Biography
My highest earned academic degree is a PhD in the teaching of social studies. I also hold a Master of Theological Studies in systematic theology but don't find myself editing religion or theology articles a ton on Wikipedia.
I am a 32° Scottish Rite Freemason. My interest in freemasonry probably stems from my prior studies in religions and theology, and interest in rituals more broadly, be they social, religious, academic or otherwise.
I like to travel, but don't like to fly. I took the Queen Mary 2 across the Atlantic Ocean as well as a cargo ship. Besides the United States where I have lived my entire life I have visited the following countries, in chronological order: Canada (20 times), England (3 times), Guatemala (2 times), France (3 times), Italy, Vatican City, Netherlands, Germany (2 times), Poland, Ukraine, Czechia, Belgium, Wales (2 times), Ireland, and Cuba. I have also been to Bermuda, which is a British Overseas Territory, and technically a colony on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories as well as St. Pierre (but not Miquelon) which is an overseas collectivity of France despite being located in North America.
I have visited 44 US states. As of 2024, the six I have missed are Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington.
Wikipedia
I give the biographical statements above mainly so that other editors might double check my work in those areas, and feel free to re-edit if any biases are discovered. I try to be unbiased in my edits, but of courses biases often have a habit of sneaking in. I started out being an inclusionist, but now delete uncited and likely wrong material, as well as material that while interesting is rather irrelevant to the topic of that particular Wikipedia article. Usually I will try to move them to a better home, if possible. Most of my early edits tended to be on the smaller side, or focus on finding primary and secondary sources to support thinly cited or unclear descriptions of events, so that future readers don't have to scour the internet to answer the basic 'who, what, when, where, why and how' questions. This I have found affects not only niche articles, but some of the more major ones too. My engagement with Wikipedia is as follows:
- 2005 - Began reading during college
- 2020 - Began editing in December of that year, during the second wave of COVID, mostly to stave off the boredom from that winter
- 2021 - Focused mostly in the niche categories that I found I could be of real help. By November, I resolved to make at least one edit per month
- 2023 - Started uploading pictures for use in articles, either from public domain sources or pictures I take on my travels
Fun fact: As far as I know, the only relative I have that is mentioned on Wikipedia is a great-uncle who played on the 1948 Columbia Lions football team. I met him once and ran into him with my family at a restaurant. He died more than 25 years ago but someone added the name of him and his teammates to the article in 2020.
Interests
In general, topics that interest me involve the history of education broadly or the history of specific educational institutions, primarily, but not exclusively in the United States, as well as Freemasonry both in terms of history and ritual. When I first began editing Wikipedia back in 2020, I thought Wikipedia was "pretty good." I'd still agree with that, but as you had into more niche areas, there is a tremendous amount of work to done in terms of sourcing, editing and filling holes.
Languages
I've made at least one edit in each of the German, Ukrainian, and Kyrgyz Wikipedias, but it took a lot of effort! For now, I've retired from editing the non-English Wikipedias given the time and skill involved. But for anyone who does fluently know a second language, I highly recommend. Occasionally, I will use German Wikipedia to track down additional sources for topics that are covered in more detail in German.
Page Creation
So far, I have created the pages listed below. I am pretty proud of the work rescuing these topics from the dustbin of history. If you have made it this far, please take a look and make some edits/additions. And if you have any projects in the topics I edit most frequently that need work or assistance, please reach out, and I will be happy to see what I can do to assist, time and schedule permitting.
| Page | Reason |
|---|---|
| St. Nersess Aremenian Seminary in Armonk, New York | I drove by it one day and was wondering what it was. It turns out that it is the only Armenian Apostolic Church seminary in the western hemisphere, but it didn't have a Wikipedia page. |
| Supreme Council of Louisiana | I am a Freemason and this particular Scottish Rite Masonic group has an extraordinarily interesting history. |
| Walter F. Hendricks | A note in an existing article said he had founded three colleges, which seemed crazy to me that someone could found three colleges and not have a Wikipedia page. He founded Marlboro College (1946-2020), Windham College (1951-1978), and Mark Hopkins College (1964-1978). All the colleges are now closed, but I think the accomplishment is interesting enough for a page. He was also a student of Robert Frost, and got him to be a trustee at the first college. |
| Washington Hall in New York City | I saw a picture of the building only and could not find any info about it. I honestly, did not even know existed until I created the page and started to do some digging. It occupies an important site, the same location as both as the African-American Burial Ground as well as 280 Broadway and will likely be useful for historians of 19th century New York City. |
Significant work
Besides creating articles, probably my most significant work occurred on the article for the following pages. Again any help with these articles would likewise be greatly appreciated.
| Page | Description |
|---|---|
| ad eundem degree | A vestigial academic degree still awarded in a number of limited and interesting circumstances. It also raises some questions about the history of the broader recognition of academic degrees. |
| Masonic Hall (Manhattan) | This article had existed for a few years, but it did not have a lot of history attached to it. So I added more of the history as well as the pictures of the prior Masonic Halls. I again hope it useful for historians of NYC and more broadly engaged in studies of social/civic life in the 19th century. |
| Samuel Akerly | I found his page because he gave a speech at Washington Hall (see above) for the New York Institution for the Deaf. The Washington Hall connection was enough to pique my interest and then I learned he was an 1804 graduate of Columbia College as we as an early physician and educator in New York City. Frederick Law Olmstead also bought his house when he died. When I first encountered the article it was just a picture and 3 or 4 sentences but there was lots of secondary source documentation of his life to be found to really fill things out. |
Colleges
I spent a significant amount of time updating the List of colleges and universities in New York State, the List of colleges and universities in New York City, and the List of colleges and universities in Vermont, particularly given the contraction of the higher education space in the Northeast. I also keep track of colleges that are in the process of severe downsizing and/or announced closures, but have not yet fully closed. I am currently following: Goddard College and Keystone College for developments there, and the 'temporarily closed' The King's College in New York City which currently seems to be without any campus or students or accreditation. Lastly, I reworked the Men's colleges in the United States to give fuller inclusion of Catholic seminaries that do not have any degrees for women (which by my rough estimate is maybe 1/2 of all seminaries that do have some co-ed degrees) as well as higher education institutions in the Orthodox Jewish community.
I would be happy to work on other US higher education lists if other editors would find that useful. Just let me know.
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