With this collection, the Asian collections in Dickinson College Library have reached the top rank of those in liberal arts colleges in North America. Dr. Jacobs also spoke, looking back his scholarly collecting activities for his extensive collection. Dickinson College Library has just gained a large grant from the state of Pennsylvania to catalog this collection. But when I consider what Norm has accomplished in his career, I feel that I personally might have been a bit more adventurous. Norm is a true Asianist, with interests and expertise sized to a continent that stretches from central Asia to Japan and from Russian Siberia to Southeast Asia.
Norm is the author of book-length studies of Japan and China, Iran, Thailand, India, and Korea.
He served in the Philippines in World War Two, in Tokyo after the war as part of the allied occupation headquarters staff working on agriculture and land reform, as a community development advisor in the U.S. Foreign Service in rural Iran, and as a visiting professor in Taiwan. Having graduated from City College of New York in 1943, Norm completed his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1951. Norm often soars fairly high in the realm of theory as a worthy heir to pioneers in comparative studies like Max Weber. These practical experiences shine through his work in a natural and convincing way. This is evident in small touches.