William Foley
April 2003
William Foley
Warrensburg, Missouri
Dr. William Foley is professor emeritus of history at Central Missouri State University where he taught for 35 years and was a recipient of the Byler Distinguished Faculty Award and the Missouri Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He serves as general editor of the Missouri Biography Series published by the University of Missouri Press and currently holds memberships on the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the board of the Friends of the Missouri State Archives, and the board of editors of the Missouri Historical Review.
A specialist in Missouri history and Western American history, he has written/edited six books. He is currently working on a biography of William Clark for the Missouri Biography Series. He has written numerous articles, and his most recent, “Lewis and Clark’s American Travels: The View from Britain,” will appear in the 2003 fall issue of the Western Historical Quarterly.
Foley has received various writing awards, including the Author’s Award from the State Historical Society of Missouri, the Vivian Paladin Writing Award from the Montana Historical Society, the James Neal Primm Best Article Award from the Missouri Historical Society, the Missouri Conference on History Best Book Award, and an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History.
What makes a life worth writing about?
The prime requisite is an interesting story. Biographers seek out individuals whose life experiences will allow them to fashion a compelling tale with the power to engage and to inform. A subject need not be famous or notorious to qualify, but individuals with name recognition are apt to attract larger audiences. By all such measures, William Clark seems an ideal candidate for a biographer’s pen.
How do you capture the sense of a life being lived in a historical character, like William Clark, whose life has become legendary?
The biographer’s task is never as simple as it seems, but fortunately in William Clark’s case, there are voluminous documentary records replete with clues to guide the way. Like many of his better-known contemporaries, Clark was a meticulous record keeper with a penchant for precision and detail. The National Archives, the Missouri State Archives, the St. Louis Circuit Court repository, and the Kansas Historical Society all hold public records chronicling his activities as a soldier, explorer, civil servant, and businessman. In addition, William Clark also left an extensive collection of private papers containing personal correspondence, journals, and business records. Members of the close-knit Clark clan were avid correspondents who, when apart, exchanged letters filled with family news, gossip, and business matters. William Clark also kept journals in which he logged his travels and recorded personal observations. He initiated the practice long before he embarked upon his trek to the Pacific with Meriwether Lewis, and it was no mere happenstance that his systematic writings provide a more comprehensive record of the expedition than the episodic chronicle compiled by his mercurial partner. The Clark family papers—carefully preserved in a number of archival depositories, including the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia, and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in Madison—are a virtual treasure trove of information about his life and the larger events that he witnessed.
In writing about William Clark, have you discovered things about his life that were unexpected and you couldn’t ignore, but you didn’t know how to treat?
While not totally unexpected, William Clark’s record on slavery was shameful. His insistence on viewing his slaves as financial assets made it possible for a man, who modeled decency and integrity in most facets of his life, to inquire about his servant York and his favorite horse in the same sentence and give the animal top billing to boot. His treatment of York following the expedition was particularly reprehensible, notwithstanding the African American’s important contributions as a member of the Corps of Discovery. To his discredit, Clark failed to see any inconsistency between his attitudes on slavery and race and the republican ideology and Enlightenment principles he avowed. He was by no means alone in that failing, but his blind adherence to the slaveholding system was as inexcusable as it was predictable.
Do you find writing history and biography an interdisciplinary activity and, if so, how do you decide when to apply the techniques of another discipline to your work?
Absolutely. I long ago came to appreciate the insights provided by other academic disciplines. In writing about William Clark, I especially have benefited from the works of geographers and anthropologists, notably John Logan Allen, Walter Schroeder and W. Raymond Wood. Successful biography requires that one convey a sense of place as well as time, and the concept of the cultural landscape has been a helpful tool. An understanding of physical geography has proven equally useful in placing William Clark’s cartographic contributions and his geographic discoveries in a broader context. Techniques and information supplied by colleagues in anthropology and archaeology have likewise facilitated my attempts to describe and interpret Clark’s interactions with native people.
Are there any particular problems in writing about the life of a legend?
The exploits of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are well documented and have been incorporated into a larger narrative of American progress and accomplishment. The approach of the bicentennial of their Voyage of Discovery promises to further elevate their status as American icons. Their lives were interesting and filled with adventure and their achievements were noteworthy, but their placement on a pedestal obscures the complexity of their experiences and overlooks their shortcomings. In many ways, William Clark was an ordinary man who lived an extraordinary life. The expedition to the Pacific was only a brief interlude in a lengthy career in which sadness and disappointment were every bit as prominent as triumph and success. Notwithstanding the momentary acclaim he experienced in the wake of the expedition’s return from the Pacific, Clark was forced to endure more than his share of tragedy and adversity. But true to form, he did not allow his misfortunes to overwhelm him, nor did he dwell upon his failures. His perseverance and determination made him a steadying presence during times of turmoil and uncertainty. Those qualities more than compensated for his failings and deficiencies. The real William Clark is far more interesting than the caricature portrayed in popular American mythology.
Is there a substantive difference in writing an academic biography versus a popular biography?
Actually there is not any significant difference. Good biographers are good storytellers. Their challenge is to take the measure of their subject and tell his or her story in a way that is inviting and persuasive. The principal feature that distinguishes the two genres is documentation. Academic biographers generally include footnotes identifying their sources with the expectation that this information will validate their findings and guide interested scholars to the pertinent information.
How have other historians and writers influenced how you view history and historical writing?
During my undergraduate days at Central Missouri State University, Leslie Anders showed me that history has the power to excite and to engage, and Perry McCandless sparked my interest in regional history and introduced me to the techniques of historical research. At the University of Missouri, I further honed my research and writing skills under the tutelage of such preeminent scholars as Noble Cunningham and Lewis Atherton. They taught by example and modeled the best attributes of sound scholarship and good writing. Atherton, who directed my doctoral dissertation, was particularly influential in shaping my view of history and in teaching me to appreciate the power of the historical narrative. I shall be forever grateful for his thoughtful guidance and mentoring. In more recent years, I have benefited greatly from the advice and counsel of friends and colleagues in the profession who have critiqued my work and willingly shared their knowledge and insights.
Is there any one event in William Clark’s life that you would like to see for yourself and, if there is, why?
William Clark experienced more than a few special moments, but given my longtime admiration for Thomas Jefferson and my interest in the early days of the American republic, I would elect to have been present when Clark called on his friend Meriwether Lewis at the President’s House (as it was then known) in June 1801. Lewis, then serving as Jefferson’s secretary and personal aide, had recently occupied his rather spartan quarters in the East Room of the White House where not long before Abigail Adams had hung her laundry out to dry. It was William Clark’s first meeting with his esteemed fellow Virginian, who was well acquainted with his older brother George Rogers Clark. One can only imagine the engaging conversations they shared over several glasses of port or some other suitable libation. Though none of them yet knew that they would be linked together in bringing to fruition Jefferson’s longtime dream of a scientific expedition to the far West, the subject of western travel was in all likelihood a matter that engaged their attention. It is sure to have been quite an evening, more momentous than any of them realized at the time.
Your subject is long dead, but did you run into any issues of copyright or privacy during your research?
There are many problems inherent in attempting to write about people and events that occurred nearly two centuries ago, but thankfully the passage of time does eliminate worries about matters of privacy and copyrights. What once would have been sensitive and potentially embarrassing matters can safely be addressed without fear of criticism or recrimination. In Clark’s case, he undoubtedly would be mortified to witness a public airing of his pecuniary embarrassments or a candid discussion of the conduct of his sometimes profligate and troubled offspring. Particularly sensitive were the family’s efforts to have son William Preston Clark committed to a Kentucky asylum.
When you aren’t working on a new article or book, reviewing someone else’s work for a press, or editing the Missouri Biography series, what or whom do you like to read?
It has been my recurring lament that I seldom enjoy the luxury of reading books unrelated to professional obligations and responsibilities. Not surprisingly, when those times do present themselves, I favor biographies of all types. Presently, I am eager to read Edmund Morgan’s new study of Benjamin Franklin. In retirement, I have promised to avail myself of an opportunity to revisit many of the great literary classics, some of which I read long ago. My intent is to initiate the project by rereading the works of Charles Dickens. I first became enamored of his writings when my fifth-grade teacher Mrs. Olga Gilbreath read David Copperfield to our class more years ago than I care to disclose. But alas, that day remains several months in the future. For now William Clark beckons as the Lewis and Clark bicentennial observances draw ever closer.
Interview by Dr. Shelly J. Croteau, assistant state archivist of Missouri and a member of the Missouri Center for the Book’s board of directors.
Books by William Foley
- The Genesis of Missouri: From Wilderness Outpost to Statehood
- A History of Missouri, 1673-1820
- Dictionary of Missouri Biography (co-edited with Lawrence Christensen, Gary Kremer and Kenneth Winn)
- Missouri: Then and Now (co-authored with Perry McCandless)
- An Account of Upper Louisiana by Nicolas de Finiels (co-edited with Carl Ekberg)
* All of the above published by the University of Missouri Press. - The First Chouteaus: River Barons of Early St. Louis (co-authored with C. David Rice), published by the University of Illinois Press.