Can University of Colorado professor William Wei help set the record straight?
William Wei’s new position has historically been a quiet one, focused more on education and outreach than acrobatic responses to controversy.
But ever since last summer, when former Colorado state historian Patty Limerick wrote an op-ed in The Denver Post decrying History Colorado’s perceived failures, the state-historian job has become a potential flashpoint for arguments about the stewardship of Colorado’s identity.
“Good luck to Colorado’s new state historians,” Limerick wrote in a follow-up, in which she warned of the bureaucratic strangulation she felt from History Colorado’s board of directors. “You’ll need it.”
Wei, who began his one-year stint as Colorado’s state historian on Aug. 1 (taking over for author and academic Tom Noel), already juggles a lot. In addition to the state-historian gig, the 71-year-old is a PH.D. professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The job takes up “150 percent of
my time,” he said, divided as it is among teaching, research and service duties — such as helping decide who gets tenure at CU.
“I’m just a tad busy,” joked Wei over the phone, a few days after his latest semester of teaching began. Wei also contributes to Colorado Heritage Magazine and is editor-in-chief of Colorado Encyclopedia, an official archive of the state’s factual past. But between writing books and serving on various committees, he’s now tasked with becoming one of the most prominent faces at History Colorado, the state’s official historical society.
“To be absolutely candid with you, I didn’t have any expectations,” he said. “I’m just saying, let’s see what happens.”
We asked Wei about the promise and pitfalls of his new position, the recent controversy that History Colorado would like to leave behind it, and our current political moment.
Q : You off icially started the state-historian job on Aug. 1, and you’ve got regular classes and everything else at CU. How do you make time for it?
A: All of them are competing for my attention, but you know how that is. If you like your work it usually involves all the time you can spend on it.
Q : Tell us what you’re doing right now.
A: This year I’m teaching my introduction to modern Chinese history, which is what we call a bread-and-butter course, and a seminar as part of our global history series. Mine focuses on the cinematic narratives of World War II. I’m a great fan of film, and when I am reincarnated I intend to come back as a film critic. I also happen to serve on various committees and am finishing a book on the “Zoom In” exhibition at History Colorado, which looks at 100 objects that tell the story of the Centennial State (an exhibit for which he served as lead adviser).
Q : What has your relationship with History Colorado been like in the past?
A: I used to serve on their board of directors, and as a historian I should be able to know the dates. But the fact of the matter is I can’t remember (squat) and that’s because I’m old! That’s the reason why we have resumes and CVS.
Q : Did you apply for the state historian job?
A: I did not, but my relationship with them antedated this, and I’m a believer in disseminating historical information to the public — not just to fellow scholars in the field. So, as they say, duty calls. It’s another opportunity to serve, and my family has always been a working-class one, having spent my formative years in New York’s Lower East Side. I believe in service to the community. My folks instilled that in me.
Q : Did you have any misgivings about taking on this position?
A: Not at all. Let me first say that Patty (Limerick) is a friend and colleague. I’ve known Patty since she arrived at Cu-boulder (where Limerick leads the Center for the American West) and we get along splendidly. And I understand Patty and I understand her concerns. But I believe as a matter of principle that if an organization is worthwhile, then quite frankly it’s more important than any of the individuals in it, and that includes myself. The more that History Colorado can tell stories about Colorado’s past and do it in an accurate, complete manner, the better we will all be served.
Q : One of Patty’s criticisms was that she felt hemmed in and stifled. Have you gotten any directives from History Colorado about what to focus on and what to avoid?
A: No, that wouldn’t work because we’re an honorary group of people and we’re highly individualistic, which is characteristic of being a Coloradan. No one is in a position of telling us what to do. What they would like us to do is something we’re passionate about. They want us to do what we each, individually want to do to promote the mission of History Colorado.
Q : What are the biggest challenges you see in the job and its mission?
A: It’s a question of finding the resources to realize their ambitions, and the biggest problem they have is insufficient resources to carry about their mission. They’re fully capable of engaging the public and Coloradans in understanding Colorado’s past. I’ve offered some ideas for them and they’re enthusiastic about them, but their viability depends on whether they’ve got the resources to do it — staff, money, all of that.
Q : What’s an example of one of your ideas?
A: One is a history-mobile that would drive throughout Colorado, especially in regions where people don’t have access to the resources at History Colorado. We also talked about the new exhibit they’re going to have, “American Democracy,” which they are getting from the Smithsonian. So the idea would be to complement the exhibition, because there are people throughout the state who cannot come to Denver for it. Ideally, we’ll go to all 64 counties. It’s a proactive idea that everyone thinks is great, it’s just a matter of funding. And it’s important these days because our democratic institutions are currently under assault. We need to get out and remind people what democracy is all about.
Q : What can the state historian do to change that?
A: The state historian is in a position to speak out on a number of important issues related to the state. The one I am the most concerned about is immigration. As a historian, I’ve seen what’s happening nationally right now, and what I’ve seen in the past has not been good. To see it reappear is not good. Often this issue is being addressed on the basis of ideological or political considerations rather than historical knowledge. If people knew more about immigration history, they would know that what they’re witnessing today has already happened in the past.
Q : Can you be more specif ic?
A: By that I mean efforts at restricting immigrants from entering the country, and excluding certain categories of immigrants. That’s in violation of what I think of as the spirit of America, which has always been a refuge for oppressed people, for persecuted people. It’s been a place where people are given second and even third chances. It’s a great country, you know? That’s the reason people want to move here. You don’t have people clamoring to go to Russia or China.
Q : So where do you come in?
A: I can talk about what Colorado immigrants did, or did not do, in this state, which contributions they made, what kind of problems they experienced. Colorado wouldn’t be the state it is today if not for immigrant miners, for example. It is my conviction that the symbol for the American West should not be the cowboy but the immigrant miner. They’re the ones who extracted the precious minerals that became the basis for the state’s economy. Our state symbol even pays attention to that fact, with a pick-ax and shovel as symbols. And who did that mining? It was immigrants.
Q : How do you stay motivated in the face of so much rancor about immigration these days?
A: You can’t simply abandon the field to people who don’t pay attention to facts. You don’t allow people to get away with misinformation and distortion, because the moment you do that it affirms what they think is the truth. I realize, however, it’s very frustrating to maintain this. But one of the advantages of being a teacher is I have to deal with students who come to university — often with a lack of knowledge or erroneous knowledge — and I have a chance to correct it. I always tell them that cliche about being entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. You can have your own perspective on history, but it should be based on a coherent argument and evidence. Evidence more than anything else is central to understanding history and its validity. You’re not supposed to be making up this stuff.
Q : And that’s the problem these days, particularly at the national political levels.
A: One of the things I try to do when it comes to the issue of immigration is tell people, “If you study history, you will notice that many of the accusations that have been made (in the past) against a particular group are the same ones being made today against other groups. The fact that they’re making the same arguments should tell you something about the validity of those arguments.” It’s like an ethnic joke: You can say the same thing over and over again, but just substitute the ethnic group. Education is the only means that working-class people have of advancing themselves, and everyone should have access to it.