May 22, 2015
In a drawer in a file box in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., is a study in black ink on white paper, lines that resemble those images most of us have of the first Wright Bros. flyer, usually dubbed “Kittyhawk” after the place it first took to the air.
Drawing 1 from patent granted to Orville Wright for a flying machine
The patent was issued on May 22, 1906, to Orville Wright, Patent No. 821393, for a “flying machine.”
It makes more sense if you turn the drawing on its side.
Wright Bros. flying machine, from patent drawing
With the patent, the Wrights had legal means to protect their idea so they could commercially develop it. Turns out, however, that the fight to get the patent, and subsequent fights to protect it, may have prevented them from fully realizing the commercial success they could have had. Lawrence Goldstone, the author of that article, details the history at much greater length in his 2014 book, Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies.
Why did it take three years to get the patent issued?
Below the fold, the rest of the patent.
Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | 
Airplanes, DBQ sources, Historic documents, History, History images, Images, Invention, Patents, Science, Technology | Tagged: Airplane, Aviation, Flying, Historic documents, History, History images, May 22 1906, Patents, Science, Technology, Wright Brothers | 
Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
August 17, 2013
Maybe we should designate August 17 as “No Bigotry Day.”
August 17, 1790, found U.S. President George Washington traveling the country, in Newport, Rhode Island.
Washington met with “the Hebrew Congregation” (Jewish group), and congregation leader (Rabbi?) Moses Seixas presented Washington with an address extolling Washington’s virtues, and the virtues of the new nation. Seixas noted past persecutions of Jews, and signalled a hopeful note:
Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free citizens, we now (with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events) behold a government erected by the Majesty of the People–a Government which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance, but generously affording to All liberty of conscience and immunities of Citizenship, deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great governmental machine.
George Washingtons reply to the Newport, RI, Hebrew congregation, August 17, 1790 – Library of Congress image,
President Washington responded with what may be regarded as his most powerful statement in support of religious freedom in the U.S. — and this was prior to the ratification of the First Amendment:
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it was the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily, the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
Below the fold, more history of the events and religious freedom, from the Library of Congress.
Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | First Amendment, George Washington, Historic documents, History, Religion, Religious Freedom, Separation of church and state | Tagged: Famous quotes, First Amendment, George Washington, Historic documents, History, Quotes, Religious Freedom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 4, 2013
An encore post:
May 4, 1861: Millard Fillmore wrote:
May 4, 1861, letter from Millard Fillmore to Abraham Lincoln – Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
Transcription of the letter:
From Millard Fillmore to Abraham Lincoln, May 4, 1861
Buffalo May 4, 1861.
Vice President Millard Fillmore became President upon the death of President Zachary Taylor, in July 1850. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
My Dear Sir,
The bearer, Dr. Martin Mayer, a Stranger to me, has asked of me a letter of Introduction to your Excellency, and produced such high proofs of character, that I do not feel at liberty to refuse it; and therefore while I decline any interference, in any appointment he may desire, (which is my uniform practice) I desire simple to ask that he may be heard.
Respectfully yours
Millard Fillmore
One must wonder whether this letter convinced President Lincoln to meet with Dr. Mayer, and what the conversation was if they did. Surely there is some record of who met with Lincoln, no?
Update: Be sure to see the comments of J. A. Higginbotham, below; he’s found a book that refers to the career of Dr. Mayer during the Civil War and after. Heckuva a sleuthing job.
More:
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
2 Comments | Abraham Lincoln, Historic documents, History, Millard Fillmore, Presidents | Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, DBQ, Historic documents, Millard Fillmore | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
March 3, 2013
Can your students write this well? This kid was 12:
Letter from 12 year-old John Kennedy, asking his father for a raise in his allowance, in 1929. Click image for larger view. Photo from Peter Lenahan
Found the image at the U.S. Scouting Service Project site, part of their celebration of the history of Scouting.
John Fitzgerald Francis Kennedy, President of the United States, was a Scout in Troop 2 in the Bronxville, NY, from 1929 to 1931. This letter was written when he was 12 years old in 1929.
Transcript: A Plea for a raise
By Jack Kennedy
Dedicated to my
Mr. J. P. Kennedy
Chapter I
My recent allowance is 40¢. This I used for areoplanes and other playthings of child- hood but now I am a scout and I put away my childish things. Before I would spend 20¢ of my ¢.40 allowance and In five minutes I would have empty pockets and nothing to gain and 20¢ to lose. When I a a scout I have to buy canteens, haversacks, blankets, searchlidgs [searchlights] poncho things that will last for years and I can always use it while I cant use a cholcalote marshmellow sunday with vanilla ice cream and so I put in my plea for a raise of thirty cents for me to buy scout things and pay my own way more around.
Finis
John Fitzgerald Francis Kennedy
Contributed by: Peter Lenahan, Bronxville, NY
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | Boy Scouts of America, children, DBQ sources, Historic documents, History, John F. Kennedy, Parents, Presidents | Tagged: Boy Scouts of America, children, DBQ, Historic documents, History, John F. Kennedy, Parents, Presidents | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
June 7, 2011
Thomas Jefferson got much of the glory, and we celebrate July 4.
We might learn about how politics works, and who does the heavy lifting, if we remember the full history.
Richard Henry Lee by Charles Wilson Peale (wikimedia)
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia rose in the 2nd Continental Congress to propose a resolution calling for a declaration of independence of the thirteen colonies, from Britain.
Lee came to Philadelphia as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774, and was reappointed to the Second Continental Congress.
On June 7, 1776, Lee proposed a resolution which read in part:
Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.
He had returned to Virginia by the time the Declaration of Independence was drafted and approved on July 2, but he signed the document when he returned to Congress.
Lee served as president of the Second Continental Congress (November 1784 to November 1785), and after the formation of the United States, as U.S. Senator from Virginia. In the Senate, he was President pro tempore.
Richard Henry Lee's resolution calling for a declaration of independence - image from the National Archives
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
6 Comments | America's founding, American Revolution, Declaration of Independence, Heroes, Historic documents | Tagged: American Revolution, Declaration of Independence, Heroes, Historic documents, History, June 7 1776, Richard Henry Lee, Second Continental Congress | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
November 23, 2010
I’m looking for more photographs of presidents, especially Millard Fillmore and Andrew Johnson at the moment. Only a tiny handful of photos are available for Fillmore, and generally, there are only three photos of Andrew Johnson. Are there other photos hidden in archives, or is that really a reflection of how many photos were made of the two men?
The search continues.
While searching the archives at the University of Tennessee, I came across this press release on a wedding invitation to Sam Houston’s first marriage, in Tennessee, when he was governor of that state. It features a photo of Houston that’s a little rare — and an interesting story.
Houston’s first marriage failed fast and hard. He was so shaken that he resigned his office as governor of Tennessee, and left for Indian territories. Eventually he found himself in Texas, and he was the leader of the Texian forces that defeated and captured Mexico’s President Santa Ana, securing independence from Mexico for Texas. Houston was president of the Texas Republic, and governor of the State of Texas.
What would Texas history be had Houston’s first marriage been happy, and he had stayed in Tennessee?
March 23, 2007
The Special Collections Library at the University of Tennessee recently purchased a copy of an invitation to the sudden January 1829 wedding of then-Tennessee governor Sam Houston and Eliza Allen. This rare item may be only one of its kind.
Aaron Purcell, university archivist, discovered the piece on eBay.com and purchased the invitation on February 14, 2007, just over 178 years after the wedding date. The invitation was kept by descendants of one of the wedding guests for five generations.
Sam Houston is an important figure in Tennessee’s history, serving as governor from 1827-1829 and representing the state in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1823-1827. Born in Lexington, Virginia, in 1793, his family moved to Maryville, Tennessee, in 1806. Houston joined the army in 1813 and fought at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. There he caught the attention of Andrew Jackson. Jackson became Houston’s mentor and helped guide his political career.
While governor, Houston briefly courted 18-year-old Eliza Allen, daughter of a wealthy Gallatin, Tennessee, businessman. On January 15, 1829, the couple mailed a handful of invitations to a small January 22nd wedding at the Allen family home. It is one of these few invitations that UT was able to purchase.
The invitation UT acquired is addressed to Miss Harriet Roulstone, the daughter of George Roulstone, who in 1791 founded the Knoxville Gazette, the state’s first newspaper.
Shortly after the ceremony, the newlyweds were at odds. After 11 weeks, Eliza Allen left her husband and returned to her family’s home in Gallatin. There are many theories as to why the marriage was so short-lived, but none are substantiated. Allen burned all of her letters regarding the relationship and Houston was reluctant to speak about his brief marriage.
The invitation gives few details about the wedding, but the piece remained in the Roulstone family for many years, tucked in a trunk with other important family papers.
Shortly after his marriage dissolved, Houston resigned his position as governor and fled to Indian Territory. He married a Cherokee woman and became a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Houston returned to public service in Texas, serving as president of the Republic of Texas, U.S. senator, and making several failed presidential runs. He died in 1863, leaving behind a complex legacy.
“Sam Houston materials are exceedingly rare and expensive,” Purcell said. UT holds only one other Houston item in its collections, a letter to Colonel Ramsey, dated February 1829. Both items are available for research use in the Special Collections Library at 1401 Cumberland Avenue.
About the Special Collections Library
The University of Tennessee Special Collections Library was founded in 1960 and resides in the historic James D. Hoskins Library building. Materials in special collections include manuscripts, books and other rare materials for research use. For more information, contact the library at (865) 974-4480 or visit www.lib.utk.edu/spcoll/.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
3 Comments | Biography, Heroes, Historic documents, History, photography, Texas, Texas history | Tagged: Biography, Heroes, Historic documents, History, Photos, Sam Houston, Tennessee, Texas, Wedding | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
June 3, 2010
August 17, 1790, found U.S. President George Washington traveling the country, in Newport, Rhode Island.
Washington met with “the Hebrew Congregation” (Jewish group), and congregation leader (Rabbi?) Moses Seixas presented Washington with an address extolling Washington’s virtues, and the virtues of the new nation. Seixas noted past persecutions of Jews, and signalled a hopeful note:
Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free citizens, we now (with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events) behold a government erected by the Majesty of the People–a Government which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance, but generously affording to All liberty of conscience and immunities of Citizenship, deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great governmental machine.
George Washington's reply to the Newport, RI, "Hebrew congregation," August 17, 1790 - Library of Congress image
President Washington responded with what may be regarded as his most powerful statement in support of religious freedom in the U.S. — and this was prior to the ratification of the First Amendment:
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it was the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily, the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
Below the fold, more history of the events and religious freedom, from the Library of Congress.
Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
3 Comments | First Amendment, George Washington, Historic documents, History, Religion, Religious Freedom, Separation of church and state | Tagged: Famous quotes, First Amendment, George Washington, Historic documents, History, Quotes, Religious Freedom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 30, 2010
May 4, 1861: Millard Fillmore wrote:
May 4, 1861, letter from Millard Fillmore to Abraham Lincoln – Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress
Transcription of the letter:
From Millard Fillmore to Abraham Lincoln, May 4, 1861
Buffalo May 4, 1861.
My Dear Sir,
The bearer, Dr. Martin Mayer, a Stranger to me, has asked of me a letter of Introduction to your Excellency, and produced such high proofs of character, that I do not feel at liberty to refuse it; and therefore while I decline any interference, in any appointment he may desire, (which is my uniform practice) I desire simple to ask that he may be heard.
Respectfully yours
Millard Fillmore
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | Abraham Lincoln, Historic documents, History, Millard Fillmore, Presidents | Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, DBQ, Historic documents, History, Millard Fillmore, Presidents | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
November 28, 2009
More than just as tribute to the victims, more than just a disaster story, the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire, and the following events including the trial of the company owners, lay out issues students can see clearly. I think the event is extremely well documented and adapted for student projects. In general classroom use, however, the event lays a foundation for student understanding.
A couple of good websites crossed my browser recently, and I hope you know of them.
Cartoon about 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, New York Evening Journal, March 31, 1911
Events around the fire illuminate so much of American history, and of government (which Texas students take in their senior year):
- Labor issues are obvious to us; the incident provides a dramatic backdrop for the explanation of what unions sought, why workers joined unions, and a sterling example of a company’s clumsy and destructive resistance to resolving the workers’ issues.
- How many Progressive Era principles were advanced as a result of the aftermath of the fire, and the trial?
- Effective municipal government, responsive to voters and public opinion, can be discerned in the actions of the City of New York in new fire codes, and action of other governments is clear in the changes to labor laws that resulted.
- The case provides a dramatic introduction to the workings and, sometimes, misfirings of the justice system.
- With the writings from the Cornell site, students can climb into the events and put themselves on the site, in the courtroom, and in the minds of the people involved.
- Newspaper clippings from the period demonstrate the lurid nature of stories, used to sell newspapers — a working example of yellow journalism.
- Newspapers also provide a glimpse into the workings of the Muckrakers, in the editorial calls for reform.
- Overall, the stories, the photos, the cartoons, demonstrate the workings of the mass culture mechanisms of the time.
Use the sites in good education, and good health.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
2 Comments | Disasters, Government, Historic documents, History, History images, Icons of history, Images, Immigration, Journalism, Jurisprudence, Justice, Labor and unions, Newspapers, Progressive Era, Public education, Student projects | Tagged: 1911, Disasters, Historic documents, Historic Images, History, labor, New York City, Progressive Era, Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, unions | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
June 14, 2009
Historic irony: On Flag Day in 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of West Virginia vs. Barnette.
Image 1 - Billy Gobitas explained why he would not salute the U.S. flag, November 5, 1935 - Library of Congress collection
The case started earlier, in 1935, when a 10-year-old student in West Virginia, sticking to his Jehovah’s Witness principles, refused to salute the U.S. flag in a state-required pledge of allegiance. From the Library of Congress:
“I do not salute the flag because I have promised to do the will of God,” wrote ten-year-old Billy Gobitas (1925-1989) to the Minersville, Pennsylvania, school board in 1935. His refusal, and that of his sister Lillian (age twelve), touched off one of several constitutional legal cases delineating the tension between the state’s authority to require respect for national symbols and an individual’s right to freedom of speech and religion.
The Gobitas children attended a public school which, as did most public schools at that time, required all students to salute and pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States. The Gobitas children were members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a church that in 1935 believed that the ceremonial saluting of a national flag was a form of idolatry, a violation of the commandment in Exodus 20:4-6 that “thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor bow down to them. . . .” and forbidden as well by John 5:21 and Matthew 22:21. On 22 October 1935, Billy Gobitas acted on this belief and refused to participate in the daily flag and pledge ceremony. The next day Lillian Gobitas did the same. In this letter Billy Gobitas in his own hand explained his reasons to the school board, but on 6 November 1935, the directors of the Minersville School District voted to expel the two children for insubordination.
The Watch Tower Society of the Jehovah’s Witnesses sued on behalf of the children. The decisions of both the United States district court and court of appeals was in favor of the right of the children to refuse to salute. But in 1940 the United States Supreme Court by an eight-to-one vote reversed these lower court decisions and ruled that the government had the authority to compel respect for the flag as a key symbol of national unity. Minersville v. Gobitis [a printer’s error has enshrined a misspelling of the Gobitas name in legal records] was not, however, the last legal word on the subject. In 1943 the Supreme Court by a six-to-three vote in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, another case involving the Jehovah’s Witnesses, reconsidered its decision in Gobitis and held that the right of free speech guaranteed in the First Amendment to the Constitution denies the government the authority to compel the saluting of the American flag or the recitation of the pledge of allegiance.
There had been strong public reaction against the Gobitis decision, which had been written by Justice Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965). In the court term immediately following the decision, Frankfurter noted in his scrapbook that Justice William O. Douglas (1898-1980) told him that Justice Hugo LaFayette Black (1886-1971) had changed his mind about the Gobitis case. Frankfurter asked, “Has Hugo been re-reading the Constitution during the summer?” Douglas replied, “No–he has been reading the papers.”1 The Library’s William Gobitas Papers showcase the perspective of a litigant, whereas the abstract legal considerations raised by Gobitis and other cases are represented in the papers of numerous Supreme Court justices held by the Manuscript Division.
1. Quoted in H. N. Hirsch, The Enigma of Felix Frankfurter (New York: Basic Books, 1981), 152.
John E. Haynes and David Wigdor, Manuscript Division
Second page, Billy Gobitas's explanation of why he will not salute the U.S. flag: "I do not salute the flag not because I do not love my country but I love my country and I love God more and I must obey His commandments." - Library of Congress
Supreme Court justices do not often get a chance to reconsider their decisions. For example, overturning Plessy vs. Ferguson from 1896 took until 1954 in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. In the flag salute/pledge of allegiance cases Justice Hugo Black had a change of mind, and when a similar case from West Virginia fell on the Court’s doorstep in 1943, the earlier Gobitis decision was reversed.
Writing for the majority, Justice Robert H. Jackson said:
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, and all other Americans, thereby have the right to refuse to say what they and their faith consider to be a vain oath.
And that, boys and girls, is what the First Amendment means.
Resources:
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
10 Comments | Advanced Placement, DBQ sources, First Amendment, Historic documents, History, Religion, Religious Freedom | Tagged: Advanced Placement Government, DBQ sources, First Amendment, Flag Day, Historic documents, History, Pledge of Allegiance, Religion, Religious Freedom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 25, 2009
From the Library of Congress description:
Soldier’s memorial day. 1870
Perkins, W. O. (William Oscar), 1831-1902
OTHER TITLES
First line: When flow’ry summer is at hand
Chorus: Gentle birds above are sweetly singing
CREATED/PUBLISHED
Boston, Massachusetts, Oliver Ditson & Co., 1870
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Heroes, Historic documents, History, Holidays, veterans, War | Tagged: Historic documents, History, Holidays, Memorial Day, Sheet Music, veterans, War | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
May 23, 2009
In a drawer in a file box in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., is a study in black ink on white paper, lines that resemble those images most of us have of the first Wright Bros. flyer, usually dubbed “Kittyhawk” after the place it first took to the air.
Drawing 1 from patent granted to Orville Wright for a flying machine
The patent was issued on May 22, 1906, to Orville Wright, Patent No. 821393, for a “flying machine.”
It makes more sense if you turn the drawing on its side.
Wright Bros. flying machine, from patent drawing
Why did it take three years to get the patent issued?
Below the fold, the rest of the patent.
Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | Airplanes, DBQ sources, Historic documents, History, History images, Images, Invention, Patents, Science, Technology | Tagged: Airplane, Aviation, Flying, Historic documents, History, History images, May 22 1906, Patents, Science, Technology, Wright Brothers | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
March 16, 2009
TO RICHARD HENRY LEE
Dear Dickey:
I thank you very much for the pretty picture book you
gave me. Sam asked me to show him the pictures and I
showed him all the pictures in it; and I read to him how
the lame elephant took care of the master’s little son. I
can read three or four pages sometimes without missing
a word. Ma says I may go to see you and stay all day
with you next week if it be not rainy. She says I may
ride my pony Hero if Uncle Sam will go with me and lead
Hero. I have a little piece of poetry about the picture
book you gave me, but I mustn’t tell you who wrote the
poetry.
G. W.’s compliments to R.H.L.,
And likes his book full well,
Henceforth will count him his friend,
And hopes many happy days he may spend.
Your good friend,
George Washington
Letter to a very young Richard Henry Lee, from a very young George Washington
It’s one of the earliest samples of George Washington’s writing we have. I don’t have a date for the letter, but it is likely to have been prior to 1743, when his father died. This letter was probably written before George was 11.
Can you imagine George Washington as a giggling little boy? He was. We have the letters to prove it. I like this letter simply because it offers a view of George Washington too rarely thought of or talked about.
Richard Henry Lee remained a friend of Washington’s until Washington died. Lee was the man who made the motion at the 2nd Continental Congress that the colonies declare independence from England. Lee was about a month older than Washington, born January 20, 1732. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and was President of the Continental Congress.
That these two men were childhood friends is a delightful little historical nugget.
Grant Wood's famous 1939 painting illustrating Parson Weems telling the story of George Washington's honesty. "Parson Weems' Fable" hangs in the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
Grant Wood, the great American painter, couldn’t imagine Washington as a boy, either. This painting, showing Parson Weems’s version of a story about Washington’s honesty that has not held up to scrutiny as accurate, shows the difficulty Wood expressed: Washington is portrayed as a child with an adult, bewigged head — a homonculus. The painting hangs in the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.
Maybe some of your troubling students will grow up good and honest, too. Do we know what would push our students to be such model citizens? Do we know what influenced Washington?
Adult influences in Washington’s early life were not so good as some might imagine. His father died when he was 11. At some point he became estranged from his mother, with her repeated accusations that all her children ignored her (to Washington’s great embarrassment). Washington’s other great adult male influence was his half-brother Lawrence. George was sent to live with his Lawrence, but Lawrence died in 1752, when George was turning 20. Also, Washington got little direction from him after he went to sea with the British.
By the time he was 20, Washington was a military commander in the Virginia militia, making adult decisions and living in an adult world. Where did his childhood go? What was it that enabled him to pick himself up and aspire to greatness so often, in so many different ways? What was it bent the twig of the childhood Washington, who grew into the great man the adult Washington became?
You can find this letter in William B. Allen’s George Washington, A Collection, 1998 Liberty Fund. Liberty Fund wishes to spread these works as far as possible, and so has made the book available on-line. It is loaded with materials great for DBQs in AP classes, and other readings that should inspire discussion by students and assignments from teachers that make students think.
He may not have chopped down a cherry tree, but Washington most certainly was a child. What will our students make of this letter?
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
1 Comment | DBQ sources, George Washington, Heroes, Historic documents, History, History Methods and Tools, Presidents | Tagged: DBQ, George Washington, Heroes, Historic documents, History, Presidents | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 29, 2009
Oops, missed this anniversary date!
First page of patent granted to Thomas Edison on January 27, 1880 -- for light bulb
Thomas Alva Edison got a patent for “electric-lamp” on January 27, 1880.
According to the Our Documents site:
In 1878 the creation of a practical long-burning electric light had eluded scientists for decades. With dreams of lighting up entire cites, Edison lined up financial backing, assembled a group of brilliant scientists and technicians, and applied his genius to the challenge of creating an effective and affordable electric lamp. With unflagging determination, Edison and his team tried out thousands of theories, convinced that every failure brought them one step closer to success. On January 27, 1880, Edison received the historic patent embodying the principles of his incandescent lamp that paved the way for the universal domestic use of electric light.
(Information excerpted from American Originals by Stacey Bredhoff; [Seattle and London; The University of Washington Press, 2001] p. 62–63.
Our Documents grew out of the National Archives list of 100 milestone documents important to American history — Edison’s patent application was voted one of the top 100. Our Documents is now a joint exercise combining the efforts of the National Archives, National History Day, and USA Freedom Corps.
Page from Edison's application for patent for an "electric lamp" - National Archives
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
10 Comments | 100 Milestone Documents of U.S. History, DBQ sources, Government, Historic documents, History, History images, Invention, Technology, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: 100 Mileston Documents of U.S. History, 1880, Historic documents, History, Light Bulb, Patents, Technology, Thomas Edison | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
January 28, 2009
It’s either a sign of how old wounds have healed, or it’s another step in the cryptic and slow, cold war in which the South works to overcome the victory of the Union in the Civil War.
Ulysses S Grant as a Lt. General; photo by Alexander Gardner, Library of Congress image
Associated Press reports (via Federal News Radio) the papers of President Ulysses S Grant will move from the University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale, to Mississippi State University, in Starkville, Mississippi.
The fact that a collection about a Union hero who helped topple the Confederacy has wound up in Dixie is not lost on [John Marszalek, a Civil War scholar and Mississippi State history professor emeritus who’s now shepherding the collection].
“There’s an irony in it,” he said with a laugh. “People recognize this for its scholarly worth, and I think what has happened over time is that people have come to realize that the Civil War is over and we’re a united nation again.”
Still, Grant’s return to the South doesn’t thrill Cecil Fayard Jr., the Mississippi-based leader of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
“U.S. Grant is not beloved in the state of Mississippi. Southern folks remember well his brutal and bloody tactics of war, and the South will never forget the siege of Vicksburg,” he said.
The Ulysses S. Grant Association, which owns the papers, decided to move them at the request of Marzsalek, who was named conservator after the death of John Y. Simon, the historian who had curated the collection during the publication of more than 30 volumes of Grants papers, beginning in 1962. Simon lost his professorship at SIU last year, and died in July 2008.
The modern concept of a presidential library did not exist until 1939. The first such library was the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Par, New York, established with papers donated in 1939. There are now official libraries, parts of the U.S. National Archives system, for Herbert Hoover (who preceded FDR) in West Branch, Iowa, Harry Truman, in Independence, Missouri, Dwight Eisenhower, in Abilene, Kansas, John Kennedy, at Harvard University near Boston, Lyndon Johnson at the University of Texas, Austin, Richard Nixon at Yorba Linda, California, Gerald Ford library at Ann Arbor and museum (still under construction) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Jimmy Carter in Atlanta, Ronald Reagan at Simi Valley, California, George H. W. Bush at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, and Bill Clinton in Little Rock. George W. Bush is working to establish a library and institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, the library an extension of the National Archives, and the institute modeled roughly after the Herbert Hoover Institution affiliated with Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are honored with institutions, too. Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, Virginia, is held by the Ladies of Mount Vernon Association, which originally saved the mansion; the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is in Springfield, Illinois. Neither of those institutions has much formal tie to the federal library system.
Because of their places in history, even at the risk of enlarging the institutionalness and management problems of these libraries, I would like to see libraries established for Theodore Roosevelt, perhaps in South Dakota; for Woodrow Wilson; For Andrew Jackson, probably near his home in Tennessee; and for John Adams and/or John Quincy Adams, outside of Boston. These institutions could bolster the spread of knowledge and preservation of history of our freedoms and liberties; if we were rich, it would be useful and productive to put libraries in Ohio — for William Howard Taft, or for Taft and Garfield and Buchanan — and far upstate New York for Millard Fillmore, perhaps at the University of Buffalo. Libraries honoring James Madison and James Monroe could be useful, too, but would put a great concentration of such institutions close to Charlottesville, Virginia.
Resources:
Under the fold: Quotations from U. S. Grant, from the Grant papers collection.
Read the rest of this entry »
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Leave a Comment » | Civil War, Historic documents, History, Libraries, Museums, Presidents | Tagged: Civil War, Historic documents, History, Libraries, Mississippi State University, Museums, President Grant's papers, Presidential Library, University of Southern Illinois | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 