  This paper presents new images and spectroscopy of NGC 34 (Mrk 938) obtained
with the du Pont 2.5-m and Baade 6.5-m telescopes at Las Campanas, plus
photometry of an HST archival V image. This Mv = -21.6 galaxy has often been
classified as a Seyfert 2, yet recently published infrared spectra suggest a
dominant central starburst. We find that the galaxy features a single nucleus,
a main spheroid containing a blue central disk, and tidal tails indicative of
two former disk galaxies. These galaxies appear to have completed merging. The
remnant shows three clear optical signs that the merger was gas-rich ("wet")
and accompanied by a starburst: (1) It sports a rich system of young star
clusters, of which 87 have absolute magnitudes -10.0 > Mv > -15.4. Five
clusters with available spectra have ages in the range 0.1-1.0 Gyr, photometric
masses between 2x10^6 and 2x10^7 Msun, and are gravitationally bound young
globulars. (2) The blue central disk appears to be young. It is exponential,
can be traced to >10 kpc radius, and has a smooth structure and colors suggest-
ing a dominant, ~400 Myr old poststarburst population. And (3), the center of
NGC 34 drives a strong outflow of cool, neutral gas, as revealed by broad
blueshifted Na I D lines. The mean outflow velocity of this gas is -620 km/s,
while the maximum velocity reaches -1050 km/s. We suggest that NGC 34 stems
from two recently merged gas-rich disk galaxies with an estimated mass ratio
between 1/3 and 2/3. The remnant seems to have first experienced a galaxy-wide
starburst that then shrank to its current central and obscured state. The
strong gaseous outflow came last. (Abridged)
