Univ. of Chicago responds, says taking my "Windy City" work without credit is OK

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Sat Jun 18 04:35:57 UTC 2005


Yeah, not even a damn penny, and not an ounce, not a drop of respect or  
kindness! After ten years!
...
...
_http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/6.html_ 
(http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/6.html) 
 Early uses of the term appear in Cleveland (1885) and Louisville  (1886) 
newspapers, and the 1885 appearance of the label in a headline suggests  the 
possibility that this was not its initial invocation. It may well have been  
Chicago's urban rivals who coined a nickname, in derision, which has come to be  
adopted with pride. 
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_http://www.barrypopik.com/article/942/2005-update-university-of-chicago-encyc
lopedia-of-chicago_ 
(http://www.barrypopik.com/article/942/2005-update-university-of-chicago-encyclopedia-of-chicago) 
> The “Windy City” entry in the Encyclopedia of Chicago was assigned to  
someone 
who had no business writing it. In the 2003 letter (attached below),  it was 
admitted by Managing Editor Douglas Knox that my work had basically  been “
used” 
without credit or compensation. The Encyclopedia’s “Windy City”  entry didn’
t 
mention the Charles Dana myth at all. It used my 1885 citation  in an 
illustration, then used my 1886 Louisville citation.
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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL
Russell J. Herron
Associate General Counsel
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June 13, 2005
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Dear Mr. Popik:
...
I am responding to your e-mail message of May 29, 2005, to Don Michael  
Randel, Gregory A. Jackson, Henry S. Webber, and Kineret S. Jaffe regarding the  
"Windy City" entry in the _Encyclopedia of Chicago_.
...
The compilers of the _Encyclopedia_ appreciated your bringing to their  
attention the fact that the term "windy city" was used in the _Cleveland Gazette  
in 1885. They subsequently verified this reference in the publicly available,  
online archives of the Ohio Historical Society, and included the information 
in  the published entry.
...
The fact that you were not credited with bringing this information to their  
attention, however, does not constitute plagiarism. No individual can 
copyright  a fact, much less a publicly available one, and the entry does not include 
any  text or other material that was plagiarized (i.e., copied without proper  
attribution) from your writings. Moreover, reference works such as the  
_Encyclopedia_ are designed to present general information about a topic to the  
reading public, not to itemize the many individuals who are responsible for  
bringing this information to light.
...
Please note as well that the _Encyclopedia_ entry does not falsely  attribute 
the origins of the term "windy city" to Charles A. Dana.
...
Finally, the University of Chicago Press did not publish the online edition  
of the _Encyclopedia_, and has no responsibility for its contents. You should  
direct your future inquiries about this edition to the Chicago Historical  
Society.
...
Sincerely,
Russell J. Herron
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And so it goes.
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"...the entry does not include any text or other material that was  
plagiarized (i.e., copied without proper attribution) from your writings."
There was no mention of the 1886 Louisville citation. That would look bad,  
so let's not discuss it. But the fact is that I found the first citation cited, 
 I found the second citation cited, I made the scholarly conclusion long ago 
that  the term came from the Midwest and had nothing to do with New York City, 
and all  of that was used without credit and without compensation.
...
I also disagree that the University of Chicago has "no responsibility" for  
the online edition of its _Encyclopedia_ that was reprinted in a different  
medium without any change whatsoever, bearing the same name. I had told the  
University of Chicago to contact the Chicago Historical Society for me  about this 
matter, but that would constitute a favor, and that is something that  no one 
in Chicago can do.
...
No mention was made that I have even better information, and that Chicago  
deserves to be told about it.
...
This is a disgrace, both to me and to Chicago.
...
...
Barry Popik
(Unbelievably kind friend of Chicago)
_www.barrypopik.com_ (http://www.barrypopik.com) 
...
 



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