Editor's Note
On September 2, the University of Chicago Press announced the passing of longtime acquisitions editor Doug Mitchell, who recently retired after a 41-year career with the press.
Richard King has sent the memorial reflection published below. We invite you to add your own thoughts and memories of Doug Mitchell in the comments to this post.
Those of us who had the privilege of working with Douglas Mitchell at University of Chicago Press–and those who didn’t–will know what a gap his retirement and now his death leave in US intellectual history circles. It is too bad we didn’t recognize his great contribution when he retired at the end of last year. More than that, Douglas was a pleasure to talk with about a vast range of topics and to listen to him play the drums in a jazz band every Sunday evening near the University of Chicago was truly a pleasure. In the last several years–since 2011, I guess– we carried on intermittent but always exciting and instructive exchanges on the history of jazz, books about jazz, and also films about it, most recently “Whiplash.” He was the teacher; I was the student, the neophyte sitting at the master’s feet. He also knew his classical music inside and out. Overall, I’d say the obvious–I learned a lot from him. But beyond that, and most importantly, I’d say what I got most from Douglas was that you were supposed to get a kick out of ideas, to keep “it” fun.
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Here is an old Chicago Tribune article in which Doug discusses his work as an acquisitions editor, itself a fit topic for intellectual history https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-06-22-8602140386-story.html. And here is a youtube tribute to him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hMDLoydSUo I had the privilege of working with Doug in preparing a posthumously published manuscript by my teacher Jack Diggins. I regret that I never met him in person, but I valued his guidance in our extensive email deliberations in shaping Jack’s last book “Why Niebuhr Now?” Doug was a very astute guide to the editorial “process,” generous and encouraging but also attuned to the (often contradictory) advice of the reader/reviewers and the demands of the academic publisher. In retirement Doug planned to undertake a transcription and commentary on the unpublished University of Chicago course lectures delivered by his teacher, the philosopher Richard McKeon (1900-1985) on the “modes of inference,” a kind of meta-rhetoric–for undergraduates!–on the arts of inquiry.
Thanks to Bob Huberty for supplying these two links and the account of his experience of working with Douglas on one of Jack Diggins’ books. Then, the youtube tribute captures perfectly the essential openness to experience, which is to say openness to variety, that he always seemed to demonstrate at work or while playing jazz on Sunday nights. (But I wasn’t able to access the other link since it cant be accessed in the UK.) I hope someone has longer interviews on tapes or on-line that will be part of an archive at the Press or somewhere. In fact Douglas was a kind of walking archive offering his view of the recent history of the cultural richness of Chicago, especially his knowledge of the geography of the jazz culture in the streets surrounding the University. I was fascinated to hear him talk about it in much detail. Finally I am glad that Bob Huberty mentions Douglas’s dedication to the work of Richard McKeon, whom Douglas frequently mentioned in emails.
Richard (King)
Thank you, Richard, for this. My office was next to Doug’s for about six years, until his retirement at the end of 2018, so I was privileged to see him in action every day. He was a remarkable spirit, and his passions were many. He engendered great devotion in many of his authors on account of his unswerving optimism about their work. Any number of editors here have worked—and continue to work—in his shadow.
As a drummer (and acquiring editor), Doug’s timing was impeccable. And so it is certainly befitting that his passing coincided with the last day of the Chicago Jazz Festival; his show for the world had ended. It is where I first heard him — unbeknownst to me until recently — playing with the Curtis Black Quartet in 2008. But I hear him still, as I have since I began as his student editorial assistant years ago, in copious email exchanges and desk-side chats, and as anyone interested can via the links below. His acumen and insights were as boundless as his warmth and spirit. May his words help maintain some rhythm in our lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMAjVtpz88o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmVWMNsZEvU
Thanks to Matt Lang who has supplied us with two more videos of Doug in action, adding to the “archive” as it were. One thing I can confirm is his willingness to respond early and often to emails in argument/in agreement/in speculation, in the spirit of enjoyment. As busy as he was doing the work of ” acquiring” editor, he was apparently also doing a whole lot else. A note in one of the videos Matt Lang supplied observed that Douglas had been connected with the publication of around 800 books. Tim Mennel mentioned in an email to me that it would take four people to to replace him.
Thanks for those contributions to Douglas’ memory.
Richard
Thank you for posting this. It was indeed a privilege to work with Doug. I first met him in 1998 to the side of an ASA neeting in San Francisco. I had delusions of writing a book which he generously coaxed. Several years later I approached him with a concrete idea, he remembered me, and took it. It was the kind of touching recognition that can matter a lot. With Doug you knew you were working with something special. I never made it to Chicago to hear him play but he was always, always, ALWAYS encouraging me to pick up my bass (in spite of academia, etc.). very special guy.