WHEN the "new" histories were germinating in the mid-and late 19505, there were high hopes for the technique of collective biographynot that a method used by Charles A. Beard could be considered novel. 1 But various pundits believed that historians, by showing a little more industry in collecting biographical data and a little more effort in achieving a judicious blend of analytical rigor and creative imagination, might effect all sorts of rewarding breakthroughs. Since then, American historians have called a motley array of collectivities to the colors, and the results, if sometimes stimulating and informative, have also been more mixed, indeterminate, and frustrating than the euphoria of twenty years ago seemed to promise. A number of collective profiles depict sectors of the American political elite, but the authors of these studies have most commonly examined relatively restricted groups or confined themselves to restricted time periods, and investigators applying the method to members of Congress or to state legislators have concentrated primarily on the recent period of American history.
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