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Herbert Eugene Bolton. Albert L. Hurtado
Читать онлайн.Название Herbert Eugene Bolton
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9780520952515
Автор произведения Albert L. Hurtado
Издательство Ingram
After one year of study in absentia Herbert decided to go back to Madison. He hoped for a fellowship but knew that he could work at teaching and odd jobs as he had done while an undergraduate. The year in Kaukauna had been profitable. For the first time in his life Herbert had money in the bank. “We have saved about $100 every month.” Gertrude's household economy had no doubt helped that small nest egg grow. Teaching in a summer institute would add to the treasury.41 In the meantime Herbert was reading as much U.S. history as he could get his hands on, including works by Reuben Gold Thwaites, Francis Parkman, George Bancroft, John Bach McMaster, James Ford Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, John Fiske, and Justin Winsor. In the summer he studied for an exam on slavery from Turner.42
By the time Herbert reached Madison, Fred and his family were embarked on the long journey to Germany.43 Herbert buckled down to study in earnest. His instinct was to specialize and to investigate primary sources rather than to cover comprehensively the whole field of American history for exams, the results of which would soon be forgotten (as long as one passed). Cramming, or “bucking,” for exams “takes time and grubbing,” he wrote to Fred,” but investigation takes brains and luck in striking something good.“ By November Herbert believed that he had already found a good thesis subject, what he described as “the Abolition vote of 1844 [and] its effect on the different parties.” Orin G. Libby, one of Turner's doctoral students, said it would “open up a new field of investigation.”44 Libby was well qualified to appraise Bolton's subject. His published master's thesis was a pathbreaking study of voting patterns that foreshadowed the cliometric studies of the 1970s.45
Once again Bolton fell under Turner's classroom spell. Turner conceived his seminar to be a collaborative effort in which everyone, including him, worked on topics. They met in the Wisconsin Historical Society and used the collections and library there. Bolton listened carefully and offered useful suggestions. Turner's criticisms were gentle but pointed up the shortcomings of ill-prepared work. Bolton assimilated Turner's collaborative seminar philosophy and his gentle but revealing interrogation technique. Like Turner, Bolton presented himself as a helpful and well-informed coworker, although he eventually became a bit more avuncular with his own students than “the Master” was.46
Turner had his eye on Bolton. He asked him to teach extension courses at six dollars per student. Bolton agreed to do it for the money, which was always needed, and “to get a more personal hold on Turner.”47 He even hoped he might land a job on the Wisconsin faculty if he did a good job in the classroom, although he knew it was a long shot.
There is no question that Herbert favorably impressed the faculty and students at Wisconsin. His fellow graduate students elected him as their delegate to the Federation of Graduate Clubs, which was to meet in Baltimore at the end of December.48 The Wisconsin club paid his expenses, so Herbert jumped at the opportunity to go east. In Washington, D.C., he saw all of the sights that he could fit into forty-eight hours. He judged the capital to be “truly a magnificent city” with “an air of ‘swell-dom’ ” seen only rarely in other cities. Like any good tourist, he took in the Capitol, Library of Congress, Navy Yard, National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Ford's Theater, and the White House. Then he went down to Mount Vernon, saw “Lee's confiscated estate,” Washington's Masonic Lodge, and Christ Church, where both Washington and Lee worshiped. “I sat in both pews,” he added. Mount Vernon captured his imagination: “Truly a beautiful home in any age! And such a view up and down the grand old Potomac!” Then he “viewed The Tomb with such sacred memories for every American. Really such a visit is inspiring!”49
After these breast-swelling sights, the Federation of Graduate Clubs meeting in Baltimore was a bit of a letdown. Still, in a room full of strangers, Herbert soon became a center of attention. The delegates elected him secretary pro tem for the meeting and secretary for the coming year.50 This was the beginning of Bolton's national reputation among his academic peers.
To complete the PhD in two years Bolton needed a fellowship in his second year. The need became imperative in January 1897, when Gertrude gave birth to their first child, Frances. Turner thought that the prospects for a fellowship were good for Herbert and Fred, who would be back from Germany in the fall.51 “If one or two fellowships pan out right, then O.K.,” he told Fred; “if not then O___.”52 Turner wanted to keep Bolton at Wisconsin but offered to nominate him for fellowships at other universities including Harvard.53 Such a fellowship did not necessarily mean a complete transfer away from Wisconsin. In the 1890s it was not unusual for graduate students to take a fellowship for a year at another university and return to their home institution to complete the degree. This was a way to broaden graduate training, and (from the perspective of Turner and Haskins) advertise the bright young graduate students of the University of Wisconsin to the elite East Coast schools.54
Neither the Harvard nor the Wisconsin fellowship came through for the Boltons. The experience left the usually optimistic Herbert feeling a little abused. “Turner told me right up to [the vote] that my chances were strong.” “The policy of the Univ.…was to turn down home men,” he fumed. Turner and Haskins were now plumping Herbert for a fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, but he had “no strong hopes.”55
Herbert's judgment was a bit harsh. Turner probably told Bolton much the same thing about fellowships that he told Carl Becker. “It would give me pleasure to see you win a fellowship,” Turner explained. Of course, “we have to settle them purely on the basis of competition, but I should be glad, other things being equal, to see one of the men trained entirely by us win the honor. Of course I cannot make any promises, and you, I understand, are not asking for any.”56 Herbert probably heard what he wanted to hear without registering Turner's careful qualifiers.
Nevertheless, Turner offered him a place as his assistant and some extension work. Herbert thought that things might turn out all right after all. “I felt pretty blue last night but there's a good deal of India rubber in me and I bound back into shape pretty easily.”57 Herbert's disappointment was somewhat assuaged with his election to an alumni fellowship, but it did not pay as much as the one he had lost. “Turner says that if I get something in the East I'd better resign…which I think I'll do.” Three weeks later the university of Pennsylvania faculty elected him to a Harrison Fellowship.58 Still, Herbert's failure to obtain major support at Wisconsin rankled. “It is the policy of the UW profs. to get outsiders and to widen their own reputations. I know Turner was very anxious to get me a place but he preferred it to be abroad. I hardly think that a fair policy.”59
Herbert had drawn an astute assessment out of the disappointment that he felt over losing the Wisconsin fellowship. He had been a pawn in a larger game of professional and institutional politics. Haskins and Turner were brilliant young comers who assiduously cultivated their reputations with older men at more prestigious institutions. Promising graduate students like Bolton, Becker, and Ford could be moved around on the academic map to further the careers of their mentors. Improvements in the mentor's status sometimes created opportunities for students. Indeed, in April, the month before the fellowship election was held at Wisconsin, the prominent American historian John Bach McMaster had invited Turner to take a position at the University of Pennsylvania. Although he did not want the job, Turner visited Penn and returned to Wisconsin no doubt armed with knowledge about the Harrison Fellowship for which he recommended Bolton.60 The move to Pennsylvania would benefit Bolton, but he resented being forced out of his alma mater in order to succeed in his chosen field. The graduate student who wanted to rise had gotten a lesson on just how that was done in the historical profession. He did not think it fair, but he would not forget the lesson.
Bolton left Wisconsin reluctantly, but he must have thrilled to the historical associations of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.61 Founded in 1740, Penn was one of the older institutions