Dictionary of American Biography by Allen Johnson; Dumas MaloneReview by: A. M. SchlesingerThe American Historical Review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Apr., 1932), pp. 553-556Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1837982 .

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Dictionary of American Biography 553

and tor approbation in the eyes of Europe than to any purely altruistic motives. Lord Palmerston, too, is treated with a generosity which his Eastern policy could hardly have earned, but Professor Dodwell does not always write with complete detachment where British interests are con- cerned. He has, however, produced an interesting book, written with a fine touch and a sure instinct for essentials. The style is terse and balanced and the theme is lightened by many touches of dry humor and enriched by observations which display a deep understanding of human nature.

Tufts College. HALFORD L. HOSKINS.

BOOKS OF AMERICAN HISTORY

Dictionary of American Biography. Edited by ALLEN JOHNSON and DUMAS MALONE. Volume VI., Echols-Fraser; volume VII., Fraunces-Grimke. (New "York: Charles Scribner's Sons. I93I. Pp. ix, 604; ix, 636. $250 for the complete set.) AN examination of the successive volumes of the Dictionary of Ameri-

can Biography goes far to confirm the assertion, made by one of its col- laborators, that the conception of history "as primarily a record of the cul- ture of a people" is "now becoming orthodox in America" (VI. 54). That the DAB itself has been a powerful factor in establishing this point of view can not be doubted. Of the two installments now under review, volume VI. embraces 662 sketches of men and women representing all walks of life and every variety of aspiration and endeavor, and volume VII. adds 677 to the number, bringing the grand total of memoirs to 4786. The forty-nine Greens and Greenes stand foremost in frequency of biographical treatment, followed by the Evanses, 24 entries; the Fosters, 23; the Eliots, Elliots, and Elliotts, 2I; the Fields, i9; and the Edwardses, i8. The num- ber of contributors of articles is larger than in the two volumes immediately preceding, being 262 in the case of volume VI. and 287 in the case of volume VII.

The present volumes offer their share of great and interesting names. Like the earlier ones, they also clarify the role in American civilization of many figures which have not been taken into account by historians. Among the sketches of outstanding merit may be mentioned Allen John-' son's "Mary Morse Baker Eddy", W. A. Robinson's "George Franklin Edmunds", F. A. Christie's "Jonathan Edwards", R. L. Rusk's "Edward Eggleston", D. DeS. Pool's "Arnold Bogumil Ehrlich", R. J. Purcell's "John England", F. C. Hicks's "William Maxwell Evarts", C. 0. Paullin's "David. Glasgow Farragut", E. S. Corwin's "Stephen Johnson Field", J. V. Fuller's "Hamilton Fish", Carl Becker's "Benjamin Franklin", R. G.

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554 Reviews of Books

Adams's "Horatio Gates", S. E. Morison's "Elbridge Gerry", E. B. Wilson's "Josiah Willard Gibbs", S. C. Mitchell's "Daniel Coit Gilman", J. R. Commons's "Samuel Gompers", J. E. Haley's "Charles Goodnight", C. W. Mitman's "Charles Goodyear", J. M. Phalen's "William Crawford Gorgas", Allan Nevins's "Horace Greeley", F. M. Green's "Dtuff Green", and Adeline Adams's "Horatio Greenough". Fiske Kimnball's appraisal of Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue stands in happy contrast to the uncritical accounts of certain other artists treated in the Dictionary. The two volumes contain many suggestions as to figures which deserve, but have not yet received, full-length portrayal by biographers. Such a list would include G. F. Edmunds, W. L. Elkins, H. M. Flagler, B. 0. Flower, J. B. Foraker, Christopher Gadsden, Matilda J. Gage, J. W. Garrett, Joshua R. Giddings, R. W. Gilder, Josiah Gorgas, and Duff Green.

Certain problems of inclusion and exclusion perplex the reviewer as they doubtless perplexed the editorial staff. Why, for example, did Sir Christopher Gardiner's sojourn of two years in Massachusetts Bay Colony (I63o-i632) entitle him to a column and a half of space? Why make room in this gallery of notables for Thomas S. Gholson, whose career, as his biographer admits, "was not dramatic or conspicuous", except locally, and whose death "evoked but brief comment from the press" (VII. a234)? On the other hand, many persons failed to gain admittance whose creden- tials might well have w-arranted the distinction. To this category belong Henry J. Ellicott (1848-1901), sculptor; James W. Elwell (I82o-I899), philanthropist; Harry Eytinge (I822-I902), actor; Elizabeth Jefferson Fisher (I8Io-i890), actress; Charles H. Foster (I833-I895), author of Bertha, the Sewing-Machine Girl and over seventy-five other melodramas; John Wells Foster (I8I5-I873), paleontologist; L. F. Frazee (I8I3-I896), inventor; Mansfield French (i8io-i876), educator and antislavery reformer; Ellen Frothingham (I835-1902), translator; Joseph R. Fry (d. i865), grand opera librettist; Emma Fursch-Madi (I847-I894), grand opera singer; John N. Gamewell (I822-I896), inventor of fire alarm apparatus; Charles R. Gardiner (d. I902), theatrical manager; Augustus K. Gardner (I82I-I876),

specialist in obstetrics; Charles F. M. Garnett (d. i886), civil engineer; Percival Gaunt (I852-I896), composer of popular songs; John S. Gilbert (I80I-I89I), marine architect; Elliott P. Gleason (I82I-I9OI), inventor and manufacturer; Abner C. Goodell (I805-I898), inventor; Ada Gray (I834- ig02), actress; Eliza Greatorex (i81-i897), artist; and George F. Green (i832-i892), inventor. The surprising thing, however, is not that deserv- ing names have been omitted but that so many, neglected in other collec- tions, have been included.

Contributors of memoirs occasionally show a bad sense of proportion in treating the later and often most important stages of a man's career,

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Dictionary of American Biography 5 55

as if their quota of words had unexpectedly run out. This fault, which seems more marked than in earlier volumes, is especially noticeable in the case of some of the longer sketches. Thus the biographer of W. Q. Gresham devotes nearly as many words to Gresham's family background as to his essential services as Secretary of State, leaving the latter phase of his life unillumined so far as the reader is concerned. Similarly, in the memoir of G. W. Goethals, about as much space is given to listing his decorations as to the part he played in the World War. Some of the biographies of captains of industry are equally unsatisfactory because the writers, apparently, were loath to speak ill of the dead. In the sketch of William L. Elkins no mention at all is made of the dubious aspects of his business operations (VI. 84-85). While the memoir of H. C. Frick admits that during the Homestead strike he "engaged with doubtful legality three hundred Pinkerton guards", yet the author quickly adds that Frick displayed "a reassuring trust in the principles of law and order" (VII. 30). In somewhat similar fashion, a lively account of the reckless financial career of "Bet-you-a-million" Gates is followed by the biographer's solemn assurance that Gates "fell short of genuine business leadership by the lack of a mature sense of public responsibility" (VII. I90). The sketch of E. L. Godkin is inadequate for a different reason. The author measures Godkin's services by his own inner sense of what constitutes "right thinking and sound politics" (VII. 349). Strangely enough, nothing is said as to Godkin's attitude in regard to labor unions.

Positive misstatements of fact are not numerous. One wonders at the reference to the "Southern chivalry" of the Boston-born Edgar Allan Poe (VI. 125). By no stretch of the imagination was the attack on Fort Moultrie in I776 the "first British attack on America" (VI. 307). Fremont was never nominated for President by "the Free-Soil party" (VI. 360). The first Elsie book appeared in I868, not I867 (VI. 390). The spelling of John Fleeming's name with a single "e" (VI. 459) violates Fleeming's own practice while printer and publisher in Boston. Birney was nominated by the Liberty party, not the "Abolition party" (VII. 170). The publica- tion date of Henry George's The Science of Political Economy is antedated ten years (VII. 215). James Gibbs is stated to have gone to Bristol, Rhode Island, ten years before there was suchi a place (VII. 245). The sJogan, "He kept us out of war", derived from the Democratic platform of i9i6 rather than from the speech of the temporary chairman of the national convention (VII. 335). The National Association for the Ad- vancement of Colored People was not founded "very soon" after I874 (VII. 632-633), but in I909.

The tragic death of Allen Johnson on January I8, 1931, means that his name will not appear on the title-page of later volumes of the Dic-

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5 56 Reviews of Books

tionary. Fortunately he lived long enough to complete the general plan of the work, make most of the assignments of articles, and train an editorial staff in accordance with his conception of the enterprise. The naming of Dumas Malone as sole editor-in-chief, together with the promo- tion of Harris E. Starr to the post of associate editor, is an assurance that future volumes will show no departure from the high literary and scholarly standards which Dr. Johnson was responsible for setting.

Harvar-d Uhiversity. A. M. SCHLESINGER.

Winthrop Papers. Volume II., I623-I630. (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society. 1931. PP. XXVi, 367.) THE second volume of the Winthrop Papers covers the years from i623

to I630 and has brought together in one volume all material written by or sent to Winthrop, both published and unpublished, relating to the emigra- tion to America. The first volume had included the papers relating to the Winthrop family in England only to I628. The overlapping of the two volumes is due to the discovery of new material. In all, thirty-five new documents are included, of which three are of the first importance and interest. So elaborate a search of all libraries and collections in England and America has been pursued by Mr. W. C. Ford, Mr. G. W. Robinson, and others, that it seems hardly probable that anything further will be discovered. The various drafts and copies of letters and papers have been in addition so carefully collated and studied in accordance with the highest standards of scholarship that nothing more can now be learned from a study of the manuscripts themselves. The bibliography of the various documents in the footnotes is exhaustive and final. A great service has also been done by the editors in dating papers previously dated wrongly or impossible to date accurately at all. The meticulous collection of ma- terial about the Winthrop family and about early Massachusetts has further been so extended that it seems probable that nothing of consequence will be added to it. In all respects this volume seems authoritative and final. Where material has not been included, it is easily available elsewhere and adequate reference to it has been made. A few dates have not been ex- tended; there are a few misprints and some errors; but none seem to be of real consequence.

The most important of the new papers is Winthrop's holograph draft of the "General Observations" for the Planting of New England, a docu- ment previously ascribed to the Rev. John White of Dorchester or to the Rev. Francis Higginson of Salem. The draft has been expertly handled by Mr. G. W. Robinson, collated with the others in existence, and a definitive text established. He shows conclusively Winthrop's authorship

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