Some interesting(?) history stuff...
 

Since I have some 3-4 hours to kill while my SO does what ladies call
"getting dressed to go out" and men call "trying on every garment they
own...three times," my reply to Chuck Spanish bureaucrats brought to
mind an interesting, at least to me anyway, story of old bureaucrats
meeting new. Several members of my paternal Grandfather's family came
to the US as diplomats/businessmen and among them was the Ferdinand's
representative to the US. He presented his papers to then-Sec. of
State, Thomas Jefferson, who, albeit a friend of this ancestor and an
educated, worldly man himself, couldn't seem to get his "writer's mind"
around the concept of names differing in French, Spanish, and English -
for example, Jacques, Diego, and James all being interpretations of the
same name. Jefferson was apparently a poor speller, who also apparently
thought, well, close was good enough for government work when it came to
spelling and even names - i.e., John Smith might become "Jno. Smythe,"
"Jon Smit," and "Jm. Smith" all in the same writing. This has led some
to come up with all sorts of interesting, but totally incorrect,
theories regarding this particular ancestor's geographic origin, etc.

In any case, while our family copies of certain documents are clear, the
"official" versions are in the Jefferson collection at the Library of
Congress, which contains 1000s of important and, like the documents in
question, not-so-important documents. On a trip to the Library, I
decided to go look at the "official" copy. The first person I met was
a/the curator of the Jefferson papers, who acted like I was asking to
dry my hands with the Declaration of Independence or something.

While the file and papers in question are historically interesting, they
are not historically significant, and I suspect my request was the first
such in years, so the "too much handling" initial objection seemed,
well, like (bull) . Then came the "there are transcripts..." objection.
Yes, there are, but the transcripts of the document are at odds. Then
came the "it's on film, on the internet" ploy. Again, true, but the
microfilm version is not clear. Yet, he insisted, HE, being
oh-so-familiar with Jefferson's handwriting, could read it. So he
tried. He got it wrong, but still refused to budge, my seeing the
actual documents. He acted like it would take cutting miles of
bureaucratic red tape and literally, an Act of Congress, to gather the
senior personnel together who had access to the codes needed to bring
this stuff up through several airlocks from some cryogenic storage deep
under DC. I was imagining scenes from "National Treasure" or something.

Well, I thought, vaults and airlocks be damned - I wanted to see this
copy now more than ever, so I appealed to his boss. I made my case, he
agreed the microfilm version was unclear, and said I could see the
documents. He asked me to wait a moment and he'd be right back. I
expected him to return with special suits, respirators, a team of
security people, etc. Nope. He returns in about 90 seconds with what
appeared to be a normal file folder, opens it, and hands me the
documents, which were simply stored in it like any other government
paperwork.

TC,
R

wrote in message
...
Since I have some 3-4 hours to kill while my SO does what ladies call
"getting dressed to go out" and men call "trying on every garment they
own...three times," my reply to Chuck Spanish bureaucrats brought to
mind an interesting, at least to me anyway, story of old bureaucrats
meeting new. Several members of my paternal Grandfather's family came
to the US as diplomats/businessmen and among them was the Ferdinand's
representative to the US. He presented his papers to then-Sec. of
State, Thomas Jefferson, who, albeit a friend of this ancestor and an
educated, worldly man himself, couldn't seem to get his "writer's mind"
around the concept of names differing in French, Spanish, and English -
for example, Jacques, Diego, and James all being interpretations of the
same name. Jefferson was apparently a poor speller, who also apparently
thought, well, close was good enough for government work when it came to
spelling and even names - i.e., John Smith might become "Jno. Smythe,"
"Jon Smit," and "Jm. Smith" all in the same writing. This has led some
to come up with all sorts of interesting, but totally incorrect,
theories regarding this particular ancestor's geographic origin, etc.

In any case, while our family copies of certain documents are clear, the
"official" versions are in the Jefferson collection at the Library of
Congress, which contains 1000s of important and, like the documents in
question, not-so-important documents. On a trip to the Library, I
decided to go look at the "official" copy. The first person I met was
a/the curator of the Jefferson papers, who acted like I was asking to
dry my hands with the Declaration of Independence or something.

While the file and papers in question are historically interesting, they
are not historically significant, and I suspect my request was the first
such in years, so the "too much handling" initial objection seemed,
well, like (bull) . Then came the "there are transcripts..." objection.
Yes, there are, but the transcripts of the document are at odds. Then
came the "it's on film, on the internet" ploy. Again, true, but the
microfilm version is not clear. Yet, he insisted, HE, being
oh-so-familiar with Jefferson's handwriting, could read it. So he
tried. He got it wrong, but still refused to budge, my seeing the
actual documents. He acted like it would take cutting miles of
bureaucratic red tape and literally, an Act of Congress, to gather the
senior personnel together who had access to the codes needed to bring
this stuff up through several airlocks from some cryogenic storage deep
under DC. I was imagining scenes from "National Treasure" or something.

Well, I thought, vaults and airlocks be damned - I wanted to see this
copy now more than ever, so I appealed to his boss. I made my case, he
agreed the microfilm version was unclear, and said I could see the
documents. He asked me to wait a moment and he'd be right back. I
expected him to return with special suits, respirators, a team of
security people, etc. Nope. He returns in about 90 seconds with what
appeared to be a normal file folder, opens it, and hands me the
documents, which were simply stored in it like any other government
paperwork.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz.......huh?.......oh...........another
Snedeker........zzzzzzzzzzz.........

Wolfgang

The guy obviously pegged you for an aggie, then he saw the crayons in your
pocket and of course he got nervous. \


wrote in message
...
Since I have some 3-4 hours to kill while my SO does what ladies call
"getting dressed to go out" and men call "trying on every garment they
own...three times," my reply to Chuck Spanish bureaucrats brought to
mind an interesting, at least to me anyway, story of old bureaucrats
meeting new. Several members of my paternal Grandfather's family came
to the US as diplomats/businessmen and among them was the Ferdinand's
representative to the US. He presented his papers to then-Sec. of
State, Thomas Jefferson, who, albeit a friend of this ancestor and an
educated, worldly man himself, couldn't seem to get his "writer's mind"
around the concept of names differing in French, Spanish, and English -
for example, Jacques, Diego, and James all being interpretations of the
same name. Jefferson was apparently a poor speller, who also apparently
thought, well, close was good enough for government work when it came to
spelling and even names - i.e., John Smith might become "Jno. Smythe,"
"Jon Smit," and "Jm. Smith" all in the same writing. This has led some
to come up with all sorts of interesting, but totally incorrect,
theories regarding this particular ancestor's geographic origin, etc.

In any case, while our family copies of certain documents are clear, the
"official" versions are in the Jefferson collection at the Library of
Congress, which contains 1000s of important and, like the documents in
question, not-so-important documents. On a trip to the Library, I
decided to go look at the "official" copy. The first person I met was
a/the curator of the Jefferson papers, who acted like I was asking to
dry my hands with the Declaration of Independence or something.

While the file and papers in question are historically interesting, they
are not historically significant, and I suspect my request was the first
such in years, so the "too much handling" initial objection seemed,
well, like (bull) . Then came the "there are transcripts..." objection.
Yes, there are, but the transcripts of the document are at odds. Then
came the "it's on film, on the internet" ploy. Again, true, but the
microfilm version is not clear. Yet, he insisted, HE, being
oh-so-familiar with Jefferson's handwriting, could read it. So he
tried. He got it wrong, but still refused to budge, my seeing the
actual documents. He acted like it would take cutting miles of
bureaucratic red tape and literally, an Act of Congress, to gather the
senior personnel together who had access to the codes needed to bring
this stuff up through several airlocks from some cryogenic storage deep
under DC. I was imagining scenes from "National Treasure" or something.

Well, I thought, vaults and airlocks be damned - I wanted to see this
copy now more than ever, so I appealed to his boss. I made my case, he
agreed the microfilm version was unclear, and said I could see the
documents. He asked me to wait a moment and he'd be right back. I
expected him to return with special suits, respirators, a team of
security people, etc. Nope. He returns in about 90 seconds with what
appeared to be a normal file folder, opens it, and hands me the
documents, which were simply stored in it like any other government
paperwork.

TC,
R

"B J Conner" wrote in message
news:D6cQd.7097$uc.659@trnddc01...
The guy obviously pegged you for an aggie, then he saw the crayons in your
pocket and of course he got nervous.

I'm guessing it wasn't so much the crayons as the fact that they weren't yet
blunted.

Wolfgang

My Grandpa had a dog named Zero :-)

bruce h

"bruiser" wrote in message
...
My Grandpa had a dog named Zero :-)

Hell, that's nuthin'.

Wolfgang

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 01:19:31 GMT, "B J Conner"
wrote:

The guy obviously pegged you for an aggie, then he saw the crayons in your
pocket

Those weren't crayons in my pocket, I just don't need Viagra...

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 19:38:19 -0600, "Wolfgang" wrote:


"B J Conner" wrote in message
news:D6cQd.7097$uc.659@trnddc01...
The guy obviously pegged you for an aggie, then he saw the crayons in your
pocket and of course he got nervous.

I'm guessing it wasn't so much the crayons as the fact that they weren't yet
blunted.

Like I said, they weren't crayons, and I don't need Viagra...blunted,
hell, 12 bald eagles can perch on it...

OK, OK! So the last eagle has to stand on one leg...

On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 19:56:56 -0700, "bruiser"
wrote:

My Grandpa had a dog named Zero :-)

Was he a Japanese diplomat?

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

Zzzzzzzzzzzz.......huh?.......oh...........another
Snedeker........zzzzzzzzzzz.........


About what I'd expect you to say. And allot cheaper than dealing with the
obvious mental effects (and affects) of your own origins.

Your comments frequently suggest to me very much the thought processes and
history dismissive attitudes of the thankfully deceased Paul De Mann. De
Mann, a prominent Belgium Nazi in his youth, managed to hide this fact most
of his life, while building a very successful career in U.S. academe in
large part around a scholastic assertion of the impenetrability of
historical fact. Like you apparently, De Mann was not aware that there were
positive treatment protocols for the personal anguish of his situation.

And on another note . . . the Americas do have a history clown boy, and it
is considered quite normal for people to be interested in the roles played
by their forebearers, positive and negative, in that history.

Dave