Tyler wasn't a serious nomination, though I've long been interested in
the idea of the debt modern scholarship owes to those mid-19th through
early 20th century historian/collectors (pre-eminently Peter Force,
but also Lyon Tyler, John Thomas Scharf, etc.) who gathered archival
materials that otherwise would not have survived.

Karen Stuart


On 1/4/06, Brent Tarter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The instance of Lyon G. Tyler points out one of the arbitrary and
> foolish aspects of trying to determine who in a given century was the
> greatest or most important (or most loathesome): Tyler was president of
> the College of William and Mary late in the nineteenth century, too, and
> therefore laps over the artificial century barrier. That will be the
> case again if we keep this up and wonder which century (if we must so
> limit ourselves) Thomas Jefferson belongs to.

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html