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04/02/2006 |
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Remembering
the late Lester Ward, local resident |
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By: NANCY
COLEMAN |
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Mansfield
professor makes documentary on Lester Frank Ward Lightning
flashes. A tree stands in a creek. A lovely flower grows. And
a boy lies on the grass gazing at the stars. |
They're
scenes from "Lester F. Ward: A Life's Journey," a documentary looking
at a man who once lived in Myersburg, near Wysox. That man became a famous
sociologist and scientist in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and was called
"the founder of American sociology," and "the American
Aristotle."
But
-- a tree and humble flower to tell the story of such a scholarly person?
Yes.
Because the documentary isn't just about ideas and theories and books. It's
about a man's life.
And
another man wants you to know about that life.
Dr.
Gale Largey, retired Mansfield University sociology professor, spent seven
years making the documentary, with help from many friends. He released it last
summer.
A
cheerful, round-faced man who wears a comfortable denim shirt today and chuckles
often, Gale enjoys telling stories about people and places.
The
Bradford County connection, of course, made Ward a good subject. But Gale also
did the piece to tell about someone he admires, someone who helped shape him
into who he is today.
Much
of Ward's thinking can be summarized by one of his quotes: "People are
equal in all, except privilege. ..."
"I
think he had a lot of integrity. He's a good, old-fashioned,
do-the-job-and-help-society kind of guy!" Gale says.
"His
impact, I think, is quite significant. ... I think he should be
recognized."
Gale
grew up in Elk County, Pa., and attended college at St. Vincent.
"I
was very interested in social action, I think," he explains. Studying
sociology lent itself to that. He also was interested in group behavior.
So
he went on to earn his doctorate in 1971 at SUNY-Buffalo, then taught at
Mansfield from 1970 to 2005.
One
day, Gale came across a college notebook from his first college sociology
course, in 1962. And there were the words, jotted right on the first page:
"Lester Ward, father of American sociology."
They
had studied Ward's thoughts on planned social progress. "That clicked with
me," Gale remembers. He got involved with lots of movements, like the
civil rights efforts of the 1960s.
"He
certainly had an influence on me."
Over
the years, Gale's done many projects. He wrote books on Tioga County history --
"They are ... coffee table-style books," he explains. Then, with Dr. Richard
Feil, he and students did state surveys and reports, which led to then-Gov. Tom
Ridge visiting class. The students even testified in Harrisburg.
Gale
made "The Austin Disaster, 1911," a documentary on the Pennsylvania
town's dam break that killed 78. He even got Willie Nelson to narrate, and
Ridge and Gerald Ford to supply some of the other voices.
That
led to "the only time my son thought I was somebody," Gale claims ...
when he got free Willie Nelson tickets and permission to go backstage.
Penn
State aired "Austin," Gale says, "and it hit the film
festivals."
"That
kind of invigorated me!"
He
also made "People of Honor," a documentary on Tioga County residents'
memories of World War II, which WVIA-TV aired.
So
... what would be next?
Why
not Lester Ward?
Gale
started collecting Ward materials, and started working with his team. And
working, and working. ...
He
gathered photos -- of Ward himself, other notables, less-famous people,
buildings, tombstones. He collected images of book covers.
To
design a picture of a stern-looking husband and meek wife, illustrating Ward's
theories about gender inequality, Gale examined historical society material to
find just the right faces. Then they combined them on the computer.
"That
took an eternity!" Gale declares. Thanks goodness for Phil Ogden, the
computer guy. "We worked a long, long time on that!" Gale says. He
laughs.
He
worked even longer on the crowd scene. This would be a set of images of some
people appearing to change over time, showing more ethnic groups. "After
about 30 hours of work, that was not used!" Gale says. Again, he laughs.
He
also collected copies of famous people's signatures to go with photos -- Susan
B. Anthony, Frederick Douglas and so on. Once he hired a researcher to go into archives
in Chicago and track down a will. All for one name.
Music?
That came from university people and the Sadie Green Sales band. A man named
Greg Peck wrote some original music.
Student
anecdotes? They came from Brown University. Mansfield students supplied the
voices.
Permission
to use John Dewey's signature? That came from Japan.
Book
inscriptions? Would you believe ... e-Bay?
Mark
Polonia served as editor. And Jack M. Wilcox, a former Mansfield music
professor who once sang backup music for the Rockettes in New York City,
provided Ward's voice. "People really believe it's Ward!" Gale says.
Gale
traveled to Iowa and found Ward's hometown, and went to the Potomac River,
where a park ranger helped him track down a tree named after Ward.
Paleontology
taught Ward to look back in time at human history, and across cultures, just as
he gazed back through the ages at rocks. "He reminds us we can't get
caught up in the moment," Gale notes.
At
the Smithsonian, an old paleontologist fellow showed him some of Ward's rock
discoveries. But Ward's specimens dated back only 300 million years, the man
claimed. He had his own samples. "I go back 400 million!"
Gale
wrote to Jefferson County Community College, at Watertown, N.Y., to find Ward's
grave. "Give community colleges an A-plus here!" he insists. It seems
Ward had attended a Unitarian church. A Jefferson woman wrote back. "I'm a
Unitarian. I'll find him!" she declared.
And
she did.
--
And
then, there were Jon Laidacker's drawings.
Drawings
of Ward's parents. His father plowing. Young Lester gazing at the stars, and an
older Lester teaching his students.
And
of battle. And Ward playing violin while his wife played piano.
And
Ward, hand on head and hair roughed up. His wife had died.
--
The
documentary came out last year, in time for the American Sociological
Association's centennial. Gale also made a "spinoff" piece, on ASA
past presidents. At its conference, the organization showed both.
It
took seven years. But it was exciting.
"As
long as there's some element of fun in the whole thing, you can keep going
along with it," Gale says.
No
one's gotten rich off the Ward piece. But, "I get the satisfaction of
feeling that we did a good job," Gale says. And "the feeling that I'm
contributing to the understanding of the area."
"I
like to think that ... people watching it will be proud that he lived in
Bradford County ... this culture had something to do with shaping this
person."
Ward
was a man of determination, sincerity and strong character, Gale believes. He
had a "willingness to stick his neck out on unpopular issues."
Equality?
Ward wouldn't even let a porter carry his bags. "He was a man that really
believed in it," Gale says.
--
The
documentary shows excerpts from Ward's diary. The year is 1913:
In
January: One day he had a nose bleed and swollen legs. He can't sleep.
"Feeling below par, dull."
In
February: He makes out his will. One day, he tries to walk up a hill. "It
was a mistake."
March
3: "Red spots on my left leg."
March
26: He boards a ship to sail to Washington, after bidding his Brown students
farewell.
March
29: "Sickest day of my life ... managed to work on my proofs."
April
1: It's a pleasant day out. But "have been very weak."
Then,
we see an obituary. Lester Frank Ward has died.
--
"I
kind of feel like I owe something to Lester!" Gale says. "In a sense
... he let me into his life."
INFO
BOX
To
get a copy of "Lester F. Ward: A Life's Journey," contact Dr. Gale
Largey at (570) 724-3564 or visit his Web site: www.galelargey.com. The
documentary is available on DVD.
Major
sponsors of the project were: The National Science Foundation, The American
Sociological Association, Mansfield University, Citizens and Northern Bank and
the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.
Dr.
Largey is willing to speak on Lester Frank Ward for any interested groups.
Lester
Frank Ward's life
Who
was this man?
Lester
Frank Ward grew up in Illinois and Iowa in the 1840s and 1850s, a child of
Justus and Silence Ward.
His
mother, Silence, was a devoutly religious woman, and Justus worked as a
pioneering farmer and quarry owner.
Perhaps
it was the combination of the two -- his mother's beliefs and the family's
poverty -- that formed some of young Ward's own beliefs in equality and
improving society.
Ward,
too, learned to work hard but also had a curious mind. He dug for fossils in
the quarry and dragged rocks to help his father build a mill. He hunted, fished
and walked the local creeks. He read the McGuffey Reader. From his mother, he
said, "I quickly learned that knowledge is power."
A
neighbor sparked Ward's interest in languages by giving him a book on French.
(Ward would later learn eight languages, including French, German, Russian and
Japanese.) He and a brother read eagerly. Ward was especially disturbed at the
racism he found in "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
According
to "Lester Frank Ward: Bradford County's Aristotle," written by Guy
Abell and published in The Review on June 10, 2001: "The historian Leo
Wilt said that the entire Ward family seemed to pick up and adopt all the
liberal and reform ideals that were popular in Illinois in the 1830s." One
of Ward's brothers became a Populist; another, a Free Methodist; and a third, a
communist. Lester Ward himself later would propose some controversial ideas.
In
the late 1850s another brother, Cyrenus, asked him to come to Myersburg, in
Bradford County, Pa., to work in his hub (wagon wheel) shop. (Cyrenus was the
brother who became a communist, befriending Karl Marx, a founder of socialism.)
Ward
found the area "a hotbed for progressive thinking," having been home
to such famed men as hymn writer P.P. Bliss, song writer Stephen Foster, labor
leader William Wilson and politician David Wilmot.
In
the meantime, Ward took an interest in science from books written by a cousin
who served as president of what is now Bucknell University. He worked with
Cyrenus and later studied at the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, which shaped
many of his ideas, farmed and taught school. He wrote a diary in French. Ward
also met, romanced and married a teacher named Lizzie.
Wanting
to abolish slavery and preserve democracy, Ward joined the 141st Regiment and
fought in the Civil War. "What I was fighting for, I never doubted,"
he wrote.
After
being wounded, he was captured, then rescued, then hospitalized. He returned to
Bradford County, but later left to work with other wounded men at Fairfax
Hospital in Washington D.C. Lizzie joined him.
Over
the next few years, Ward began advancing in his work and intellectual
influence. He worked for the government, and studied social justice. He earned
an AB degree from the forerunner to George Washington University, was admitted
to the bar and received an MA in 1873 and later an honorary doctorate.
In
1870, he became editor of "The Iconoclast," considered a radical
newspaper.
In
1872, Lizzie died of appendicitis. "Losing her was devastating," Ward
wrote. For comfort, he began walking the creeks again. Soon he met a widow
named Rose, and happiness returned to his life. They married.
Working
as a government scientist, Ward studied botany and even discovered a tree now
called the "Wardian Willow" along the Potomac. He became the chief
U.S. geologist and paleontologist and earned degrees in medicine and law. It
was Ward who invented the word "ecology," which he called "the
science of the relation of organisms to their environment."
In
the meantime, he also became interested in sociology, realizing how scientific
principles could apply to studying people.
In
1883, he published "Dynamic Sociology." Later came titles like
"Pure Sociology" and "Applied Sociology."
Ward
believed sociology was the ultimate science and included many of the other
disciplines. He was in favor of democratic, egalitarian change -- based on the
belief that everyone should have equal social, political and economic rights.
He supported "telesis," or planned progress; the idea of improving
life through science; government based on positive social action; and regulating
brute power. He saw one global organization without barriers.
Ward
also examined theories on the history of relationships between the sexes. He
believed men had a long history of dominating women, and he supported women's
equality. He also advocated equality of all classes and races, believing people
could choose their destiny.
On
the other hand, Ward opposed "social Darwinism," the belief that
certain groups or people succeed because of a genetic superiority. And he was
strongly against "eugenics." Eugenics is the attempt to improve
mankind by mating people with certain traits to each other. Ward argued with
its supporters in Europe.
"I
think he anticipated the awful consequences of the area's eugenics
movement," says retired Mansfield professor Dr. Gale Largey. Just decades
later, Adolf Hitler would try to advance his idea of a "master race."
Eugenics, Largey believes, set the stage for the Holocaust.
In
1905, Ward helped form and became first president of the American Sociological
Society, later re-named the American Sociological Association. He spent his
last years teaching sociology at Brown University, in Rhode Island.
Ward
is credited with: laying the groundwork for many of the policies of Franklin
Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, defending democracy from aristocracy, advocating
equal opportunities via education, helping women's rights, applying sociology,
opposing eugenics and showing the public role of sociology.
"Marching
over its stumbling blocks, nothing will check the sure and steady advance of
sociology," he declared.
Lester
Frank Ward died in April 1913. He is buried in Watertown, N.Y.
(Sources: "Lester F. Ward: A Life's Journey, 1841-1913," "Lester Frank Ward: Bradford County's Aristotle," and Dr. Gale Largey)