4 10 162 Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Text Any textual data included in the document. To Roy's family and friends: I delivered the following remarks at a memorial for Roy at the American Historical Association in Washington, D.C., on January 5, 2008. Remembering Roy Rosenzweig Remarks by Gary Gerstle Delivered at the American Historical Association January 5, 2008 Roy was a friend for thirty one years. He was a fourth year graduate student at Harvard when I arrived as a rookie in the fall of 1976. We were drawn together initially by our common interest in American labor history. We were both working with Stephan Thernstrom; we both wrote labor and social histories of small New England cities whose names began with the letter W—Worcester, MA, and Woonsocket, RI. Each of us has been asked many times: why those cities? Well the truth can now be told: Oscar Handlin, the czar of Harvard social history for half a century, had decreed that his students and the students of his students could only study New England cities and towns and that they had to study these cities in alphabetical order. And so they (we) did: Dedham, Fall River, Lawrence, Lynn, Haverhill, New Bedford, Newburyport, Pawtucket, and Providence. By the time Roy and I came along, Handlin was an old man and the W’s were the only unstudied towns left in New England. We dutifully did our research on Worcester and Woonsocket, published our books, and, in the process closed out the community studies era of social history. So friends, here you have a novel answer as to why social history came to an end. Forget Geoff Eley and A Crooked Line. Forget the cultural turn. Forget the fall of communism. There were simply no more towns left in New England for Harvard grad students to explore. What kind of friend was Roy? If I had told him the story I just told you, he and I would have had a great laugh about it and spent an hour tweaking the story to make it as plausible and yet as hilarious as possible. What kind of friend was Roy? He read and critiqued everything I ever wrote, beginning with my first little article in the Rhode Island issue of the Radical History Review in 1978 and finishing with a manuscript of mine on the American state that he read while receiving experimental treatment in Boston this past summer. What kind of friend was Roy? No major event in my life or my family’s life passed without a visit or a long conversation with Roy. Only my mother has sent me more birthday cards than Roy did, and hers were not nearly as funny. Inevitably the subject matter of Roy’s cards was politics, inevitably the cards skewered some pompous Republican politician, inevitably the card made me laugh and gave me a moment of respite from the sobering knowledge that I have lived virtually all of my adult life under Republican or near-Republican rule. Roy loved long, rambling, and imaginative conversations with his friends. Few things could be as good as those conversations about the vagaries, complexities, and nuttiness of life, work, and politics. These conversations occurred on the phone late into the night; at Tony Chen’s Seafood Restaurant in Washington’s Chinatown; during overnight visits by me to the Rosenzweig-Kaplan manse on Lincoln Avenue in Arlington, Virginia; at the annual meetings of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) and the American Studies Association, where Roy and I often roomed together; at the annual summer picnic for past, present, and future radical historians in upstate New York, a tradition that is still thriving 35 years after Roy and Jean Agnew invented it as graduate students in the 1970s. I mention these details of our friendship not to claim a unique relationship with Roy. To the contrary, there are scores of people, and maybe hundreds, who have received annual birthday cards from Roy, drawn from the now famous electronic Rosenzweig rolodex with its 1500 plus names and birth dates; there are scores of people who have spent the night at the Rosenzweig-Kaplan manse and encountered the “Dirty Bathrooms Breed Bolsheviks” poster hanging over the toilet in the guest bath when they got up in the morning; there are hundreds of people who have talked with Roy from lunch until dinner or from dinner into the wee hours of the morning. There are now hundreds of people mourning the passing of this man who gave so many so much. The energy that Roy had for these conversations was exceeded only by the energy he had for his work. Most people, myself included, have never been able to figure out how he did so much. He wrote and co-wrote, edited and coedited, a large number of important and prizewinning books on social history and on the popular uses of history. He directed countless public history projects. He produced films. He consulted on other films and on numerous museum projects. He established and directed the premier center in the world for history and the new media, overseeing its growth from a hobby in the corner of his office to a forty-five person organization with an annual budget in the millions. I liked to call it Roy’s empire, the only true empire of liberty in the world. Roy served in positions of major responsibility at his university and in many professional organizations including the American Historical Association (AHA), the OAH, and last, but not least (because he would insist on this), the Mid-Atlantic Radical Historians Organization. He sat on numerous editorial boards, chaired more searches for faculty and for editors of the Journal of American History and the American Historical Review (AHR) than even he could recall, and he wrote hundreds of letters of recommendation and evaluations for tenure and promotion. If you needed something done and done well, with integrity, creativity, and good judgment, who you gonna call? Roy, of course. That was his blessing and, on occasion, his curse. While there is no precise way to measure this, I would venture to say that Roy was probably the best collaborator of my generation of historians. Early on in his career he began to ask: if he could write a book or produce a public history project by working with someone else, why do it solo? If he could share a hotel room at an AHA convention with a friend, why get his own room even if his university was footing the bill? And most un-American of all, if he could find someone to share his car with him on his daily 20 minute commute from Arlington to the George Mason campus, why drive that distance alone? Now, collaboration with Roy, especially in his car, did carry risks. I still remember the hair-raising tales that David Jaffee, another graduate student buddy of ours, used to tell me about driving with Roy in Roy’s car from Cambridge to Worcester in the 1970s. You see, Roy back then had a reputation for not sleeping at night. This created a certain problem if Roy and David were driving out to Worcester after one of these nights, as they often did. Once in the car, David would ask himself: Was Roy actually asleep behind the wheel? Or did he only look as though he had closed his eyes and was driving off the road? David was never quite sure. And then last month, at the first memorial for Roy at George Mason University in Arlington, another of Roy’s car collaborators, Michael O’Malley, told an equally hair-raising tale about Roy’s car habits, this one from the last few years. Here the issue was not sleep, for Roy was wide awake. But apparently he sometimes used his time in the car with Mike not only to drive and to talk but to shave. Yes, to shave. One hand on the shaver, the other hand on the wheel. Oh my goodness. Roy’s hunger for collaboration reflected in part Roy’s love of people. He loved to be with them, loved working with them, learning from them and about them. His curiosity about people was bottomless. He delighted in putting people in touch with each other. He was a master networker, a maestro of the annual meeting of the AHA, not because he saw it as an avenue of self promotion but because he so enjoyed being in the mix and wanted to maximize his opportunities to learn from others about all manner of things, large and small. But there was more than love of people, love of networking, and love of knowledge at work here. There were a set of political ideals to which Roy had dedicated his life, and from which he never waivered. In their broadest form, these were the ideals of the Left. From the Old Left, he took a passion for equality and an opposition to elitism in any form—social, corporate, academic. From the New Left, he acquired a passion for democracy, for diversity, for openness and transparency, and for ordinary people taking charge of their own lives and their own history. The term socialist may not sit comfortably on Roy’s shoulders, but the term radical democrat suits him quite well. We can find Roy’s commitment to radical democracy everywhere in his intellectual and pedagogical work: in his early essays on unemployment politics in England and America; in his books on the efforts of common people to control their own parks, recreation, and lives; in his determination to bring the finest fruits of historical scholarship to the attention of broader publics through museums, schools, CDs, and the web; in his commitment to involving those same publics in the making of their own history. Radical democracy is what fired Roy’s passion for and deep commitment to digital history. Roy discerned in the internet an extraordinary moment in the history of democracy. He dreamed about creating a series of globally interconnected digital databases about history, politics, and society that would put more information in the hands of more people than had ever been the case in human history. He wanted so much to seize this democratic moment, and to use it to strike a blow for democratic empowerment. He was not blind to the challenges of this moment. He understood well the dark, demagogic side of populism and how it could and did flourish on the web. He worried about the efforts of corporations and guilds to end open-sourcing and impose “gated communities” on the landscape of internet knowledge. So he became the implacable foe of these corporations and guilds, of Bill Gates, Google, and Bell and Howell, and of our very own AHA. Yes, Roy led the fight to make all the articles in the AHR universally accessible on the web, available to all users whether or not they had paid a subscription fee. In this small struggle he emerged victorious. The larger struggle, or course, has yet to be won. In that regard, we must acknowledge that we have not only lost a friend. Democracy has lost a believer and a fighter. Roy would not want us to mourn his passing too much. He was not a sentimental man. Far more important to him would be the willingness of other people to step forward to take his place and to stay the course. In preparing these remarks, I have found comfort and inspiration in the words of another believer in and fighter for radical democracy, Irving Howe. In 1966, Howe published a volume of essays entitled, Steady Work: Essays in the Politics of Democratic Radicalism. Here is the epigraph with which Howe began the book. I think Roy would have enjoyed having himself associated with it. Indeed the reading of these words has helped me to see again the glint in Roy’s eyes and to hear again his soft chuckle. The epigraph: “Once in Chelm, the mythical village of the East European Jews, a man was appointed to sit at the village gate and wait for the coming of the Messiah. He complained to the village elders that his pay was too low. “You are right,” they said to him, “the pay is low. But consider: the work is steady.” Actually, Roy once delivered the same message but in his own ironic way. I am referring to the slogan that he and Jean Agnew put on matchbooks and t-shirts against a caricature of Karl Marx in the background. Roy and Jean’s slogan read: “Earn Big Money. Become a Historian.” Roy, we miss you. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 153 Title A name given to the resource Remembering Roy Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with Thanks, Roy in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on Thanks, Roy (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your response will only be available to approved researchers using Thanks, Roy. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. 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Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gary Gerstle Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gary Gerstle Type The nature or genre of the resource Document https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/2b86327d08a8be9455fa40b577a5dafe.jpg dd781d3ec1ee936c3c1854c46687be56 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 1 Height 683 Width 400 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 52 Title A name given to the resource How Roy Changed My Life, Part 1 Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Roy introduced me to Carol Lasser at a clam bake in 1976. Four years later Carol and I were married at Cambridge City Hall. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gary Kornblith Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gary Kornblith Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image friend matchmaker https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/a35ba881e5f641b4b344db6edb5beca9.jpg 73bcda0b1bad6616238e892a295c30bf Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 1 Height 882 Width 600 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 54 Title A name given to the resource How Roy Changed My Life, Part 2 Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with Thanks, Roy in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on Thanks, Roy (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your response will only be available to approved researchers using Thanks, Roy. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws. Description An account of the resource As grad students, Roy and I worked together on the Radical History Review. He forever after helped me make my way in the discipline, introducing me to new historical approaches and steering me toward professional opportunities. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gary Kornblith Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gary Kornblith Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image friend guide scholar https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/937b469d9999d17c390c35fae4976396.jpg c15de8415972a17c06ff30bcf184b994 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. Bit Depth 8 Channels 3 Height 194 IPTC Array a:1:{s:16:"copyright_notice";s:4:" ";} IPTC String copyright_notice: Width 288 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 55 Title A name given to the resource How Roy Changed My Life, Part 3 Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with Thanks, Roy in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on Thanks, Roy (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your response will only be available to approved researchers using Thanks, Roy. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws. Description An account of the resource Beginning in 2001, when he was thirteen, my son Simon spent time each summer at Roy and Deborah's home and worked at the Center for History and New Media. Roy was a great mentor, and Simon is a better person for having Roy as a role model. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gary Kornblith Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gary Kornblith Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image chnm mentor Simon Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Text Any textual data included in the document. Roy Rosenzweig cannot die and as long as his students live, he will not die. I am one of his students and I carry a lot of Roy Rosenzweig with me everywhere I go. It was Roy’s book, The Park and the People, that inspired me to return to college. Little did I know when I applied to the history department at George Mason that Roy was on the faculty, that I would get to work with him as a student and as a researcher, and that my life would be profoundly changed not only by the book, but also and moreso by the man. My years at George Mason were the best of my life because of the collegiality created by the faculty, the staff, and my fellow students. I remember being petrified the first time I went to meet Larry Levine in his office. I diverted my eyes from the great scholar by looking over to a picture of Lou Gehrig that hung from Larry’s wall. Larry knew I was nervous and found common ground by talking about how much his father looked up to Gehrig because the great Yankee first baseman went to work every day without complaint, just like all the working guys in New York who were trying to do right by their families. I often went back to Larry’s office after that, and not to look at Lou Gherig. But I remember Roy most of all. He welcomed everyone into his great adventure. He was like the captain of a raft: “here’s an oar” I can imagine him saying, “and I’ll teach you how to use it.” Then he would inspire you to want to paddle, hard, up that river of knowledge. I’ve never known a scholar so enthusiastic about his craft. And I’ve never known anyone whose enthusiasm for anything was as contagious. With Roy, one wanted to stay with him forever to explore every nook and cranny that ever appeared on the face of the earth. You get that sense when you read The Park and the People. And you got that sense when you took his classes or worked at his Center. No voyage undertaken by Lewis & Clark or by John Glenn could possibly have been as rewarding or as interesting as the adventures that Roy led. As humans, we summarize our lives in moments that stand for larger ideas or episodes. Life is too long to remember everything, so these moments stand in for feelings, people, experiences, impressions, years…. The two and a half years that I worked with the extraordinary teachers, staff, and students at George Mason are summarized in one of these moments. I remember walking with Roy from the Pohick Module to the history department office. The Center had just received a telephone call that Larry was back from California and on the walk over to Robinson Hall, Roy was happy, excited, and anxious. Well he was always a little like that. But that day, he was really like a kid on his birthday. Larry was still in the reception area when we arrived and Larry and Roy, two of the brightest minds, two of the greatest scholars, and two of the most inspiring teachers in the field of history gave each other a big hug. That moment summarized my years at George Mason: scholarship, inspiration, and humanity. Roy is not dead. Larry is not dead. As long as their students produce revolutionary scholarship, and send the next generation of students on wonderful journeys, and treat others with great humanity, Roy and Larry live on. And so, Roy’s marvelous adventure continues. Thank you Roy. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19 Title A name given to the resource Roy's Marvelous Adventure Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with <em>Thanks, Roy</em> in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on <em>Thanks, Roy</em> (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your response will only be available to approved researchers using <em>Thanks, Roy</em>. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws. By submitting material to <em>Thanks, Roy</em> you release, discharge, and agree to hold harmless <em>Thanks, Roy</em> and persons acting under its permission or authority, including a public library or archive to which the collection might be donated for purposes of long-term preservation, from any claims or liability arising out the <em>Thanks, Roy</em>\'s use of the material, including, without limitation, claims for violation of privacy, defamation, or misrepresentation. <em>Thanks, Roy</em> has no obligation to use your material. You will be sent via email a copy of your contribution to <em>Thanks, Roy</em>. We cannot return any material you submit to us so be sure to keep a copy. <em>Thanks, Roy</em> will not share your email address or any other information with commercial vendors. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Greg Goodale Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Greg Goodale Type The nature or genre of the resource Document Humanity Inspiration scholarship Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Text Any textual data included in the document. I earned my MA at GMU working with Roy. He helped me understand history in new ways, and managed to help get me connected to the world of public history. His help inspired me to go on and earn a PhD. He will be missed. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 105 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with Thanks, Roy in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on Thanks, Roy (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your response will only be available to approved researchers using Thanks, Roy. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws. By submitting material to Thanks, Roy you release, discharge, and agree to hold harmless Thanks, Roy and persons acting under its permission or authority, including a public library or archive to which the collection might be donated for purposes of long-term preservation, from any claims or liability arising out the Thanks, Roy\'s use of the material, including, without limitation, claims for violation of privacy, defamation, or misrepresentation. Thanks, Roy has no obligation to use your material. You will be sent via email a copy of your contribution to Thanks, Roy. We cannot return any material you submit to us so be sure to keep a copy. Thanks, Roy will not share your email address or any other information with commercial vendors. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Greg Wilson Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Greg Wilson Type The nature or genre of the resource Document Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Text Any textual data included in the document. This is a message not only from myself but from the many researchers and activists working in applied and public history across Australia. Over the years we have all been excited and stimulated by Roy's wonderful, varied work. We have been deeply saddened by the news of Roy's death and we are all grieving for the loss of such an extraordinarily generous and creative colleague. Our sympathies and warmest thoughts go to Roy's family and his wider family of colleagues in and out of history. Roy's work in digital history meant he was an extraordinary communicator across vast distances both in kilometers and cultures. So even from halfway round the world, we found his work a great inspiration. It has encouraged many of us not only in academic history research but much more importantly in the work of democratising history and using new media to do it. His work will keep doing that and it is great to be able to share in its celebration here! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 23 Title A name given to the resource Warm memories and thanks from Australia Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with <em>Thanks, Roy</em> in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on <em>Thanks, Roy</em> (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your response will only be available to approved researchers using <em>Thanks, Roy</em>. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws. By submitting material to <em>Thanks, Roy</em> you release, discharge, and agree to hold harmless <em>Thanks, Roy</em> and persons acting under its permission or authority, including a public library or archive to which the collection might be donated for purposes of long-term preservation, from any claims or liability arising out the <em>Thanks, Roy</em>\'s use of the material, including, without limitation, claims for violation of privacy, defamation, or misrepresentation. <em>Thanks, Roy</em> has no obligation to use your material. You will be sent via email a copy of your contribution to <em>Thanks, Roy</em>. We cannot return any material you submit to us so be sure to keep a copy. <em>Thanks, Roy</em> will not share your email address or any other information with commercial vendors. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Heather Goodall Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Heather Goodall Type The nature or genre of the resource Document applied history Australia democratising Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Text Any textual data included in the document. For the past two years I worked closely with Roy as the administrative assistant for the Center. In spite of the fact that most of my work was on the clerical and mundane side- budgets to update, forms to have signed- I now recognize that my job entailed more than just merging cells on a spreadsheet. Working at the Center and with Roy, day to day, couldn’t fit a classical job description of an administrative assistant and I should have been more mindful of the response I got when I asked during my interview what a typical day was like- no day is typical. No matter what came up during the day or the night before at 10pm, I always tried to brew a pot of coffee before Roy arrived. There are many fond memories that I have of Roy. Whenever, I think about my time at the Center, there are two things that come to mind first, black jeans and Roy’s walk. I know that there’s been a lot of talk about Roy’s red shirts but I always remember the black jeans. His apparel choice was about as consistent as a cup of coffee in his hands. There was one occasion when Roy came in wearing blue jeans. I was stunned. Absolutely baffled. I couldn’t process Roy in blue jeans- it totally blew my mind! After a couple of minutes, I recovered and we proceeded to launch into one of the many hundreds of conversations we had about budgets. I’d have to say about eighty percent of our conversations dealt with Center finances, but i don’t want to bore you with that! Roy had a very unique gait. He shuffled a bit; had a slight roundness in his shoulders (I’m sure from years of walking around reading or responding to emails on his Treo). I always knew when he was approaching, - which leads the first item I want to share about working with Roy. Walking… Roy had a habit of starting a conversation at my desk and towards the end of his thoughts (while I clearly wasn’t aware of) he would begin walking away, his back towards me, still speaking– I couldn’t enhance my hearing ability so after a couple of conversations where this would happen- I started to stand while speaking with him- that way I could follow him and thus ensure that I wouldn’t miss any detail. Details were very important- being uber-prepared was de rigueur. When I had my first event to plan on my own, I was incredibly nervous. I wanted to do everything right and make sure that the event went off without a hitch. I booked the room, sent out emails, provided directions, and ordered food. I did everything that I needed to and assured Roy that everything was prepared, snafu-proof... Fast forward to the event, the catering was to arrive at 5:45. By 5:46, Roy discreetly made his way to the back of the room and asked me about the food. My worst fear materialized when I called the restaurant and they were surprised to hear from me- isn’t the event tomorrow? I almost choked. I did not want to tell Roy. I, at the point, didn’t know how he would react. Thankfully, he remained composed when I told him the situation but he was clearly flustered- he paced about, kept going in and out of the building, and had me call the restaurant about every five minutes. After the longest thirty minutes of my newly professional life the food arrived- we had leftovers for a week in the office and I self-imposed a double-check policy on all future events. Also, my personal moratorium on Moroccan food stands. Checking-in was a regular aspect of communication between Roy and I… every week, sometimes every day, a new problem presented itself or issue arose- Roy would explain the situation, his desired outcome and then I would figure out the rest. He definitely had a lot of faith in my ability to find a solution- but I had to think on my toes… I didn’t havemuch time before Roy would come back for an update sometimes within a half hour of presenting the issue! If I couldn’t get in touch with anyone or the situation got more complicated- Roy’s response was usually the same- “oi!” followed by, “let me know if I can do anything.” I quickly made best friends with my phone and memorized the most relevant numbers- it was clear that I couldn’t wait for the rest of the world or Mason to catch up, and as in most academic settings there is a lot of bureaucracy to wade through, but that didn’t stop Roy and subsequently didn’t stop me from, I wouldn’t use the word “harassing” but persistently contacting someone until I got an answer! I’m sure that I tested a few people’s nerves but I realized that was beside the point- we had a purpose, we didn’t want to waste any time, and no one was hurt in the process! And, to clarify, no decisions were ever made in haste- everything was well thought out it’s just that Roy worked about ten times faster than everyone else. Roy knew how to quell most potential roadblocks or issues. It wasn’t working the system, per se; we didn’t break any rules, perhaps we bent the rules a little… but I’d characterize it as resourcefulness and determination to remain committed to the Center’s mission. He never pushed his agenda to a point of overstepping bounds or treaded on any toes- we just made a lot of phone calls! Roy was very patient, especially since I had little experience in accounting and a lot of trouble sitting still. He was lenient with deadlines, in my case- a few extra days to finish updating budgets, and always considerate when I made mistakes. I knew Roy was busy, but he never failed to take the time to talk with me- he invariably had an answer for any question that I asked. The only things that were predictable about Roy were his attire, his lunch order of a ham sandwich and apple, and his never-ending battle with the projector. Everything else... Thanks! Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 128 Title A name given to the resource As Roy's assistant... Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource You must be 13 years of age or older to submit material to us. Your submission of material constitutes your permission for, and consent to, its dissemination and use in connection with Thanks, Roy in all media in perpetuity. If you have so indicated on the form, your material will be published on Thanks, Roy (with or without your name, depending on what you have indicated). Otherwise, your response will only be available to approved researchers using Thanks, Roy. The material you submit must have been created by you, wholly original, and shall not be copied from or based, in whole or in part, upon any other photographic, literary, or other material, except to the extent that such material is in the public domain. Further, submitted material must not violate any confidentiality, privacy, security or other laws. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Heather Velez Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Heather Velez Type The nature or genre of the resource Document redshirt hamsandwich https://www.thanksroy.org/files/original/80113ffb270018220b3a3f8394c6b09f.jpg 2c2fecba835b01c5c1f1e65d48c109e0 Omeka Image File The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files. 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Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 46 Title A name given to the resource The kind of tribute he would have liked Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource http://www.accoutrements.com Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Mike O'Malley Type The nature or genre of the resource Still Image comic mustache roy Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Celebration Description An account of the resource Speeches from the Celebration of Roy's Life, December 9, 2007, George Mason University, Arlington campus, Arlington, VA. Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Text Any textual data included in the document. My name is Jean-Christophe Agnew, and I knew Roy for some thirty five years. If that sounds a bit like the introduction for someone in recovery from something, that’s pretty much how I feel at the moment. And you too, I’m sure. All of us poised at one step or another of recovery from our loss. And because of the way Roy lived his life and took care of his friends, it is very much our loss. Sad as I am to be here – sad beyond words really -- I am relieved and comforted to be here with all of you. Roy was many, many things, but he was, above all, his friends. There are others here today whose friendship with Roy goes back to high school, even junior high. But feeling trumps fact here, because one of the marvelous things about Roy was his gift for making you feel as if you had hung out with him in junior high. Thanks to Roy’s abiding allegiance and affection for us all – his remembrance of our birthdays, for example, his care to update us on our friends – we all belonged to the imagined community of Roy Rosenzweig: Let’s call it Royville. So it is a comfort to me to see Royville assembled here this afternoon. No longer imagined, no longer virtual, but here, present. Once again, our friend and comrade, our confidant and collaborator has managed to bring us together. Though if were he here himself, you know that he would have a list of better things we might be doing with our time. Frankly, what we’re saying and doing today would have been unendurable for Roy, like a collective hug that went on and on, beyond reason. But what we’re feeling today -- certainly what I’m feeling -- is beyond reason. The love we felt for him, the love we took from him. The last time I remember such a gathering was more than 25 years ago, at Roy’s and Deborah’s August wedding in Middletown, Connecticut, where I distinctly remember thinking to myself: A wedding. What a wonderful pretext, what a great excuse for all of us to call to order the first official meeting -- the charter meeting -- of the Roy-and-Deborah fan club. For that is what that gathering was at that moment of happiness there on that sunlit lawn on that summer afternoon, and that is what it still is, here in this room, at this moment of our grief and loss. But was it not always been thus? From the legendary stickball games in Bayside to pick-up hoops in Cambridge, from dinners at 82 Kirkland Street to picnics in Craryville, from those godawful chocolate donuts and cans of Tab at the Urban Center at Harvard to the gallons of coffee at the History and New Media Center at George Mason, Roy drew us together in one way or another, turning the various pretexts for gathering into real texts: textbooks, monographs, anthologies, slide tapes, cd roms and finally the on-line loop of digital knowledge which so perfectly replicates (at least for me) the circles of friendship and knowledge that Roy himself generated over the years. Six degrees of Roy. Early on, there was MARHO, the Mid-Atlantic Radical Historians Organization, the small nucleus of editorial collectives that started the Radical History Review more than three decades ago. Roy and I would often joke about the now long forgotten MARHO regional associates, a loose network of corresponding members –many of them isolated (by their own account) at various Midwestern and Southern colleges and universities. Wanting desperately to talk to someone, anyone, about, say, the impact of Daniel De Leon or the significance of the British General Strike of 1926. Had it not been for Roy’s empathy and his efforts over many years – all those letters and phone calls -- this committee of correspondence among left historians would have disappeared. No one else in MARHO was willing to take that job. And so it fell to Roy, or rather Roy rose to it. Which is why the Thanks, Roy website seems so right, so apt an appreciation. All the Regional Associates of Roy’s life returning the favor, reminding us of the impact, the significance of this man in our lives. The impressions. The anecdotes. The remembered dialogue. Reading over these recollections, I see my best friend re-emerge, coalesce before my eyes like some pointilliste portrait. No, wait. Pointilliste portrait? No, no, no….what I really see is that signature green or red ink underline scrawled beneath the word “pointilliste” with a polite question mark to the right. What is Roy telling me? Have I got the wrong technology? Should I substitute “dot matrix,” or maybe “pixelated”? Or is he suggesting that my figure of speech is itself a distraction, a way of aestheticizing and avoiding my own sorrow at writing about Roy -- without Roy? I’d ask him but I suspect that by this point in these remarks, Roy would have left this room looking for the coffee machine. Or better yet, fallen asleep. Roy and I spent more than 25 years of our lives writing one thing or another together, from introductions to obituaries. But the longest assignment of all was the column we cobbled together three-times-a-year on history and historians: the Abusable Past. It wasn’t exactly Morrison and Commager, more like Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers of history. Looking under the hood of the profession was not so difficult given how many historians Roy knew and how much time he logged at conventions. So many conventions. Once, just for fun, we did a back-of-the envelope calculation of the time Roy had spent at conventions. It added up to a year. A full year out of his life. Now how he felt about that I don’t really know. And perhaps he didn’t either. But how many of us here in Royville would give a year out of our lives just to see him at the next AHA – in his red shirt and jeans – waiting at the registration desk to go out for coffee? Thank you, Roy, for everything. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 142 Title A name given to the resource Roy Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jean-Christophe Agnew Type The nature or genre of the resource Document Historians history roy years