Louie Gallo
Louie Gallo’s work sometimes encircles him much like the Civil War generals he researches tried to do to their enemies more than 150 years ago.
“That’s actually what I love about this job: the moments when I’m by myself, I’ve got books scattered around me and I’m trying to find just one answer—the right answer,” said Gallo, the managing editor of Ƶ’s Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library. “It’s very rewarding when everything comes together.”
Since joining MSU in 2014, the West Virginia native has made a name for himself in the field of documentary editing—the process of editing historical documents—not to be confused with documentary filmmaking. This fall, Harvard University Press released an updated “The Memoirs of General William Tecumseh Sherman—The Complete Annotated Edition” edited by Gallo, MSU William L. Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus of history John Marszalek and David Nolen, associate dean of Archives and Special Collections for the MSU Libraries.
Their work follows two books on Grant. First, the trio edited the 2017 Harvard University Press release of the former president’s personal memoirs. Two years later, the University Press of Mississippi published “Hold on With a Bulldog Grip: A Short Study of Ulysses S. Grant,” co-authored by the group and Justice Frank J. Williams, the founding chair of the Lincoln Forum and former president of the Ulysses S. Grant Association who, along with wife Virginia, donated a substantial collection of Civil War-related documents, books and artifacts to MSU in 2017.
“When you’re going through these important people’s memoirs and unpacking their narratives, you’re watching history unfold before you,” Gallo said. “We have all these preconceived notions about who these historical figures were, but the more you unpack, the more you realize these were very complex characters and there is a lot of nuance involved in their stories.”
Like the historical documents he studies, Gallo said he hopes his work stands the test of time and influences those interested in peering back into the past.
“It’s great to know that as long as people study Sherman and Grant, they’re going to pick up our editions of their memoirs,” he said. “We identify every person they mentioned and every place that no longer exists; we clarify things they wrote when they were being vague—it’s very important work because it allows historians to then do their own work. You want to feel like what you’ve put out there in the world is going to be used and remembered.”
Gallo credits his publishing success to his Youngstown State University mentor Diane Barnes, who worked on and gave him access to collections of papers from Thomas Jefferson and Frederick Douglass. He also credits Marszalek for hiring him and “putting his trust in a kid from West Virginia” and guidance received from Grant library and presidential association Executive Director Anne Marshall, an associate professor in MSU’s Department of History.
“I’m somebody who comes from a pretty humble background—a small community in the Rust Belt. I didn’t come from much, but hard work and determination got me to where I am, and MSU helped me forge that path. I’ve been here now for 11 years, and the support the university has given me has allowed me to really grow and given me chances I never would have gotten if I had stayed where I was,” he said. “Without MSU’s institutional support, none of this would be possible. Our leaders see the value in our work, and that’s why they continue to support us.”