pursuits. At the outset I was able to circumscribe my
field of operation severely; necessarily so, because of limited access to
material. For example:
I had expected to be able, almost,
to ignore Russian activity in Alaska (ie, Russian America), 1741-1867. This, because the Russians concerned
themselves mainly with the Aleutian Islands, the Gulf of Alaska, and the
panhandle. The land and peoples to the
north, including the interior and the northwest coast, were very little known
to them.
But I found it neither possible nor
appropriate to (almost) ignore the Russians.
For at least two reasons: (1) they were the first (beginning,
effectively, 1741) to make sustained external contact with, and to have impact
on, the indigenes; (2) Catherine II authorised the introduction of
missionaries into Russian America (Thursday 11 July 1793), and the
Orthodox Church remained the strongest single sect in Alaska until at least
1890.
Now, with a wealth of on-line
material "freely" available, it is very much more difficult to draw
the line - and entirely appropriate to have raised intentions and expectations:
to go wider and deeper. But this is a
very uncomfortable position to be in.
This project developed a life of its
own long ago - which I took to be a good sign - and I became committed to going
where it lead. I am striving to make a
proper job of a project that started small, but which is tending toward
overwhelming (again). The position now
(as it has been for some time) was entirely inconceivable at the beginning.
In early days, I regretted as
unavoidable the need to cut corners; but, as things developed, I discovered
that such anticipated corner-cutting was not necessarily so. (For which I deserve at least a little
credit; hand-in-hand, subsequently, with the internet. But this is very much a double-edged
sword.) I began to believe that I just
needed to keep my nerve and encourage things to work through. I still hold this belief, though as the task
seems continually to expand, my conviction is being sorely tested.
It remains to be seen whether patience
and persistence will triumph.
Unfamiliar place names gave me much difficulty at the outset. It is therefore a matter of considerable satisfaction now, to be able to follow movements closely on contemporary maps, which - increasingly - are being posted on line, some of them very high quality images which can be enlarged many times to reveal much detail.
Sources - books et sim - available on line
sometimes lack maps; or, there may be folding maps present, but no scans of
maps unfolded. For example, from my
progress report dated Sunday 28 December 2008:
... on 18 November 2008 I found an on-line edition of
Ogilvie, The Klondike Official Guide (1898). I have previously mentioned this guide (on 15 February
2006, when there was not yet an on-line edition) as being exceedingly scarce and correspondingly expensive, and a "must
see" book. The folding map is present in the currently
on-line copy, but there is no scan of the map unfolded.
From
my progress report dated Wednesday 15 February 2006:
... Ogilvie, The Klondike
Official Guide (1898) is exceedingly scarce and correspondingly
expensive. There seems not yet to
be an on-line edition. (It is an authoritative Canadian government
document, written by a highly respected man with unique credentials.) A scan of one page from a copy of this book
on eBay (seven days to 9 January 2006), showed that it includes official information about the merits of the
Teslin trail, information that misled goldseekers such as Reginald
Hoare. And so I know for sure that I
must see that book. (Otherwise I might
have been willing to make do with similar information from elsewhere. There are numerous Klondike guides, but none
so authoritative.)
Subsequently, by Sunday 6 August
2023, there were several on-line editions of Ogilvie, The Klondike Official
Guide (1898).
However, it seemed that none had a scan of the folding map
unfolded. But, separately, the
University of Alaska Fairbanks had uploaded an image of that map. On Monday 7 August 2023 I noted
the name of the map (which I could have done long previously), searched for it
by name (Map of the Western Part of the Dominion of Canada), and discovered
three more uploaded images of that map: (1) University of Calgary website; (2)
Toronto Public Library website; (3) Internet Archive website. Of these, the first was the best, so I
downloaded it (jpg), and saved it.
Magnificent!
From the current preface of the
prototype of my first book:
No one is expected to read the full account in its entirety; but it is
important that there is the opportunity
to read any part of it. Certainly,
readers will benefit from at least some acquaintance with - if not a full
knowledge of - the historical background to, and contemporary context of, ARH's
story. And maps are an essential
component in such knowledge.
There are many maps of possible
interest. In what follows, I have used
the symbol m - in
parentheses (m) - at
appropriate points, to indicate those of especial interest. And by my naming of these maps in full, the
reader has the best opportunity of accessing them.
(▪) Stuck, The Yukon Indians, The Spirit of
Missions [February 1906:105-114 and frontispiece].
...
If the reader will look at a map, what ... [there is] yet to say will be
easy; if not, it will be a mere medley of strange names and enormous distances;
"meaningless magnitudes" ...
So if this thing interests you in the least - get [access to] a map. (p 107)
(▪) Stuck, The
Alaskan Missions of the Episcopal Church (1920).
...
People will look at pictures of a country but they will not look at
maps, although to those who have acquired the small knowledge necessary to read
them, maps are far more interesting.
... (p 9) ...
...
It is not possible to understand Alaskan problems nor to form an
intelligent opinion about Alaskan matters without a knowledge of the map, and
unless the reader be willing to take the trouble to refer to the map now, and
to repeat such reference from time to time when fresh place-names occur, the
time spent in reading will be largely wasted.
(p 15)
The manner of my working requires close attention to detail, most especially dates. As such, not infrequently, I notice mistakes in the work of others. This strikes me as less than considerate of those others, in that it causes difficulties for me and for others of their readers. (I do not claim that my work is error-free. I have several times been shocked - in editing my files, or searching them - to encounter errors, and wonder how they could possibly have arisen.)
To give substance to this general remark concerning errors of others, here are some specific examples.
(1)
Karamanski, Fur Trade and Exploration (1983) has important detail
concerning John Bell which is not readily found elsewhere.
The attentive reader will find
several mistakes in the book - some obvious (self-inconsistent), some not -
reproduced and repeated from the author's doctoral thesis, January 1980, which
was "read and approved" by a committee of three professors of
history, Loyola University. The text
gives other impressions of having been written without much effort at revision
and improvement.
(2)
Lowenstein, Ultimate Americans (2008) includes much of interest
but is seriously flawed in its exposition.
The account of missionaries at Point
Hope 1890-1909 (and beyond) is tendentious and blinkered. For example: "Driggs understood ... that
a single missionary could hardly regulate the behavior of Point Hope and Jabbertown
- about two hundred people" (p 286); and yet Lowenstein
repeatedly refers to "Hoare's destruction of Point Hope's ancestral burial
grounds" in 1909 (he gets the year wrong on p 131) as if it
were a one-man responsibility (pp xv, 131, 279, 307, 311, 321). (The dustjacket uses the word
"unilaterally" in this context.)
There is much elaborate and rambling
speculation constructed around disconnected extracts from correspondence and
published matter of various people (including Driggs, Tuckfield, Edson, Rowe,
Knapp, Stuck, and ARH). Scant regard for
chronology; various outright mistakes.
Here are some more specific
shortcomings: (1) Stuck "made several visits to Point Hope" (p 86)
and "spent six months in Point Hope in 1918" (p 88): in
fact, Stuck visited Point Hope once, 1917-18, for barely 7 weeks; (2) the
date 29 July 1904 - twice - on p 247 is obviously in error by
1yr (the same date on pp 292, 294 is likely correct); (3) there is
error and confusion on p 278 re date of Rowe's first visit - begun
Friday 17 August 1900 - to Point Hope; (4) Lowenstein speculates that
Driggs "may have read" Muir, The Cruise of the Corwin (1917) -
which was first published 3yr after Driggs' death (p 289); (5)
confused and inadequate account of Knapp's return to Point Hope at end-winter
1905-06 (p 295); (6) in mid-August 1908, Driggs "had intended
to visit Miss Day [Church Missions House, New York] on his next
furlough. But he never traveled home
again" (p 298): in fact, Driggs left Point Hope Friday
28 August 1908, reached Seattle c Monday 5 October 1908, where
he met Bishop Rowe, and arrived at New York Wednesday 2 December 1908; (7)
"Once Rowe had gone, Hoare conducted a census ... in September and October
1908" (p 309): in fact, ARH first arrived at Point Hope
Thursday 24 September 1908, Rowe did not join him there until summer 1909.
(3)
The next paragraph is from my progress report dated Sunday
23 December 2012.
Dean, Breaking Trail (1988),
a biography of Hudson Stuck published by Ohio University Press, is the closest comparison
to date to what I am doing re ARH. Stuck
was also an Englishman who became a missionary in Alaska for the Episcopal
Church USA, 1904-20 (almost exactly contemporary with ARH). Stuck wrote a great deal, exceptionally well,
and he kept a detailed diary. David Dean
is a university historian. His book,
which should have been absorbing and fascinating, is a deadly disappointment.
Also:
(▪) Dean, Breaking Trail [1988:78, 311
(Chap 3 Note 44)].
The Episcopal missionary at Eagle,
AH Hoare [sic; AR Hoare], impressed Stuck. ...
Stuck would later come to dislike Hoare for personal reasons, but he
long admired the man's abilities. (p 78)
In Chap 3 Note 44 of his
biography of Stuck, Dean cites five sources relative to the section from which
the above extract is taken. There is
support for Dean's remark that ARH impressed Stuck at this time, but there is
no support for his remarks - which may be correct - that Stuck would later come
to dislike ARH though he long admired his abilities. (An attentive and knowledgable reader of
Dean, Breaking Trail (1988) will find many mistakes and
shortcomings. Stuck would have had a
very low opinion - scornful, even - of the endpapers map.)
And:
(▪) Peter Coates, British Library, book review
(Dean, Breaking Trail (1988)), Journal of American Studies,
December 1990, Vol 24 Issue 3, pp 430, 431.
Breaking
Trail, the first biography of Stuck,
makes extensive use of archival sources and does justice to his significance as
charismatic missionary, author, social reformer, and amateur explorer (whose
accounts of the Yukon country remain of enduring value). ... (p 430) ...
Dean's study is conceived in a narrow context and the straightforward
narrative is stuffed with a superabundance of wearying detail and tedious anecdote. Dean ponderously plots Stuck's every move and
we learn far more than we want or need to.
... The appeal of this biography
is undeniably parochial and it cannot be recommended as a broader introduction
to major themes of missionary history and relations between the church and
Native Americans on the frontier. On the
other hand, this is the kind of book that goes down a treat with the elderly
female stalwarts of local historical societies.
(p 431)
(4)
Not even the published work of Hudson Stuck is error-free (though he
tried his best. He was hindered, more
than most, by his circumstances). For
example:
(a)
In Stuck, Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled (1914), he continues
to repeat - as he does in The Spirit of Missions - that the Hudson's Bay Co post at Fort Yukon was established
in 1846 (a mistake he seems to have realised by June 1917): pp 21, 142,
153. It was 1847 (as in: (1) Stuck, Voyages
on the Yukon and its Tributaries [1917:95]; (2) Stuck, A Winter Circuit
of Our Arctic Coast [1920:278]; (3) Stuck, The Alaskan Missions of the
Episcopal Church [1920:2]).
(b)
In Stuck, Voyages on the Yukon and its Tributaries (1917), he
does not always get his dates right.
Campbell's discovery and naming of the upper reaches of the Yukon, the
Lewes River, was in June 1843 (not 1842; pp 31, 35). Likewise the date of Spurr's visit to Anvik
was September 1896, not 1887; Stuck's slanted account of that visit is thereby
fatally flawed, and his impugning of Spurr void (p 176). Bell "descended the Porcupine to its
mouth" in 1845 (not 1844; p 221). Rev VC Sim died Monday 11 May 1885
(not Monday 25 May 1885; p 237).
Stuck's account of the discovery of
gold in the region of Birch Creek (probably 1892) that led to the founding of
Circle City is doubtful; probably, it is wrong (pp 85, 86).
Stuck's account relating "the
introduction of reindeer amongst the Eskimos of the coast" (begun by
Sheldon Jackson in 1891) to "the plight of the white men in Dawson in the
winter of 1898" (ie, the drive to Circle City for the relief of the Yukon
miners (1897-99)) is hopelessly muddled (pp 217, 218). (He gives a better account in Stuck, A
Winter Circuit of Our Arctic Coast [1920:138, 139].)
(c)
In Stuck, A Winter Circuit of Our Arctic Coast (1920), again he
does not always get his dates right. The
voyage of Capt Phipps, later Lord Mulgrave, toward the North Pole was in
1773 (not 1772; p 89). The
first revenue cutter north of Bering Strait was not the Corwin (1880) (p 103); she was preceded by both the Reliance (1870) and the Richard A
Rush (1879). The Corwin coal mine was located and used by
Capt Hooper on Friday 23 July 1880 (not in July 1890; p 166);
it was reported to him by his ice-pilot Capt EE Smith who had discovered
it several years earlier; Hooper, Report of the Cruise of the US
Revenue-Steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean [1881:29, 30].
(d)
In Stuck, The Alaskan Missions of the Episcopal Church (1920)
there are very many errors, perhaps seemingly minor in themselves, but the cumulative
effect is to limit considerably any value this book may have. More widely, such an accumulation of errors
might cast doubt on Stuck's reliability elsewhere. In his defence, it might be considered that
he wrote this book under some difficulties, as he explains in his introductory
note (pp [xi], [xii]). Also,
Stuck's previous books were based on his own diaries and notes, and on his own
experiences; this book is based on other sources, and on the experiences of
others. One consequence is that in this
book he is sometimes tempted to elaborate, and thereby go astray, when a
tighter rein and rigorous attention to the sources would have been the better
course. Two specific examples of
unnecessary and misleading elaboration are as follows, together with two nearby
additional errors.
(i)
Concerning Rowe's first visit to Forty Mile on Saturday 6 June
1896, Stuck suggests that "here there must have been a joyful meeting with
that veteran of the North, Bishop Bompas" (p 53). In fact, Bompas had just gone down the Yukon;
Rowe met him later, at Circle City; he met Mrs Bompas at Forty Mile.
(ii)
Continuing down the river, Rowe reached Fort Adams Saturday 18 July
1896. Stuck says that "Mr and
Mrs Prevost were eagerly awaiting him" (p 61). In fact, Prevost had been to Circle City, met
up with Rowe, and come down the river on the Alice with him; they landed together at Fort Adams;
Mrs Prevost had given birth on Monday 13 July 1896.
In the same paragraph (p 61),
Stuck says that when the Prevosts returned to Fort Adams from his furlough
1894-95, they brought with them the Northern
Light. In fact, the boat did not
reach St Michael until summer 1896.
(Stuck makes the same mistake on pp 44, 45.)
In the previous paragraph (p 61),
Stuck says that "Bishop Rowe on his first visit laid out ... $2500 at Fort
Yukon". The figure was $250.
Stuck's account of the discovery of
gold in the region of Birch Creek (probably 1892) that led to the founding of
Circle City is certainly faulty; it may be quite wrong (p 45). He compounds this error on p 106
within a simplistic account of "gold discoveries in the north".
Reginald Hoare was an Englishman, a civil engineer and son of a clergyman, who - along with many others - joined the tail end of the Klondike gold rush (Canada) in 1898. After the gold rush he remained in North America and became a missionary in Alaska for the Episcopal Church USA, 1900-20. Initially, he served at every contemporary mission station on the Yukon River, working among Indians and white men. Later, he was in charge of the Point Hope mission to the Eskimos, 1908-20. He was murdered by a white man, abetted by an Eskimo woman.
My first objective is a biography of ARH that does justice to an exceptional man in extraordinary circumstances. In particular, I want to set his life in North America properly in context (which requires a long and wide view of relevant history). Though easily stated, this is a big job that was inconceivable at the beginning, when I set myself correspondingly modest goals. My concern is to get this story right, and lay it out in such a manner as to be readily and properly understandable: the facts are sufficiently compelling to need no embellishment.
NOTE Originally, I had low expectations of the
material among the Procter-Gregg Papers concerning ARH. But after a while, progress snowballed so
that I had a great deal to do, and the story developed a life of its own. (Without the internet, and a word processor,
the task as presently conceived would be practically impossible.)
This book is well-defined and can be expected to be a financial success. It should do well in the United States, and it should sell in the United Kingdom and probably Canada.
The second book involves the Procter, Gregg, Hervey (of Underbarrow), Hoare, Procter-Gregg, etc, families. They mostly have their roots in north Lancashire, Westmorland, and the Isle of Man. The time-span is almost 400yr. If I do it well, the different facets might add to the interest of the final product.
NOTE 1 What I saw originally as a publication
centred on HP‑G has expanded considerably to embrace several interesting
families and people.
NOTE 2 HP‑G's youngest sister was Nancy
Procter-Gregg (1906-68), CBE, translator (from the German) of Anna Freud and
Sigmund Freud, and (from the French) of Marie Bonaparte, consort of Prince
George of Greece and Denmark.
NOTE 3 ARH's mother, HP‑G's maternal
grandmother, was Annie Hoare (née Pankhurst;
1837-1923). She was the adopted daughter
of her
uncle, James William Pankhurst (1808?-89), earthenware manufacturer of Shelton
and of Barlaston, Staffordshire. She was
first cousin to Dr RM Pankhurst (1834?-98), the suffragist.
I expect to use some
Pankhurst material as background to ARH's story, and it will probably figure
more largely in this second work.
This book is not so well-defined, and it is unlikely to be a financial success, being essentially a matter of local historical interest.
Why am I posting this website? Initially, it was partly to give others the opportunity to share what I am working with, but mainly I hoped to learn something from others and, especially, I hoped to pull in some more primary source material. Now, it also serves as a publicly-available progress report.
Additional primary source material might include letters written by HP‑G, which I had hoped to turn up in my early enquiries, but which failed to materialise; and some letters written by ARH which used to be among the Procter-Gregg Papers.
This
site might also be a means of discovering material - possibly in an archive -
which would have been in the hands of ARH's American family, who went to live
in San Luis Obispo, California. And perhaps, it might be a means of
making contact with his current descendants.
His wife was Margaret E Leighton Hoare, called Dollie or
Dolly. They had two daughters: Margaret
(Peggy) Elizabeth, and Dorothy Hilda.
Margaret Leighton was sister to Prof JA Leighton (1870-1954), State
University, Columbus, Ohio.
NOTE In 2008-09, this site was instrumental in the
discovery and identification of ARH's current descendants.
Also, there is a good possibility that letters which ARH wrote to other family members in England (eg, to his cousin Rev FRA Hoare, Church Gresley, Burton on Trent) might come to light.
And who knows what else?
NOTE On Monday 1 July 2013 I received an e-mail enquiry from a relative
of the young man who killed ARH. This was something I had not expected. We exchanged some information and I was
expecting further contact in due course, but - thus far - I have heard
no more.
This section is for matters entirely unrelated to the Procter-Gregg Papers.
Currently, there are five topics, on other pages, as indicated below.
Please click <here>.
Please click <here>.
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