A post for Finding Ada Day, focused on the life and influence of Maria Mitchell
Category: Era
Citizenship and National Identity
This morning on NPR I heard a story about the push for immigration reform, and a rally in Washington to happen this weekend. Senator Russell Pearce of Arizona, who apparently opposes reform, said of the pro-reform marchers “They’re as treasonous and as un-American as anyone I know.” The quote came on the heels of a…… Continue reading Citizenship and National Identity
Christmases Past: what happens next?
With the close of the 18th century, we run into a sort of black hole of information about how people celebrated Christmas. The next big era everyone looks at is the Victorian era, when Christmas trees come into vogue and many of the “Christmas Traditions” we take for granted are first introduced. None of this…… Continue reading Christmases Past: what happens next?
Christmases Past: the Eighteenth Century
Fans of the eighteenth century who are curious about Christmas in the American colonies have a number of excellent resources: colonial-era historic sites have dug into records and primary sources to try and find a historical way to interpret Christmas. I’m briefly going to try and describe what Christmas was (and wasn’t) in the 18th…… Continue reading Christmases Past: the Eighteenth Century
Christmases Past: Knox, Cromwell, and Co.
When considering the history of Christmas in the early American republic, it’s essential to understand the history of Christmas in Britain. Not all of the population of the first states were British in origin, but the government had been. What most people do not know is that Christmas was banned in England in the 17th…… Continue reading Christmases Past: Knox, Cromwell, and Co.
A Christmas Quote
(possibly the first of a few) One of the fun aspects of working with historic documents is seeing annual events through other people’s eyes. I initially found this quote from an 1834 Christmastime letter to be entertaining in a macabre way (I first read it shortly after Halloween). On reflection, it seems to parallel a…… Continue reading A Christmas Quote
What makes a citizen?
Working as I do with a focus on the period between 1780 and 1830, the War of 1812 frequently drifts into focus. It is not a war with which I was very familiar when I started at this job, and I still think there’s a lot more I could know about it (although I have…… Continue reading What makes a citizen?
Little Bitty Books
Today I went to the local U to their special collections (the joys of working for a historic site!). In one of the boxes I requested were books – three larger ones and then a series of small ones. I mean small – less than two inches wide and at best three inches tall. Most…… Continue reading Little Bitty Books
Quote from Miss Ann Maury, March 9, 1832
Miss Ann Maury was born and raised in England to an English mother and an American father. James Maury, her father, was consul at Liverpool from 1790 to 1829. She kept a diary, and part of it has been published, from the 1830s after her family moved (back) to the United States. She writes that…… Continue reading Quote from Miss Ann Maury, March 9, 1832
Quote on History
“Human nature is the same in every age if we make allowance for the difference of customs & Education, so that we learn to know ourselves by studying the opinions and passions of others” -William Bradford (paraphrasing Hume) in a letter to James Madison, October [1772], original in the collection of the Historical Society of…… Continue reading Quote on History