Title: Julian Archer and the Pratt Place Inn - Part 2 of 3
The following paragraphs are extracted from an article in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette dated June 29, 2014, entitled ‘History and hospitality - Julian Pratt Waterman Archer’, and written by April Robertson.
"INTERPRETER OF THE PAST. After returning from France, Archer embarked on an academic career at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He thought being a professor would be ideal but was stuck in the unfortunate position of teaching uninterested students — some of them attending college merely to avoid the Vietnam War draft.
The following year, he set out to find the passionate students who truly wanted to learn. Archer’s persistent inquisitiveness is what friends say makes him a good professor.
“He’s a natural teacher,” Sherman says. “He loves to talk in a quiet way. Not belligerent or dogmatic. He’s a thoughtful person, sees things … [he and Jane] are interesting, curious people who continue to seek knowledge and information.”
Archer found an intellectually hungry community at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where for 42 years he made French and ancient history come alive for students. He gave them exercises in logic and knowledge of human nature to better understand history by thinking through world leaders’ past decisions, and aided his fellow instructors along the way.
“Julian has helped me in my career as a professor and gotten me on several outstanding committees,” says Eleanor Zeff, professor of political science at Drake. “He has been a wonderful mentor to me.”
Archer formed travel company Lucullan with his wife in 1978, putting his love of teaching to use in a different context. He provided historical and cultural information to the tourists, helped them navigate proper dining etiquette for the hours-long French dinners, chose the finest restaurants and booked the most prestigious wine chateaus. It came naturally for him and his clients easily spotted his expertise.
“I took two European tours with him and his wife,” Zeff says. “He was the expert guide.”
The first tour took place in 1979 — a culinary tour that supplied more rich food than most people could handle, although many liked to take on the challenge.
“The longest party I ever went to in France was eight hours. It was fantastic … they serve a course, some fine wine, [provide] half an hour of entertainment, [then] another course, another entertainment,” Archer says. “Our tourists loved it. We were always the last people out of the restaurants.”
Archer adapted the second and subsequent trips into bicycling tours where patrons worked off the gourmet food while pedaling through the European countryside. The creative tours sold out quickly each year — often to repeat patrons — and as they evolved, Archer included stays at luxury hotels.
His tactful representation of the United States and France while explaining their collective histories was acknowledged and rewarded with the position of honorary consul to the French government. In 20 years of duty, he performed business and cultural duties in the consulate in Chicago, such as arranging visits for the French ambassador and French researchers and professionals to the United States, and his academic publications on French history and efforts in the service and promotion of France earned him a number of distinctions from the French government."
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