Douglas C. Wilson – författare

Everyone who has been associated with Indiana University and Herman Wells has a favorite story or two about this great man. Some of his friends thought collecting a few of these stories in a little volume and presenting them to him, and to his many friends and associates throughout the University community, on his 90th birthday would be an excellent way to celebrate the occasion. There are a lot of good ones here, some funny, some serious, all very human—and all of them revealing different facets of a warm human being and a brilliant college president.The Enema BanditThe late Paul Klinge, long-time associate of Herman B Wells, told the story of a meeting involving campus security officials and other members of the administration back in the late '60s where the activities of one particular character were discussed. The Bloomington campus had been alerted by the Urbana-Champaign authorities—who had been notified by the police at another midwestern university farther west—to be on the lookout for a fellow who was making his way east from the plains states. His modus operandi was to force entry into a co-ed's room and, instead of violently assaulting her, he would (simply) give her an enema—and leave. Much discussion resulted pertaining to some strategies the campus could use to prevent an incident here. HBW sat silent, until—with that customary twinkle in his eye—he slowly said, " . . . I wish he would have caught me last Thursday!" —Richard E. BishopThe Wells TouchLate one hot summer afternoon I found myself crammed into a window seat at the back of a 727 jetliner at New York's LaGuardia Airport awaiting departure to Louisville.The last passenger in was Dr. Wells. He came down the long aisle and plopped down next to me. He said not a word and promptly went to sleep.An hour or so later he woke up with a snort, turned to me and said: "George, the older you get the more you look like your father."This happened at least 15 years after my graduation from I.U. and I had not seen Dr. Wells in the interim. He had indeed been a friend of my father's, but hadn't seen him for many years.The nap? He explained that a heavy lunch and spirits at his favorite oyster bar in New York had temporarily dulled his alertness. —George N. Gill

How archaeology illuminates the confluence of people, places, and events that shaped the Pacific Northwest  



Borderedby the Rocky Mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Pacific Northwest—including Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia—is home to a diverse range of people and cultures whose historyis closely tied to the natural environment. In this book, Douglas Wilson uses historical documents, Indigenous oral traditions, and the material record to provide a comprehensive overview of the region’s historical archaeology from the seventeenth through the twenty-first centuries.



The book covers Lewis and Clark’s Fort Clatsop; fur trade forts such as Fort Vancouver, Fort Langley, and Fort Nez Percés; Indigenous villages such as Middle Village and Yuquot; the Christian mission at Waiilatpu; the Oregon Trail; the settler town of Champoeg; and military locations including Fort Lane, San Juan Island, and Fork Hoskins. Wilson describes how extractive industries like fishing, mining, logging, and fur trapping transformed the environment and the human population. He also discusses transportation, urban development, racism, and government policies through the Great Depression and World War II.



Central to the story of the American experience in the Pacific Northwest is the heritage and historyof local Indigenous peoples, as well as descendant communities of European, African, Asian, and Pacific Islands ancestry. Wilson shows howmaterial artifacts and landscapes can be compared with the documentary record to critically examine colonial and nationalistic narratives, illuminating the past and present of Indigenous peoples and immigrant groups in the region.  

 

A volume in the series the American Experience in Archaeological Perspective, edited by Michael S. Nassaney and Krysta Ryzewski