L&S Assistant Deans Maggie Sullivan, Linda Johnson honored in book dedication

Beginning inthe Massachusetts Ratification Debates, a series of illustrations, usually titled “The Federal Pillars,” were used to illustrate the progress of ratification in the states. As a state would ratify the Constitution, newspapers would publish reprints often with modifications in the number of pillars. The Center for the Study of the American Constitution follows this chronology.

Assistant Deans Maggie Sullivan (Human Resources) and Linda Johnson (Pre-Award Research Services) will be honored in the acknowledgments of The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution Volume XXIV: Ratification of the Constitution by the States: Rhode Island, Vol 1.

Editors John Kaminsky and Charles Schoenleber recognize the pivotal role played by both Johnson and Sullivan.

The acknowledgment states:

"There is no doubt that the project functioned much more smoothly with the extraordinary assistance rendered by Maggie.

The existence of the project at the UW-Madison was perhaps dependent on Maggie’s involvement. She worked hard and long (as she still does) behind the scenes in a way that allowed us to continue our work. Now, after she has retired from a distinguished career of University service, she has been rehired and continues to provide her expertise to our project as well as many others. We are indeed truly grateful for all she has done over four decades."

"Initially Linda handled all of the project’s applications for federal and private grants. Soon this expanded to the complete control of virtually all financial aspects of the project including grant applications, account management, federal effort reporting, and payroll management.

Through her extraordinary talents, she has made a complex financial system function smoothly and in the process has lightened the burden upon the editors by diminishing stress and increasing the time for editorial matters. To a great extent we measure the chronology of the Ratification project as “before Linda Johnson” and “after Linda Johnson.”

The Documentary History of the Ratification Project has been functioning for over 60 years, and follows the Constitution's progress through each of the 13 original states' conventions through documents.

Copies of over 65,000 documents concerning the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights have been collected from all over the world.

The Documentary History is the definitive study of the debate over the ratification of the Constitution, and is cited by scholars, judges, and politicians.

Volume I on Rhode Island will be published in 2011. The following two volumes on Rhode Island are expected in early 2012.