When one of my students, who is engaged in researching and
drafting a research essay, described her intention of finding more than three
times the required number of sources, I made a reference to Eli S. Ricker in my
comments.
Eli S. Ricker, who was a county judge in Nebraska during the
late 19th century, spent more than a decade collecting research on
the interactions between American settlers and the Native people, with the
intention of writing a book titled The Final Conflict Between the Red Man and
the Pale Faces. He is known for having interviewed witnesses to Wounded Knee,
for example. He became so engrossed in the research, collecting more than 1,500
pages of notes, that he never wrote the book.
As a cautionary tale for students and writers, the story of
Eli S. Ricker emphasizes the importance of recognizing when to put the
researching aside in favor of the writing. Research, although often more
enjoyable than the writing, must come to a stop at some point.
Eli S. Ricker’s research has since been collected by Richard
E. Jensen and published as two volumes, Voices of the American West, Volume 1:
The Indian Interviews of Eli S. Ricker, 1903-1919 and Voices of the American
West, Volume 2: The Settler and Soldier Interviews of Eli S. Ricker, 1903-1919.
