Constructing the life of a Legend

Former IU President Herman B Wells didn't understand why anyone would ever want to read a book about his life.\nDespite the fact that during his presidency, the size of IU-Bloomington quadrupled, enrollment increased by 500 percent, the campus was desegregated and IU became known worldwide for arts, sciences and graduate studies, Wells still felt others were more deserving of a biography than he.\n"He said, 'Isn't there something better you could be doing with your time?' He said other people out there were more worthy," said James Capshew, Wells' biographer and professor of history and philosophy of science. "But that's just the way he was. He was very humble. He didn't want to be an icon. But he was such a strong leader that that's what he became."\nCapshew has been working since 1998 on his biography of IU's former leader. He came up with the idea while working as Wells' assistant.\n"I remember thinking that Dr. Wells is going to be dead someday and so I had this fighting inkling that there needed to be a book about him," he said.\nCapshew was writing a piece about William Lowe Bryan, IU's 10th president, and showed it to Wells. Capshew told him he wanted to write a book about him someday. Wells laughed, but agreed to the project. Wells gave personal interviews to Capshew for the book and even wrote an introduction for it.\nCapshew began his extensive search in the IU Archives for documents about Wells. The Herman B Wells collection is the Archives' largest collection, so understandably, he was overwhelmed. Capshew hired an assistant named Faye Mark from the Archives to work part-time for him, but the book really didn't get going until Wells' death in 2000.\n"I sort of realized his life isn't over yet," Capshew said. "So I really couldn't start the book until he died. He died about nine months later, and the project began in earnest."\nThe book has been an extensive process for Capshew throughout the last few years. He admits he originally thought it would be a three-year project, but it became a five-year project.\n"But I'm in my sixth year, so the press would like it yesterday," he joked.\nCapshew has, for the most part, finished compiling research and is now writing the manuscript. Last semester, he took a sabbatical from the University so he could spend time writing the book every day.\nWhen he sits down to write, he never knows which chapter he is going to work on next. He said he works until the ideas stop flowing and that it's a tough process because he has to think about the entire book and not just the section on which he is working.\n"The biggest problem I have is that I have too much information. It's a lot to go through," he said. "It's really hard deciding what to put in and what to leave out. I wanted this book to be comprehensive and complete but not exhaustive. I don't want to cover every week of his life, which you can almost do with the archive materials.\n"I try to find the right level of description because people won't want to read a 1,000-page book."\nThe sections, he said, that will be integral to the book are about the expansion of the campus, Wells and race relations in the 1960s and Wells' legacy to this day.\nCapshew previously authored a book about the history of psychology called "Psychologists on the March: Science, Practice, and Professional Identity in America, 1929-1969." He said that experience has helped him with his latest book.\n"I had a very interesting experience writing that book," he said. "There was a time when I was writing the book that I realized there was a theme developing throughout the entire book without my noticing."\nWithout giving too much away, he said, the same thing has happened with his book on Wells.\n"I've been thinking a lot about the role of place in Wells' life," he said. "He could have gone anywhere and done anything, but he chose to stay in Bloomington for so many years. He went everywhere, but he always came back to Bloomington."\nCapshew said Wells eventually become a "part of the spirit of the place."\nEven though Wells published his autobiography "Being Lucky" in 1980, Capshew said his book won't just rehash what Wells already wrote.\n"Wells didn't say a whole lot in his autobiography about how he did it," he said. "I hope my book sort of brings out the 'how' in the story."\nReaders expecting any scandals in Capshew's book might be disappointed. The author said he searched high and low for people who didn't like Wells to add balance to his book and couldn't find a single one.\n"He had a wonderful way of diffusing his critics," he said. "He was a master at human relationships."\nCapshew added that although there might be some new information about Wells, none of it will be a huge shock to anyone who knew or has studied him.\n"He wasn't like Kinsey, who was this public person with a very wild private life," he said. "Wells wasn't anything other than what he appeared to be."\nStill, there's some information that might not be as widely known about Wells.\nIn the course of his research, Capshew found it interesting that Wells never served on any other University boards during his tenure as president -- with one exception. Wells sat on the board of trustees for Howard University for 20 years. He did so as a way of supporting historically black colleges and universities, a cause Wells believed in. He even received an honorary degree from Howard in 1976.\nAnother fact Capshew found is that Wells was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by faculty members in 1969. Even U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey wrote a letter of support for Wells.\nWells didn't win, but because the records remain closed for 50 years after the awards, Capshew doesn't know why he was turned down.\n"If I'm still alive in 2020, I'll go to Oslo and see why they didn't pick him," he said.\nCapshew said he thinks there is quite a large audience for his biography. He thinks anyone involved with IU, interested in the history of higher education or interested in the history of the state of Indiana would like to read the book. He also said there are plenty of people who knew Wells to buy the book.\n"Herman had so many friends and acquaintances, so there will be a lot of people who knew him who will read the book," Capshew said. "He has to be the most connected person I've ever studied."\nHe also said the book would be for anyone who was interested in leadership.\n"People are interested in strong leaders," he said. "He embodied the University. He dressed up as Santa Claus every Christmas and it didn't demean him at all. I mean, can you imagine (former IU President Myles) Brand dressing up as Santa Claus?"\nWith all of the debate surrounding current IU President Adam Herbert, Capshew said it's even more important to study great leaders at IU. He said he hopes Wells' accomplishments will inspire IU's current leaders.\n"Wells was the right guy at the right time," he said. "We can never have another Dr. Wells, but we can have other great presidents. \n"It's like a great big tree with smaller trees growing beneath it. When the big tree dies, the other trees can get the sunlight and grow up to be big trees as well."\nCapshew said he never expects this book to be a national bestseller, but he just wants to spread the philosophy of charity for which Wells was so well-known.\n"It's not just a book about him, it's a tribute to him," he said. "Trying to pay off a debt is too strong, but the reason I am doing it is that I want to pay something back to a man who gave so much to me and the rest of the University"