My entry point for history was my own family. I grew up visiting graveyards regularly, whether it was planting flowers on relatives graves (some of whom I don’t remember exactly where they fit in the family tree) or trying to find other branches on the family tree generations back, so far back that the graves were often not visited anymore. I can still find baby Daisy because she’s buried so close to Author’s Ridge in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord. To put things into even further perspective was thinking about my great-aunt. Born at […]
Rescued by the Library
I have been – for several weeks now – thinking that I needed to get to the library to do newspaper research. Then about two weeks ago found myself saddened that that was unlikely to happen given the current health crisis. As far as I was aware at that point, the only currently accessible copies of the newspaper I wanted were on microfilm. But occassionally, good deeds do come back around. Last year, I wrote a letter of support for that library to get a grant to have their newspapers digitized. Lo and behold: the […]
Using Fiction to Understand the Past
There is something about reading a book that has familiar landmarks. Not even necessarily places that you’ve actually been to (though being able to actually visualize where you are in the book is fun), but places that you’re actively interested in, time periods you’ve spent scads of time researching. I’m currently reading The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry, and while I love my ability to mentally follow Towner down Derby Street, up Hawthorne past the hotel and up to the Common, well… It reminded me of yet another book where it wasn’t quite the same, […]
Rocky Markets in History
When you see an NPR headline like this one (“Dow Suffers Record-Breaking Christmas Eve Losses”) and the you see a follow up headline a couple days later like this one (“After Big Losses, Markets Stage a Post-Christmas Rally”), it’s very easy to be reminded of an earlier time. That first article actually went so far as to compare the lost ground to periods of severe market unrest, such as 2008 and 1931. And to be fair – they’re not wrong. These have been some pretty terrifying moments for people with money invested in the stock […]
The Spirit of Historical Inquiry
I was listening to TED Radio Hour last month for a re-airing of an episode entitled, “The Spirit of Inquiry”. What fascinated me was how science-based the episode was. And yes, to a certain extent I could understand why it was so science-based. But here is where I would like to take that thought and bring it even further: Most of us were taught in school that the reason we should believe in science is because of the scientific method. Scientists follow a method and this method guarantees the truth of their claims. […] The […]
Watching the Bubble Burst
What are the warning indicators that come before an economic bubble pops? What can we learn from the economics of earlier times? I can’t say I ever went into studying history with the intent at looking at money. For some reason, I spent a good deal of time thinking that understanding money was not a capacity I had. Things have changed a bit, and strangely it is my addiction to tea that did the trick. Looking at the history of one of the most traded commodities of the 18th century inevitably lead to studying the […]
New Posts at On King Street: Mercy Otis Warren
I have two new blog posts up at On King Street: Mercy Otis Warren: An Introduction “Set Mrs. Warren down in her own Habitation”: Tracing the Footsteps of Mercy Otis Warren
History Chat: Divisions That Would Lead to Civil War
The original disagreements that lead to the American Civil War, just in case anyone forgot, had been apparent since before we declared independence from Britain. Let us not forget that slavery had been the center of the southern colonies economy long before we had even considered abolishing it. And not just that, but it was already a center of British political debate when the war started. What was one of the enticements the southern colonies had to join the resistance at that point? That if they stayed loyal to the British crown, they would likely […]
History Chat: The Earliest Constitutions
Most of the questions I have involving history are because I heard someone say something that didn’t quite line up with my existing knowledge. Either that or someone posed a question I didn’t know the answer to and had to look it up. Since I spend most of my time either in a classroom or a museum, this happens quite a lot. Today’s inquiry came from a simple statement. John Adams wrote the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, the oldest Constitution in the country. So, I will start with the part that is the easiest to […]
History Chat: Hamilton, An American Musical
Hamilton: An American Musical… Well, I was hesitant at first, to say the least. Rap is not exactly my favorite genre of music. But it’s a musical about a major player in American history – so I bought the album and listened to it. For the students. A majority of whom listen to rap. And honestly, if it got a few more of them interested in theatre, I can’t really complain. I’m more worried about teaching them history and culture. And now I’m addicted. It’s been stuck in my head non-stop for a week now. […]