A few weeks ago, I mentioned that the archive at Florida State University had a new item listed in their holdings related to Emmett Wilson, namely, the minutes book of the Platonic Debating Society.

I contacted their excellent archivist, Sandra, and asked if it was possible for someone to take a look at the book, and if there was anything with Emmett’s name on it, could someone copy the page, and to please let me know how much they would need for the job.

Well, she got back to me the same day, said, yes, there are some pages that mention him, yes, we can prepare a .pdf of the pages for you, and no, there’s no charge.

They sent me the file the SAME DAY.

Aren’t archivists the most awesome people? God bless them!

So, I looked at the pages, and at first glance, there isn’t a lot of content about Emmett, but, there is some very useful information here, anyway.

For instance, the minutes provide the dates where Emmett was attending meetings of the society, and, information about  his dues (his standing in the society was dictated by the amount he had to pay). So, this helps me track where he was at certain points during the year.

Also, there was this interesting little item about his membership in 1901 — apparently, he was supposed to be an active member that year, but, he didn’t return to school in January, 1901, for a variety of reasons out of his control. This information confirms a clue I had about why Emmett, who was gung-ho to get going in a legal career, would leave college when he was only a year into the curriculum. Yeah!

I have not had much time to work on Emmett’s story for about a week. The kids have been home a lot more lately — schools were closed for President’s Day, and then, we got hit with a lot of slush (snow and rain mixed) the next day — which meant no writing time.

And, my oldest daughter will be confirmed this weekend, and several family members will be staying with us over the next several days. It will be very busy around here; no time for writing, alas.

However I do have something interesting that I found in the latest research dig to share with you. I’ll be back in a day or so!

Categories: Book Research Status The Writing Life

Tagged as: Florida State University Platonic Debating Society

jsmith532

Professor,
Communication, Arts, and the Humanities
The University of Maryland Global Campus