IWU News

Marcia Thomas

IWU Faculty Member Publishes John Wesley Powell Bibliography

September 29, 2004

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.—In September 2004, Praeger Press published John Wesley Powell: An Annotated Bibliography, a work compiled by Marcia Thomas, ’72, associate professor and director of technical services for The Ames Library.

A famous explorer, scientist, and teacher, John Wesley Powell taught at Illinois Wesleyan in the 1860s. His breadth of knowledge spanned from anthropology and ethnography to environmental history and geology, and he was an important figure in nineteenth-century American culture and intellectual history. As a faculty member at IWU, he led students on field trips to the Rocky Mountains thought to be among the first of their kind in the history of American higher education. He also received an honorary degree from IWU and was one of the two designers of the university seal.

The annotated bibliography consists of two parts. The first section is a bibliography of Powell’s writings and archival sources. The second section contains selected references for published secondary material.

Thomas first became intrigued by Powell when she began working at Sheean Library and observed the display of Native American pottery, now located in the entry level rotunda at The Ames Library. “The pottery is so beautiful, and I became curious about its history, how the pieces came to be here. That led to my interest in Powell and how he came to be at Illinois Wesleyan, as well,” said Thomas. When she began her research, she realized that there was no modern bibliography of Powell’s writings, a discovery that prompted her to create one herself.

After three and a half years of work, including a junior leave, Thomas completed the only comprehensive, fully annotated book-length bibliography of published writings by Powell. In addition to searching library catalogs and electronic databases for works by and about Powell, Thomas visited several major research libraries and archives, including the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives, the Huntington Library, New York Public Library and the Utah State Historical Society. To complete the process, she read each of the 1,000 items referenced in the bibliography and wrote descriptive annotations for each.

The bibliography is an important addition to American historical scholarship, as the abstract states, “There are important social and political issues connect to Powell: the fate of the indigenous people of North America, the role of the federal government in the affairs of western states, conservation of natural resources, and historical interpretation of the settlement of the American West.”