In the Beginning: ADE and the Big Bang Revolution

Welcome to the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the Association for Documentary Editing. Some people have compared the origins of the ADE with the American Revolution. Others have linked it to the big bang theory. I prefer to think of it as a Big Bang Revolution. Anyway, today you will get a little of the inside story of the creation of ADE. You see, I was there. And with me today are three individuals who have joined the ADE at different times in its history. Charlene Bickford, editor of the First Congress Project, who was also there at the beginning. Martha King, associate editor of the Jefferson Papers who joined the ADE somewhat later, and Lisa Francavilla, of the Jefferson Retirement Series and ADE’s current secretary, who joined much more recently. I asked them simply to give us a few words of reflection as ADE turns thirty