Volume 042-2 - April 1988 (8 pages)

EDITORIAL With the present issue of the Bulletin, . enter my eleventh year as editor of this publication. The reason for this editorial is not to ask for recognition; but rather to use this milestone to look back at what has been achieved and to look forward to what is still to be achieved. It was in February 1978 that Hjalmer Berg asked me to become the editor of the Bulletin. I was rather dubious about this, knowing little about California history and absolutely nothing about Nevada County history. However, I had done work in the history of science and had about 50 publications in scholarly journals to my name. Therefore I was not unfamiliar with the business of editing, although only on the receiving end. Why I accepted the responsibility, I do not remember. I probably had visions of sitting behind my desk, sifting among the papers and articles which had been submitted and carefully select the best. However, things did not work out that way as I soon found out, facing the problem of obtaining material for the April 1978 issue. At that time, there was the problem of the Walt Disney Enterprises, wanting to take over Independence Lake and start a ski resort of monumental proportions there. This was not looked at with favor by many in Nevada County, partly because we would have most of the traffic, generated by this development, but little, if any, of the financial reward. At that time there was a citizens meeting held about this, a meeting which I attended. Among the speakers was Dave Beesley, who spoke about the history of Independence Lake. Listening to him, the idea came to me that this text would be a nice article for the Bulletin, so I approached Dave who graciously consented to contribute the text. Dave never realized how timely this was and how thankful I was for helping me out. It looked however that this material would not be enough for a Bulletin, so I had to scrounge around for more. In Dave's article, the Lahontan Cut-throat Trout was mentioned. Not being a fisherman, I had never heard of this fish and therefore wrote to the Fish and Game Department for information. This information occupied some more space and, there still being lots of space left, I concocted a little story about the Nevada versus Nevada City controversy. I decided that the Bulletin, after I had started to take care of it, should be not much different from what there was already. I kept the same format, 8.5 by ll inches. The only changes were that the publication got a name: the Bulletin and that the pages in the issues of an annual volume would be consecutively numbered. The latter to facilitate referencing to the contents and make the compilation of an index a little easier. I should say something about the editorial policy. I never wrote or spoke about this. In the first place, we publish only original material, no mere reprints of material, published already in newspapers, journals or magazines. This does not mean that a story has to be based on unpublished, primary data only; to use and quote published material to arrive at a story that looks at them in a novel way is acceptable. I like to think of the Bulletin as a scientific historical publication. Another policy is to use the red pencil as little as possible. There is a philosophy of editing which says: “If it can be said in a different way, it shall”. Here we believe: “If it ain't broke, don’t fix it’. For most of the submitted material, the editing consists in checking for typing or spelling errors and in checking the references, if possible, for accuracy. However, in a few cases, rewriting was necessary and this was accomplished without too much static from the author. At this point, I would like to make a remark, I have the impression that there are people who could contribute important material, but who believe they cannot write. To such persons I say: write anyway and give me permission to rewrite. The result would be submitted for approval. My second issue, July 1978, had a story by Christine Freeman about A.A. Sargent. It was Doris Foley who led me to Mrs. Freeman; I am still thankful to her for helping me along. On September 29 to October 1, 1978, a symposium was held in Grass Valley by the Conference of California Historical Societies. It occurred to me that it would be nice to present each delegate with a current issue of the Bulletin. What subject would be better for such a Bulletin than a history of the Nevada County Historical Society ? . approached Doris Foley again, who obliged with such a history. In the same issue there was an article on the Nisenan Indians by Michael Claytor. I will not continue with discussing all of the 37 issues which followed, but restrict myself with a few general remarks. Since the Bulletin is written for the history-loving people of Nevada county, it would be interesting to know which articles were most appreciated and, perhaps, which ones least. I seldom hear comments on them and even less receive letters to the editor. Some people may think it improper for the editor of a publication to publish his own work. Indeed, there are several objections against it. First, although the work of others has to pass judgement of at least one person, the work of the editor is judged by nobody. Second there is the possibility that an editor will publish his own work in preference to the work of others and thus make the publication a personal one. On the other hand, this editor is bound to produce four issues per year and, if nobody has submitted material for a certain issue, the editor can do nothing else but to concoct something himself. I vouch that, if an article by myself appears in the Bulletin, there was nothing else, suitable to print. During the last ten years a few new features were introduced in the Bulletin. The first of these was Book Reviews; I believe that the first one appeared in the January 1981 issue. Since that time we have had them regularly. For Book Reviews we also have a policy. We try to review all books which are of importance for Nevada County history and to publish them as soon as possible. It is important to bring such books to the attention of our readers and also to have a permanent record of the publication of such books. In addition, books which have no direct relevance to Nevada County history are considered; in such cases it is assumed that our readers will be interested in them. In the July 1982 issue, two new features were introduced. One of these, called Our Musea (museums to some people) was intended to bring interesting new acquisitions of our musea to the attention of our readers. And among musea, we also count the Searls library. I am sorry to have to report that this feature was not a success. Perhaps for the next decade those who can contribute to this column, will consider doing it. The other new feature was called From the Literature. This column was intended to bring material, of interest for the history of Nevada County and published in other journals, newspapers etc. to the attention of our readers. In addition, there would be a permanent record of the existence of such material. Since I cannot possibly subscribe to all publications which might have material, of interest for this column, I am dependent on our readers for this information. This column appeared only a few times; the ones which were published, I wrote myself. From the beginning, the January issue of the Bulletin had a story, reviewing the happenings of the coming year, a hundred years ago. It seems that we have run out of authors who are willing to provide this information; consequently, we had to drop this feature last January. I would like to know whether there are readers who would like to have this feature restored. In spite of the fact that it was not always easy going, I enjoyed the job and, I must state, learned a lot from it. I hope that I will be able to complete the second decade as editor. Peter W. van der Pas BOSTON Ss. L. BROOKS, STONE AND BRIGK MASON, cae All Kinds af s3. ali times at Can be tous as RAVINE. —_ woUpidone. 203 17

EDITORIAL With the present issue of the Bulletin, . enter my eleventh year as editor of this publication. The reason for this editorial is not to ask for recognition; but rather to use this milestone to look back at what has been achieved and to look forward to what is still to be achieved. It was in February 1978 that Hjalmer Berg asked me to become the editor of the Bulletin. I was rather dubious about this, knowing little about California history and absolutely nothing about Nevada County history. However, I had done work in the history of science and had about 50 publications in scholarly journals to my name. Therefore I was not unfamiliar with the business of editing, although only on the receiving end. Why I accepted the responsibility, I do not remember. I probably had visions of sitting behind my desk, sifting among the papers and articles which had been submitted and carefully select the best. However, things did not work out that way as I soon found out, facing the problem of obtaining material for the April 1978 issue. At that time, there was the problem of the Walt Disney Enterprises, wanting to take over Independence Lake and start a ski resort of monumental proportions there. This was not looked at with favor by many in Nevada County, partly because we would have most of the traffic, generated by this development, but little, if any, of the financial reward. At that time there was a citizens meeting held about this, a meeting which I attended. Among the speakers was Dave Beesley, who spoke about the history of Independence Lake. Listening to him, the idea came to me that this text would be a nice article for the Bulletin, so I approached Dave who graciously consented to contribute the text. Dave never realized how timely this was and how thankful I was for helping me out. It looked however that this material would not be enough for a Bulletin, so I had to scrounge around for more. In Dave's article, the Lahontan Cut-throat Trout was mentioned. Not being a fisherman, I had never heard of this fish and therefore wrote to the Fish and Game Department for information. This information occupied some more space and, there still being lots of space left, I concocted a little story about the Nevada versus Nevada City controversy. I decided that the Bulletin, after I had started to take care of it, should be not much different from what there was already. I kept the same format, 8.5 by ll inches. The only changes were that the publication got a name: the Bulletin and that the pages in the issues of an annual volume would be consecutively numbered. The latter to facilitate referencing to the contents and make the compilation of an index a little easier. I should say something about the editorial policy. I never wrote or spoke about this. In the first place, we publish only original material, no mere reprints of material, published already in newspapers, journals or magazines. This does not mean that a story has to be based on unpublished, primary data only; to use and quote published material to arrive at a story that looks at them in a novel way is acceptable. I like to think of the Bulletin as a scientific historical publication. Another policy is to use the red pencil as little as possible. There is a philosophy of editing which says: “If it can be said in a different way, it shall”. Here we believe: “If it ain't broke, don’t fix it’. For most of the submitted material, the editing consists in checking for typing or spelling errors and in checking the references, if possible, for accuracy. However, in a few cases, rewriting was necessary and this was accomplished without too much static from the author. At this point, I would like to make a remark, I have the impression that there are people who could contribute important material, but who believe they cannot write. To such persons I say: write anyway and give me permission to rewrite. The result would be submitted for approval. My second issue, July 1978, had a story by Christine Freeman about A.A. Sargent. It was Doris Foley who led me to Mrs. Freeman; I am still thankful to her for helping me along. On September 29 to October 1, 1978, a symposium was held in Grass Valley by the Conference of California Historical Societies. It occurred to me that it would be nice to present each delegate with a current issue of the Bulletin. What subject would be better for such a Bulletin than a history of the Nevada County

Historical Society ? . approached Doris Foley again, who obliged with such a history. In the same issue there was an article on the Nisenan Indians by Michael Claytor. I will not continue with discussing all of the 37 issues which followed, but restrict myself with a few general remarks. Since the Bulletin is written for the history-loving people of Nevada county, it would be interesting to know which articles were most appreciated and, perhaps, which ones least. I seldom hear comments on them and even less receive letters to the editor. Some people may think it improper for the editor of a publication to publish his own work. Indeed, there are several objections against it. First, although the work of others has to pass judgement of at least one person, the work of the editor is judged by nobody. Second there is the possibility that an editor will publish his own work in preference to the work of others and thus make the publication a personal one. On the other hand, this editor is bound to produce four issues per year and, if nobody has submitted material for a certain issue, the editor can do nothing else but to concoct something himself. I vouch that, if an article by myself appears in the Bulletin, there was nothing else, suitable to print. During the last ten years a few new features were introduced in the Bulletin. The first of these was Book Reviews; I believe that the first one appeared in the January 1981 issue. Since that time we have had them regularly. For Book Reviews we also have a policy. We try to review all books which are of importance for Nevada County history and to publish them as soon as possible. It is important to bring such books to the attention of our readers and also to have a permanent record of the publication of such books. In addition, books which have no direct relevance to Nevada County history are considered; in such cases it is assumed that our readers will be interested in them. In the July 1982 issue, two new features were introduced. One of these, called Our Musea (museums to some people) was intended to bring interesting new acquisitions of our musea to the attention of our readers. And among musea, we also count the Searls library. I am sorry to have to report that this feature was not a success. Perhaps for the next decade those who can contribute to this column, will consider doing it. The other new feature was called From the Literature. This column was intended to bring material, of interest for the history of Nevada County and published in other journals, newspapers etc. to the attention of our readers. In addition, there would be a permanent record of the existence of such material. Since I cannot possibly subscribe to all publications which might have material, of interest for this column, I am dependent on our readers for this information. This column appeared only a few times; the ones which were published, I wrote myself. From the beginning, the January issue of the Bulletin had a story, reviewing the happenings of the coming year, a hundred years ago. It seems that we have run out of authors who are willing to provide this information; consequently, we had to drop this feature last January. I would like to know whether there are readers who would like to have this feature restored. In spite of the fact that it was not always easy going, I enjoyed the job and, I must state, learned a lot from it. I hope that I will be able to complete the second decade as editor. Peter W. van der Pas BOSTON Ss. L. BROOKS, STONE AND BRIGK MASON, cae All Kinds af s3. ali times at Can be tous as RAVINE. —_ woUpidone. 203 17