Biographies - A Cautionary Tale

     Because of time constraints, I decided to just read the biography written by Alfred Young; The Shoemaker and the Tea Party. I started the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, but knew I wouldn't be able to finish it in time for this assignment. One major thing that I was surprised to learn about was how important the task of a biographer truly is. In this work, Young speaks about sifting through memories and recollections. He notes the many questions a biographer needs to ask themselves - who recorded the recollections, what were the circumstances, how do emotions and values change the memory of events that happened particulary those of the distant past?
     Young mentions two biographies of Hewes that he has referenced in his book. One, written by James Hawkes, was done mainly in first person by interviewing Hewes. However, Young mentions that this biographer often interrupted Hewes and "padded the story." The other biography cited was written by Benjamin Thatcher. Young mentions that Thatcher "could not resist embellishing Hewes's stories or inventing dialogue." What a difficult task to sift through primary sources and other pieces of information to create an accurate accounting of peoples' lives.
     In the classroom, we are so caught up with "getting it all in," that it is easy to miss how all of that information comes to us in the first place. I am planning to use some of the events and experiences of George Hewes to enhance not only my Social Studies lessons, but my research and writing lessons as well. Sifting through documents to piece together what truly happened is a great way for kids to use higher level thinking skills - which is just what a good biographer obviously needs to do!