Scrooge McDuck's Guide to Research

For a historian, research is fun. It's probably the biggest reason I quit teaching. I realized this when I used to arrive at my classroom at 5:45 in the morning, spend the next hour and a half online looking for a letter or speech that conveyed the ideas of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (or the Arab-Israeli conflict, or the Black Panthers, or women on the home front in World War II, or . . . ), and feet a stab of dread as the bell for first period rang. It wasn't that I disliked the students. They were generally good and tried to learn, and at the very least didn't screw around when they weren't interested. Rather, the sound of that bell meant that my researching was done and I had to go on stage. After three years of ruing that first period bell, I finally admitted it to myself: I would rather make the lessons than teach them.

Fast forward a few years and here I am, seated at a desk, a mountain of books to my left and my laptop to my right. What a perfect way to spend the day! Most of the time I feel like Scrooge McDuck, diving into a pile of coins and throwing them up with a greedy quack. Substitute the coins for books/newspapers/articles/letters and you have the makings of a happy (though some would say boring) man.

McDuck

But all that Scrooge McDucking around led to a quandary: how much research is enough? When I was a student and had to write an essay, I would search for a quote to prove my argument. When I found it, I did a little jig, typed it in, and moved on. With a book I have to do more than that, especially if I want the label on the spine to say "History" instead of "Historical Fiction." I have to verify sources, evaluate the accuracy of sources, look for additional sources to strengthen the story, and search for that elusive bit of evidence that may have been overlooked by every other historian. You know those news stories where they say that "new evidence has come to light about ____!"? Those facts didn't just show up; someone had to go looking for them! Maybe Ah Toy wrote some letters home about her experiences in San Francisco. Maybe the court records of her accusing her customers of theft didn't burn in the 1906 earthquake and fire. Maybe she has a long lost descendant living right here in the Bay Area! Maybe! But how far and how long am I supposed to look, especially knowing that every day I spend researching is another day I'm not writing? Do I really want to take ten years on a book? (Apologies to Doris Kearns Goodwin, who spent a decade on the excellent Team of Rivals.)

But I've kept looking. For what, I'm not sure. Some nugget, some piece of the story that fits perfectly, some bit that makes things a little clearer than before. Meanwhile, my note-taking program has become a heaping junkyard of citations, notes, and files.

Notes. Lots of them.

A week and a half ago I made a momentous decision. My brain fried and at much urging from those around me, I decided to put the books away and start writing. It was the best thing I could have done, and I should have done it earlier. It feels like I've moved onto a new stage of the process. Every day I can see the progress that I've made (5,600 words as of today) and I've made it a step closer to the goal.

And what is that goal? Watching the whole thing get torn to shreds by an editor!

At any rate, whether I'm over-researching or trying to put something on a blank page, I sure feel fortunate that I've chosen this profession. As Mr. McDuck sagely opined, "No man is poor who can do what he likes to do once in a while!"