Herbert Eugene Bolton_Historian of the American Borderlands

by Albert L. Hurtado

  Theta Delta Chi was exclusive in ways unappealing today. Like other college fraternities at the time, Theta Delta Chi excluded Jews.22 This was not a matter that Herbert discussed openly, but it was probably tacitly understood that the “good society” with whom Herbert wished to associate did not include Jews. While public and most private institutions admitted qualified Jews, Jewish college students faced social discrimination of the sort that fraternities dished out.23

  Bolton shared the common racial, ethnic, and religious prejudices of his time. As he put it many years later, his outlook in college was “typically ‘American,’ that is to say, provincial, nationalistic. My unquestioned historical beliefs included the following: Democrats were born to be damned; Catholics, Mormons, and Jews were to be looked upon askance.”24 It is impossible to fathom how deeply these bigotries ran in the young Bolton's psyche, but in 1894 he was a conformist who sought the approval of the dominant society.

  Bolton, Becker, and Ford accepted the institutionalized prejudice of their fraternity, but later in life each of them would interrogate deeply held intellectual and cultural assumptions. Becker is well known for questioning the purposes and explanatory power of history. He was deeply intellectual, philosophical, and skeptical about the historian's ability to re-create an objective account of the past through an uncolored reading of historical documents as the so-called scientific historians claimed to do. For Becker, written history (as opposed to the past itself) was transitory, to be rewritten by each succeeding generation in ways that would best serve that generation.25 Ford eventually settled on German history as his field. In the 1930s he became an outspoken critic of Nazi Germany with its “hideous intolerance.”26 By then, it would seem, Ford had left his anti-Semitic fraternity days far behind.

  If by comparison with his fraternity brothers Bolton did not have quite the intellectual acuity and literary panache of a Becker, or the political courage of a Ford, he should not be condemned as intellectually lightweight or permanently prejudiced against Jews and other groups. Bolton had a good and sensitive mind.27 Even though he was deeply marked by Turner's incisive brilliance and Haskins's rigorous scholarship, Bolton had an indelible strain of romanticism that would influence his historical writing throughout his life. As a mature historian he would cast the history of the Spanish Borderlands in that romantic light. And he would abandon his youthful prejudice against Catholics and Jews.

  Hard work, not introspection about social problems, occupied Bolton's time in Madison as the year 1893—94 wore on. Medieval history under Haskins and American history with Turner were claiming more of his attention. He won a top grade from Turner. Law was becoming less attractive to Bolton.28 History, or perhaps Haskins and Turner, had won him over.

  By the end of the school year in June 1894, Bolton was again looking for summer work. Gertrude had decided to return to teaching in Minnesota in the fall of 1894 so that she could save money for their impending marriage. Bolton feared that she had exhausted herself to get good marks at the university.29 Herbert spent part of his summer teaching school in Neillsville, Wisconsin, but hated it. “I hope I may be ‘hanged by the neck until dead’ if I ever agree to teach another arithmetic class,” he wrote Fred.30

  During the summer a crisis arose at the University of Wisconsin. While Herbert had no direct part in the affair, it demonstrated the vulnerability of faculty and the university to the manipulations of a striving politician. Oliver Wells, the superintendent of public instruction whom the Boltons despised, was ex officio member of the Board of Regents. He published a letter in The Nation accusing Professor Ely of advocating “utopian, impractical and pernicious doctrines,” including the right to unionize, boycott, and strike against employers.31 This was a very serious matter that threatened Ely's career and the university. The Board of Regents named a committee to investigate the charges. Some faculty feared that if substantiated, the accusations would lead to a witch hunt for other professors with politically unpopular views. Turner wrote a lengthy report that rebutted Wells's charges against Ely. In the end the regents exonerated Ely, and Wells was discredited. The regents also approved a declaration that the university “should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”32

  There is no mention of this episode in the Boltons’ letters, but they no doubt knew about it. Certainly they knew all of the principals involved. While one might conclude that all was well that ended well, the incident offered other lessons for an aspiring professor of history. The conflict was resolved satisfactorily (from the standpoint of the faculty), but only because of the hard work of Turner and the wisdom of the Board of Regents. Moreover, Ely's defense was that he was innocent of the charges. What if he had advocated unions, strikes, and socialistic ideas in his classes? What might have happened under the hands of a more popular and skillful politician than Wells? The regents’ resounding and inspiring defense of academic freedom was good only for as long as they continued to support it. New regents with new ideas could put aside the resolution of the old board. And, of course, the statement applied only to the University of Wisconsin.

  While the Wells-Ely controversy percolated in Wisconsin, one of Ely's former students, Edward W. Bemis of the University of Chicago, made the mistake of criticizing the railroads during the Pullman Strike. William Rainey Harper, president of the University of Chicago, quickly informed Bemis that his speech had caused Harper a great deal of annoyance. “It is hardly safe for me to venture into any of the Chicago clubs,” Harper complained. “During the remainder of your connection with the University…exercise very great care in public utterance about questions that are agitating the minds of the people.”33 At the end of the academic year Bemis was dropped from the faculty without further explanation. If Bolton learned anything from the Ely and Bemis controversies, it was to avoid them.

  When Herbert returned to the university in the fall of 1894, his younger brother Roy accompanied him. Roy had just finished high school, and his immediate enrollment in the university seemed to vindicate Bolton family sacrifices for higher education. Fred had worked for five years before attending college, and graduated at age twenty-six. Herbert worked intermittently before earning his baccalaureate at twenty-four. Roy enrolled in the university when he was seventeen and graduated in four years. Eventually he became a physician. For Herbert and for Roy the path to higher education was shorter than it had been for his older brother. Nor were the Bolton women left out of this educational parade of upward mobility. Each of the sisters attended college and some became schoolteachers. That the Boltons continued to attend college in the midst of the economic depression of the 1890s was a testament to their conviction that education would improve their lot.

  Herbert's life in his final undergraduate year assumed the familiar routine of study, work, and planning for the future. His determination to study history was now fixed, largely because of the influence of Turner and Haskins, who were “ahead of all the others I have been under,” he told Fred.34 He was taking courses in U.S. constitutional history, social and economic history, and medieval history. By March Herbert was strategizing a campaign for employment after graduation. As usual, no stone was left unturned.35 Fred, who had been subsidizing Herbert for two years, planned to enter graduate school in Madison in the fall while anticipating additional study in the future at one of the great German universities. In the meantime, Herbert arranged for Fred to teach two “easy classes” in Madison to help meet expenses.36

  In June 1895 Herbert graduated from the university. Now he had letters behind his name and all the rights and privileges that they conferred. He went off to Neillsville for the summer to teach with Fred. He was slated to replace Fred as principal of Kaukauna High School, so he and Gertrude could set a date: August 20, at the Janeses’ home in Tunnel City. The Bolton wedding was quite an affair. Herbert and Gertie took their vows before one hundred witnesses, including some of his fraternity brothers, who sang college songs. Th
e festivities lasted until evening when “amid showers of congratulations and rice and attended by the Theta Delta Chi yell,” the couple departed on a train. “We compassed our journey in due time,” Herbert wrote, “and very pleasantly.”37

  Married life in Kaukauna was good, but the newlyweds knew that it was only a temporary home before returning to Madison for Herbert's graduate studies.38 He was already making plans. To make sure that the Wisconsin faculty did not forget him, he invited Turner to give a public lecture in Kaukauna.39 Not about to let his day job get in the way of his ultimate goal, Herbert did just enough to keep his employers satisfied and worked at night to prepare for graduate work. “Duty on the one hand holds me to my school work, and desire to rise lashes me on to burn the midnight oil for personal advancement.”40

  After one year of study in absentia Herbert decided to go back to Madison. He hoped for a fellowship but knew that he could work at teaching and odd jobs as he had done while an undergraduate. The year in Kaukauna had been profitable. For the first time in his life Herbert had money in the bank. “We have saved about $100 every month.” Gertrude's household economy had no doubt helped that small nest egg grow. Teaching in a summer institute would add to the treasury.41 In the meantime Herbert was reading as much U.S. history as he could get his hands on, including works by Reuben Gold Thwaites, Francis Parkman, George Bancroft, John Bach McMaster, James Ford Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, John Fiske, and Justin Winsor. In the summer he studied for an exam on slavery from Turner.42

  By the time Herbert reached Madison, Fred and his family were embarked on the long journey to Germany.43 Herbert buckled down to study in earnest. His instinct was to specialize and to investigate primary sources rather than to cover comprehensively the whole field of American history for exams, the results of which would soon be forgotten (as long as one passed). Cramming, or “bucking,” for exams “takes time and grubbing,” he wrote to Fred,” but investigation takes brains and luck in striking something good.“ By November Herbert believed that he had already found a good thesis subject, what he described as “the Abolition vote of 1844 [and] its effect on the different parties.” Orin G. Libby, one of Turner's doctoral students, said it would “open up a new field of investigation.”44 Libby was well qualified to appraise Bolton's subject. His published master's thesis was a pathbreaking study of voting patterns that foreshadowed the cliometric studies of the 1970s.45

  Once again Bolton fell under Turner's classroom spell. Turner conceived his seminar to be a collaborative effort in which everyone, including him, worked on topics. They met in the Wisconsin Historical Society and used the collections and library there. Bolton listened carefully and offered useful suggestions. Turner's criticisms were gentle but pointed up the shortcomings of ill-prepared work. Bolton assimilated Turner's collaborative seminar philosophy and his gentle but revealing interrogation technique. Like Turner, Bolton presented himself as a helpful and well-informed coworker, although he eventually became a bit more avuncular with his own students than “the Master” was.46

  Turner had his eye on Bolton. He asked him to teach extension courses at six dollars per student. Bolton agreed to do it for the money, which was always needed, and “to get a more personal hold on Turner.”47 He even hoped he might land a job on the Wisconsin faculty if he did a good job in the classroom, although he knew it was a long shot.

  There is no question that Herbert favorably impressed the faculty and students at Wisconsin. His fellow graduate students elected him as their delegate to the Federation of Graduate Clubs, which was to meet in Baltimore at the end of December.48 The Wisconsin club paid his expenses, so Herbert jumped at the opportunity to go east. In Washington, D.C., he saw all of the sights that he could fit into forty-eight hours. He judged the capital to be “truly a magnificent city” with “an air of ‘swell-dom’ ” seen only rarely in other cities. Like any good tourist, he took in the Capitol, Library of Congress, Navy Yard, National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Ford's Theater, and the White House. Then he went down to Mount Vernon, saw “Lee's confiscated estate,” Washington's Masonic Lodge, and Christ Church, where both Washington and Lee worshiped. “I sat in both pews,” he added. Mount Vernon captured his imagination: “Truly a beautiful home in any age! And such a view up and down the grand old Potomac!” Then he “viewed The Tomb with such sacred memories for every American. Really such a visit is inspiring!”49

  After these breast-swelling sights, the Federation of Graduate Clubs meeting in Baltimore was a bit of a letdown. Still, in a room full of strangers, Herbert soon became a center of attention. The delegates elected him secretary pro tem for the meeting and secretary for the coming year.50 This was the beginning of Bolton's national reputation among his academic peers.

  To complete the PhD in two years Bolton needed a fellowship in his second year. The need became imperative in January 1897, when Gertrude gave birth to their first child, Frances. Turner thought that the prospects for a fellowship were good for Herbert and Fred, who would be back from Germany in the fall.51 “If one or two fellowships pan out right, then O.K.,” he told Fred; “if not then O___.”52 Turner wanted to keep Bolton at Wisconsin but offered to nominate him for fellowships at other universities including Harvard.53 Such a fellowship did not necessarily mean a complete transfer away from Wisconsin. In the 1890s it was not unusual for graduate students to take a fellowship for a year at another university and return to their home institution to complete the degree. This was a way to broaden graduate training, and (from the perspective of Turner and Haskins) advertise the bright young graduate students of the University of Wisconsin to the elite East Coast schools.54

  Neither the Harvard nor the Wisconsin fellowship came through for the Boltons. The experience left the usually optimistic Herbert feeling a little abused. “Turner told me right up to [the vote] that my chances were strong.” “The policy of the Univ.…was to turn down home men,” he fumed. Turner and Haskins were now plumping Herbert for a fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, but he had “no strong hopes.”55

  Herbert's judgment was a bit harsh. Turner probably told Bolton much the same thing about fellowships that he told Carl Becker. “It would give me pleasure to see you win a fellowship,” Turner explained. Of course, “we have to settle them purely on the basis of competition, but I should be glad, other things being equal, to see one of the men trained entirely by us win the honor. Of course I cannot make any promises, and you, I understand, are not asking for any.”56 Herbert probably heard what he wanted to hear without registering Turner's careful qualifiers.

  Nevertheless, Turner offered him a place as his assistant and some extension work. Herbert thought that things might turn out all right after all. “I felt pretty blue last night but there's a good deal of India rubber in me and I bound back into shape pretty easily.”57 Herbert's disappointment was somewhat assuaged with his election to an alumni fellowship, but it did not pay as much as the one he had lost. “Turner says that if I get something in the East I'd better resign…which I think I'll do.” Three weeks later the university of Pennsylvania faculty elected him to a Harrison Fellowship.58 Still, Herbert's failure to obtain major support at Wisconsin rankled. “It is the policy of the UW profs. to get outsiders and to widen their own reputations. I know Turner was very anxious to get me a place but he preferred it to be abroad. I hardly think that a fair policy.”59

  Herbert had drawn an astute assessment out of the disappointment that he felt over losing the Wisconsin fellowship. He had been a pawn in a larger game of professional and institutional politics. Haskins and Turner were brilliant young comers who assiduously cultivated their reputations with older men at more prestigious institutions. Promising graduate students like Bolton, Becker, and Ford could be moved around on the academic map to further the careers of their mentors. Improvements in the mentor's status sometimes created opportunities for students. Indeed, in April, the month before the fellowship election was held at Wisconsin, the prominent American historian
John Bach McMaster had invited Turner to take a position at the University of Pennsylvania. Although he did not want the job, Turner visited Penn and returned to Wisconsin no doubt armed with knowledge about the Harrison Fellowship for which he recommended Bolton.60 The move to Pennsylvania would benefit Bolton, but he resented being forced out of his alma mater in order to succeed in his chosen field. The graduate student who wanted to rise had gotten a lesson on just how that was done in the historical profession. He did not think it fair, but he would not forget the lesson.

  Bolton left Wisconsin reluctantly, but he must have thrilled to the historical associations of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.61 Founded in 1740, Penn was one of the older institutions of higher learning in the united States. The university had struggled to become a first-rate institution until the 1880s when private endowments and an aggressive new administration began to improve things.62 In 1883 Penn hired John Bach McMaster to teach American history. Only thirty-one at the time, McMaster had an unusual background for a historian. He had graduated from City College of New York, where he had distinguished himself in the sciences. After college McMaster surveyed the Civil War battlefield at Winchester, Virginia, a task that supported General Philip H. Sheridan's Memoirs. McMaster's technical books on engineering qualified him for a faculty position at Princeton in 1877. He taught surveying and led Princeton's fossil-collecting expedition to the Wyoming Bad Lands. In these early days of bone collecting McMaster's experience as a surveyor no doubt outweighed his inexperience in paleontology. The experience gave McMaster a lasting interest in the American West.63