My Own Worst Enemy

Melville Jacoby

May 1

Oops. In an ideal world, this blog post would be an update about all the amazing things I discovered while perusing the radio broadcast transcripts housed at the University of Oregon. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be.

I woke up early Saturday, excited to make my first foray into the field researching Melville Jacoby's story (not counting my visit to the shipwreck named after him, or the informal visits to my grandmother's house work on this project began in earnest). The drive was pleasant. Eugene was lively as students and visitors enjoyed the sun and warm temperatures. The special collections librarian on duty was helpful and welcoming, as was the undergraduate assistant who lugged up a huge box of transcripts to the collection's reading room.

It looked like she was in for many more trips. There were nine total boxes, and it wasn't clear what order they were in. There was no finding aid, so I'd have to guess.

So, I started with box number one. It kinda felt like christmas as I opened it. What might I learn? What might I discover inside?

Folders and folders and folders full of typed and mimeographed documents. Many were on Republic of China letterhead. Most addressed Charles Stuart, the dentist in my home town who'd received the broadcasts Mel set up. The earliest was dated 1943. Uh-oh...

You see, Mel died in 1942 (indeed, I was at the library just a day short of the 70th anniversary of his death). Somehow, every time I'd read the index citing the collection I'd read it as containing all the records connected to XGOY since 1939, when Mel had helped arrange the station's linkup with the U.S. It turns out the collection was only partial, and the correct dates were even in my notes. How had I processed it so incorrectly? Wishful thinking fueled by my eagerness to finally get some meaty research done, maybe?

Though this reinforced my need to travel to other archives and personal collections it does make me wonder where the first half of these materials are (though it's still not really clear why any of them are in Oregon -- the librarian at the U of O thought it might be because some missionaries have contributed other materials to its collection). But that's part of the fun of all this: tracing all the bread crumbs I might find and answering all the questions connected to the fascinating life of Melville Jacoby.

Anyhow, such errors are bound to cross my path occasionally. I've written previously about my mistakes. All I can do is move along and keep working.