Finding Bob

Bob Hirst trained me to put archival transcriptions in proper order. And much much more. With unfailing kindness and expertise, he taught me how to request and format letters that the southern writer Grace King exchanged with Olivia and Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and their three young daughters. I needed help and he provided it swiftly, cheerfully, and precisely.I had come upon King's correspondence in Special Collections at Louisiana State University during research for Southern Ladies and Suffragists, my 2014 book on the Woman's Department at the 1884 World's Fair in New Orleans. I knew that the seeds of King's literary career were sown from that event in her beloved city; however, I did not know then of her decades-long friendship with the Clemenses. I plunged into her fascinating letters. LSU had no files of transcriptions and no plan to digitize them, but deciphering King's handwriting was fairly easy for me. (How significant is location to handwriting idiosyncrasy, I wonder? We are both New Orleanians.)My aptitude with King's cursive became a kind of test case. Apparently, others had found her handwriting difficult or had considered the southerner insignificant to the Twain story. Bob sent me the one letter I had requested. When I sent the transcription back quickly, I think I earned his confidence. I had used finding aids in other archives, but Bob taught me how to navigate the Project's specific one and how to request particular letters in the correct form. It was basic training.Steve Courtney and I had already struck up an “email friendship” when I was searching for someone at the Mark Twain House able to decipher the perplexing script of Charles Dudley Warner, King's mentor and Twain's neighbor. Steve wrote that the Mark Twain Papers and Project at UC Berkeley was the source for all-things-Twain. I had also stumbled upon an article on “Grace King and Mark Twain” by her biographer Robert Bush and was on the hunt for letters I knew LSU did not own.My first email to Robert H. Hirst was on Saturday, May 16, 2017, when I asked for a letter that King had written to Olivia Clemens on December 26, 1899. I told him that I was preparing a paper to deliver to the Mark Twain Circle at the American Literature Association and I also planned to read from letters at the Mark Twain House that I had transcribed at LSU. I had thoughtlessly written him on his day off, but he answered, “I'll do my best to get you copies of those letters as soon as the library opens tomorrow, Monday,” which he immediately did. He identified himself simply as Bob. And so it began.Revisiting those early emails is embarrassing. When I read them, I feel the way Grace expressed herself to Olivia in that 1899 letter: “I am a little overawed myself at my temerity.” My emails are laden with mistakes; they lack knowledge about how to accurately prepare transcripts and how to make exact requests. That Bob could detect my intention was surely a result of years of his decoding skills. He was unfailingly courteous as he walked this novice through the archival maze. What a pain I must have been! I proposed ideas that now seem ludicrous and rash, but he calmly explained his skeleton staff and the pressure of grants and events. Amidst the crush of other responsibilities, he miraculously made time to scan the letters himself.By December 2017, the tone of our emails seemed to change to one of collaboration. I could clarify some names and words for Bob; he in turn explained books and authors that expanded my understanding. He cited clues from Twain's letters that justified his dates or meaning. He treated me to his broad experience and knowledge, calling forth details I would never have found. Yet, he was willing to listen to my reasoning. He began to use phrases like, “Talk to you again tomorrow” and I to him: “Thank you for your patience and your partnership, Bob.”I grasped only vaguely how busy Bob Hirst was and how many demands he had to satisfy. I only knew he answered question after question with grace and promptness. I intruded on his weekends, on his vacation (in truth, I didn't know he was away), while he had a terrible cold, and at his busiest times. There was a period when we communicated almost daily: convoluted question from me; well-defined answer from him. Bob's good humor never wavered. How does he do it? I called him “a good man” and named his steadfast support “incomparable.”By February 2018, I felt I had “arrived” when Bob wrote, “Miki, You're doing all of us a big favor by taking on Ms. King” and offered more resources. By that time, I was writing the manuscript that would become A New Orleans Writer in Mark Twain's Court: Letters from Grace King's New England Sojourns. In the book's Acknowledgements, I wrote: “By way of books and bibliographies, I found Robert Hirst. Bob has been an invaluable partner in helping to correct my transcriptions and in dating letters; his knowledge is deep and vast, and that was also reflected in his generous reading of this manuscript.”I was humbled when Bob agreed to read for me. I wanted to be sure I hadn't misrepresented Twain. He gave suggestions and wrote that he was pleased to “know” Grace more completely. I was grateful, grateful, grateful for his responses. He stayed in touch with me until the manuscript was off to LSU Press on June 7, 2018.I wanted to hold onto Bob Hirst. In my mind, at least, he had become a dear and caring friend. I had come to rely on his humor and benevolence. But alas, that would have been greedy, since everyone everywhere seems to need his help. So, I had to relinquish my spot to the next seeker and be satisfied to read Bob's occasional posts on the Twain Forum. It cheers me to see his name there; I know that his contribution will always be astute and impeccable.I continued to hope to meet Bob face-to-face. I planned a trip to California but Covid-19 intruded. I consequently forsook my “book tour” and my visit to the Mark Twain Papers and Project. But Bob Hirst is etched in my memory as the heart of scholarship and generosity-of-self. He models the best of conservancy and largesse. For me, our email exchanges are a source of pleasure and pride. I feel incredibly privileged to have “found” Bob.