In my Mark Twain Forum post yesterday, about the British court  definition 
of "historian", I wrote that I "believe secondary sources .  . . should be 
carefully considered." Shortly after sending the post,  the mailman delivered 
"The Mark Twain Annual", which provides a case in point  for that statement.
 
In the Annual, Carolyn Gratton Eichin's "From Sam Clemens to Mark Twain"  
mentions "...historian Effie Mona Mack brought scholarly attention  to...." 
While calling Dr. Mack scholarly and a historian, Ms.  Eichin appropriately 
questions Dr. Mack's finding that George Cassidy and Mark  Twain were friends.
 
And that provides an opportunity to discuss secondary works.
 
There is some value, mostly in her endnote sources, to consulting  Dr. 
Mack's 1847 book "Mark Twain in Nevada". Too many of her "facts" are  inaccurate 
or misleading. Dr. Mack, for example, says that in 1861 Gov. Nye of  Nevada 
Territory appointed carpetbaggers to his administration, then lists the  
jobs, and states of birth for the appointees, ignoring the fact that some 
posts  she lists were Lincoln's appointments, and that all of Nye's cabinet were 
men  who had been in California for several years, and were already in  
Nevada Territory before Nye arrived. Few people populated the area before the  
Rush to Washoe that began in 1859, and Nye did secure appointment of one of 
that  number.
 
At one point Dr. Mack also lost track of her principal character, Sam  
Clemens. On page 73-74 she writes that Sam and Orion "decided to take up their  
lodging in a downstairs front bedroom in the Ormsby House. ... However, Sam 
soon  moved upstairs and joined the "brigade" plebians." And finally, Dr. 
Mack  tells us: "Since most of [the brigade] ate at Mrs. Bridget Murphy's  
boarding house, Orion and Sam did likewise." Neither Sam nor Twain, nor  Orion, 
ever mention living in the O House. Indeed, Twain says just the  opposite, 
referring to Mrs. M's "corral".
 
"Boarding House: a house providing food and lodging for paying  guests."
 
Two pages later, on p. 76, Dr. Mack tells us of the escape of the  
Tarantula collection, and that "The tumultuous crash and the frightened shouts  of 
Mrs. Murphy's boarders awakened her, too. In due time she fetched the lantern 
 to ascertain the damage to her dormitory."  "Mrs. Murphy's boarders?" The 
O  House was managed by Gibson and Vance, across from the southwest corner 
of the  Plaza, and Mrs. Murphy's boarding house was on the north side of the  
Plaza.
 
To repeat: In her interesting article, Ms. Eichin appropriately does not  
"buy" Dr. Mack's tale without question. Dr. Mack's book, written  without 
today's useful access to Internet searches, cannot be  viewed as a scholarly 
work, and clearly does not meet the Historian  criteria of the British judge.
 
Robert E. (Bob) Stewart
Carson City