Back on the History Track

So travel blogging has taken a break for the moment in favor of my current hopelessness.
I finished the Dana Sleeth collection earlier today, and boy does that feel good. In some strange way, putting all our hard work into one easy to access finding aid feels as though we have put Dana into an easy to access, easy to understand format.
This couldn't be further from the truth of course, but it's a nice thought. Here's what I wrote about Dana in the biographical sketch for the aid:

"Dana Sleeth was a fiery, polemical muckraker of the early 20th century. He was on February 22, 1878 in Boonesborough, Iowa. As the son of two fire and brimstone Methodists, he left home at a young age to become one of the most progressive newspaper editors in the country, presiding over a domain from Los Angeles to Seattle. He was editor of the Peoples Press and the Portland News from 1906 to 1915. While at the Portland News, he brought to light a homosexual sex scandal at the YMCA involving some of Portland’s most important political leaders. He was soon approached by E.W. Scripps to edit the Los Angeles Record, where, by 1916, he successfully agitated for the resignation of Mayor Charles Sebastian and the city council of Los Angeles.

From the hills of Scappoose, Oregon, Sleeth, writing under the pseudonym of Hill Billy, brought a well-articulated workingman’s opinion to an increasingly capitalistic society. Sleeth wrote on subjects both pedestrian and philosophical and gained the loyalty of readers across the West. Along with letters from hundreds of fans, Sleeth garnered the attention of such notables as Upton Sinclair, Margaret Sanger and even Eleanor Roosevelt. He was consistently engaged in local and national politics and kept up a steady correspondence with some of the West Coast’s most prominent politicians. His untimely death, at the age of 56, marked the end of an generation of newsmen unafraid to relentlessly champion the values of the common man."

And yet there is so much more that I want to mention and discuss. Though there is never enough space to talk about what an interesting man he is.

But that's not why I'm hopeless. The finishing of the Dana project means moving on to his mother, Mattie. From a feminist point of view, she's the far more interesting character. Here's some of her firsts: She was a Methodist preacher before they had forms for female preachers, and had to cross out "he" and write "she".
She was the president of the Oregon WCTU. She was the first female juror in Oregon.
And her collection is significantly smaller than her son's.
And yet.
All of her stuff has been pre "oreganized" by someone. I put organized in quotes, because it's not a system I understand or care for. And there are photocopies of everything! Multiples! Unlike Dana, some one's already been here, and I feel odd throwing that all out the window, but I need to buck up and do it. It's hard to assert your historical authority (to a dead woman, to boot) when you are going up against some one who has a personal understanding of the whole collection. It's funny how I have no problem arguing my point amongst my fellow student historians, but now, I can't seem to take charge.
Or maybe it's just kinda dull and gray outside, and I really just don't have much motivation.