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John Gould Stephenson

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John Gould Stephenson (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)

As of 1 October 2024, 15:29 (UTC), this page is active and open for discussion. An FAC coordinator will be responsible for closing the nomination.
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Nominator(s): Generalissima (talk) (it/she) 15:32, 1 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

John Gould Stephenson might just be the most obscure Librarian of Congress; he was a political appointee with no real experience with libraries, spent most of his time in office serving in the Union Army, and is mostly known for his appointee of the far more important Ainsworth Rand Spofford as assistant librarian during his tenure. Despite all this, he managed to lead an interesting (if poorly-documented at some points) life. Generalissima (talk) (it/she) 15:32, 1 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Image review

Comments from Steelkamp

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I'll comment later. Steelkamp (talk) 10:47, 3 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Steelkamp: I implemented all of these! Ty very much. Generalissima (talk) (it/she) 19:00, 5 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I aim to complete this review by the end of the week. I will have some more comments, which will take some time. Steelkamp (talk) 14:36, 11 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • There are some instances of "Librarian of Congress" that go against MOS:JOBTITLES.
  • "he attended education at" -> "he was educated at"
  • "He moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, in the early 1850s, where he became active in the temperance movement and the nascent Republican Party. He campaigned for Abraham Lincoln in the 1859 Senate race in Illinois and the 1860 presidential election. He pursued an appointment of Librarian of Congress immediately following Lincoln's election, possibly due to his brother's work as a librarian in Cincinnati." -> "Stephenson moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, in the early 1850s, where he became active in the temperance movement and the nascent Republican Party. He campaigned for Abraham Lincoln in the 1859 Senate race in Illinois and the 1860 presidential election, and pursued an appointment of Librarian of Congress immediately following Lincoln's election, possibly due to his brother's work as a librarian in Cincinnati." This avoids there being three sentences in a row that begin with the same word, and makes it so that Stephenson is mentioned by name more than once in the entire paragraph.
    • Good, but now there are a bunch of terms that are no longer linked which probably should be.
  • Cincinatti can be linked.
  • "Lincoln appointed him" -> "Lincoln appointed Stephenson".
  • "He died on November 11, 1883, after several months of illness" -> "He died after several months of illness" as the date is redundant to the first sentence of the lead.
  • "J. G. Stephenson". Use a non-breaking space between the J and G as per MOS:INITIALS.
  • "additionally serving variously as a selectman, county coroner, deputy sheriff, constable, fire warden, and high sheriff." -> "additionally serving as a selectman, county coroner, deputy sheriff, constable, fire warden, and high sheriff."
  • "He was one of Lincoln's earliest advocates" -> "Stephenson was one of Lincoln's earliest advocates"
  • Does Patriarch have to have a capital P?
    • Fixed. - G
  • Chicago can be linked.
    • Fixed. - G
  • "beginning within a few weeks of the election". Is this a few weeks before or after the election?
    • Clarified. - G
  • "In March 1861, Senator Henry S. Lane also wrote to Lincoln in support" -> "in March 1861, Senator Henry S. Lane wrote to Lincoln in support".
    • Fixed. - G
  • "Stephenson arrived in Washington". Should this be Washington, D.C.? Also, it can be linked.
    • Fixed. - G
  • "Dole, Lincoln's Commissioner of Indian Affairs, described meeting with Lincoln to urge Stephenson's appointment." This sentence should end with a colon instead.
    • Fixed. - G
  • "His longtime ally and associate" -> "Meehan's longtime ally and associate"
    • Fixed. - G
  • "and asked Caleb B. Smith if Stephenson had resigned." Why did Lincoln think that Stephenson had resigned?
    • Unfortunately, the sources don't elaborate on Lincoln's worry. If I had to guess, he had just heard that large numbers of staff had left and wondered if this included Stephenson. - G
  • Is the 19th Indiana Regiment and the 19th Indiana Infantry the same thing?
    • Ooh, yeps. Clarified. - G
  • "Stephenson began to spend extended periods in military service soon after his appointment as Librarian of Congress." Maybe add that this was due to the Civil War.
    • Clarified. - G
  • "He is recorded as a resident of Washington". Is this still Washington, D.C.? It should be clarified.
    • Fixed. - G
  • "where he stated he was discharged without a given cause." -> "where he was discharged without a given cause."
    • Fixed. - G
  • "he entered employment" -> "Stephenson entered employment".
    • Fixed. - G

Those are the only comments I have. Steelkamp (talk) 16:07, 14 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Joeyquism

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Committing to a review; should have a few comments by end of today! I'll have a more full-bodied review posted tomorrow after work. joeyquism (talk) 02:13, 4 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Below are a few things I've noted. As with most of my reviews, many comments are nit; feel free to refuse any as you wish.

Lead

  • "he attended education at Dartmouth" - I'll admit, I haven't seen this wording used before; perhaps this could do without "education at"?
  • "nascent" - while I would personally be comfortable using this word in regular conversation, I would opt for "newly-formed" in the lead.
  • "Stephenson begun" - should this be "began"?
  • "He served in various positions as a clerk" - would "law clerk" or "judicial clerk" be accurate here?

Early life and career

  • "He initially pursued further education at Dartmouth Medical School, before transferring" - I don't think there should be a comma between "School" and "before"

Will finish tomorrow. Work demands I be there early tomorrow, so I've gotta clock out earlier than I wanted. I'll strike this out later. joeyquism (talk) 03:04, 4 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Further comments are listed below. I'll admit I'm in a reviewing slump, so forgive me if any of these seem silly.

  • "(becoming a Patriarch of the local Sons of Temperance chapter)" - Any particular reason why this phrase is in parentheses?
    • No clue why, removed this. - G
  • "A February 1860 notice in the Wabash Express attempted to clarify a controversial political statement from him, printing "J. G. Stephenson did not say that all men were created free and equal. He held just what the writers and signers of the Declaration of Independence held, namely, 'that all men are created equal.'"" - Is there any more context to this sentence? I understand that the paragraph it belongs to is laying out the beginning of his political career, but I feel like this particular sentence could benefit from a little more outlining - i.e. is there more background to what prompted him to give such a statement?
    • Not really with the source... I realized it's kinda nonsensical; it probably is him trying to couch abolitionist sentiments, but since the author doesnt expand on this point, I'll just remove it. - G

Librarian of Congress

  • "While the number of other candidates for the position is unknown, at least three people wrote to Lincoln asking for Hezekiah Lord Hosmer to be appointed as librarian." - This seems extraneous?
    • Yeah, reduced this. - G
  • "Stephenson himself arrived in Washington..." - Not sure if "himself" is needed, as there's no prior mention of anyone else arriving in Washington
    • Removed. - G
  • "Although publicly apolitical, Meehan himself faced rumors of southern sympathies." - Also not sure of "himself" here; should "southern" be capitalized as well?
  • "Stephenson was infuriated by the presence of the War Department's bakeries in the Capitol basement" - Wikilinking "bakeries" might be overlinking
    • Removed. - G
  • Rest looks great.

Later life and death

  • Just out of curiousity, is there any more background on why there's such a large gap between the suspected years Stephenson joined the Bureau of Pensions? Nothing here I can see in need of fixing otherwise; just wondering about this sentence.
    • No clue! The two sources give conflicting dates and neither seems clearly correct. - g
@Joeyquism: Forgot to say I corrected these! Generalissima (talk) (it/she) 18:49, 5 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Looking good on the fixes! Sorry for getting back to you past the time I promised; life's been getting the best of me lately. Will have some more comments down and a finished review tonight. joeyquism (talk) 23:06, 5 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Generalissima: Left just a few more comments above; everything seems to be in great shape otherwise. Just a few minor things that may or may not need addressing and I'll likely come back to support. joeyquism (talk) 23:44, 5 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Source review by IntentionallyDense

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I will be doing a source review for this article. I do this in a table format to keep things organized. I will update the table as I go and ping the nominator when done. IntentionallyDense (talk) 03:01, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Source Review
Section Status Sources I couldn't access Comments
Early life and career Done None "On March 1, 1828, John Gould Stephenson was born in Lancaster, New Hampshire, to Reuben and Mary King Stephenson (née Baker), the fourth of eight children."

Not seeing "née Baker" on page 77 of the source but I may be missing something. IntentionallyDense (talk) 03:23, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Reuben Stephenson was a merchant who operated a general store in Lancaster"

Not seeing the general store part in either sources. IntentionallyDense (talk) 03:23, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"where he was described as an "efficient speaker" by Indiana politician William P. Dole"

I do see the quote in both sources but not that it was said by William P. Dole. IntentionallyDense (talk) 03:23, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • Its in the footnote (tho I guess I should also list the page the footnotes are on)
Librarian of Congress Done None The first paragraph under "Appointment" is sourced by Carter 1976, pp. 79–80. I don't think anything in this paragraph comes from page 79 so I think you could change this to just p. 80. IntentionallyDense (talk) 13:06, 13 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Done. - G

Same thing with the first half of the second paragraph in this section. IntentionallyDense (talk) 13:06, 13 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • Done. - G

"The incumbent librarian, John Silva Meehan, had held the position since 1829." Not seeing the 1829 part in the two pages you listed here. IntentionallyDense (talk) 13:06, 13 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Later life and death Done None Is there a reason why ref33 does not have a page number? IntentionallyDense (talk) 21:57, 17 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Generalissima: I have finished my source review. Overall sourcing is great but I like to nitpick so I've brought up some tiny things that I noticed. Of course, there are things I could have missed, and I'll be honest I was a bit less thorough with the second half of the article because my source checks were coming back clean every time. IntentionallyDense (talk) 21:57, 17 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support: I did the source review for this article and didn't find any major issues which led me to support this article for FA status. All text is put into the writer's own words. Sources are properly cited in an organized and consistent way. IntentionallyDense (talk) 03:53, 19 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from Dugan Murphy

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I'll read the article and write something here soon. Dugan Murphy (talk) 21:26, 24 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • Why include "practiced physic & surgery for ten years" as a quotation and who said it?
    • I don't know why I included the quote; removed that. - G
  • he became involved with the temperance movement, becoming a patriarch: I recommend rewording to avoid having "became" and "becoming" together like that in the same sentence.
    • Reworded. - G
  • he became involved with the temperance movement, becoming a patriarch: How is "patriarch" being used here?
    • It's a rank within the chapter, but I realized that it doesn't need to be mentioned and is kinda confusing. -G
  • where he was described: Since there are three men mentioned in the sentence, I think it is worth replacing this "he" with "stephenson".
    • Done. - G
  • He actively campaigned: Is "actively" necessary?
    • Guess not. - G
  • that he had spent: Removing "had" would change this from past perfecr tense to simple past tense, which sounds more appropriate to me.
    • fixed. - G
  • political appointment as the librarian of Congress using connections: Seems like there should be a comma after "Congress".
    • Done. - G
  • The Meehan image caption should have an uncapitalized "librarian", I think.
    • Fixed. - G
  • Why are the ellipses in the block quote in brackets?
    • Quoting from the source, as I don't have access to the original document; presumably used to indicate that a section has been skipped. - G
      • According to MOS:ELLIPSIS, putting square brackets around an ellipsis is what you do to distinguish that ellipsis as a stand-in for omitted text versus another ellipsis in the same quote that is is part of the quote. In this quote, both ellipses are used in the standard omitted-text-way, so including the brackets is against the MOS. Dugan Murphy (talk) 22:16, 26 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
        • Interesting! Removed that then. - G
  • Wikilink Union (American Civil War)?
    • Good idea. - G
  • Meehan calmly accepted his dismissal, and left his duties at the end of May. I don't think that comma is necessary.
    • Fixed. - G
  • deemed as low-quality books: The "as" doesn't seem necessary.
    • Removed. - G
  • defended his actions against the Joint Committee: I think "against" should be "to", if I'm reading this sentence correctly.
    • Fixed. - G
  • I think was "[because] his conviction would make more sense as was because "his conviction
    • Fixed. - G

I'll read more and leave more comments later. Dugan Murphy (talk) 01:04, 25 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Here are some more comments, having read through the rest of the article:

  • The first time Spofford is mentioned, he is named without anything saying who he is. The second time he comes up he is introduced to the reader as a journalist. I think it should be the other way around.
    • Spofford is a good source on Meehan here because he was a librarian of congress, but it's important to note that he was a journalist to explain why he was in Washington and met Stephenson; so I gave context to the first instance. - G
  • Who said "intimated an offer"?
    • I don't know why I quoted this, paraphrased. - G
  • Do we know why Stephenson left Washington for 2 months in 1861?
    • To care for soldiers; elaborated. -G
  • Resignation section: I had to read the 2nd and 3rd sentences a few times. I now have the impression that Spofford and Lanman were both vying for Stephenson's position, but I think this could be reworded to make that more clear. At first reading, I was asking, "Spofford was soliciting endorsements for what?".
    • Reworded. - G
  • Charles Lanman, the former librarian: Not a big deal, but "the" doesn't seem necessary here.
    • Fixed. - G
  • Stephenson announced his resignation from his post as Librarian of Congress on December 22, 1864,: I don't think you need to include "from his post as Librarian of Congress". That's already clear.
    • Good point, clarified. - G
  • Can you find any more detail on what war speculations that Stephenson was allegedly up to? If not, is there a general contextual sentence you could add about the kind of war speculation that was common at the time or that people were being accused of at the time?
    • Sadly, there's just no further information in any of the sources, and I feel it'd be getting too far off track to bring in sources about civil war speculation that don't mention him. - G
  • Librarian Keyes Metcalf described him ... describing his appointment: That's one too many described/describing.
    • Fixed. - G
  • Because we're mostly talking about Stephenson's librarian contemporaries, I would like to see Metcalf introduced as "Twentieth-century librarian Keyes Metcalf" or something like that so it is clear we're talking about an expert opinion with historical perspective.
    Dugan Murphy Ope! Forgot about that one. Resolved. Generalissima (talk) (it/she) 23:02, 29 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I find two instances in which "Library" is capitalized as a standalone word and many more times when it is not capitalized. I think you could go either way, but you need to go either way consistently. I think uncapitalized seems more appropriate to me.
    • Lower-cased it, except in one point where its in a quote.
  • in a 1871 edition of Boyd's Directory, as well as in two: The "as well as" would read better as "and".
    • Done. - G
  • where he was discharged without a given cause: I think "where" should be "when"; and how about "stated cause" instead of "given cause"?
    • Done. - G
  • he approached a physician due to persistent insomnia: "Approached" seems an odd word choice. How about: "he saw a physician for persistent insomnia"?
    • Good idea. - G
  • How did Stephenson serve as a naval surgeon in an army unit?
  • attended college at Dartmouth Medical College and Castleton Medical College: "college at" seems extraneous.
    • Fixed. - G
  • Why not Wikilink Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln, and colonel in the lead?
    • Done. - G
  • The sentence in the lead that starts "He campaigned for Abraham Lincoln" is a bit unwieldy. I recommend rewording, possibly splitting.
    • Done. - G
  • Believing that the library: "that" is extraneous.
    • Fixed. - G
  • several months of illness: This statement in the lead is not sufficiently supported by the body. You should reword one or the other, making sure to stay true to what the sources say.
    • Oops, my bad there. - G
  • I don't suppose there are any other images of Stephenson you can add to the article?
    • Sadly not. - G
  • The Library of Congress would occupy: That would read better if you replaced "would occupy" with "occupied".
    • Done. - G
  • Why does the gravestone pic need citations?
    • No clue, removed. - G
  • This article is included in the "American abolitionists" category, but I don't see anything in the article to support that.
    • Removed, no clue how that got there. - G

In summary: This looks like a great article and is generally well-written. The coverage seems reasonably comprehensive, acknowledging where scholarship cannot confirm parts of Stephenson's life, but also not going into too much detail on any one aspect of his life. The language is neutral and the article seems stable. Earwig thinks plagiarism is unlikely. The lead does a good job of summarizing the body. Dugan Murphy (talk) 22:16, 26 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Comments from Shushugah

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  • Replace the hyphen in 1800-1864 with en-dash 1800–1864
    • Done. - G
  • was buried is grammatically correct, but implies that his body was relocated elsewhere later on. He is still buried there right?
    • It's describing the physical act of the funeral burying him, not just stating that he's underground. - G
  • Considering the Secretary of War does not exist anymore, it would be interesting to wiki-link it. A way to ensure it isn't continuous sea of blue would be to phrase it as Alexander Ramsey, the Secretary of War
  • Good idea, done. - G
  • influence the Kentucky delegation -> who are they and why is this not elaborated?
    • This isn't elaborated on much in the source, sadly; sorta based off what a couple politicians said in later accounts. It's just the Kentucky delegation to the RNC, but it'd be redundant to state that again. - G
  • This alarmed the... -> clarify that the change of staff, not specifically retention of Meehan's son triggered alarm
    • Done. - G
  • as a flue for the baking operation had been built into the flue of the library's furnace. -> awkwardly phrased, remove redundancy of flue
    • Hard to describe a flue being built into another one without saying it twice, but I tried to make the sentence scan better. - G
  • Rep. should be lengthened to Representative
    • Good idea, fixed. - G
  • wiki links representative and senator in congressional representative and senator
    • Done. - G
  • had indicated an intention to resign -> indicated his intention to resign
  • have stayed in Washington, -> Washington D.C.,
    • Fixed both of these. - G

Thank you for a delightful and wonderful historical biography on an obscure librarian of congress! ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 18:00, 30 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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