Re: [Harp-L] re: Who on earth is Anton the Plumber?

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

> J.R. Ross wrote some stuff.

> http://www.patmissin.com/ffaq/q37.html

I read the article and can only say that anyone who does research  
uses bits and pieces from OTHER people's writing. So this article is  
speculation and since the author wasn't born in 1835, there is no way  
to prove it. In fact, none of you 3 were born in 1835.   lol
> I draw your attention particularly to these two sentences (copywrite
> by Pat Missin, from his website http://www.patmissin.com ):

Copywrite or copyright? Two different things.
> Moreover, contemporary histories from the late 19th and particularly
> early 20th centuries are not exactly impartial.

Ok, but neither is ANY history. History goes to winners. If the  
cowboys are good, the indians are bad, if the Scottish Highlanders  
are good, the Zulus are bad. And on and on, ad absurdium.

>   The study of history
> was often used as a political tool for much of the last hundred and
> fifty years, particularly swayed by two major trends: nationalism and
> progressivism.

I'll buy that.

>   Thus, people and facts which don't fit the desired
> narrative were often simply discarded.

Ok, so far

>   So, while we see an
> outpouring of similar free-reed invention across Europe and even the
> US in the early 19th century, much of this is ignored in favor of the
> trends which led to the status quo when people were writing,
> particularly the status quo of German's writing in the early 20th
> century when Germans dominated the market and nationalism was the
> dominant political force.

But you're saying that anything a German wrote about Germany was  
automatically accepted by all Germans. In other words there were no  
Germans who took these writings with a large grain of salt. In other  
words millions of Germans were oblivious to wool being pulled over  
their eyes.

>   Added to this is the desire to find an
> "inventor", and when one didn't exist perhaps create one in a semi-
> mythical fashion (perhaps Richter fits this mold), which certainly
> wasn't confined to any one country nor to harmonica history by any
> means (see the Abner Doubleday mythology in baseball).
>
> I would also suggest reading this page as well for more information:
>
> http://www.patmissin.com/ffaq/q1.html
>
> These basic issues should be common knowledge for anyone wanting to
> understand or research the history of the harmonica, IMO.

What I'm seeing here is that you tend to give some people credibility  
while others are left wanting. I find this amusing coming from a  
person whom I had long ago cloaked with the robes of impartiality and  
decreed as defender of the truth and grand remover of ambiguity.

Journalism is an intriguing profession. After courses in: (and I'm  
just guessing here), Philosophy, English composition, Psycology?,  
English, a journalist goes about practicing their craft. Now they can  
only go on what they find. Sometimes true, sometimes false. We see  
this all the time. A Hurst used to say "We don't report the news, we  
MAKE it". Me? I am a voracious reader. How much do I take as gospel?  
About 8 1/2 to 9 %.

smo-joe...back to my Nat'l Geo.
>   ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
> ()  ()
> `----'
>
>
>
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