"Windy City" response from Newberry Library

Wed Feb 15 23:25:28 UTC 2006

  Barry's work on "The Windy City" is compiled into an article slated for Studies in Slang VII (Barry and I are listed as co-authors of the volume).
The publisher will likely be Peter Lang (Frankfurt am Main), although this isn't yet certain. Barry's "Windy City" item is a remarkable piece of scholarship,
and I'll be happy to send complimentary copies to any and all relevant museums/societies, etc.
   The volume should be published by early summer.

Gerald Cohen

> ----------
> From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of Bapopik at AOL.COM
> Sent:         Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:45 PM
> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:           "Windy City" response from Newberry Library
>
> THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
> 60 West Walton Street
> Chicago, IL
> ...
> February 6, 2006
> ...
> Dear Mr. Popik:
> ...
> I write in response to the email message you sent to me on January 22,  2006,
> regarding _The Encyclopedia of Chicago_. The project's managing editor,
> Douglas Knox, has communicated with you on these issues before, so doubtless you
> understand how our authors were chosen. As for the sources of our information,
>  please note that we were not aware of your research until the entry was sent
>  through our fact-checking process. We were able to verify the information
> for  the entry in a publicly available source. Your research, available on the Web,  helped lead us to an illustration and to some additional details, which
> were not  central to the basic narrative of the entry.
> ...
> As you must realize, the use of publicly available information pointed out by someone else does not constitute "plagiarism." Doubtless you also know that
> encyclopedias customarily do not carry footnotes. And, of course, there is no intellectual property in a fact. We have taken pains to assure that the
> _Encyclopedia of Chicago does not reproduce or copy any text without proper attribution.
> ...
> We consider this matter closed.
> ...
> Yours sincerely,
> David Spadafora
> President
> ...
> ...
> ...
        <snip>
> ...
> As everyone knows, I solved "Windy City." My work was rejected by the Chicago Historical Society in a form letter in 1996. The 2004 Encyclopedia of Chicago plagiarized my OLD work from the Chicago Reader's The Straight Dope. It had contained 1885 and 1886 "Windy City" citations, one "publicly available" and
>  the other "publicly available" only if you went to the Library of Congress, picked out the right material, and spent hundreds of hours to find it.
> ...
> The Enyclopedia of Chicago went online in 2005. For over a year, I've tried to get credit for my work.
> ...
> The fact that the Chicago Historical Society, University of Chicago (publisher), and now the Newberry Library "consider the matter closed" without  giving me credit for my work is pathetic of these "venerable"  institutions.
> ...
> First, they had a "fact-checking process"?? You type in the citations into Google and the name "Barry Popik" comes up. Is President David Spadafora
> supporting grossly incompetent fact-checking.
> ...
> Second, my work was not "central to the basic narrative of the entry"? Bullshit. The copy of that 1885 citation takes up half the space of the entry.  My scholarly conclusions were used.
> ...
> Third, they can't have "footnotes"? All legitimate encyclopedias have references. The Encyclopedia of Chicago does, too! But--hey, it's Popik! You're  a
> piece of shit!
> ...
> The Chicago Historical Society still hasn't responded to me. I've e-mailed many times. I sent information directly to the President and the Chairman of
> the  Board of Trustees. They continue to plagiarize my old work.
> ...
> I know, I'm suppose to walk away from this, like all my other work, pick myself up, and start all over again. For what? To be treated like this  again?
> ...
> Can someone write to the CHS for me and at least get a response? I want theChicago cycle of shit to at least be complete.>
> ...
        <snip>
> ...
> Barry Popik
> _www.barrypopik.com_ (http://www.barrypopik.com)
>
>
>
> ...
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>

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