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I’m an archivist, but not because when I was a young man I said, “I’m going to grow up to be an archivist.” I just fell into it, and then I found that it was a suit of clothes that fit me pretty well.
I’m an archivist, but not because when I was a young man I said, “I’m going to grow up to be an archivist.” I just fell into it, and then I found that it was a suit of clothes that fit me pretty well.


. . .
'''PS''': Well understood. Speaking of archival evolution, the entire world seems
to be becoming become digitized. And the electronic reconfiguration of
Mailer resources has surely become a central part of contemporary Mailer
Studies. Can you comment in general about this evolving and complex configuration of scholarly and popular access, digital access, and how it relates
to making Mailer’s life and work more accessible, not only for scholars, but
also for interested readers?


'''JML''': Yes, we are clearly part of the revolution. I think that Jerry Lucas has
proved to be a superb digital humanist, steering the ship with the work he’s
done for ''Project Mailer'', which is one of the main activities of the Mailer Society. Jerry knows much more about digital technology than anyone I know, and it has been a pleasure collaborating with him. A critical aspect of digitized Mailer is access, which is easy as the software is programmed to remember your previous searches. In earlier times we all had to go to libraries, locate microfilm copies, and read them on blurry screens. I well remember, when writing my master’s thesis, reading old microfilms of the ''New Republic'', ''Dial'', ''Vanity Fair'', and the ''New Yorker'', dating back to the 1920s.
It was very laborious and difficult, but now digitization has made the process much easier. ''Works and Days'' is now available in a digital as well as a print format and
I like the fact that there are both. Having the book right next to me on the
shelf, I can find what I need much more quickly than I can by going online,
but if I’m doing deep searches, for example, word searches, I can’t use the
book. But it is going to be a long time before the digital world catches up
with all of Mailer’s public appearances. Jerry and I have discussed putting all
my archive online, about 1500 items.
Much has been lost because many college magazines and newspapers have never been digitized. There is always going to be a print component
until, sometime in the distant future, ''everything'' is formatted digitally. People contact me all the time for copies of obscure profiles and interviews with
Mailer. Hardly a week goes by without someone asking me where Mailer
said this or that, or where did something appear. I often respond by saying,
“Have you looked at ''Works and Days''? Have you looked at Jerry Lucas’s index
to ''Works and Days''? Have you looked at the date that your item appeared, and
then checked contemporaneous items in Works and Days to see if they are
pertinent?”
Mailer would often hold a press conference and there would be
a half dozen newspaper and wire service reporters there, and they would all
write a different story. So if you read one of these stories, you ought to read
the other ones because if you put them all together you’ll get a much richer
sense of what he really said. For example, his news conference when ''Harlot’s
Ghost'' came out.  And the one for  ''Ancient Evenings''. You can’t get it all just by
reading the New York Times story. You need to read the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', and the ''Minneapolis Star'' and all the pieces by the other reporters who
were in the room. I’m regularly steering people to ''Project Mailer'', where they
can access these things. In the old days, I would copy and email articles to
people. I still do that.
Jerry Lucas is doing magnificent things in ''Project Mailer'', which he
founded, that I couldn’t even dream of, especially digitizing all of Works and
Days, and posting other resources like all of the Prefaces, Forwards, and Introductions that Mailer wrote for about twenty-five books by other writers.
Many of them appeared in obscure books, in some cases going back to the
1960s, and were out of print. Justin Bozung has been posting podcasts related
to Mailer, another valuable resource.
The Walt Whitman Archive at the University of Nebraska is another exemplary website. I grew up in American Renaissance studies and taught
Whitman for years. The Whitman Archive is magnificent; you can access,
for example, the contemporary reviews of ''Leaves of Grass''. Whitman’s different editions came out over a forty-year period. Every new edition was reviewed and now you can read the reviews. The same thing is being done
with Emerson at the New York Public Library. I don’t know if they’re doing
the same thing with Hemingway.
'''PS''': Yes, Hemingway Studies are digitized. You bring back some wonderful
archival memories. When I was a young graduate student, I recall spending days looking at microfiche records. I referred to those days as my “fishing
time.” What you say, Mike, about the digitizing of Mailer Studies is striking.
As you know, I have worked with Jerry Lucas for a long time.
'''JML''': I know, you were his mentor. Jerry is exemplary and his knowledge of
the digital world is phenomenal. And he continues to evolve unabated. He’s
constantly working on things that are new.
'''PS''': I certainly join you on that and I continue to turn to Jerry for technical
advice related to all kinds of research activities and electronic teaching strategies. Some things never change.
My next question relates to the importance of the establishment of the
Mailer Library at Wilkes. When was it chartered, why is it particularly important, and what will it hold?
'''JML''': In about 2005, Norman became affiliated with Wilkes University in a
formal way. He became chairperson of the advisory committee for the new
MFA program in Creative Writing. In the decade before that, I began donating first editions of his books and various magazines and memorabilia to
Wilkes. In 2005, Norman said that we could display all of his major awards,
including his Pulitzer Prize, his National Book Award, the Emerson Medal
from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as all of his other
medals, awards, and honorary degrees. Everything was enshrined in a room
called the Mailer Room, which is in the E. S. Farley Library at Wilkes University. The centerpiece of the room is his former dining room table, a huge,
beveled glass and wrought iron table.
'''PS''': A very impressive, eclectic donation.
'''JML''': When Norris and Norman donated the table, and his awards and
memorabilia, we arranged for a truck to pick it up. There are now photos
on the wall, glass cases with all his awards, and bookcases that contain virtually every major critical book about him and every one of his works.
And most of them are signed and inscribed to the library. That was the
start.
...
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[[Category:Interviews (MR)]]
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