When I arrived at the Center in 1973 after a cross-country marathon in a VW with my wife and two small children, I was determined to write a monograph about Diderot’s ENCYCLOPEDIE and the role of books in the French Enlightenment. I eventually wrote it. But at the first meeting of the fellows we were encouraged to deviate from our plans, to take risks, and to change our minds about some aspect of our work. In my case, the deviation began immediately, because Robert Merton was also a fellow that year. Like many other young scholars, I fell under his spell. My monograph went on a back burner while I read the books and articles that he recommended in a field that I had never heard of: the sociology of communication. I soon discovered that Bob had helped to found the field and, better yet, that he was willing to discuss it over endless lunches and coffee breaks. He even offered to read an essay I had drafted about a related subject. Then, after he covered the pages with notes that ran up and down the margins and in between the lines, and after I rewrote the essay from top to bottom, he helped to get it published. I can see Bob’s hand in much that I have written during the following thirty-one years. I also can hear his voice from beyond the grave, saying “rethink that, rephrase this.” And I still feel the warmth of his friendship, which endured until his death. That would not have happened, had the Center not taken both of us in–he, a founding father of several branches of scholarship, and I, a rookie. I shall always be grateful.
With best wishes for a happy anniversary,
Robert Darnton
Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and University Librarian
Harvard University
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