User:Mksmith
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NOTE: I've just been hired as editor of a large, complex editing & indexing project, which means the rest of my life is pretty much on hold and I will not be contributing to Wiki-anything for probably six months. But I WILL be keeping an eye on my watchlist. . . .
I became aware of the Wikipedia project early in 2003 and began offering corrections and copyediting in September of that year.
I'm a retired librarian, having spent thirty years (up until 1996) on the staff of the Dallas Public Library, much of that time as the system's "History Specialist," and also several years as the library's archivist.
Actually, I'm an "army brat," having spent most of my youth overseas, which is what got me sucked into history in the first place. (There's nothing like plunking down an overly Romantic adolescent in the Pantheon or the Athenian agora to foster an abiding interest in the past.) I'm not even a "native" Texan, . . . but I lived there for more years than either Stephen Austin or Sam Houston, so I reckon I qualify for Texas citizenship.
On retirement, I moved to Baton Rouge and became involved in local history activities and organizations -- another longtime interest, since I've also been an active genealogist since the late 1960s.
And I've had a part-time side business for some fifteen years as a freelance book-indexer and copyeditor, working mostly for U.S. university presses. So the urge to tidy up other peoples' work is considerable.
So far, I've either written from scratch or made (what I hope are) significant additions to the following articles:
- Texas historical figures, especially from the Civil War period:
- Gen. Ben McCulloch
- Gen. Henry E. McCulloch
- Gen. Richard M. Gano
- Samuel Maverick Jr
- I've also started a "Texans" category.
- Other Texas & Louisiana topics:
- Chili con carne
- Love bug
- List of parishes of Louisiana
- Saint James Parish, Louisiana
- Tabasco sauce
- University of North Texas (where I did my MLS many, many years ago)
- U.S. historical biography:
- Literary and book-oriented topics:
- Classical & medieval history (especially military affairs):
- Venice (added military info)
- Normans (added military info)
- Synoikismos
- Theseus
Articles (from scratch or heavy rewrites) are in the works on the following subjects:
- Cajun vs. Creole cuisine
- Labrys -- correct Cretan history
- Dallas, Texas -- add much history & bibliography
- Red River County, Texas -- add much history & bibliography
- Red River raft
- Library classification -- add much clarification
- Cutter number
- War of Jenkins Ear (one of my favorite strange & amusing little wars) -- add much history & bibliography
- Battle of Port Hudson -- add much history & bibliography
- H. Allen Smith
- Frank X. Tolbert
For what it's worth, I maintain a personal web page reflecting many of my interests, called Booksmith (http://book-smith.tripod.com/booksmith.html).