Gained in the TranslationGained in the TranslationThe Geological Career ofThe Geological Career of

Lou Henry HooverLou Henry Hoover18941894--19141914

Michele L. AldrichMichele L. AldrichCalifornia Academy of SciencesCalifornia Academy of Sciences

Topics covered

• Stanford education 1894-98• China 1899-1901• London 1902-1914• De Re Metallica 1906-1913• Bascom comparison

Stanford Geology Courses, 1894 – 1897

Dynamic and Structural GeologyEconomic GeologyTopographic GeologyMineralogyAdv. Mineralogy & PetrographyPaleontology: Systematics & Historical Geol.Paleontology: Original work in field & labAssayingSpecial Courses

Source: Stanford Univ. Catalogues

Economic Geology TopicsRelating to Chinese Porcelain

• Geology and Art• Feldspars• Mineral Pigments• Kaolin and Clays

Source: J. C. Branner, Syllabus ofLectures on Economic Geology (Stanford: 1895, 1900, 1902 eds.)

Lou and Bert’sWedding, 1899

Lou to John Branner on China

Lou in China, 1900

John Milne in London, ca 1910

Lou Copyedited this book for Bert

Lou and Sons,born 1903and 1907

Lou and Bert on Shipboard, 1928

De Re Metallica EditionsAgricola, 1556

• Liber XII in Latin• Preface• Title page in Latin• Dedicatory poem• 262 woodcuts• No break between libera• No annotation• Paragraphs by spacing between words• De animantibus subteraneis, 33 p.• Glossary, Latin/Germ. terms, 39 p.• Decorative initial begins each liber• No bibliography• Indexes• Leather binding (Lib. Cong. & Penn

State)

Hoovers, 1912• 12 books in English• Preface and translator’s preface

Facsim. tp with pub. name whited out • Facsimile of dedicatory poem • 261 woodcuts, some line figs redrawn • Each book starts on a new page

Extensive annotation Paragraphing by indentation

• Not included• Not included • Same initial begins each book-English • Bibls. of GA’s and other mining books • Indexes • Vellum (imitation?) binding

Agricola

Chapters in Agricola’s De Re Metallica (1556)

Mining as an industry and comparison to other trades.Ancient mines, finding metals and minerals, diving rod.Mineral veins and seams; plotting with the compass.Determining mine boundaries; mining organization.Principles of mining; mine surveying.Tools and equipment, hoisting and pumps, ventilation, miners’ diseases.Assaying ores and metals; the touchstone.Preparing ores: roasting, crushing, washing; recovery of gold by mercury.Ores and furnaces and bellows for smelting copper, iron, and mercuryRecovering precious metals from base metals; separation by acid.Recovery of silver from copper by liquefaction; refining copper.Salts, solvents, precipitation, bitumen, and glass.

Source: Bern Dibner, Agricola on Metals (1958).

Hoover Translation of De Re Metalica(1912)

DRM (1556) left; DRM (1912) right

DRM (1556) top; DRM (1912) bottom

Typical Woodcutfrom DRM

Page of Lou’sNotes from Translating DRM

Inscription in a Presentation Copy of DRM

Career ComparisonFlorence Bascom

• 1867 born in Massachusetts Father a college professor Mother teacher, suffragist

• 1874 family moved to Wisconsin• 1884 Bach. Degree in science, U. Wisc.• 1884-5 taught Hampton Institute • 1885-7 studied sheet gabbros, L. Superior• 1887 MA Univ Wisc in geology• 1893 PhD Johns Hopkins Univ in geology• 1893-95 Ohio State U, assoc. in geology• 1895-1928 Chair, Bryn Mawr geo. dept.• 1896-1930s US Geological Survey, wae• 1906 sabbat, Heidelberg petrography • Unmarried, no children• 1944 died in Massachusetts

Lou Henry Hoover

• 1874 born in Iowa Father a banker Mother a homemaker

• 1887 family moved to California• 1890-3 LA/San Jose Normal Schools• 1893 taught elem. school, Monterey• 1898 BA Stanford in geology• 1899 married Herbert Hoover• 1902-1914 London base, world travel• 1906-1912 translates De Re Metallica• 1914-1917 Belgium relief work• 1917-1944 Girl Scouts• 1928-1932 First Lady• 1903 and 1907, children born• 1944 died in New York City

Source: Amer. Natl. Bio. articles by Champlin and Mayer; see refs. list

Thanks to:

• M. Tymoczko, Comp. Lit., U Mass• Mark Aldrich, Smith College• Alan Leviton, Calif. Acad. Sciences• Prints & Photos, Rare Books, and Leroy

Bell, Library of Congress• Rare Books Library, Penn State• Archives, Stanford University• Leo Laporte, Univ. Calif. Santa Cruz

Lou Henry Hoover: References

Allen, Anne Beiser, 2000, An Independent Woman: The Life of Lou Henry Hoover, Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 211 p. (Contributions in American History, 118) Agricola, Georgius, 1556, De re metallica libri XII: quibus officia, instrumenta, machinae, ac omnia denique ad metallicam spectantia, non modo luculentissim describuntur, sed & per effigies, suis locis insertas, adiunctis latinis, Germanicisque appellationibus ita ob oculos ponuntur, ut clarius tradi non possint; eiusdem De animantibus subterraneis liber / ab autore recognitus; cum indicibus diuersis, quicquid in opere

tractatum est, pulchre demonstrantibus. Basil: H. Frobenium, 538 p. Branner, John C., 1895, 1900, 1902, Syllabus of Lectures on Economic Geology, Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, var. pagination. Brice, William, 1989, Cornell Geology Through the Years, Ithaca NY: Cornell College oif Engineering, 230 p. Carroll, Rosemary, 1994, “Lou Henru Hoover: The Emergence of a Leader, 1974-1916,”, p. 13-34 in Dale C. Mayer, ed., Lou Henry Hoover:” A Busy Life, Worland WY: High Plains Publishing Group..

Champlin, Margaret, 1999, “John Casper Branner”, p.429-30 in vol. 3 of American National Biography, New York: Oxford University Press. Dibner, Bern, 1958, Agricola on Metals, Norwalk CT: Burndy Library, 128 p. Hannaway, Owen, 1992, “Herbert Hoover and Georgius Agricola: The Distorting Mirror of History,” Bulletin of the History of Chemistry, 12: 3-10. _____, 1992, “Georgius Agricola as Humanist,” Journal of the History of Ideas, 53: 553-560. _____, 1997, “Reading the Pictures: The Context of Georgius Agricola’s Woodcuts,” Nuncius 12:1, 49-66.

Herbert-Gustar, A. L, and P. A, Noth, 1980, John Milne: Father of Modern Seismology. Tenterden, Kent, UK: Paul Norbury, 160 p. Hoff, Joan, 1999, “Herbert Clark Hoover”, p. 151-55 in vol. 11 of American National Biography, New York: Oxford University Press. Herbert, Hoover, 1909, Principles of Mining: Valuation, Organization, and Administration, New York, McGraw Hill, 196p. _____. 1952, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Years of Adventure, 1874-1920, New York: Macmillan, 406 p.

_____ and Lou Henry Hoover, 1912, Georgius Agricola De re metallica, translated from the 1st Latin edition of 1556, with biographical introduction, annotations and appendices upon the development of mining methods, metallurgical processes, geology, mineralogy and mining law, from the earliest times to the 16th century. London: The Mining Magazine, 640 p. Hoover, Lou Henry, 1912, “John Milne, Seismologist,”, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 2:2-7. Jenkins, Olaf, ed., 1951, Geologic Guidebook of the San Francisco Bay Counties, Calif. Dept. Natural Resources, Division of Mines Bulletin 154, 392 p.

Kuhner, David, 1970, “The Herbert Hoover Collection: A Gift and A Story,” Homold Library Record 12:1 , 1971), 1-5. _____, Tania Rizzio, and Cyril Stanley Smith, 1980, Bibliotheca De Re Metallica: The Herbert Clark Hoover Collection of Mining and Metallurgy. Claremont CA: The Libraries of Claremont Colleges, 219 p. Lefevere, Andre, 1992, Translating Literature: Practice and Theory in a Comparative Literature Context, New York: Modern Literature Association of America, 165 p.

Long, Pamela, 1991, “The Openness of Knowledge: An Idea and Its Context in 16th Century Writings on Mining,” Technology and Culture 32: 318-325. Mayer, Dale, 1988, Herbert Hoover and Stanford University, Stanford CA: Hoover Institution Press, 241 p. _____, ed., 1994, Lou Henry Hoover: A Busy Life. Worland WY: High Plains Pub, 156 p.. _____, 2000, “Lou Henry Hoover”, p, 160-61 in vol. 11 of American National Biography, New York: Oxford University Press. . Montgomery, Scott, 2000, Science in Translation: Movement of Knowledge

Through Cultures and Tine. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 325 p. Nash, George H, 1983, The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer, 1874-1914, 768 p. Pryor, Helen B., 1969, Lou Henry Hoover: Gallant First Lady. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 272 p. Schneiderman, Jill, 1999, “Florence Bascom”, p. 304-205 in vol. 2 of Amerocan National Biography, New York: Oxford University Press Smith, Richard Norton, 1984, An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, Worland WY: High Plains Publishing Company, 488 p.

Stanford University, 1894, 1895, 1896, Catalogue…, Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. . Young, Nancy Beck, 2004, Lou Henry Hoover: Activist First Lady. Lawtrnce: Univeristy of Kansas Press, 238 p. . Michele Aldrich May 2007