BELLESILES UPDATE: Here’s a story in the Boston Globe by David Mehegan, who was on the Bellesiles story early:

At the same time, mainstream scholars raised questions about research Bellesiles did into probate records. His credibility problems were compounded when he said that he had lost all of his research notes in a flood at Emory. A Globe review last year found that San Francisco records Bellesiles cited in his book had been destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire there, and that records in Providence and Vermont contradicted his book and explanations on his Web site. . . .

”His answers raise doubts about his veracity,” the report states. ”He seems to have been utterly unaware of the importance of the possibility of replication of his research. His responses have been prolix, confusing, evasive, and occasionally contradictory. Even at this point, it is not clear that he understands the magnitude of his probate research shortcomings.”

Although the report also says, ”we do not believe it possible to state conclusively that Professor Bellesiles engaged in intentional fabrication or falsification of research data,” it adds, ”we are seriously troubled by Professor Bellesiles’s scholarly conduct. … the failure to clearly identify his sources does move into the realm of falsification.”

Bellesiles is characterized as “defiant.” This seems to me a mistake on his part, though some posters over at HNN expect him to carve out a niche as the “von Daniken of gun history.”