March « 2009 « History Rhymes

27Mar/090

Old Daguerreotypes

While browsing the internet the other day, I ran into a very interesting collection put together by The Library of Congress of some of the oldest known daguerreotypes in the United States. Some of the images include buildings in Washington DC while others are portraits of people and occupations.

The White House in 1846

The website has an abundance of information about the collection and about the creators of the daguerreotypes. You can also see some of the collection which has been digitized and posted to their website.

Tagged as: daguerreotypes, White House No Comments

26Mar/090

Historiography Paper on Reinhard Gehlen Sources

The professor of the history class I am currently taking, in which I am doing research on Reinhard Gehlen, has assigned a historiography paper with a minimum of 20 secondary sources. This would not be a problem if that many secondary sources existed on Reinhard Gehlen. I have been able to only find about 12 books and articles about him and his intelligence-gathering organization. Everything else I have found has been primary.

I would say the biggest reason for this is because the CIA has only recently (within the past 5-6 years) declassified and released material about Reinhard Gehlen and the Gehlen Organization during the Cold War. That isn't sufficient time for 20 books to be written on the subject, which means I have stumbled into relatively untreaded ground. Most of the books and articles I have found were actually written in the early 1970s shortly after Gehlen retired as president of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (the Federal Intelligence Agency which his organization essentially turned into after its adoption by the West German government).

I certainly can't complain about the abundance of primary sources that I have found and seem to still be unwritten about, but it still does not help my situation with my historiography paper.

Tagged as: Historiography, Reinhard Gehlen No Comments

25Mar/090

A Sad Reality about American Universities

This is an article that shows the incredibly sad reality about grade inflation in American universities and its consequences. It is definitely worth a read.

Grade Inflation in American Universities

Tagged as: Univerisities No Comments

20Mar/090

Cataloging with LibraryThing

So now that I have access again to my entire personal library, I have begun to catalog all of my books with LibraryThing. It is taking a while because I have quite a large number of books. Several of them are foreign which means that it is quite difficult to find them with LibraryThing. I can type in the ISBN and some of them still do not show up. I guess I will just not be able to add those.

Other than that little hurdle, the cataloging process is going smoothly. It just gets somewhat redundant and tedious after a while, so I have been taking a lot of short breaks so I don't wear myself out too quickly. I still have about half of my library left to catalog and already have 73 items cataloged (not including the foreign books, of course).

Here is a widget with some of my books:

Tagged as: Library No Comments

12Mar/094

It Happened in Colorado

It Happened in Colorado by James A. Crutchfield

Today I ordered a new book that looked really interesting. The book is called It Happened in Colorado by James A. Crutchfield. I am originally from Colorado and so I figured a book on the history of Colorado would be an interesting read. James A. Crutchfield always writes interesting books about the history of the American west which also helped persuade me to buy the book when I found it. One of my favorite books by him is called The Way West: True Stories of the American Frontier. Part of his collection of books are a whole bunch of "It Happened in [insert state name here]" books. I might have to invest in a few more if the one I ordered was interesting.

Tagged as: Colorado 4 Comments

11Mar/090

Last photo of Lincoln before his death?

Lincoln seems to be in the news a lot this week. Today CNN is reporting that a new photograph of Lincoln has emerged that is believed to be the last taken before his assassination in 1865. It was discovered in a photo album belonging to General Ulysses S. Grant's great-great grandson, Ulysses S. Grant VI.

Last Photo of Lincoln?

Here is a portion of the article:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- An expert on Lincoln photography thinks a photograph found in Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's family-owned album showing President Abraham Lincoln in front of the White House could be one of the last photos taken of the 16th president before he was assassinated in 1865.

A photo found in Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's family album is verified to contain an image of Abraham Lincoln.

Grant's great-great grandson Ulysses S. Grant VI had seen the previously unpublished image in the general's personal photo album, but didn't think much of it until he scrutinized it earlier this year.

"I started to think that it might be the White House," said Grant, a construction business owner from Springfield, Missouri. "Then I started to look at the height difference between the people in the photo."

Thinking that the towering individual commanding the attention of the other people in the image could be Lincoln -- who stood 6-foot-4 and is the nation's tallest president -- Grant called Keya Morgan, a renowned collector and scholar of Lincoln and Gen. Grant photographs, to see whether his suspicions could be verified.

Morgan, who owns the world's largest collection of Lincoln artifacts and original photographs, persuaded Grant to take the small photo out of the album to see whether any clues could be found on the back -- particularly the name of the photographer.

"If you don't know who the photographer is, it's like not knowing who your father and mother are," Morgan said.

Sure enough, the seal of photographer Henry F. Warren appeared on the back, along with an inscription: "Lincoln in front of the White House," dated 1865. Grant recognized the handwriting as that of his great-grandfather and Gen. Grant's youngest son, Jesse Grant. Those indicators, along with a revenue stamp used from 1864-66 to raise money during the Civil War, helped convince Morgan that the photograph could be the well-documented missing photo from Lincoln's last "sitting."

You can read the here.

Tagged as: Abraham Lincoln No Comments

10Mar/090

Message found hidden in Lincoln’s pocketwatch

Message in Lincoln's Pocketwatch

I found a really interesting news article on CNN about a message left to President Lincoln on the inside of his pocketwatch by a watchmaker who was repairing it at the time Fort Sumter was attacked. Here is the article:

A long-hidden message has been discovered inside Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch, the Smithsonian's Museum of American History announced Tuesday.
The message in the watch differs slightly from what the watchmaker later said he wrote.

The message in the watch differs slightly from what the watchmaker later said he wrote.

Watchmaker Jonathan Dillon was repairing Lincoln's watch in April 1861 when he heard about the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and wrote a short message on the metal inside the watch, the Smithsonian said.

There it remained, unseen for almost 150 years, it said.

In a 1906 interview with The New York Times, Dillon reported that as soon as he heard the news about the first shots of the Civil War, he unscrewed the dial of the watch and wrote on the metal, "The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try."

The actual message that the museum found differs from the watchmaker's recollection. It says, "Jonathan Dillon, April 13-1861, Fort Sumpter [sic] was attacked by the rebels on the above date J Dillon, April 13-1861, Washington, thank God we have a government, Jonth Dillon."

According to the Smithsonian, it was not unusual for professional watchmakers to record their work inside a watch.

"Lincoln never knew of the message he carried in his pocket," said Brent D. Glass, director of the National Museum of American History.

The museum decided to open the watch after being contacted by the watchmaker's great-great-grandson, Doug Stiles, who had heard about the message Dillon said he had inscribed and wanted to see if it was really there.

Tagged as: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Fort Sumter, Pocket Watch No Comments

9Mar/090

Original Shakespeare Theater Found

Shakespeare in 1610

I just got through reading an interesting article from the BBC about archaeologists having found and partially excavated the foundation of the original theater Shakespeare would have used. It is believed that the premier of plays such as Romeo and Juliet and an older version of Hamlet were performed at this theater with Shakespeare himself possibly acting.

The article also talks about a newly discovered portrait of Shakespeare, believed to have been painted in 1610. As mentioned in the clip below, it is " thought to be the only surviving image of him made during his lifetime." It is pictured above.

Archaeologists believe they have unearthed the remains of Shakespeare's first theatre, the BBC has learned.

A team from the Museum of London found the remains of the theatre in Shoreditch last summer.

Built in 1576, it is thought the Bard acted there and that it also hosted the premiere of Romeo and Juliet.

Meanwhile, a portrait of Shakespeare, thought to be the only surviving image of him made during his lifetime, has been unveiled in London.

Taryn Nixon, from the Museum of London, said her team had found part of the original curved wall of the playhouse, which was believed to be polygonal in shape.

A metre and a half below street level, it has also uncovered the gravel surface, gently sloping down towards the stage, where the bulk of the audience would have stood.
But the archaeologists fear the stage itself may be buried underneath a housing development.

Tagged as: Shakespeare, Theater No Comments

4Mar/090

Mark Twain and 19th Century American History

As a student of history, I unfortunately do not have a lot of time to devote to reading fiction books of my choice. If I am reading generally it is either a specifically assigned book or text for a class or a book pertaining to something relavent to my studies (such as Der Dienst by Reinhard Gehlen which pertains to my most recent research project). Occasionally however, I am able to get a little bit of fictional reading in now and then and when I do, my favorite author is Mark Twain.

The reasons behind this are simple: not only is the man a great humorist, but most of his books takes place in my favorite time period, the 19th century. To me, Twain provides a fascinating view on 19th century culture and life that standard textbooks or academic journals cannot even touch because he was actually there, writing stories about everyday life with the careless ease of someone who does not have to critically examine details because he has experienced the times his whole life. I think that says something that modern scholars can't even come close to because they weren't there.

Twain covers several different countries during the 19th century including the American western frontier in Roughing It, Germany, Switzerland and Italy in A Tramp Abroad and Spain, the Christian holy land and northern Africa in The Innocents Abroad. He also gives us his usually witty and smart-aleck interpretation of what's going on and of the different areas. Of course, the reader does have to take into consideration that quite a bit of each story is in fact fiction; however, the fiction was made up within the confines of Twain's 19th century mind and travels.

For those of you who are interested in reading some of Mark Twain's collection, I recommend the following two books:

Roughing It by Mark Twain

A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain

They are by far my favorite as they deal with my two favorite parts of the world: the American western frontier and German-speaking Europe. They also, needless to say, take place in the mid-19th century.

For more books I recommend from Mark Twain, visit the fiction section of the History Rhymes store.

Tagged as: Fiction, Mark Twain No Comments

3Mar/090

Research Proposal Completed

I’ve finally finished my research paper proposal for one of my history classes. The research paper is going to be about Reinhard Gehlen, but I have discussed that in a previous post. I feel a lot better about the paper now though because I now have a clear direction in which I want to head with the paper. I now know exactly what I am going to argue and how I’m going to go about doing it with the sources I’ve found.

There are a couple of books that I would really like to use, however, one of them is currently checked out and isn’t due back until May and the other book isn’t available at the library at my university. I put in a request to get it from Colorado State University’s library through our Interlibrary Loan Service, but who knows how long that will take. I probably won’t get it until the end of this month or even later. Unfortunately it’s a primary source, which is important. The book is the memoirs of James Critchfield who worked with Reinhard Gehlen directly. Critchfield worked on the CIA side of things, so it would be interesting to get that perspective. As of now, I just have Gehlen’s perspective which, without the other perspective, is quite biased. Hopefully I will get it soon enough to be able to use it as a resource for my paper.

Tagged as: Reinhard Gehlen, Research Proposal No Comments

Older Entries »

Support History Rhymes!

Support History Rhymes by paying a visit to my store on Amazon.com. There you will find books and other materials that I recommend for furthering your knowledge of American history. Help support History Rhymes and treat yourself to something interesting!

History Rhymes Store