Talk:Benjamin Franklin Shumard

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A fact from Benjamin Franklin Shumard appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 20 November 2024 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Benjamin Franklin Shumard's assistant named an oak species after him, and then sabotaged his reinstatement after he was fired?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2024/November. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Benjamin Franklin Shumard.

Wikipedia

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Theleekycauldron talk 21:47, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

(

Comment or view
Article history

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Oak species named after Benjamin F. Shumard

… that an assistant to Texas chief geologist Benjamin Franklin Shumard named an oak species after him, but then sabotaged his reinstatement by Governor Sam Houston?

Source: in his honor: Buckley, Samuel Botsford (1860). "Description of Several New Species of Plants". Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. 12 (published 1861): 443–445 – via JSTOR. got him fired, see page 7, line 4 of this source: Roessler, A. R. "Reply to the charges made by SB Buckley, State Geologist of Texas, in his official report of 1874, against Dr. BF Shumard and AR Roessler." (1875). https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/bc3d474b-4e53-4980-8240-9b48ba20b33d/content see also: p.144 (p2 of pdf): Young, Keith (1994-01-01). "The Shumards in Texas". Earth Sciences History. 13 (2): 143–153.

ALT1: ... that Texas chief geologist Benjamin Franklin Shumard had an oak species named in his honor by an assistant in 1860, who then stymied Shumard's reappointment by Texas Governor Sam Houston? Source: same as above, trying different wording
ALT2: ... that Benjamin Franklin Shumard was an influential geologist in Texas before serving as a professor of obstetrics in Missouri? Source: https://meridian.allenpress.com/esh/article-abstract/13/2/143/204849/The-Shumards-in-Texas see abstract and p.149
ALT3: ... that Benjamin Franklin Shumard discovered a marine fossil layer in the Guadalupe Mountains, which was disputed for over 40 years? Source: https://meridian.allenpress.com/esh/article-abstract/13/2/143/204849/The-Shumards-in-Texas see abstract and p.149
ALT4:... that an assistant to Texas chief geologist Benjamin Franklin Shumard named an oak species in his honor, but then foiled his reinstatement after he was let go by newly-elected Governor Sam Houston? Source: same as proposed hook. Alt4 was original attempt, proposed hook revised per discussion with @Viriditas:
Comments: See discussion of hooks, below.
Reviewed:

Created by ProfGray (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.

ProfGray (talk) 18:18, 12 September 2024 (UTC).[reply]

Comment: Hello, professor! I like what you are trying to do, but we want to avoid writing a cell phone novel. Let's also try to drill down and figure out what is interesting. First thing that caught my eye was that this man was a practicing geologist and a practicing physician! That's unusual and interesting, don't you think? He was a State Geologist for Texas and a professor of obstetrics at the University of Missouri! That kind of thing would be unheard of today. Further, you mention he was involved in several geological controversies and his research was expanded upon by others. I feel that you are not giving us the most interesting parts of the article. :-) Viriditas (talk) 22:59, 16 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@ProfGray: Do you have suggestions for additional hooks, based on the above? Z1720 (talk) 23:00, 29 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Z1720: Added two ALT hooks. I'm fascinating by the original hook, but fine with me if others have different taste. Thanks for the nudge! ProfGray (talk) 02:03, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@ProfGray: Try shortening the original hook with an ALT4. Viriditas (talk) 02:55, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This shortens it. Try something similar to this:

… that an assistant to Texas chief geologist Benjamin Franklin Shumard named an oak species after him, but then sabotaged his reinstatement by Governor Sam Houston?

It's great to get a specific editing suggestion, with which I've replaced the proposed hook.ProfGray (talk) 13:52, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

ALT0 is shortened considerably now. Needs new review. Viriditas (talk) 18:22, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Freely licensed: Used in article: Clear at 100px:

QPQ: None required.

Overall: Not keen on the tree picture, as we want to focus attention on Shumard. Article is new enough, long enough, and sourced adequately (I have added a citation needed tag). Earwig shows 24%, but that is a very long title and nothing else. Abbreviated ALT0 only approved. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 16:20, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your time and effort with the review. I supplied the needed reference and removed the tag, thanks. I don't need to do anything about the other ALT hooks, right? ProfGray (talk) 17:22, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Per the JSTOR source, I don't think Buckley's allegations were relevant to the lack of reinstatement, since he only made them well after Shumard's death. (The article says that he only noted the allegations in the '74 report and made them well before, but I'm not seeing that.) theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 03:49, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

it’s in the Roessler source p.7 with Roessler’s response to SB’s aspersion. so we may need to add that ref to the clause or reverse the clauses to get the refs to line up. ProfGray (talk) 07:49, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ok -- I've added the key quote in the Roessler reference. Roessler provides the 1874 quote in which Buckley describes his earlier effort, by contacting Gov. Houston in 1860, to "thwart" the reinstatement of Shumard. Hope this is clear enough. Thanks for your patience. Also, I added the Roessler ref to that sentence. ProfGray (talk) 15:51, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]