The Incredible Argonaut: The story of John R. "Jack" Jones and his travels across the continent

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Date
1994
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Indiana University South Bend
Abstract
As a candidate for the degree of Master of Liberal Studies, I have produced this work of literature combining the disciplines of Fine Arts and History. The capstone of all courses studied is this novelistic, historical biography of one of my ancestors, John R. Jones, Jr., known as "Jack". To represent more clearly this man and aspects of his life, I found it helpful to illustrate as well as write about his life and times. This story is about real places and real people. I have tried to be faithful to the basic facts of their lives, and to present their roles as I believe they played them, however, I lay no claim to biographical accuracy. The research for this story was assembled primarily from original source material including personal letters, documents, newspapers, government records, archives, records, files, memories, and actual travel in the area now part of the lost past. As the text is expressed in prose the biographic essay is illuminated by works of art which beautify the manuscript rather than clarify it. Because these works of art are meant to be illuminations, rather than technical illustrations, they do not follow the text step by step, but relate to the total body of the work. That also makes the art work co-equal with the text. The work then becomes a unity of the Fine Arts and History disciplines. The research that produced the data needed to write the biography also inspired the drawings that became relief prints. Together the written story and the collection of prints make up the thesis. I have taken the popular and old activity of genealogy as it pertains to one of my ancestors and turned it into a story of a journey as John R. Jones, Jr. ("Jack") moved across the American land to adventure, fortune, romance, fame and contentment.
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Thesis (M.Lib.St..) Indiana University South Bend, 1994.
Keywords
Jones, John R. 1838?-1889--Travel, California--Gold discoveries, Overland journeys to the Pacific
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