Claiming Authority: Do Authenticity, Reliability, and Authoritativeness still matter?
On view in the Chapin Gallery February 8-May 10, 2018
Firmly in the era of post-truth politics, we now encounter fake news daily, whether it’s discussed in broadcast media or being swiped through our social feeds. We take fakeness for granted, as inevitable noise crowding the signals in our information ecosystem. Williams librarians are wayfinders and meaning-makers, facilitating access to reliable information and offering daily counsel to researchers assessing the authority of sources. In 2016, the Association of College & Research Librarians adopted a framework for information literacy in higher education. Librarians use this framework as a tool to interrogate the principles that undergird our consumption of information. One of the frames, Authority is Constructed and Contextual, inspired the current exhibition — a spotlight on the traditional components of authority in an increasingly uncertain information environment. The material on display, drawn from the Chapin Library of Rare Books, the College Archives, and other Williams Special Collections, embodies the essential elements of authority: authenticity, reliability, and authoritativeness. These artifacts, books, manuscripts, and visual works are collocated to pose the question: Are these elements of authority still relevant? Am I authentic? Am I reliable? Am I authoritative? How do you know?
confession, n. Acknowledgement before the proper authority of the truth of a statement or charge.
Moses C. Welch (1754-1824) The Gospel to be preached to all Men … at the Execution of Samuel Freeman Windham, CT: John Byrne, 1805 Purchased on the Class of 1940 fund.
George Acker (1826-1860) Life and Confession of Geo. Acker, Murderer of Isaac H. Gordon Gift of Robert Carey, Jr.
Execution sermons were commonly printed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, consisting of an address to the crowd gathered to observe the event and often an appendix containing a confession of the convicted murderer. These publications at times provide our only window into the biographies of condemned individuals, mediated by ministers commenting upon their lives, crimes, and spiritual standing. Over two hundred years later we may ask whether the confessions documented here were coerced, and can but imagine the alternative accounts that might be offered by the accused. Samuel Freeman, a free man of African American and Native American descent, denied murdering his female companion Hannah Simons in 1805, but “confessed a black catalogue of other crimes,” including stealing petty cash as a child, and being “a man of lewdness,” these being “enough to show a corrupt, depraved disposition.” In 1860, George Acker, a confessed murderer, published his confession “hoping that it may avail something for the support of a wife and four children.” Acker’s account is preceded by a full transcript of his trial, and serves principally to warn others of the dangers of alcoholism, concluding “Oh! What a wretch rum and crime has made of me! I am about to pay the forfeit of my wickedness upon the gallows.”
accusation, n. A charge or claim of lawbreaking or wrongdoing.
Thomas Scott (1580?-1626) Sir Walter Rawleighs ghost Utrecht : Printed by John Schellem, 1626
Sir Walter Raleigh, English gentleman and colonizer of Virginia, was executed in 1618 in London, convicted of violating a peace treaty with Spain by attacking a Spanish ship in Guyana. Sir Walter Rawleighs ghost addresses the perceived injustice of his execution by imagining an appearance from beyond the grave, accusing Conde de Gondomar, the Machiavellian Spanish ambassador to the court of King James I, of his murder, and extracting from him a confession of a plot to spread of “popery” (i.e. Roman Catholicism) in England. This politically contentious work was published under a pseudonymous author and printer, and likely a falsely identified place of publication.
reference, n. The action or an act of sending a matter to an authority for decision or consideration.
Louis Armand de Lom d’Arce de Lahontan (1666-1715?) New voyages to North-America London: Printed for H. Bonwicke …, 1703
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) A dictionary of the English language London: Printed by W. Strahan, 1755
Noah Webster (1758-1843) A compendious dictionary of the English language Printed for Hudson & Goodwin, book-sellers, Hartford, and Increase Cooke & co. book-sellers, New- Haven, 1806
Dictionaries are authorities on meaning, usage, spelling, and word history. Though dictionaries have been created for thousands of years, the first modern English language dictionary is that of Samuel Johnson (1755), which was a standard reference until the monumental Oxford English Dictionary began production in the 1880s. Noah Webster created the first American English dictionary, a modestly-sized single volume, in 1806. Johnson’s dictionary lacks an entry for authority, a word of Anglo-Norman (French) origin, while Webster’s includes one of the modern senses: “legal power … influence derived from office or character.” Dictionaries of Native American languages codified orthographies, or writing systems, for languages which previously had relied on oral literature and artistic representation to transmit ideas. At the turn of the eighteenth century, Louis Armand de Lom d’Arce de Lahontan, a French military officer, identified the affinity of the many Algonquian languages of the Great Lakes region. He attempted to create an authoritative source on the ‘universal’ language of Native North America by rendering it in print.
pirated, adj. Designating an unauthorized edition or copy of a book, esp. one produced in infringement of copyright.
James Joyce (1882-1941) Ulysses New York: Samuel Roth, 1927
Ezra Pound (1885-1972) Drafts & fragments of Cantos CX-CXVII New York: New Directions, 1968 Gift of John W. Chandler.
The Cantos of Ezra Pound: CX-CXVI New York: Fuck You Press, 1967 Purchased on the Snyder fund.
In 1927 Samuel Roth began distributing an unauthorized reprint of the ninth Paris printing of James Joyce’s Ulysses, reset with many errors introduced. This pirated edition was published before the US joined Universal Copyright Convention of 1952, which provided for international copyright protection. Copyright, however, did not stop Fuck You Press from publishing the final installment of the Cantos of Ezra Pound in 1967. The Cantos, a numbered poem cycle of 116 parts written over decades during which Pound was central in the Modernist poetry movement, appeared in a series between 1925 and 1968, when the final installment was published in New York by New Directions. (Pound was also a pioneer of Imagism, later satirized in the Spectra hoax; see the related display.) If not for the appearance of the pirated edition, Pound, beleaguered by mental illness and charges of treason stemming from his support of fascist causes during the Second World War, may have never published these final fragmented cantos.
witness, n. One who is or was present and is able to testify from personal observation.
C. Granville Hammond Autograph letter, signed, Chicago, 1871 October 14
Paul M. Angle (1900-1975) The great Chicago fire, described in seven letters by men and women who experienced its horrors Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 1946
Chin, Y. F. Typed letter, signed, Labuan, Malaysia, 1946 March 1 Purchased on the J. Brooks Hoffman fund.
Personal letters housed in the Chapin American Manuscript collection are written by witnesses of significant events in American history. Such accounts serve as primary sources for the study of American history – documentation created contemporaneously to the events. Historians use witness accounts as a foundation in the construction of secondary sources, which analyze historical events and trends from a broader perspective. Two letters demonstrate how such personal accounts provide valuable detail when studying the Great Chicago Fire and the Japanese occupation of Malaysia during the Second World War. On October 14, 1871, less than a week after the Great Chicago Fire devastated the city, C. Granville Hammond, a securities and loans investor, wrote to his brother, detailing his personal losses and the condition of the city. “There is not a building standing on the South Side from South Water St to Harrison St.” Seventy-five years after the fire, historian Paul M. Angle compiled eyewitness accounts into a book memorializing the catastrophe. A letter from Y. F. Chin, a Chinese resident of Labuan, Malaysia, presumably to a business acquaintance, outlines the experience of living under Japanese occupation during the Second World War. Chin’s father died in a Japanese internment camp in 1944, and his letter is staunchly anti-Japanese, referring to them as ‘wicked’ and ‘beastly,’ while calling the American Allies ‘liberators.’ Chin details aspects of daily life under Japanese occupation, when “labour here did not meet their demand they [even] tried to force the women and little boys and girls to do all the odd and end jobs.” He also addresses aspects of life beyond the war, asking for advice regarding birth control (“Big family means more responsibility”) and lamenting the fact that the war interrupted his stamp collecting.
author, n. An inventor, founder, or constructor (of something); a creator.
Abbie Hoffman Steal this book New York: Pirate Editions, 1971
Steal this book is a counterculture classic, written as a how-to guide to subvert the dominant paradigm by undermining capitalist institutions. Not surprisingly, Hoffman and his “co-conspirators” could not find a mainstream publisher to take on the project, and were rejected unanimously. They formed Pirate Editions (which was, ironically, identified as the corporate copyright holder to the text when it was published) in order to bring the book to print. While Hoffman’s image and name have become indelibly associated with the book, it was written with the contributions of several activists including Tom Forcade of the Underground Press Syndicate, an organization that practiced the free flow of intellectual property. Forcade later contested Hoffman’s claim of primary authorship of Steal this book, seeking $8000 in payment as a percentage of sales. The Chapin library has three copies of this book – two annotated throughout by Hoffman (blue and green ink), the other by Forcade (red ink). The annotations identify aspects of the work that were changed during the editing process, or were points of contention when determining authorship.
pseudonym. n. A fictitious name, especially one used by an author.
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) Ballads and lyrical pieces. by Walter Scott, Esq. Edinburgh: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1806 Gift of Alfred Clark Chapin.
Waverley, or, 'Tis sixty years since. [Anonymous] Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Co., for Archibald Constable and Co. ; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1814. Acquired from E. H. Wells.
Guy Mannering, or, The astrologer / by the author of “Waverly” Edinburgh: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1815 Gift of Alfred Clark Chapin.
Tales of my landlord. Second series / collected and arranged by Jedediah Cleishbotham Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, 1818. Gift of Alfred Clark Chapin.
The many ways Sir Walter Scott identified himself in his books demonstrate the practice of anonymous and pseudonymous authorship by writers whose circumstances make them unwilling or unable to admit their association with a literary work. Scott’s books of poetry and novels were both spectacularly popular, selling tens of thousands of copies, yet he declined to associate his name with genres of work considered unsuitable for a gentleman author. Scott published eight major works of poetry, generally listing his name as author on the title page, before his first historical novel, Waverley (1814). He took great pains to conceal his authorship of Waverly, asking a friend to recopy the manuscript, and declining to identify himself to the publisher. The book sold successfully, and when Scott’s next historical novels were published, they referred to their association with their predecessors; thus the title page of Guy Mannering (1815) credits “the author of Waverly.” Scott moved from anonymous to pseudonymous publication when he constructed a fictional persona in the schoolmaster Jedediah Cleishbotham, who is credited with authorship of the several volumes of Tales of My Landlord. It was not until 1827 that Scott officially admitted to being the author of Waverley and its successors, though many readers and reviewers suspected the truth much earlier.
hoax, n. A humorous or mischievous deception, usually taking the form of a fabrication of something fictitious or erroneous.
Arthur Davison Ficke (1883-1945) Witter Bynner (1881-1968) Spectra: A book of poetic experiments New York: M. Kennerley, 1916
Mark Twain (1835-1910) Mark Twain’s sketches, new and old. Hartford: American Publishing Co., 1875
William Henry Ireland (1777-1835) Vortigern: An historical tragedy, in five acts London: Printed for J. Barker et alia, 1799
James Macpherson (1736-1796) Fingal: An ancient epic poem London, 1762
Literary hoaxes include forgeries of works by famous authors, the invention of literary figures, spoofs of literary movements and tall tales. In the 1760s James Macpherson, Scottish poet and proponent of Gaelic- language literature, fabricated the ancient poet Ossian, whose work he purported to translate in a series of poems he claimed to have recovered from ancient sources. Despite immediate challenges to their authenticity, the poems were widely successful and influential in their time. William Henry Ireland, who wrote two plays, Vortigern and Rowena, and attributed them to William Shakespeare, forged not only the manuscript of these plays, but also authenticating documents such as correspondence and a deed of ownership (see the related display on provenance). In a memoir of his fanciful newspaper report of a petrified man, Mark Twain expressed surprise that people believed the hoax in the first place. Arthur Davison Ficke and Witter Bynner, two early twentieth-century American poets, were also surprised at the positive reception for their spoof of Modernist poetry (the pseudonymously-published Spectra). It turned out to be among their most influential published works.
provenance, n. The history of the ownership of a work of art or an antique, used as a guide to authenticity or quality; a documented record of this.
Byron, George Gordon, Lord (1788-1824) Pipe Gift of E. Drexel Godfrey, Jr. (Williams 1944)
Librarians carefully track the ownership history of material as part of assuring their authenticity. Manuscripts and objects associated with Lord Byron, the English Romantic poet, include accompanying documentation and integral features that attest to the item’s history. The association with Byron himself is essential to the importance of these documents. Byron’s will (not displayed) features black wax seals, watermarked paper, Byron’s signature on each page, and the signatures of witnesses, all of which support the authenticity of the document. The will was purchased from Parke-Bernet Galleries, which brokered the sale of the personal collection of Frank J. Hogan. The catalog of the Hogan sale identifies another prior owner: Roderick Terry, a Newport, Rhode Island collector whose books and manuscripts were dispersed at a public sale in 1934. The pipe is accompanied by a legal testimonial attesting to the association with Byron. The label and testimonial are in Italian, reflecting the fact that Byron lived in Italy when he used the pipe.
authentic, adj. Made or done in the original or traditional way.
Edward Curtis (1868-1952) The North American Indian Seattle: E. S. Curtis and Cambridge, Mass.: The University Press, 1907-1930
Edward Curtis, American photographer and ethnographer, carried out a monumental project to document Native American peoples in the first decades of the 20th century. When fundraising for the project, he attracted the support of American President Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote that Curtis’s work “has far more than mere accuracy, because it is truthful.” Curtis purported to be representing authentic Native culture, but his portrayal was romantic and static, that of a stoic, spiritual, traditional people frozen in an imagined culture free from European influences. To achieve his vision of authenticity, he often supplied traditional clothing and props, or removed modern objects such as umbrellas, automobiles, or European-American furniture from the scene before capturing his photographs. Curtis’s images popularized the concept of the Plains Indian on horseback, wearing a headdress, that is widespread to this day as a generic representation of an American Indian (see a Crow man staged as if entering battle in “Ready for the Charge”). These idealized, inauthentic images contrast sharply with the contemporary devastation being perpetrated by the United States government on Native people. But while Curtis is often criticized for his staging and manipulation of images, his photographs also show evidence of Native people adapting in response to contact with European culture – for example, the Christian cross worn by the wife of Howling Wolf (Cheyenne).
absence, n. Want, lack, privation, or failure of something.
Nesbit, Thomas B. Autograph document, signed, Callaway County, MO, 1853 January 2.
Green, Brian. Autograph document, signed, Wake County, NC, 1852 January 19.
Bramham, A.W. Autograph letter, signed, Stoney Point, VA, 1858 April 16, to Albert G. Dade, Westmore Land Co., VA
Absences in the historical record lead to a skewed definition of authority. Representative manuscripts such as personal letters and records of the sale of slaves demonstrate how documentation of slave owners is readily available, while documentation of the enslaved is scarce. Enslavers and traders have full names and occupations, and have accounts written in their voices, while the enslaved are represented only through the words of others, and typically have only first names, ages, and an indication of their monetary value (Calvin, age 34, sold for $650 in 1852; Eliza, age 9, sold for $500 in 1853). Historians make great efforts to counter these absences in the historical record by drawing on oral histories, closely reading the few sources authored by the enslaved, and reexamining the accounts of enslavers with a critical lens.
reliable, adj. Able to be trusted; in which reliance or confidence may be placed; trustworthy, safe, sure.
Herb Roth (illustrator) The surprising adventures of Baron Munchausen Mount Vernon, N.Y.: The Peter Pauper Press, 1944
Leslie Wood (illustrator) Singular travels, campaigns, and adventures of Baron Munchausen London : Cresset Press, 1948
Mark Twain (1835-1910) Huckleberry Finn New York: Heritage Press, 1940
Albert Camus (1913-1960) The Fall Kentfield, California: Allen Press, 1966
The concept of the unreliable narrator was introduced in literary critic Wayne C. Booth’s Rhetoric of fiction (1961). An unreliable narrator violates the implied author’s norms by being deliberately deceptive or admitting lapses in judgement. Tall tales feature unreliable narrators who wildly exaggerate their exploits, such as the fictional Baron Munchausen (inspired by an actual German baron known to tell exaggerated stories of his service in the Russo-Turkish War), a character created by the German author Rudolf Erich Raspe. Munchausen recounts impossible feats, including riding on a cannonball and travelling to the moon. Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn (here illustrated by Norman Rockwell) is also an unreliable narrator, whose naiveté is carefully constructed in order to contrast with the reader’s wisdom. The Fall by Albert Camus features the confession of a third type of unreliable narrator, Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a Parisian attorney. Clamence descends into an intellectual crisis while recounting episodes in his life that call his integrity into question and reveal the performativity of everyday actions. At the nadir of his crisis he asks, “Don’t lies eventually lead to the truth?”
representative, adj. That speaks or acts on behalf of a wider body or group of people.
John Hawkesworth, (1715?-1773) An account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His present Majesty … London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1773
A new voyage round the world, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770, and 1771 New York: Printed by James Rivington, 1774
The circulation of printed illustrations in the 17th and 18th centuries allowed images to become iconic and representative, even in the absence of personal experience of the subject. Captain James Cook, who is being commemorated in 2018, 250 years after completing his surveys of North America, carried out significant voyages to the Pacific that had a profound impact on the inhabitants of Hawai’i, New Zealand, and Australia. His expeditions resulted in scientific and ethnographic surveys that introduced depictions of Native people of the Pacific and North America to Europeans. For many Europeans, these images were their only encounters with representations of Native people.