The Public Library in Its Relation to the State and to Literature
(The theory underlying a democratic govern ment is that ev...)
The theory underlying a democratic govern ment is that every man should be equal in his opportunities - not that every man should be a millionaire, a city boss, or a social leader. But that every man should be in a position where that which is best and strongest in him may find activity. This was the idea that was present when the Constitution was framed. The doctrines of Europe were. Wrote Jeffer son, that men in numerous associations can not be restrained within the limits oi order and justice but by forces physical and moral wielded over them by authorities independent of their.
(In order to emphasize this natural adaptation of a sheep-...)
In order to emphasize this natural adaptation of a sheep-growing industry in Victoria to the conditions or economy most favorable to its development, I give in this place some of the more notable differences shown by the census of 1891 over the census of 1881.
Worthington Chauncey Ford was an American historian and editor of a number of collections of documents from early American history. He served in a variety of government positions.
Background
Worthington Chauncey Ford was born on February 16, 1858, in Brooklyn to Gordon Lester and Emily Ellsworth (Fowler) Ford. He was the great-grandson (through his mother) of Noah Webster. His two younger brothers were Paul Leicester Ford, an eminent biographer and novelist, and Malcolm Webster Ford, a distinguished amateur athlete.
Education
Ford attended Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and Columbia College.
Career
Even though Ford's editing occasionally fell short of his own high standards, a short tracing of his career will reveal a host of unimpeachable achievements. Still in his twenties, Ford produced a two-volume civics textbook, The American Citizen's Manual, in which he favored an ideology very much in agreement with the Democratic Party of the time. This, in part, led to Ford's appointment, at the age of twenty-seven, as the head of the Bureau of Statistics in the State Department under the Democratic administration of Grover Cleveland. This first glimpse of the enormous and mostly unorganized historical archives held by the State Department propelled Ford toward the work that would occupy him for the rest of his life. The Bureau's collection included the papers of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, as well as the records of the Continental Congress. These important historical documents sat uncollected, unarranged, and, for all practical purposes, impossible to use. Though Ford's proposal to arrange and publish these papers was denied by Congress, the editor did manage to release a few minor documents while at the State Department, including the letters of a Virginian Revolutionary War figure, Joseph Jones.
After his first stint in government had ended, Ford began to collaborate with his brother, Paul, and published a variety of historical documents under the aegis of the brothers' Historical Printing Club. This collaboration produced a number of works, from pamphlets to multivolume collections. Among the historical figures represented, Ford focused on Revolutionary War-era figures, including Generals William Heath and Israel Putnam, as well as the diplomat William Lee.
The Department of Documents and Statistics at the Boston Public Library proved to be fertile ground for Ford. It was here, beginning in 1898, that Ford became interested in the Adams family. Eventually, while an editor at the Massachusetts Historical Society, he would edit some of the most important and remembered documents of that illustrious family, including the autobiography of Charles Francis Adams Jr., as well as The Education of Henry Adams in 1918. While still at the Public Library, Ford wrote a two-volume biography of George Washington and edited letters between Ralph Izard and Thomas Jefferson.
Another crucial aspect of Ford's career as an editor was his acceptance of the new technologies that became available to the librarian and scholar during his lifetime. While at the Library of Congress from 1902 to 1909, Ford fashioned the fledging Division of Manuscripts to emphasize accessibility. He drew up calendars and lists, and he petitioned President Theodore Roosevelt to increase the library's holdings with the acquisition of records from private owners. Later, at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Ford embraced the new photostat technology, and facsimile copies of rare documents were distributed to libraries around the country.
In addition to all of his work for various governmental and cultural institutions. Ford also continued to edit important documents for commercial and academic publishers. From 1889 to 1893, G. P. Putnam's Sons brought out Ford's massive fourteen-volume collection of George Washington's writings. In 1902, Ford published an essay in the American Historical Review that proved that the Monroe Doctrine was largely masterminded by then Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams. Later in life, Ford would continue his focus on the Adams family with his 1930 edition of the Utters of Henry Adams. Other publications followed almost until his death in 1941. These included the second volume of Henry Adams' letters in 1938, and, finally, a catalogue of the John Quincy Adams Library, which was prepared in collaboration with Henry Adams.
Worthington espoused a philosophy as an editor of historical documents that texts should not be tampered with or changed for the sake of stylistic considerations. In practice, though, Ford placed greater importance on the idea that historical documents should be widely available to scholars in an variety of organized and useable formats.
Membership
Ford was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1907.
American Antiquarian Society
,
United States
1907
Personality
Ford was fond of book and autograph collecting, golf and horseback riding.
Quotes from others about the person
Michael E. Stevens of Dictionary of Literary Biography maintained, "Ford proved to be a vigorous manuscript curator with broad interests."
Interests
Book and autograph collecting, golf, horseback riding.
Connections
Ford married Bettina Fillmore Quin in October 1899. They had two daughters.