Talk:Norman Bigelow

Source

Hi Accidental Sociologist - I came by the review this article, but I'm not sure what the "Norman Bigelow M-U-M" source is - it looks like a book, but with no publisher, author or ISBN I can't follow up on it. Could you clarify what this source is? Thanks GirthSummit _(blether) 14:32, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

Thank you Girth Summit, a good question indeed, I have completed the reference to indicate it is actually a magazine. Accidental Sociologist (talk) 12:16, 4 March 2020 (UTC)

Hi Accidental Sociologist, like Girth Summit, I came to review this article. It seems like Bigelow is probably notable, but unfortunately the sources I can find are mostly blog-quality. (To be honest, this seems to be true of the obituary used as the main source in the article, as well: it's not clear who the author is, there's no evidence of editorial oversight, the affiliation with SAM is believable but not compelling, it hasn't been updated in a couple of years, ....) Googling around mostly finds other blogs by magic enthusiasts, plus this obit from his funeral home. I was able to find one better source: this 1977 article in the Harvard Crimson. Surely there is more available? --JBL (talk) 13:22, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

Thank you JBL, and I didn’t know of the Harvard Crimson. There is a general problem in the history of stage magic, that it has been told mostly by ephemera publications and now in blogs. However I have a good library on magic myself and am including some more references. Accidental Sociologist (talk) 12:38, 21 April 2020 (UTC)