Information on Eyler Robert Coates, Sr.

Overview

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana (Feb. 7, 1930)
Graduate of Jesuit High School, New Orleans (1947)
Graduate of Southeastern Louisiana College, Hammond, B.Mus. Ed. (1952)
Employed as estimator in construction industry, Baton Rouge (1955-62)
Graduate of Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, M.S. in L.S. (1969)
Head Librarian, Shenandoah College, Winchester, Va. (1969-74)
Section Head (Supervisor), DBPH, Library of Congress (1974-78)
Regional Librarian, BPHLS, Oregon State Library (1983)
Self-employed, Investor, Consultant, etc. (1978-present)

Publications

About 20 various booklets, articles in newspapers and music journals, plus a large number of Letters to the Editor of the New Orleans Times-Picayune and other newspapers. Editor of the "Musical Mainstream," a Library of Congress publication. The article, "Music for the Blind and Physically Handicapped from the Library of Congress," American Music Teacher, Feb/Mar, 1976, was included in the anthology, Meeting the Needs of the Handicapped: A Resource for Teachers and Librarians, edited by Carol H. and James L. Thomas, and published in 1980 by Oryx Press.

Significant Accomplishments

Initiated the "Music Article Guide Service," which provided blind patrons with a bi-monthly index to articles in a large number of periodicals, and the actual articles read on tape upon request. Wrote specifications and negotiated contract for the LC publication, "Dictionary of Braille Music Signs," by Bettye Krolick, which received the highest "Distinguished" award from the Society for Technical Communication. Devised a method for producing large print music scores from the printed score (previously hand copied) for partially blind music patrons at the Library of Congress.

Thomas Jefferson Web Sites

I first became interested in the writings of Thomas Jefferson after a visit with my son, Bobby, who had for some time been a student of Jefferson's life and writings. We both agreed that there was a need for some kind of publication that might make Jefferson's ideas on politics and government more readily accessible to the public. At first, we thought of something that might be freedom's alternative to "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung," perhaps even calling it "Quotations from Chairman Jefferson." I began making a collection on handwritten cards of all the relevant quotes from Jefferson's writings, eventually amassing about two thousand excerpts. I then considered compiling these excerpts into an organized, composite work, presenting Jefferson's thoughts on the theory and practice of government in his own words and in a continuous narrative. A couple of my friends, Kent Nelson and David Dillon, strongly urged me to get a computer to facilitate this work, but that did not happen until much later.

After struggling hard with the composite-work project, and after finally acquiring a computer (again with the assistance of Bobby, who is an industrial engineer), it appeared that a continuous narrative was not practicable. I then abandoned that approach and put the materials I had collected into the form of a series of quotations, organized under topics, and, with Bobby helping on setting up the homepage, we installed Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Government on the World Wide Web. Beginning with hardly more than 300 quotes, the collection has grown, and now contains almost every significant expression of principle that Jefferson made with respect to politics and government. Although the bulk of the work has been done, there is still some refinements that are possible, and I expect that the work of minor rearrangements and additions will go on indefinitely.

After the Jefferson Quotes site was substantially complete, I began a second site, The Jeffersonian Perspective, in order to use the quotes and provide "commentary on today's social and political issues based on the writings of Thomas Jefferson." I have found that the more I work with Jefferson's writings and the better I understand his point of view, the more I am impressed with this, our most brilliant Founding Father and, in my opinion, possibly the greatest political philosopher who has ever lived. In his many writings, Jefferson described a political philosophy that was realistic, practical, and understandable, but also one that was based on a fundamental comprehension of the meaning of human existence in a state of freedom. No one before or since has approached his wisdom and insights.

Later on, I became acquainted with the compilation Jefferson made for his own use of the ethical teachings of Jesus, familiarly known as The Jefferson Bible. Jefferson took the Gospel stories and extracted all the moral teachings, believing that there was a great historical person back there, but that the "religious people" had taken that reality and almost buried it. The result of his labors was this compilation of the moral philosophy of Jesus, which Jefferson considered the sublimest the world has ever known. This was not available on the Web, it was the foundation of Jefferson's own moral code, and it seemed a perfect companion to the other two sites.

In the Spring of 1997, while trying to track down a quote attributed to Jefferson, I obtained a copy of B. L. Rayner's Life of Thomas Jefferson, from the New Orleans Public Library and, as the saying goes, "fell in love." Here was a lively and interesting biography by someone who lived at the same time as Jefferson. The book was full of the republican spirit and demonstrated how Jefferson was the intellectual force behind the creation of the American republic, and truly, as Willard Sterne Randall has written, "invented the United States of America." And seeing that the book was neglected and forgotten, I determined to make it available on the World Wide Web. After six weeks of intensive typing, a revised and corrected edition was produced and installed on June 15, 1997.

On December 1, 1997, the Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Government website was moved to the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia. This new location will allow the website to outlive the editor, and will also provide the benefits of specialized facilities at the University.

Other Interests

Classical music, books (non-fiction) and book collecting, politics and writing are my chief interests. My favorite TV shows are: Charlie Rose and 60 Minutes. I have two sons (Bobby and Carl) and seven grandsons (Bobby's sons: George and John; Carl's sons: Carl, Bobby, Michael, Christopher and Anthony). Bobby (Eyler Robert, Jr.) completed his PhD in Engineering Science at LSU in 1998, and is now an Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering Technology at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg. Bobby has his own home page at:
http://www.set.usm.edu/~bcoates

I would enjoy hearing from anyone on any topic of mutual interest. My email address is:

Eyler Robert Coates, Sr.
ERC.personal@eyler.freeservers.com

My address for snail mail is:

3340 N. Arnoult Rd.
Metairie, LA 70002

Some Interesting Web Sites

The Big Eye was featured in Newsweek (Nov. 20, 1995) and described as "a catalog of links to... the best Web Sites." The sites are not classified, but they are listed by title, and this makes them easy to browse. The Jefferson Quotes Web Site is featured as a link from Jefferson's portrait on page 10.

Rodney Dangerfield just might be our greatest living standup comedian--if only he could get a little respect! His site has lots of his material, and is well worth a visit from his fans.

The Seismo-Zombie Home Page by Scott Davis has some weirdly interesting stuff. I especially enjoyed his "Random Sentence Generator," which creates some of the wackiest thoughts you might ever run into.

Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Government.

The Jeffersonian Perspective

The Jefferson Bible.

Jefferson on Freedom of Religion

Favorite Jefferson Quotes

Rayner's Life of Thomas Jefferson

Objectivism and Thomas Jefferson

Conversations on Morality and The Jefferson Bible: An Open Forum

Conversations on Thomas Jefferson and Jeffersonian Politics

The Thomas Jefferson FAQ

Religious Oppression Around the World

Macaulay on Democratic Government

Capitalism in a Free Society

Thought for Today: Ideas That Expand Your Mind

The Mexican Pizza Riddle: Discussions on the Economics of Poverty

Cataloging the Web

The Holy Bible: King James Version Revised

The Wisdom of the I Ching

The Divine Comedy

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