Sacks Collection of the American West, 1830-1912
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TITLE: Sacks Collection of the American West DATE RANGE: 1830-1970 CALL NUMBER: FM MSS #155 PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: PROVENANCE: Created by Benjamin Sacks. Donated posthumously in 1971. Donated to the Arizona Historical Society in 2012 by the Arizona Historical Foundation. COPYRIGHT: The Arizona Historical Society owns the copyright to this collection. RESTRICTIONS: This collection is unrestricted. CREDIT LINE: Sacks Collection of the American West, MSS #155, Arizona Historical Society-Papago Park. PROCESSED BY: Cory Williams, John Irwin 2009 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Benjamin Sacks was born on August 14th, 1896. He graduated from high school in three years and entered college at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, earning recognition as a Phi Beta Kappa for devotion to learning. Sacks advanced his education at Johns Hopkins in the School of Medicine. After he earned his M.D. in 1922, he began his career at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. In 1923, Sacks, along with partner Dr. Emanuel Libman, discovered an uncommon heart ailment called the Libman-Sacks Syndrome reported in approximately 50% of fatal lupus cases. Sacks’ work earned him respect and praise from the medical community. He was described by peers and supervisors as an extraordinarily able teacher and exceptionally well trained for investigative work. Due to failing health and unable to continue the rigors of medicine in the 1950s, Dr. Sacks turned to the movie industry where he served as a technical advisor. Sacks worked with actors including Cary Grant, Bing Crosby, and Barry Fitzgerald. Known for his attention to detail, Sacks created film sets that were identical to a real hospital or doctor’s office. See the Benjamin Sacks Manuscript Collection. Over time, his interests shifted towards the study of history and genealogy of the American West. His correspondence with repositories and pioneering families eventually led him to Barry Goldwater. (See Historical Note below.) Sacks brought a scientific mind to his historical pursuits - a level of detail and intellectual inquiry more commonly found in a hospital laboratory. His research notes are a case in point. Sacks urged historians and repositories to take a more analytical approach to primary sources. He believed there were many more facts to be discovered about Territorial Arizona – a history partially obscured by myth and romance. Sacks Collection of the American West - Page 1 of 39 Arizona Historical Society at Papago Park, 1300 N. College Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85281 Phone: 480-929-0292 ext. 174, Email: [email protected] In 1964, Sacks published Be It Enacted: the Creation of the Territory of Arizona described as a masterpiece of historical investigation and exposition for which he received the Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History. In 1970, Sacks released his second book, Arizona’s Angry Man: United States Marshal Milton B. Duffield. His abiding interest, however, was Herman Ehrenberg. Years of exhaustive research did not result in a book publication. Dr. Benjamin Sacks died on May 2, 1971 with boxes of historical documents at his bedside – a researcher to the very end. HISTORICAL NOTE: Within the genesis and provenance of this complex collection is a story of personal friendships, shared passions for history, and the quixotic quest to return “lost” historical documents to Arizona. It is also a story of numerous attempts at arrangement and description of this collection which eluded archivists, librarians and historians for nearly four decades. Frank Brophy connected Dr. Sacks and Barry Goldwater in 1954 because of Sacks’ genealogy work on Arizona pioneers. One of Sacks’ driving interests was Jewish settlers in the West. Goldwater was taken by Sacks’ pursuit of detail. He saw Sacks’ genealogy work as filling in the gaps to the Goldwater family history which Bert Fireman planned to write. (The Goldwaters of Arizona was later completed by Dean Smith and published in 1986.) Goldwater introduced Sacks to Fireman. Together, the three of them founded the Arizona Historical Foundation in 1959. Dr. Sacks was officially hired as a field consultant in 1961. At that time, his index cards numbered “35,000.” Both he and Fireman called these cards (and subsequent documents) “exhibits.” Sacks also had secretarial and research assistance which is how historical documents came to be stamped, numbered, and cross-referenced. The bulk of documents and microfilm were added to the index card collection from 1961-1971. This material is described by Fireman as “building blocks fabricated for special purposes.” The goal was to “know about the material first and have access to it.” Sacks’ main charge was to collect “unpublished maps, and information on Arizona town sites, pioneers and military posts.” He would send copies of documents on request to certain researchers referred to him. He would also send copies of information to Fireman on request. During his lifetime, these materials remained with Sacks and were donated to AHF upon his death in 1971. Fireman noted in correspondence to Goldwater and others that he had “no idea of the bulk.” He anticipated “two or three years of intense work” to “arrange” the materials to make them more accessible to researchers. The project was described as a “great deal of archival and clerical work” for “revised indexing.” This proved prophetic. Fireman wrote to a mutual friend that he intended to arrange the files as Sacks may have used them. He saw the Sacks’ collection as the purview of “advanced students.” Despite multiple attempts to improve access, comparatively few researchers used this collection largely due to its bulk, complexity and inaccessibility. Sacks Collection of the American West - Page 2 of 39 Arizona Historical Society at Papago Park, 1300 N. College Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85281 Phone: 480-929-0292 ext. 174, Email: [email protected] The collection's research strengths include the Gadsden Purchase of Southern Arizona, attempts to establish the Territory of Arizona prior to the Civil War, the Confederate Territory of Arizona, the establishment of the U.S. Territory of Arizona in 1863/1864, development of the towns of Tucson, Tubac, Prescott, La Paz, Arizona City and Ehrenberg, mining in the southern, central and western Arizona along the Colorado River, and the U. S. Army's involvement in Arizona. Following the life and career of Hermann Ehrenberg, the collection also includes substantial research material on the Texas Revolution 1835/1836, La Paz in Lower (Baja) California, and the Klamath California Gold Rush of the 1850's. This is the most recent effort to connect all segments of the Sacks collection into a coherent whole using the latest technology and descriptive methods. It is literally an in-depth who’s who and comprehensive analysis of early Territorial Arizona described in research notes, documents, newspapers, and bibliographies compiled from thousands of resources found throughout the U.S. and Sonora Mexico. No longer the purview of “advanced students,” the Sacks Collection of the American West should be the starting point of any inquiry into Arizona Territorial history. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE: Index Cards The more than 100,000 index cards, which anchor this collection, were among first “exhibits” Sacks created for his own use. The cards are housed in four old-fashioned card catalogs. What we see in the index card arrangement today is largely the product of an anonymous “bright young woman.” It would appear that this was completed during Fireman’s tenure. Fireman contributed his own cards to Sacks and regularly sent him packets to add to the existing files. Although Sacks laboriously worked on creating index cards until his death, he did not complete this project. Hence, the majority, but not all, of the source documents are indexed. The card catalog is available in the AHF reading room and is organized into four sections: Biography, Subjects, Place Names, and Newspapers. The index cards include citations to books, newspapers, journals, correspondence, government documents, personal papers, maps, theses, microfilm and more. This collection includes copies of many, but not all, of the source material cited on the cards. An online database is under construction to link source material with the index cards. See http://www.ahfweb.org/sacks. Source Material This includes copies of primary and secondary sources, hand-written research notes, annotated bibliographies as well as microfilm. There are a few original documents from the 1800s such as cashed checks, mortuary notes and two issues of Harper's New Monthly Magazine. The source material is in good condition. Note that previously non-indexed source material has been integrated from the Sacks Manuscript Collection. Most of the material has been interfiled within existing folders such as newspapers. When necessary, new folders were created (i.e. Herman Ehrenberg within Biography Files). Sacks Collection of the American West - Page 3 of 39 Arizona Historical Society at Papago Park, 1300 N. College Avenue, Tempe, AZ 85281 Phone: 480-929-0292 ext. 174, Email: [email protected] Some source material is contained on microfilm reels. Primarily government documents and newspapers, the microfilm also includes personal papers, theses, maps, and company correspondence. The reels have been integrated into the AHF Microfilm Collection. Source material is arranged into six series. Series I. Biography - Listed in alphabetical order by surname and chronologically within. Note that the date ranges are approximate and refer to dates of sources. They do not necessarily reflect the date ranges of the intellectual content of a folder. Series II. Subject Files – Listed in alphabetical order. State-specific subjects are listed under the state, i.e., mines in Arizona are listed as "Arizona: Mines." Note that the date ranges are approximate and refer to dates of sources. They do not necessarily reflect the date ranges of the intellectual content of a folder. In general, Sacks' headings relate to filing locations he indicated on index cards.