History of St. Ambrose will not be forgotten

Jan. 27, 2005
By Lisa M. Larranaga
Staff Writer

The Rev. Dr. George McDaniel is taking time away from professing history to take on another passion – researching and writing.

McDaniel has been a part of the St. Ambrose community since his undergraduate studies, when he attended for two and a half years, graduating in 1966.  He then returned in 1974 as a dean of students, worked in the alumni and fundraising offices and began teaching in January of 1983.

After lecturing in 1993 about a group of students that graduated from Ambrose, McDaniel contemplated writing a book on St. Ambrose’s history.  With Ambrose’s upcoming 125 anniversary, President Dr. Edward Rogalski approached McDaniel about writing the book -- and the rest is history.

In order to complete the book by 2007, McDaniel taught part-time for the fall semester and is now on leave.  With 18 months of researching already completed, he hopes to begin the writing in May, using about 14-15 months to write.

“Researching is all I’ve been doing,” McDaniel said. “It’s great fun and fascinating to see things fall in place.”

Luckily, McDaniel has had some experience, so he knows that proper research leads to a smooth writing process.  His first book was an outgrowth of his doctorate dissertation on U.S. senator Smith Wildman Brookhart.

Fall semester, McDaniel taught class on Tuesday and Thursday, spending the rest of the week “opening the library”.  He writes the material he gathers on four by six note cards and then separates them by topic.

“I enjoy the process of researching and writing a book,” McDaniel said. “In a sense it writes itself.  I mean, it’s not easy, but the better the research, the smoother the writing process.”

McDaniel predicts his semester off will be very busy.

“I’m planning on getting up early every morning, coming to my office, closing the door and working diligently.

The book is going to cover Ambrose history from its beginning to the present time and should be about 250-300 pages of writing, plus pictures.

“It would be a great graduation gift!” said McDaniel.

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