Professor uses records to chronicle late IU president

To kick off the first event of Archives and Special Collections Month, students and faculty gathered to hear how an IU professor used the University's records to chronicle the life of former IU president Herman B Wells in a book he is writing. \nJames H. Capshew, professor of history and philosophy of science, spoke Tuesday night about how his book is a look at a more personal side of the late president and chancellor, and a deeper understanding of the contributions Wells made to the University.\nCapshew has a unique perspective of the famous IU president due to the time he spent as Wells' houseboy. Capshew applied for the job, which entailed service as a general houseman, janitor, chauffeur, fireman, waiter, yardman and occasional cook, while he was an undergraduate at IU.\nCapshew explained Wells hired his first houseboy in 1937. Capshew said he believes it fulfilled Wells' desire to stay connected to the pulse of the University.\n"He always was asking about student life and what was going happening around campus," Capshew said. "His first houseboy was a black man, and through him Wells was able to understand more about the race issues on campus and help with race relations."\nCapshew discussed Wells' 25 year tenure as president and his pursuit of academic excellence on campus by bringing in the best faculty he could and giving them the freedom to do their work. \n"With Wells academics was of the most importance," Capshew said. "He loved this University and dedicated his life to its excellence."\nWhile writing the biography, Capshew sorted through stacks of correspondences, records and other primary sources to supplement his personal knowledge of the man and develop a biographical portrait. He said he is grateful for primary sources the IU archive provides.\n"You could fill (a) room with Wells' files from the archives," Capshew said. "I just wanted to do the best job I could as a scholar in understanding Wells."\nGraduate student archivist Sarah Frye attended Capshew's lecture hoping to better understand specialization of archives and see how they could be used in understanding history.\n"I wanted to see how it was used and how the profession works," Frye said. "This is just a supplement to what I would learn in class."\nGraduate student Erica Clay said she came to record Capshew's speech in podcast form so students would be able to access his message on the library's Web site.\n"Students can listen to his speech on their iPod from the computer," Clay said. "Who is not a fan of Herman B Wells?"\nCapshew said he believes Wells' long life and longer list of achievements can be attributed to his pursuit of what he loved and his passion for his work.\n"When I met him, he was 75 and still full of life ... He lived for this University," Capshew said. "If you do something you love that will keep you young"