Mining the Wikipedia Portals
As an unabashed information junkie, I continually feel like I’m missing out on news. As a result, I’m often checking Internet resources for new means for uncovering information (both useless to some and useful to others…). Today, I discovered the Literature portal at Wikipedia.
From there, I discovered a January 4, 2008 (U.K.) Guardian article that documented the opening to the public of the Norman Mailer archive at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas. (Be sure to visit the Ransom Center online, as it’s astounding how much they have in terms of holdings for a variety of people, places and events…)
Anyway, back to the article, I was struck by the unique nature of materials included in the Mailer archive:
“Although the public nature of Mailer’s life means that there are unlikely to be many surprises, the collection still contains a few nuggets. A personal phone list includes numbers for Playboy’s Hugh Hefner, women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem, actor Montgomery Clift and writer Truman Capote. The collection of letters includes one from Capote in 1960, when the novelist was living in Spain and writing In Cold Blood. ‘Hope other aspects of your summer are equally triumphant,’ Capote wrote in tiny script in blue ink. ‘My own is - quiet. Am working steadily on my book about the murder case in Kansas - but it is very difficult, especially since I have to keep battling my own emotional involvement.’”
Bottom line, information is where you find it, and fortunately I keep finding new outlets for info. Be sure to check out the links mentioned previously, as somewhere along the way you’ll find info to capture your attention as well.