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This project started in 1990. Originally, its purpose was to learn more about the history of the Catholic Religious Emblems program. Naively I thought that others would have already published
some material at least on the history of Catholic youth in the USA, if not on Catholic Scouting. To my dismay, I found that there was a complete absence of research in these areas, as well as relatively few
published works on US Scouting in general, especially when one compares it with academic research on European Scouting.
Since my initial research into the religious emblems program was also
turning up material of a larger scope, I decided to expand my research goals. However, other matters intervened that caused me to set the project aside in the mid-90s.
Just before the birth
of our first son in February 2002, I decided to return to the project. Parenthood had other plans; however, I prevailed and sat down to add to the chapters I had previously completed.
I had
two filing cabinets full of primary source material and a bookcase full of books, so I thought I was prepared. But as soon as I turned my attention to a prominent figure in Catholic Scouting's past, I ran
into problems.
With the exception of a very few individuals in my study, biographies, or even autobiographies, have been rare. With this particular individual there is no published account of
his life where I could turn. Fortunately, there were numerous articles in the New York Times, but that is where I ran into some problems.
I knew this person had some serious
allegations lodged against him; the crux of these allegations was that he worked for the German government during both World Wars. However, in my initial research phase, I had assumed that these were
unfounded allegations. When I began to compose my thoughts and reviewed my notes, I realized that I did not have enough evidence on hand to dismiss the allegations out of hand.
In September
2003 I started a more in-depth research of this individual. This entailed requesting his file from the FBI, contacting historians who specialize in German-American history, reading books on the
German-American Bund, German espionage, Hitler, reviewing civil and criminal case files, and trying to recall my college German to read dissertations on Nazi activities in the US.
After
several years, I was finally able to track down court records of a known associate of this individual. Par for the course in my research, I got the run around from the FBI and the Department of Justice, only
to be informed by the DOJ (after a lapse of some time) that the files had been transferred to the National Archives (NARA). Through the use of the FOIA Act, I was able to have the NARA release almost 13,000
pages of the case for research. In February 2008 I'm planning on traveling to College Park (MD) to review the material at the NARA. I hope my research trip will provide enough information that I can complete
the chapter on this individual.
For those who have visited this site before, you will notice I have deleted the previous updates. As it had been several years since I've provided an update on
my progress, I decided those previous entries were not relevant.
To date, I have completed a total of 11 chapters and have an additional 6 chapters in various stages of completion. I've
started to send out completed chapters to individuals with many years of involvement in Catholic Scouting for their review and comments. I hope to get their comments on all of the completed chapters within
the next couple of months.
My oldest son started Kindergarten in August 2007, which means he is not only home on holidays, but has in-service and vacation days; something that he did not have
at the 360-day day care facility he was in for the last few years. Additionally, our second son was born in September, so I've not had as much free time to devote to this project in the past 6-8 months as I
had planned, since I've been a stay-at-home Dad since he was born. I plan to continue being a stay-at-home Dad until he is about 12 or so months old, but hope to be able to write during his naps!
Now that my oldest has gone back to school today (1/7/2008) after the Christmas holidays, I hope to be able to return to the book, in between changing diapers, feedings and bathing my
4-month-old.
2/21/2008
My visit to the NARA in College Park last week was not as fruitful as I would have wanted, but it did give me some additional new information that will allow me to finally finish that chapter. I'm
glad I'd made plans to be in the area for several days, as I ran into some problems at the archives. For some reason, although my FOIA request had been approved and processed months ago, when they went to
pull the boxes they noticed that some of the file folders did not have a stamp that marked them as being screened and declassified.
After two attempts at retrieving the records, I had to
leave the secured research room and get the FOIA correspondence I had with the NARA. That material had to be screened and stamped BEFORE I could take it with me into the research room to attempt to solve the
problem. Finally, after 3 1/2 hours since I'd submitted my initial pull request, I was able to sit down with the material.
Later during the day, one of the archivists came over and stated he
did not know why the material was classified, being 60+ years old. He offered to review their Military Intelligence records, but did not find any material relevant to my research.
I was able
to do some more writing on this chapter while in Baltimore, but have not been able to do any work on the book this week as our 5-month old came down with a cold Sunday - just as a I returned! He is feeling
better today, so unless I come down with a cold (as is usually the case with the kids), I'll get back to writing next week.
I hope to finish this chapter within the next 3-4 weeks. I've been
in contact with a German-American historian from the University of Munich, but is at Rutgers at the moment, who had the same problem with this individual in the research she did for her book. She has
graciously offered to review the chapter to make sure my research, not to mention my German translations, is correct.
I am also about 30-40% completed with the chapter on religious
activities. I had been working on that chapter before I left for Baltimore, but will put that aside until I finish the other chapter.
5/3/2008
Since my last update, I spent the rest of February and all of March designing a web site, as well as compiling bibliographies and guides to archives, for academic historians interested in
Guiding/Scouting. The web site (www.Paxtu.org) went live the first week of April. Its purpose is to provide resources to historians who might be interested in researching
the various aspects of the history of Guiding/Scouting. A bulletin board is also a feature of the web site and its purpose is to offer a forum for historians to discuss their research and ask questions. So
far this feature has not had much traffic. I plan to update several guides to archives this weekend, as well as some bibliographies throughout this month.
With the publication of the web
site, I was finally able to return to the book in April. I've been working fairly steady throughout the month on what I have termed the "German chapter." At the beginning of the month it was around 36 pages
in length. Today, it's around 86 pages and I still have 10 years of in-depth review to cover. I hope that I will be able to finish this chapter by the end of May, at the latest. At its current rate, I can
easily see this chapter with 120 pages, however, I think it will need some serious editing before publication. If nothing else, I could probably not only get a chapter out of this work, but two articles as
well.
I seriously hope to be able to complete the German chapter this month, as I do not think the completion of the remaining chapters will require as much documentation. At least, that is
what I am hoping!
10/14/2008
This past Summer was a hectic one. I did not get much accomplished on the book, as both boys were home and I played chauffeur to our oldest. Before the Summer was over we took a vacation for a
couple of weeks and then school started. I was getting ready to get back with the book when Hurricane Ike decided to pay us a visit. We were lucky. We were without power for only 3 days and had minor roof
damage. We did have several trees fall down in the backyard, with one of them sending a branch through a rear window at 1:30 AM. Luckily we were prepared and able to secure the window during the hurricane
before the power went out. Since schools were closed for a week, it was an interesting time. We'd stocked up on all of our supplies, so we did not have to go out, but it was an interesting experience.
During the Summer, since I realized that I would not be able to have the peace and quiet needed to work on the book, I decided to take a section out of a previously written chapter and turn it
into an article. The chapter in question was over 100 pages in length and while I think it is an important subject, given the length of the book to date, I had come to the conclusion that I'd probably have
to not include this chapter in the final book. Just before Ike hit us I sent the article off to an academic journal for consideration. I recently heard from them that the article was accepted and has been
sent out for review. Since they cautioned that their review process could take as long as 14-16 weeks, I'll let you know next year what the status of the article it at that time.
In the
meantime, I've gotten back to the book and hope to finish up the chapter on religious activities (jamborees, Scout Sundays, pilgrimages, investiture ceremonies, etc.) in the next few weeks. The German
chapter is 99% completed, but will need some serious editing given its length, but I knew that when I was writing it. Hopefully I can get several chapters finished before the holidays when school is out and
I have no time to spend on the book!
4/16/2009
It has been a hectic time. I have not done much with the book directly. I had hoped I would be able to resolve some issues regarding the German chapter but spent several months (to no avail)
in conversation with a German historian. In the end, while I supplied with with a lot of information, he refused to answer two simple questions. He did let slip that he had plans on revisiting the subject
and possibly publishing on it, so I might have given him some information he was not aware of, and I got the run around. So much for academia!
The journal I sent my paper to took 5 months,
not the 3 months previously promised, to review it. While the editor expressed an interest in the paper, his reviewer's comments left little to be desired. I will admit he had a couple of good observations,
but on the whole, many of the comments led me to believe that the reviewer did not pay close attention to the paper. When I was informed that it would take another 5 months for another reviewer to read the
revised paper, and my responses to the reviewers comments would not be forwarded, I decided to withdraw and submit the paper to another journal. I did and within two weeks it was accepted for review. I hope
that they will have an answer withint the 3 months that they promised, so we'll see.
In the meantime, I have been during research on another section of that same chapter for another article.
I still have some research to do, but have about 75% of the paper completed. Once this one has been submitted, I plan on excising the bulk of the German chapter and writing two articles. There is just too
much specialized information for the book, so an article is a much better match. After that, I hope to get back to the book.
Until next time. . . . YIS!
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