Quote: page 579
V. Objectivity in Family History
The coll, detached presentation of facts may itself be biased because of its
failure to be sensitive to important realities. James B. Allen made an
excellent statement that illustrates the point: Genuine objectivity
recognizes that truth can be distorted by a mere presentation of a multitude
of facts. The documents you have, for example, may well reveal an
embarrassing incident in an individuals life -- but does objectivity demand
that you tell it? Was the incident such a minor variation in the persons
total life that merely telling it gives undue emphasis to it, and leaves a
misleading impression of his character? Will it really make any difference
if some such stories are left out? Or, if your integrity demands that you
deal with it, are you capable of putting it into words that will not distort
the reader's view of your subject's over-all personality, or otherwise leave
a wrong impression? If not, should you be writing this person's history at
all? The biographers task then is complicated when it comes to keeping
problems in their proper perspective as he deals with them.