Coronation of Queen Victoria by John Martin

As a lot of my readers know, I have a very strong interest in Victorian British history as well as the history of the American west. Because of this, I've decided to create a new blog which will focus only on Victorian British history. The new blog is called The Old Journal.

I've decided to create a separate blog because I want History Rhymes to remain focused on the history of the American West. This way, those that are interested in the history of the west can read History Rhymes and those who are interested in Victorian history can read The Old Journal. If you are interested in both, you can read both. Recent posts from each blog are located in the bottom of the sidebar of the other blog.

I hope you enjoy the two blogs and I look forward to hearing from my readers at both places!

British Library
Source: Wikipedia

I have just seen that the British Library in London has reached a deal with Google to digitize roughly 250,000 books, newspapers, articles, etc from between 1700 and 1870. These years were chosen based on copyright. 1870 is the latest sure date that the European copyrights have expired. The British Library has the largest collection of books of any library in Great Britain and is the equivalent of our Library of Congress in that they automatically receive a copy of every single book published in the country.

Many of the books which will be digitized are currently not available in the public rooms of the library. Either they are too old or there is simply not enough room in the public areas of the library. Digitizing the books should give access to the books to everyone and make it easier to find historic information from them.

I, for one, am quite excited about the idea. Since the books will be available for free online, it means us historians from abroad can easily access the books without having to fly to London to do so.

For more information, the BBC has an interesting video about it and The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about it.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Source: Wikipedia

As most of my readers probably know, I am a huge fan of Mark Twain. The name of this blog comes from a quote he made about history and a lot of my inspiration comes from his works. The recent news of a Montgomery, Alabama-based publisher publishing a censored version of one of Twain's most famous books, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is really rather sickening to me. The publisher has decided to replace the word "nigger" with "slave" as well as to replace the word "injun" with a less offensive word.

While I certainly understand that these words are not politically correct and are offensive to many in our current times, the words should not be taken out of context when it comes to the story. In Twain's time, both were acceptable words. The novel contains a story which is extremely critical of Twain's own time and racism during that time. People spoke that way in Missouri at that time. That is a fact that will absolutely never change.

I understand the arguments that they want to create a "teachable" version of the novel, but this simply furthers one of the most fundamental problems of the American education system: censorship. Parents and teachers don't want kids exposed to such things even as late as high school. The problem is that they find out on their own anyway. Isn't it better they have the proper training when they discover it rather than not know what to do with it when they run across it for the first time? The same applies to sexual abstinence versus teaching safe sex practices. But I digress.

The novel itself is an anti-slavery commentary. Twain has his main character, Huckleberry Finn, befriend a run-away black slave named Jim. Throughout the novel they share adventures and good (and bad) times. This was a revolutionary idea for the time for most people -- especially in Missouri and the south where the novel takes place.

Racism is still an extremely prevalent problem in our current society. There is no doubt about that. People like the publishers of this hacked up version of Twain's masterpiece, however, only further the problem. The way to combat racism is to teach people about it. Simply sweeping the problem under the rug so that people aren't exposed to it is not going to help anyway. In fact, it is going to make it far worse.

For more interesting commentary on the subject, visit these two sites:
CNN
The Mark Twain House & Museum

Billy the Kid
Source: Wikipedia

Update: I have just read that Bill Richardson did NOT give Billy the Kid the long-promised pardon.

While reading the news today, I discovered that the current governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, is considering pardoning Billy the Kid for killing a sheriff. Richardson only has until Friday to decide because that is when his term will end.

The reason behind the possible pardon is based on a promise made to Billy the Kid by then-governor Lew Wallace. In return for appearing before a grand jury in another murder case, Wallace made a deal with Billy the Kid to pardon his crimes. The pardon was never given which is why Richardson argues that Billy the Kid still deserves his pardon even posthumously.

The majority of people support the proposed pardon, but many also oppose it. The family of Pat Garrett, the sheriff who fatally shot Billy the Kid, opposes it strongly by arguing that no matter what promises were made, Billy the Kid was still a thief and a murderer. Supporters argue that a deal is a deal and that Billy the Kid deserves his pardon even if it is well over a century late.

What do you think about this? Do you think he deserves the pardon? I, personally, have mixed feelings about it. Both points are valid in my opinion which makes it quite difficult to decide.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens.
Source: Wikipedia

According to The Times, the British Library is currently undertaking a project to digitize their collection of more than 65,000 nineteenth century books in an effort to preserve them and make them available for free for public consumption.

The only catch is that you must own an Amazon Kindle which is something I find incredibly disappointing. I do not like the Kindle or eBook readers. I suppose the best part about it is that I can still buy regular paper copies that mimic the original books.

Here is part of the article:

MORE than 65,000 19th-century works of fiction from the British Library’s collection are to be made available for free downloads by the public from this spring.

Owners of the Amazon Kindle, an ebook reader device, will be able to view well known works by writers such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy, as well as works by thousands of less famous authors.

[...]

While the British Library books — which will include Dickens’s Bleak House, Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge — will be available free online, the public will also be able to order printed copies from Amazon.

Like the onscreen versions, the paperbacks, costing £15-£20, will look like the frequently rare 19th-century editions in the library’s collection — including their typeface and illustrations. Originals of works by Austen and Dickens typically cost at least £250.

You can read the full article on The Times.

I will keep this theme up for a while and see how I like it while working out the kinks. The Links and Archives pages do not work quite right yet, but I will look into those soon. Meanwhile, enjoy the new theme and let me know what you think or if you think I ought to go back to the old theme.

I have some plans I want to enact with History Rhymes. Possibly in a the future I will turn it into some sort of online magazine or journal rather than just using at a blog. We will see however.

The History Blog is reporting that the remains of the two missing children of Tsar Nicholas II have been found. The bones belong to Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria. In July 1918, the Russian royal family, who were at the time being held captive in Yekaterinburg by the Bolshevik revolutionaries, were lined up against a wall in the basement of a noble's house and executed via firing squad. The bodies were originally dumped into a mine shaft, but then were later removed for fear of the remains becoming a rallying point for the political enemies of the Bolsheviks as they ceased power in Russia. Once removed they were then mutilated. According to a 1934 report based on the words of Yakov Yurovsky, the leader of the family’s killers, the bodies of Alexei and a sister were buried in a pit while the rest of the bodies were doused with sulfuric acid and buried along a road. DNA testing has been done which confirms the identities of the owners of the bones.

The reaction in Russia has been a mixed one. Neither the Russian Orthodox Church nor descendants of relatives of the Russian royal family have commented on the find yet. A lawyer for the royal descendants, German Lukyanov, has said that the family should be "declared victims of political repression," but the Russian courts have instead declared them victims of premeditated murder.

You can read more about it at The History Blog, MSNBC or Yahoo! News.

Jennings was sifting through the Library of Congress’ one million archival photographs in its online Prints and Photographs catalogue when he encountered the picture captioned ‘Wash. D.C. Grand Review of Army,’ which was ostensibly of the two-day military parade in May 1865. A distinct line of soldiers with shouldered rifles stood amidst a crowd of hundreds of civilians. But, said Jennings, “the identification given didn't jive with what I was seeing.” After viewing the photograph at a higher resolution, he saw civilians pressed closely around the soldiers, not something that would occur in a military parade.

A day later, Jennings returned to the online archives and discovered two more photographs, each entitled “Inauguration of President Grant.” Both showed the same trees, townhouses, and soldiers as the first photograph.

The article is dated February 8, 2008, so this is a rather old story, but I hadn't read anything about it before. There was also apparently a CNN story about it as well.

You can find the full article here on AmericanHeritage.com.

You can also see the photos quite clearly on CNN's website.