In case you don’t recognize the source of the post title, it’s from the Wizard of Oz (the film). All four travelers are in the Emerald City, awed by the Wizard, and then Toto pulls aside a little curtain to reveal an ordinary person. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” says the…… Continue reading The Man Behind the Curtain
Author: Megan
Quickpost: update on Wilderness
Rather than reiterate, I’ll just redirect: good update on the current court case from the NTHP on their blog.
Conincidence or Serendipity
My master’s thesis grew out of an internship at the National Museums of Scotland, checking a transcription of the only extant early 18th century Edinburgh goldsmith’s ledger and doing some digging into the goldsmith’s life. Within a few weeks of working with the ledger I knew that I wanted to study it extensively, and that…… Continue reading Conincidence or Serendipity
Important Lessons in History
In some ways, being a historian is like being a detective. Yet, where Sherlock Holmes (and his real-life counterparts) could look at many disparate clues and say “this is what must have happened!” This is not how history works. A murderer or robber will probably have one motive, but historical events are the result of…… Continue reading Important Lessons in History
Fight continues over historic battlefield
The National Trust for Historic Preservation and six individuals are suing Orange County to try and overturn the August decision to let WalMart build on Wilderness Battlefield. Fredericksburg news reports that the National Parks Conservation Association and the Civil War Preservation Trust are asking to be included.
Reading Sherlock Holmes
Preface: this was written as an entry for a contest on the blog of author Laurie R. King. I didn’t win, but thought I might post it here, with a little introduction for relevance. I grew up with mysteries as a form of entertainment: the program Mystery! on PBS, and books like the Encyclopedia Brown…… Continue reading Reading Sherlock Holmes
Lost Causes
When I’m not reading history essays and biographies, I like a good mystery (I also like a good historical romance, but that’s a story for another time). Today’s read is by an author who I’ve read before, Sharyn McCrumb, but a series I have not, starring one Elizabeth MacPherson. I’m reading the first in the…… Continue reading Lost Causes
Briefly
In June of 2010, Oxford University Press is publishing a book titled The Passport in America: the History of a Document. The blub on the book in their Spring/Summer 2010 catalogue leads me to believe that this book should offer some insight into a topic I posted about earlier – what exactly makes a person…… Continue reading Briefly
A quote, a book, a whole discipline!
One of the books I received this year for Christmas* was Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, a book of essays on women in history. The title is her most-quoted soundbite, taken from an essay on gravestones which forms part of her first book, Good Wives. The quote, with “rarely” used in place…… Continue reading A quote, a book, a whole discipline!
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?