Footnotables

Teddy v 50 Cent

2011-03-22T13:49:00.007-06:00

Someone sent me this link to an image contrasting the way 50 Cent and Teddy Roosevelt responded to being shot.

Historically a bit inaccurate as we learned in this post, but very clever all the same.

"50 Cent, is that all you've got?"

Washington Reports The Surrender at Yorktown

2010-10-19T09:19:00.000-06:00

The last major battle of the American Revolutionary War ended on 19 October 1781 when Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia to a combined force from the Continental and French armies under the command of General George Washington.

Here's a letter that General Washington wrote to tell congress about the victory, from The Papers of the Continental Congress on Fold3:

And here are a few other interesting items related to the Battle of Yorktown from the Papers of the Continental Congress:

A list of clothing and other goods taken from the British captives.

An accounting of the prisoners by rank and unit.

A copy of the terms of the surrender.

They Don't Make Them Like Teddy Anymore

2010-10-14T09:56:00.005-06:00

I've sometimes wondered if Teddy Roosevelt deserved to be immortalized next to Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln in the granite of Mt Rushmore.

It's always seemed like he may have benefited from the tendency toward recentness in "best of" lists. But, this week I ran across two stories from Octobers past that are starting to change my mind. In fact, if I keep finding things like this I may rename this blog, "The Roosevelt Chronicles."

Story #1: Teddy's First Flight

On 11 October 1910, just a few years after the Wright Brother's first successful heavier-than-air human flight, while visiting a flying exhibition in St Louis, Roosevelt was invited to take a ride with Archie Hoxsey, a Wright aviator. Roosevelt accepted the invitation, hopped into the plane (well, OK, as this video on the Library of Congress website shows, he struggled his way through all the lines and guy-wires that held the thing together) and took a couple of loops around the field.

While in the air, Roosevelt was so excited and waved so enthusiastically to the crowd that "Hoxsey was afraid he would fall out or interfere with the engine, which was roaring at his side," and had to shout to tell "the Colonel" to calm down.

The crowd was stunned silent during the flight, but erupted into cheers once the plane landed.

When the flight was over and Roosevelt was on the ground again, he shook Hoxsey's hand vigorously and said, "It was great! First class! It was the finest experience I have had. I wish I could stay up for an hour, but I haven't the time this afternoon."

Story #2: Roosevelt, Shot While Campaigning, Gives Speech with Bullet in Chest

While on his way to a campaign speech in Milwaukee on 14 October 1912, Roosevelt was shot in the chest by John Schrank who apparently didn't like the idea of Roosevelt running for a third term.

The assailant was subdued and brought to Roosevelt who asked him to explain himself. When Schrank didn't reply, Roosevelt headed off to the auditorium and spoke for an hour and a half.

Following his speech, Roosevelt, "weak from loss of blood," was taken to the hospital where an x-ray revealed the bullet lodged near his lung.

The 20 July Plot

2010-07-20T09:23:00.003-06:00

On July 20, 1944 a group of German military leaders launched a failed attempt to blow up Adolf Hitler and remove the Nazis from power.

For years, officers of the German military had been conspiring to overthrow Hitler and other assassination attempts had been made, but the 20 July plot seems to have been the most elaborate and well thought out.

The plot has inspired several books and movies, including the 2008 film Valkyrie which stars Tom Cruise as Count Claus von Stauffenberg, the man who planted the bomb intended to blow up Hitler and then returned to Berlin to help with the coup that was to follow.

The WWII Foreign Military Studies on Fold3 include some interesting information about the 20 July plot including...

A description of the plot by Otto Ernst Remer, leader of the home guard units that helped put down the coup attempt:

A description of the impact of the failed plot by Percy Ernst Schramm, professor of medieval and modern history at the University of Goettingen, formerly Major in the Reserve Corps, and officer in charge of keeping the war diary of the Wehrmacht Operations Staff:

Ludwig Kaiser's report on the events leading up to coup attempt, which he calls the Goerdeler Movement after Carl Friedrich Goerdeler who would have served as the chancellor of the new government if the plot had succeeded. Kaiser's report begins with the German government's official statements on the plot and proceeds to describe events and discussions that lead of the 20 July:

This YouTube video provides a brief overview of the events and this one includes the audio of the speech Hitler gave after the attempt on his life. You can see some pictures and learn all sorts of details from this Wikipedia page.

Free Access to Historical Newspapers

2010-05-06T09:45:00.005-06:00

Fold3 has opened up access to their historical newspapers for the month of May. You'll have to register to see some of them, but it's free.

Historical newspapers are full of entertaining, informative and downright strange things.There are some great newspapers on the site. A few of my favorites are:

The Times (London) 1785-1820; 1860-1865; 1914-1919
The Times provides a great perspective on world and US events. You can browse by date here or read more and search here.

The San Francisco Chronicle (California) 1865-1923
This is a great paper that manages to combine a frontier feel with in-depth reporting on local, national and world issues. Browse or learn more.

The Atlanta Constitution (Georgia) 1868-1923
The Constitution provides a unique, southern viewpoint. Browse or learn more.

The Chicago Tribune (Illinois) 1829-1943
A great newspaper for a northern and mid-west perspective, but they did a great job reporting national and world news as well. Browse or learn more.

Tax Day

2010-04-15T08:56:00.002-06:00

Here's the document we have to thank for this tax day:

The 16th Amendment to the US Constitution was passed by the 61st Congress on July 12, 1909 and ratified by 2/3 of the states February 3, 1913.

Here's the 1040 form for 1913:

Hasn't really changed that much in 96 years, but we do get an extra month and a half to file.

WWII in Italy: Flooded Airfields, Muddy Ball Turrets and Dragons

2010-02-16T11:33:00.005-07:00

As a follow up to this post about the life of a ball turret gunner, it seems that life for those boys could get worse in the rainy season.

Here's a picture of an airfield in Italy that was flooded after some heavy rains.

The muddy landing strips made the ball turret gunner's life even less pleasant:

While we're in the area, he's some great nose art on a B-24 Liberator:

The dog doesn't seem to know what to make of it.

War: Bringing People Together

2010-02-04T09:58:00.003-07:00

I don't know anything about any of the people in this picture, but when I read the caption,

"In Addition To His Other Duties, Pvt. Morris Glieberman Of New York City Was Barber For The Yank Expedition. Here, He Teaches Naga Headhunters To Cut Hair, Using Pfc. Jack Elston Of Salt Lake City, Utah As The Victim."

I couldn't help but think, "So, a Mormon, a Jew and a headhunter walk into this bar[bershop]."

Miep Gies Dies at Age 100

2010-01-12T16:01:00.003-07:00

Miep Gies
15 February 1909 – 11 January 2010

From NPR.org:

Miep Gies, who helped Anne Frank and her family avoid capture by the Nazis for more than two years and safeguarded the young Holocaust victim's famous diary for posterity, has died at age 100.

From CNN.com:

Gies was among a team of Dutch citizens who hid the Frank family of four and four others in a secret annex in Amsterdam, Netherlands, during World War II... She worked as a secretary for Anne Frank's father, Otto, in the front side of the same Prinsengracht building.

The family stayed in the secret room from July 1942 until August 4, 1944, when they were arrested by Gestapo and Dutch police after being betrayed by an informant. Two of Gies' team were arrested that day, but she and her friend, Bep Voskuijl, were left behind -- and found 14-year-old Anne's papers.

From BBC.co.uk:

It was Mrs Gies who collected up Anne's papers and locked them away, hoping that one day she would be able to give them back to the girl.
In the event, she returned them to Otto Frank, who survived the war, and helped him compile them into a diary that was published in 1947.
... "We did our duty as human beings: helping people in need."

Survivor of Two Atomic Bomb Blasts Dies at Age 93

2010-01-11T09:35:00.006-07:00

On Jan 6, 2010, Tsutomu Yamaguchi died. Mr Yamaguchi had the distinction of being the only officially recognized survivor of atomic bombings at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Sometime last year, while I was looking through the World War II Air Force photos collection and doing some research on those first atomic bombs, I came across this 2005 article by Richard Lloyd Parry who interviewed Mr Yamaguchi along with his coworkers and fellow survivors Akira Iwanaga and Kuniyoshi Sato (there is a slightly shorter version republished in March of 2009 with a couple of photos here.) Parry explained that,

"In 1945, they were working in Hiroshima, where the world's first atomic bomb exploded on August 6... One hundred and forty thousand people died as a result of the explosion; by chance, Mr Yamaguchi, Mr Sato and Mr Iwanaga were spared. Stunned and injured, reeling from the horrors around them, they left the city for their home town, Nagasaki, 180 miles to the west. There, on 9th August, the second atomic bomb exploded over their heads."

These survivors' descriptions of the scenes during and after the bombings are vivid and shocking and provide a powerful reminder of just how terrible a weapon an atomic bomb is.

Some of the photos of the aftermath of the atomic bomb blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki have a similar effect:

'View of Hiroshima taken from Red Cross hospital building about a mile from focal point of blast."

Nagasaki: "A street through a formerly congested residential area... 1,000 ft. northeast of atom bomb burst."

Hopefully stories like Mr Yamaguchi's will be retold and remembered so that they will never be repeated.

The Tangled Tale of Topsy the Elephant

2010-01-05T13:49:00.004-07:00

Yesterday marked the 97th anniversary of the electrocution of Topsy the elephant.

For those of you not familiar with Topsy's sad story...

Topsy was a domesticated elephant who, as a baby, was popular with children, but got into trouble later in life. Reports say that she, "killed two men in Texas and a third in Brooklyn borough after he had fed her a lighted cigaret."

Topsy was part of a circus at Coney Island's Luna Park and her owners decided that she should be put to sleep and that they could take advantage of the opportunity. They announced that she would be executed for murder and invited people to come see the spectacle.

The original plan seems to have been to hang Topsy, but either the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals objected, or Topsy wouldn't walk out onto the gallows, or both, so a new plan was required.

At the time, Thomas Edison was busy trying to get people to adopt his Direct Current (DC) as the standard for electricity by electrocuting animals using the rival Alternating Current (AC) advocated by Nicola Tesla and Westinghouse. Topsy's case must have seemed the perfect opportunity for Edison and he proposed execution by electrocution.

On January 4, 1903, Topsy was wired up, fed some poisoned carrots (just in case) and then had 6,600 volts of AC passed through her. Within seconds, as the Atlanta Constitution reported, "Topsy, the man-killer, was no more," but she became a national celebrity.

As many as 1,500 people witnessed the event and newspapers around the country reported it.

The Atlanta Constitution

San Francisco Chronicle

Chicago Tribune

To help with his campaign, Edison filmed the event and showed the film to audiences around the country. Today, Edison's movie is available on YouTube:

You can learn more about Topsy on Wikipedia, from this article at Wired, or from this interesting webpage about Coney Island's Luna Park. Those with a darker sense of humor may enjoy the blog Topsy: the Electrocuted Elephant.

New Year's Art

2009-12-30T11:18:00.006-07:00

In preparation for the new year, I looked at some old newspapers to see what the front page held on January firsts past. In my brief survey, I found several treatments of the Old Father Time and the baby New Year theme:

The Chicago Tribune 1 January 1900

The Chicago Tribune 1 January 1911

The Atlanta Constitution 1 January 1922

The Poughkeepsie Journal 1 January 1924

And then I came across this very odd image from the San Francisco Chronicle of 1 January 1920

I'm not sure who these people are, but they seem happy about starting the 20s.

It was interesting to see the juxtaposition of the Happy New Year messages with the sensational and generally negative headlines on the front pages.

Most of the papers gathered stories of tragedy, murder and death from around the country to spice up the front page, which probably worked on most days, but seem a little out of place on a page with Happy New Year emblazoned across the top of it.

That 1920 San Francisco Chronicle is a good example. Headlines sharing the front page with the strange New Year's revelers include:

"35 Poison 'Rum' Cases Bared by S.F. Officials"
"Hunter Drowned, Companion Near Death as Result of Boat Mishap"
"Poison Whisky Factory Found, Officers Say"
"Woman Plunges Knife to Hilt in Man Refusing to Clear Her Name"
"Shots Fired at Police Captain"
"U.S. Building is Set on Fire"
"Four Scalded to Death in Steamer Explosion"
"3 Motorists Hurt in Jitney Collision"
"Four Women Shot by Baltimore Celebrants"

Happy New Year in deed. Here's hoping 2010 rings in on a better note.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

2009-12-07T09:48:00.006-07:00

This urgent radiogram to "All ships present at Hawaiin Area" announced the December 7, 1941 attack on the US Pacific Fleet based in Pearl Harbor:

The surprise attack damaged all eight battleships anchored in the harbor and caused over 3,000 American casualties.

1,177 died on the USS Arizona and are remembered with a memorial that was built over the top of the still visible remains of the battleship which lies at the bottom of the harbor.

The memorial includes a wall with the names of those killed on the Arizona in 1941 and a place for those who have died since and had their remains "interred with their shipmates."

On Footnote, you'll find an interactive image of the memorial wall where you can learn more about those who died or if you have images or stories about someone whose name appears, you can add them.

The day after the attack, President Franklin D Roosevelt delivered his famous "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress. In his speech, Roosevelt asked Congress to declare that, since the attack on Pearl Harbor, a state of war had existed between the United States and the Empire of Japan. You can hear the full six and a half minute speech on this Wikipedia page.

Within an hour of the speech, Congress passed a formal declaration of war which Roosevelt signed, bringing the United States into World War II.

In honor of Pearl Harbor Day, Footnote is making their WWII collection free during December. You can read more on the Footnote Blog or see the World War II collection here.

The Gunboat Philadelphia

2009-12-04T22:33:00.000-07:00

The National Museum of American History's website has this nice page about the Continental Gunboat Philadelphia.

The Gunboat Philadelphia is the oldest surviving American fighting vessel. Built in 1776, it was sunk in Lake Champlain during a naval battle with the British in the same year. The Continental Congress authorized the building of this 54 foot, 29-ton gunboat and eight other similar vessels for the defense of the Champlain Valley - the northern frontier of the colonies considered the key to the success or failure of the American Revolution. In the summer of 1776, under the leadership of the charismatic and controversial Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, Philadelphia and her sister-ships were hurriedly organized into what historians consider “the first American Navy.”

Here's the page from Transcript Journals of the Continental Congress (part of the Papers of the Continental Congress) where congress resolves, "that the president write to governor Cooke requesting him to order fifty ship carpenters to be engaged on the best terms at the expense of the continent and sent to general Schuyler at Albany as soon as possible, in order to build vessels for the defense of the lakes."

You can find some nice pictures of the Philadelphia here and more information about the history of the ship here.

UFO Sightings

2009-12-03T12:16:00.003-07:00

Today's Document of the Day from NARA is UFO report from the Project Blue Book files.

Here's the image on Footnote where you'll find the other 31 pages of the report:

Project Blue Book is full of interesting and mundane reports. Names of people reporting the sightings have been redacted, so you aren't likely to find out if your mother reported a flying saucer, but it's interesting to see the kinds of things that were reported, the way the government collected the data and in many cases, the way they explained the various sightings.

Here are a few other interesting reports from Project Blue Book.

A first hand report of the Flat Woods Monster,

A "Special Report on Conferences with Astronomers on Unidentified Aerial Objects,"

And the occasional picture of an unidentified flying object:

I don't know that you'll find proof of alien life in Project Blue Book, but looking for it can be a lot of fun.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T15:31:00.004-07:00

I meant to post a few tidbits from the history of Thanksgiving last week, but I just never had the time. Here you go, a little late and hoping you had a nice holiday...

The Poughkeepsie Journal publishes President George Washington's declaration of "a Day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer"

The Chicago Tribune prints President Abraham Lincoln's declaration of the last Thursday in November 1863 "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

The December 27, 1941 Poughkeepsie Journal reports on President Franklin D Roosevelt (who in the years previous had moved Thanksgiving earlier to extend the Christmas shopping season) signing a law designating the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving.

And here are some folks from the National Turkey Growers Association presenting President Harry Truman with a Thanksgiving turkey, November 16, 1949.

Using Revolutionary War Pension Files

2009-11-20T09:46:00.003-07:00

A nice post on the NARAtions blog today discusses the value of pension files and links to an interesting example from Footnote.

William Graham was 64 years old when he submitted this document in support of his Revolutionary War pension application in 1820. The pension laws in effect then required him to prove not only his service, but also his need for monetary support. The inventory seen here lists his personal property.

Remembering the Gettysburg Address

2009-11-19T09:12:00.003-07:00

Today is the 146th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.

This brief speech contains what may be Abraham Lincoln's most memorable mistake, "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here."

Here's my transcription of this early draft:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal."

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate...we can not consecrate...we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, while it can never forget what they did here.

It is rather for us, the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us... that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

It's interesting to compare this with the address Lincoln gave (here's the version on the Lincoln Memorial) and see how he worked through the details.

World War I Ends - November 11, 1918

2009-11-11T16:33:00.006-07:00

On November 11, 1918, Germany agreed to the terms of an armistice ending World War 1.

Here are a few newspaper pages reporting the end of the war:

The Chicago Tribune Nov 11, 1918

The Atlanta Constitution - Nov 11, 1918

San Francisco Chronicle Nov 11, 1918

Washington Post Nov 12, 1918

The Times (London) - Nov 12, 1918

NARA Asks for Input on Motion Picture File Formats

2009-11-11T09:51:00.005-07:00

Today, on the NARAtions blog, the folks at the National Archives are asking how we would like them to make their motion picture archives available.

I'm hoping for a streaming solution and one that will make them embeddable. Be sure to give them your input.

In celebration of Veterans Day, here's a WWII news reel from NARA's collection:

D W Griffith's The Birth of a Nation

2009-11-06T17:01:00.004-07:00

D W Griffith's epic 1915 film, The Birth of a Nation, is widely considered Hollywood's first blockbuster.

The movie, which alternates between intimate family shots and grand battle scenes with thousands of actors, includes everything from love scenes to the burning of Atlanta. It introduced new film techniques, and cost the equivalent of over 2 million dollars to make.

This 1915 ad from the Poughkeepsie Journal calls it, "The greatest dramatic narrative of the century" and claims that the film has been "Seen by Over Five Million People."

Admission to the film was $2 (equivalent to about $44 today) and theaters were sold out for days. Here's a December 12, 1915 review in the Atlanta Constitution that describes the "clamors of hundreds turned away."

In this article, Griffith justifies the ticket price and predicts future movie prices as high as $5.

The plot, which is based on Thomas Dixon's novel and play The Clansman (the film was originally released under that title), follows two families, one from the North and the other from the South, before, during and after the Civil War and depicts the Ku Klux Klan rising from the chaos of reconstruction to establish order in the post-war South.

By modern standards, parts of the film are melodramatic and overdone to the point of silliness, but Griffith used all the tools available to him to create a spectacle that moved audiences in 1915 and is still powerful today.

Even in its own day, critics blasted the historical inaccuracies and racist nature of the film. The inflammatory narrative lead to violence against African-Americans and rioting in some locations and several major cities canceled performances of the film.

This 1915 review in the Poughkeepsie Journal focused on the spectacle of the show and concludes with, "The play is, as has often been said, rather partisan, and the reconstruction part very much overdrawn and exaggerated, but it furnishes a thrilling drama with the picturesque Ku Klux to the rescue."

In looking through other contemporary newspaper coverage of the film, it was interesting to see the way people responded to the movie. In some cases, it's hard to know what was hype and promotion and what were sincere expressions, but I was struck by statements like this one from a pre-performance article in the Poughkeepsie Journal extolling the "historical worth of this great spectacle."

This two page ad in the Atlanta Constitution includes many endorsements, including one quoting "Prof. Richard A. Dobbie, Superintendent Norfolk City Schools" as saying, "The Birth of a Nation reproduces historical events with marvelous fidelity."

This ad/article, published before the movie came to Atlanta, mentions that three citizens requested the mayor ban the film and then quotes several people in support of it, including "Mrs. Frank Anthony Walke, president of the Norfolk chapter of the U. D. C." who said: "The Birth of a Nation is wonderful. There are a few things that are not agreeable, but to make history correct this has to be with the pleasant. ... It is a revelation and all southerners should see it and glory in its teachings."

I don't think many people today would consider using Griffith's film to teach history, but the Wikipedia article about it claims that, "As late as the 1970s, the Ku Klux Klan continued to use the film as a recruitment tool."

The Birth of a Nation is now in the public domain. In fact, you can watch it online in its entirety at the Internet Archive, here.

Civil War Photos Online

2009-11-03T18:21:00.001-07:00

A friend at the office sent me a link to this site with a nice collection Civil War era photos from the Library of Congress.

I liked the photo of Lincoln's first inauguration against the backdrop of the Capitol dome under construction, this one of the Old Trinity church with the Capitol in the background and this one taken from the cemetery at Harper's Ferry.

This image of Richmond is particularly striking with the ruins of the Gallego Mills overlooking the river.

Here's a very similar picture that comes from NARA's recent project to put the Brady Photos on Flickr:
The two photos are almost identical, but there are a few small differences and judging from the left bank of the canal, the one from NARA seems to have been taken from a little farther back.

And here's another picture of Richmond's ruined mills from the NARA Photo Stream:
You'll find more information about Gallego mills here and a picture of them before the fire here.

Photos from the Coolidge Years

2009-10-19T11:58:00.008-06:00

One of the fun things about Footnote is finding something interesting in a collection and then just getting lost in surrounding or related documents.

The other night, I got into the Calvin Coolidge photos and used the filmstrip at the bottom of the viewer to browse around.

The Coolidge photos were scanned from microfilm, which gives many of the images a striking, high contrast look which seems appropriate for this shot of Cecil B Demille working on his 1923 silent film, The Ten Commandments:

Cecil B Demille instructs Ramses (Charles de Rochefort) and Moses (Theodore Roberts)

Here are a few other interesting photos I came across.

A cheerful greeting from President Calvin Coolidge

Secretary of Agriculture Henry Cantwell Wallace in Chicago with "the champion canning club team"

President Coolidge as Chief Leading Eagle after being adopted as the first white chief of the Sioux Tribe

Major General James G Harbord and Brigadier General Charles G Dawes "deliver the goods" in Paris

Former President Coolidge, gone fishin'

Doctored Photos

2009-10-17T11:17:00.003-06:00

Here's an interesting Time article about doctored photos starting with an example from the Brady Collection.

A while back, Blake found and interesting example of photo doctoring on Footnote.

Here's a picture of Omaha beach after the D-day invasions, scanned from a mounted card in NARA's image collection:

The planes at the top add to the excitement, but it looks like they were added to the picture. Here's what appears to be the same picture, but without the planes flying overhead:

Update [Oct 21, 2009]: The New York Times is running a seven part series by Errol Morris exploring the manipulation of photos.

Cataloging a Stolen Heritage

2009-10-14T16:35:00.020-06:00

As Allied forces made their way into Germany toward the close of World War II in Europe, US Zone Commanders were instructed to impound certain types of artifacts that the German Reich, Nazi Party and others had taken from individuals and institutions in Germany and countries they had occupied.

The army set up temporary collecting points for the various types of impounded items and then cataloged the collections as they tried to find out where things belonged.

At NARA, the records of these looted items are grouped as the “Ardelia Hall Collection” because Ardelia Hall, the US State Department’s Arts and Monuments Adviser worked extensively with the records from 1954 to 1961.

You can read more details about the collecting points, the process of sorting through the arifacts and the Ardelia Hall collection here.

The other day, I found some interesting things while poking around the Wiesbaden Property Cards from the Ardelia Hall Collection in Footnote's Holocaust Collection (the Ardelia Hall titles are included in a group called Holocaust Era Assets).

Most of the material at the Wiesbaden Collection point came from German holdings, like these from the Staatliche Museen in Berlin:

Caravaggio's Holy Family

Rembrant's Head of Christ

But, some of the works cataloged at Wiesbaden we presumed taken from other countries, like this work by Taesler which may have been from Russia :

Other works came from individuals, like this scene painted by Kobell which may have belonged to Siegfried Reiss:

In many cases, there was no way of knowing where the items came from and for some, the collectors had only a general idea of where the item belonged, as with this portrait by Poeckh, presumed to have a "Jewish Owner":

I don't know what they did with all the items they could not identify, but I came across several works with an note like the following:

"By order of Mr. Theodore A Heinrich Cult. Aff. Adviser Propert. Div. OEA HICOG. This object has been destroyed as being of no historical and arthistorical value."

Is the lack of historical or "arthistorical" value reason enough to destroy someone else's painting?

It made me wonder what Mr Theodore A Heinrich thought about as he ordered the destruction of these stolen pieces of the cultural heritage of nations and people who had suffered so many other tragedies at the hand of the Nazis. Sounds like a pretty tough job. There is more information about Mr Heinrich here.

This picture in particular, with the note, "Destroyed by order of the Director," struck me:

Who was she? Did she have a family? Did a concentration camp administrator order her destruction? Did Allied commanders order a bombing raid that destroyed her home? Was this the only picture there was of her?

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871

2009-10-08T09:12:00.002-06:00

On October 8, 1871 a fire that started in a barn on Chicago's west side grew until it had engulfed nearly 4 square miles of the city.

The Chicago Tribune described the fire as "a conflagration which has no parallel in the annals of history, for the quantity of property destroyed, and the utter and almost irremediable ruin which it wrought." But, rebuilding projects created a boom for the city, paved the way for the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and helped create the Chicago of today.

Digital Holocaust Collection

2009-09-29T09:25:00.003-06:00

Today, Footnote, the National Archives and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum announced the release of an Interactive Digital Holocaust Collection. You can read a press release about it here.

Original historical documents from the National Archives include:

Concentration camp registers and documents from Dachau, Mauthausen, Auschwitz, and Flossenburg.
The "Ardelia Hall Collection" of records relating to the Nazi looting of Jewish possessions, including looted art.
Captured German records including deportation and death lists from concentration camps.
Nuremberg War Crimes Trial proceedings.

You can get to these collections through this page. Footnote is still working to digitize many of these records, but there are already 500,000 images available.

The collection also includes Footnote Pages created for over 600 people who survived or perished in the Holocaust with stories and photos provided by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Pages for each of the major concentration camps of the Holocaust. You can add your own stories, photos links, comments and more to these pages or create a page of your own.

Here's an example Page where I transcribed a 7 May 1945 letter written by Private First Class Harold Porter to his parents from the Dachau concentration camp. Porter describes in detail what he saw upon entering the camp.

Lizzie Borden

2009-09-25T16:19:00.003-06:00

Today I came across this Footnote Page about Lizzie Borden by Edward1026 which brought back memories of my college days and a professor I had who was an expert on the case.

I took a few minutes to see what I could find in contemporary newspaper reports and a few minutes was enough to find...

An Aug 13, 1892 San Francisco Chronicle report of the arraignment of Lizzie Borden, "charging her with the homicide and murder" of her father and stepmother, complete with illustrations.

Here's a similar report from the Aug 13, 1892 Atlanta Constitution

Two days later the Constitution took a stand on the case. You don't see statements like, "New England criminal justice is stupid and barbarous," too often in news reports these days.

Here are reports of Lizzie Borden's acquittal from the San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune and Atlanta Constitution.

Can you find something interesting about Lizzie Borden on Footnote?

Life Publishes New Hemingway Photos

2009-09-23T15:58:00.007-06:00

In 1952, Life magazine published a novella by Ernest Hemingway and wanted some pictures to accompany it. They sent Alfred Eisenstaedt to Cuba, where Hemingway was living, to get some pictures.

The novella, "The Old Man and the Sea" was one of Hemingway's last works and became one of his best known. The issue of Life that included it sold 5.3 million copies in 2 days and the story was required reading by the time I got to high school.

Most of Eisenstaedt's photos were not used in the magazine, but Life has posted the photos to their website.

Sounds like Hemingway made things tough for Eisenstaedt who "would refered "to the experience of shooting “Papa” Hemingway as his most difficult assignment ever."

The Court Marshall of George Armstrong Custer

2009-09-22T19:04:00.001-06:00

From mid-September into October of 1867, a General Court Marshall was held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for then Brevet Major-General George Armstrong Custer.

Custer faced two main charges:

Absence without leave from his command
Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline

Additional charges were brought against Custer for further prejudicing good order and military discipline by giving orders to pursue some supposed deserters and shoot them down without a trial.

You can read the proceedings of the trial starting here.

Here's a page from the testimony of one of the men that Custer instructed to "get on your horse and go after those deserters and shoot them down."

Custer provided a written defense which he said he had "sought to compress ... within the smallest possible compass and if it still seem long, it is because fewer words could no be employed to express what I believe to be a fair and temperate review of the evidence now before you." The written defense rambled for 45 pages.

The Court found Custer guilty on all charges and sentenced him, "to be suspended from rank and command for one year, and forfeit his pay proper for the same time."

In September of 1868, William T Sherman sent this telegraph asking for that Custer be reinstated because of a need for "active young field officers of cavalry":

Other interesting Custer related documents on Footnote include:

A larger number of photos of Custer in the Brady Civil War photos collection. There may be more photos of Custer in the Brady collection than any other individual. It's interesting to watch his hair grow.
An account of the "Scene of the Slaughter of Custer's Command" in the July 7, 1876 Chicago Tribune.
A Civil War Pension Index card for Custer that gives his place of death as "Little Bighorn Riv., Mont.

The US Constitution - 17 September 1787

2009-09-17T14:21:00.005-06:00

On this date in 1787, the Constitutional Convention completed its work on the US Constitution and 39 of the 55 delegates who had worked on it signed their names to the completed document.

Click the image above to see a high resolution image of this page and use the filmstrip below the image to see the other pages of the constitution, the Bill of Rights and the other amendments.

The National Archives has a nice page with a painting of the signers, and links to information about them.

For those of you who like to get into the details, on Footnote you can also browse through the Records of the Constitutional Convention to see what it took to create a new government for the United States.

Wanted: A Brain

2009-08-27T11:17:00.004-06:00

In these tough economic times, you need every edge you can get. Here's a tip from a 1907 ad in the San Francisco Chronicle

The Sacking of Washington DC Aug 24, 1814

2009-08-24T11:06:00.005-06:00

On August 24, 1814 British troops took over Washington DC and burned the Capitol, the President's Mansion, the Treasury and various other public buildings.

George Munger's drawing of the U.S. Capitol following British attempts to burn the building

Woodcut illustration of "The Taking of the City of Washington"

President James Madison Describes the Sacking of Washington DC in a proclamation. Published in the Poughkeepsie Journal, September 14, 1814.

Color Photos From Russia 1909 to 1915

2009-08-18T13:59:00.005-06:00

In 1948 the Library of Congress purchased a collection of color photographs from a photographic survey of Russia made between 1909 and 1912, and again in 1915, by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944).

Photographs from the collection can be viewed on this site. The intro to the project says,

"The photographs of Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) offer a vivid portrait of a lost world--the Russian Empire on the eve of World War I and the coming revolution. His subjects ranged from the medieval churches and monasteries of old Russia, to the railroads and factories of an emerging industrial power, to the daily life and work of Russia's diverse population."

Like the color photos from World War I mentioned in an earlier post, it's amazing how color makes these people and places seem more real and yet, particularly in these photos by Prokudin-Gorskii, the way he produced his color and the subjects he photographed give many of this pictures a remarkable, otherworldly feel.

Here are a few examples from the collection:

"The Emir of Bukhara, Alim Khan (1880-1944), poses solemnly for his portrait, taken in 1911 shortly after his accession."

"Wooden Chapel on the Site of Old Belozersk"

"Ethnic Russian settlers to the Mugan Steppe region, south of the Caucasus Mountains and west of the Caspian Sea..."

"Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Mozhaisk"

"Workers, identified by Prokudin-Gorskii as Greeks, pose while harvesting tea from plants spreading over rolling hills near Chakva, on the east coast of the Black Sea."

"In a photograph taken near Samarkand, an old man, probably an ethnic Tajik, holds birds he has just caught."

Gertrude Ederle: First Woman to Swim the English Channel

2009-07-23T16:15:00.009-06:00

I heard this story about Gertrude Ederle on NPR today. On August 6, 1926, at the age of 20, Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Up to that point only 5 men had done it and she beat all of their times by a significant margin. Sounds like she was a great character, which made me wonder what I could find about her on Footnote.

I put her name in the search and at the top of the results list was her record in the 1930 Census. Here's her whole family. You'll notice that her mom was also named Gertrude:

The second result was her Footnote Page created from the Social Security Death Index, to which I added some photos, a fact and a quote, mentioned in the NPR story, from New York Mayor Jimmy Walker who told Ederle, "When history records the greatest crossings, they will speak of Moses crossing the Red Sea, Caesar the Rubicon and Washington the Delaware, and, frankly, your crossing of the English Channel will take place alongside these."

Then there were several newspaper articles about her including these two from before her swim (Footnote only has the San Francisco Chronicle and Chicago Tribune through 1923):

And this one from The Roundup Record of Musselshell County, Montana defending her swim against criticism from "various English newspapers"

Daniel Shays Draws a Pension

2009-07-14T14:57:00.009-06:00

At the beginning of his book The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution, David O Stewart lays out some of the events that prepared the United States for the constitutional convention that would create a new and more robust system of government.

Stewart describes Shays Rebellion as one of those preparatory events and then mentions that after the rebellion was over, Daniel Shays, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, fled to Vermont, asked for and received a pardon and later drew a pension for his service in the Revolution.

That got me thinking, so I poked around the Footnote site to see what I could find on Mr. Shays.

I found several things related to his military service, including his Revolutionary War Service Record. Here's the first of 17 pages:

He also appears several times in the Revolutionary War Rolls for the Massachusetts 5th Regiment. Here's a muster roll for his company from October of 1779:

And here's a record from the Revolutionary War Pensions collection. After Daniel's death, his wife asked for and received a continuation of the pension he was so generously given despite the fact that he gave his name to Shays Rebellion:

The 58 page pension file even includes this 1945 letter, written in response to a request for information, which reviews details of Shays' service and pension:

14th Amendment to the US Constitution

2009-07-09T10:48:00.005-06:00

NARA's Document of the Day for July 9 is the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution which was ratified on July 9, 1868. The 14th Amendment "extended liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to former slaves."

Here's NARA's write up:

Following the Civil War, Congress submitted to the states three amendments as part of its Reconstruction program to guarantee equal civil and legal rights to black citizens. The major provision of the 14th amendment was to grant citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,” thereby granting citizenship to former slaves. Another equally important provision was the statement that “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The right to due process of law and equal protection of the law now applied to both the Federal and state governments. On June 16, 1866, the House Joint Resolution proposing the 14th amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states. On July 28, 1868, the 14th amendment was declared, in a certificate of the Secretary of State, ratified by the necessary 28 of the 37 States, and became part of the supreme law of the land.

Congressman John A. Bingham of Ohio, the primary author of the first section of the 14th amendment, intended that the amendment also nationalize the Federal Bill of Rights by making it binding upon the states. Senator Jacob Howard of Michigan, introducing the amendment, specifically stated that the privileges and immunities clause would extend to the states “the personal rights guaranteed and secured by the first eight amendments.” Historians disagree on how widely Bingham's and Howard's views were shared at the time in the Congress, or across the country in general. No one in Congress explicitly contradicted their view of the Amendment, but only a few members said anything at all about its meaning on this issue. For many years, the Supreme Court ruled that the Amendment did not extend the Bill of Rights to the states.

Not only did the 14th amendment fail to extend the Bill of Rights to the states; it also failed to protect the rights of black citizens. One legacy of Reconstruction was the determined struggle of black and white citizens to make the promise of the 14th amendment a reality. Citizens petitioned and initiated court cases, Congress enacted legislation, and the executive branch attempted to enforce measures that would guard all citizens’ rights. While these citizens did not succeed in empowering the 14th amendment during the Reconstruction, they effectively articulated arguments and offered dissenting opinions that would be the basis for change in the 20th century.

(Information excerpted from Teaching With Documents [Washington, DC: The National Archives and Records Administration and the National Council for the Social Studies, 1998] p. 40.)

Here's the 14th Amendment from Footnote's American Milestone's Collection:

Footnote also has an interesting collection called Ratified Amendments to the US Constitution that includes documents from the states related to their ratification of the various amendments to the constitution.

Here's an example from the collection. This is a resolution from 13 November 1866 in which "the Legislature of Georgia declines to ratify the" 14th amendment.

By 9 July 1868 two thirds of the states had ratified the amendment, so it became the law of the land. The Georgia legislature ratified the 14th amendment on 21 July 1868 and since that time, all 50 states have ratified the amendment.

Color Photos From World War I

2009-06-10T10:29:00.006-06:00

Today, while looking around these great big internets of ours, I came across this site with some amazing color photos from World War I.

Here are a few of examples:

They are a bit grainy, but the color really brings them to life.

Hitler in Color

2009-06-08T09:57:00.013-06:00

Life just released a collection of Nazi era color photos from Germany.

"Between 1936 and 1945, German photographer Hugo Jaeger was granted unprecedented access to Adolf Hitler, traveling and chronicling, in color, the Fuhrer and his confidants at small gatherings, public events, and, quite often, in private moments. Here, and in several other galleries on LIFE, we now present never-before-published photographs from Jaeger's astonishing -- and chilling -- collection."

Here's one of the collections (you can click to see larger images):

The intimacy of some of the photos--and the addition of color--add an immediacy and an every day feeling that is sometimes missing from the more common black and white, propaganda photos you often see.

This collection, "Adolf Hitler's Private World," includes pictures from inside Hitler's apartments and offices and a picture of a watercolor he painted.

This one, "Hitler Among the Crowds," includes pictures from rallies and other gatherings.

And "Hitler's Humble Beginnings" has pictures of places from Hitler's early life.

Remembering D-Day

2009-06-05T15:12:00.010-06:00

Tomorrow, June 6th, is the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, so today I poked around Footnote to see what kinds of related things I could find.

I didn't get too far because after looking at photos from the WWII Air Force Photos...

Delivering "waterproofed vehicles"

A downed P-47 on a beach in Normandy

...I found some documents in the World War II Foreign Military Studies collection that were so interesting I got stuck reading them. The Foreign Military Studies include reports and other documents from German sources that provide a unique perspective.

Here's a translation of a page from "telephone diary of the 352 infantry division." It begins with early reports of paratroopers and personnel carrying gliders and then continues through the invasion by sea.

If you click through to the image you can get to the other pages
of the diary using the filmstrip at the bottom of the viewer

And here's page one of a translation of Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter's account of "The Battle of the 716th Infantry Division in Normandy." He describes German preparations, the weather and the events of the initial invasion and the days following.

Again, you can use the filmstrip to see the rest of the report.

You'll find these images and more about D-Day on this Footnote Page. The page is open for contributions, so if you have something you'd like to share about D-Day, you can add to the page too.

National Archives Recovers Lost Lincoln Letter

2009-05-29T09:23:00.006-06:00

I heard a nice NPR story on the way home last night about this letter from Abraham Lincoln that was just returned to the National Archives:

"The National Archives on Thursday added a new prize to its collection of historic documents — a letter written in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln.

"Lincoln penned the two-sentence missive about a personnel issue to Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase on executive mansion stationery on Nov. 14, 1863 — just five days before delivering the Gettysburg Address."

The Interactive Vietnam Wall

2009-05-22T09:27:00.006-06:00

This morning I saw this story on The Washington Times' website about the Interactive Vietnam Wall. Seems like a good reminder with Memorial Day coming up.

Things have changed a little with The Interactive Wall since we released it last year. Contributions to someone on the Wall are now automatically added to a Footnote Person Page for that person

and those pages are also available in the new I Remember application on Facebook.

Of course, Footnote Pages and I Remember aren't limited to the Vietnam Memorial Wall. You can use them to share your remembrances of anyone who has been important to you.

Happy Memorial Day.

The Life of a Ball Turret Gunner

2009-05-14T08:56:00.004-06:00

From the yes, a picture is worth a thousand words file, here are a few images of ball turret gunners from World War II. Imagine spinning around in one of these, thousands of feet off the ground, with flak exploding around you.

Celebrating the Surrender of Germany

2009-05-07T10:13:00.007-06:00

NARA's Document of the Day celebrates the 44th anniversary of the surrender of Germany from WWII on May 7, 1945.

"Jubilant American soldier hugs motherly English woman and victory smiles light the faces of happy service men and civilians at Piccadilly Circus, London, celebrating Germany's unconditional surrender. England, May 7, 1945." (ARC Identifier: 531280); Signal Corps Photographs of American Military Activity, 1754 - 1954; Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 - 1982; Record Group 111; National Archives.

The unconditional surrender of the German Third Reich was signed in the early morning hours of Monday, May 7, 1945 at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) at Reims in northeastern France. Present were representatives of the four Allied Powers—France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States—and the three Germany officers delegated by German President Karl Doenitz—Gen. Alfred Jodl, who had alone been authorized to sign the surrender document; Maj. Wilhelm Oxenius, an aide to Jodl; and Adm. Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, one of the German chief negotiators. Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, SHAEF chief of staff, led the Allied delegation as the representative of General Eisenhower, who had refused to meet with the Germans until the surrender had been accomplished.

This image got me poking around the World War II Army Air Force Photos on Footnote. Here are a couple of interesting ones.

US Serviceman reviewing a ballot while sitting on the tail wing of a downed German plane.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth meets with US Servicemen.

Occasionally, when looking through these photos we come across some color ones. Today after looking through a few of them I decided to create a Footnote Page where I could collect them.

I'll keep adding to the page, and if you find any, you are welcome to add them too.

seekingmichigan.org

2009-05-06T11:51:00.004-06:00

This morning I as poking around seekingmichigan.org. The Library of Michigan and Archives of Michigan have been putting together this site:

To enrich quality of life by providing access to unique historical information that promotes Michigan’s cultural heritage. We define cultural heritage as the stories of Michigan’s families, homes, businesses, communities and landscapes as told by unique source documents, maps, films, images, oral histories and artifacts.

You can search the site, use the "Discover" section to browse the site's resources or read interesting tidbits that have been pulled into a blog in the "Look" section. The "Teach" section is another blog that provides "Ideas for teaching kids to Seek, Discover, and Look at Michigan’s Stories."

The site includes some great primary documents including maps ( always a personal favorite), WPA Property Inventories, civil war photographs and more.

Perhaps the most ambitious project is digitizing 1,000,000 Michigan Death Records from 1897-1920. They are about 1/3 of the way through the project, so if you are looking for someone who died in Michigan in those years Seeking Michigan could be a good place to start.

This is a great site. Hopefully we'll see more from it and more like it in the future.

Nuclear Explosions Working For Your Future

2009-05-01T17:01:00.001-06:00

The Pandemic of 1918-1919

2009-04-29T14:44:00.002-06:00

Here's a great site from the US Departments of Health and Human Services with details about the Influenza Pandemic that occurred in three waves in the United States throughout 1918 and 1919.

The site includes background information, details by state, biographies of influential people and more.

Thanks to the World History Blog for finding this.

Johnson Defeats Jeffries 4 July 1910

2009-04-22T12:53:00.004-06:00

I saw this interesting CNN article today about efforts to get a pardon for Jack Johnson, the first African-American world heavyweight boxing champion and did a quick search to learn a little more about Johnson.

He sounds like such a larger than life character.

Among many other things, the wikipedia article for Johnson talks about "the fight of the century" between Johnson and former undefeated heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries, who came out of retirement for the fight. This was one of those amazing moments when the whole country tuned in to one event.

Here's the Chicago Tribune recap of the fight:

And here it is in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Apparently the whole thing was filmed and made into a documentary. Here are a couple of YouTube clips of the documentary:

Unique Captured German Aircraft

2009-04-17T09:08:00.010-06:00

This morning I was looking at some World War II photos of German installations and equipment that were captured in France. Here are a few that might be categorized as interesting aircraft:

An early helicopter

A German Dornier 335, shown with American markings, that has propellers in the front and rear.

An intact German "Robot Bomb"

NARA's description calls this a "Rocket-Propelled Messerschmitt 162," but Chris found a little more information about it. He also found this odd little video with animated diagrams and all sorts of details and the one below of the plane in action.

You can see more of the "Captured Materiel" by clicking through to one of the images above and using the filmstrip at the bottom of the viewer.

The Cover-Up Continues?

2009-04-10T09:51:00.004-06:00

In this story from the LA Times, Annie Jacobsen shares details from interviews with 5 men who worked at Area 51 in the 1960s. These guys can talk now because in 2007, the CIA started declassifying information related to the OXCART aircraft program.

As you might expect, the article doesn't include any revelation of aliens or their spaceships, but it's still fun and does include a couple of great stories, like this one:

On May 24, 1963, Collins flew out of Area 51's restricted airspace in a top-secret spy plane code-named OXCART, built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. He was flying over Utah when the aircraft pitched, flipped and headed toward a crash. He ejected into a field of weeds.

Almost 46 years later, in late fall of 2008, sitting in a coffee shop in the San Fernando Valley, Collins remembers that day with the kind of clarity the threat of a national security breach evokes: "Three guys came driving toward me in a pickup. I saw they had the aircraft canopy in the back. They offered to take me to my plane." Until that moment, no civilian without a top-secret security clearance had ever laid eyes on the airplane Collins was flying. "I told them not to go near the aircraft. I said it had a nuclear weapon on-board." The story fit right into the Cold War backdrop of the day, as many atomic tests took place in Nevada. Spooked, the men drove Collins to the local highway patrol. The CIA disguised the accident as involving a generic Air Force plane, the F-105, which is how the event is still listed in official records.

As for the guys who picked him up, they were tracked down and told to sign national security nondisclosures. As part of Collins' own debriefing, the CIA asked the decorated pilot to take truth serum. "They wanted to see if there was anything I'd for-gotten about the events leading up to the crash." The Sodium Pento-thal experience went without a hitch—except for the reaction of his wife, Jane.

"Late Sunday, three CIA agents brought me home. One drove my car; the other two carried me inside and laid me down on the couch. I was loopy from the drugs. They handed Jane the car keys and left without saying a word." The only conclusion she could draw was that her husband had gone out and gotten drunk. "Boy, was she mad," says Collins with a chuckle.

Oskar Schindler's List Found in Sydney Australia

2009-04-08T10:16:00.004-06:00

Here's a document it would be nice to see on Footnote.

There are 13 pages of fragile, yellowing paper, upon which are typed the names and nationalities of 801 Jewish people.

They are being described as some of the most powerful documents of the 20th Century.

The NASA Workspace

2009-04-07T14:02:00.005-06:00

Today we've been poking around on the NASA Images site, looking at some of the great photos and playing with their "workspace." The workspace allows you to select some pictures, resize them and move them around in relation to each other and then share what you've created.

I haven't found any evidence that the moon landings were a hoax (yet :), but here are a few pictures I put together and you can play with on a workspace:

Library of Congress Launches YouTube Channel

2009-04-07T09:39:00.003-06:00

The Library of Congress has created a YouTube channel to display some of the 6 million films, broadcasts and sound recordings they have in their collection.

Here are a couple of classics from Thomas Edison's lab.

A Bucking Bronco. Note the guy on the fence rail shooting the gun to keep the horse excited.

A Sneeze:

And of course the always popular Boxing Cats:

King George V attends a Baseball Game 4 July 1918

2009-04-03T09:56:00.002-06:00

Found this interesting picture of King George V of England from July 4, 1918 in Gorrell's History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service. He's shaking hands with the captain of the US Army baseball team at a game between the US Army and Navy that was part of a 4th of July celebration.

Here's a story about it from The Times 4 July 1918.

Death in 1926 Bexar County, Texas: An Un-Scientific Poll

2009-03-20T10:23:00.004-06:00

The other day I was poking around in the Texas Death Certificates, and sort of got sucked into a straw poll of causes of death.

I had randomly browsed to Bexar County in 1926 and from there down to an individual record. Once I was at a record I used the filmstrip to randomly select images and see the kinds of things that were included. It wasn't long before I noticed some interesting things and some simple trends in the cause of death field.

My random sample painted a pretty clear picture of the progress that has been made in medicine since 1926. Some of the more common causes of death have been so effectively treated in the US that I didn't even recognize them. For example, Pellagra, which showed up frequently in my straw poll, is a disease related to a vitamin deficiency which was at epidemic levels in the South in 1926, but doesn't get much press today.

The most common causes of death I saw in Bexar County in 1926 were:

Various types of Tuberculosis
Pneumonia
Premature birth
Colitis
Kidney problems

I was surprised to find several people in my small sample who were killed by trains and even a few who were killed in automobile accidents.

The oldest person I came across? Justa Baron who died of "Unknown Natural Causes" at the age of 108.

2009-03-18T08:39:00.005-06:00

FrankOlynyk has been working with the Missing Air Crew Reports and sending us some great corrections.

One of the reports he contacted us about was for a B-25 that went down in the Mediterranean on 10 Aug 1943.

The report includes a couple of eye witness accounts of the crash including one from Sergeant Alan J. MacDougall, who was flying in another plane in the formation, and described it this way:

"About fifteen minutes out over the Mediterranean, the ship ... went into a steep bank apparently starting back, he was banked well over 60° and very low. His left wing tip dipped into water and he went in very quickly. As the ship's nose hit, something flew from the ship. I thought it was the tail. Shortly after the ship disappeared, water boiled over the spot he went down. Nothing was seen to float to the surface."

Initially the entire crew was listed as "Killed in Action," but later it was discovered that Sergeant Ellsworth E Meinke, the Radio Waist Gunner, "survived but was seriously wounded."

Sergeant MacDougall gives a dramatic account of the accident, but I would love to hear the story from Sergeant Meinke's perspective.

I did a search of Footnote for Ellsworth E Meinke and found this Footnote Page for him that was created from his WWII Army Enlistment Record. It includes information about him at the time he enlisted. We have another Footnote Page for an Ellsworth Meinke with the same birth year that was created from the Social Security Index. If this is the same guy, he died in 1962.

The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

2009-02-27T09:36:00.005-07:00

The other day, I noticed that we had added some editions of the The San Francisco Chronicle to the site that were pretty close to the time of the 1906 earthquake. I wondered how the local papers reported the quake, or if they were even still able to publish.

Here's the headline from Thursday April 19,1906.

It's not clear where they were publishing from since, as the paper says, "Newspaper Row Is Gutted" (page 2) and the fire threatened to leave the city "Without a Newspaper" (page 3), but this appears to be a special, combined edition of three San Francisco Papers, The Call, The Chronicle and The Examiner. It's just 4 pages long, down from a normal of about 16 for The Chronicle.

The Chronicle skipped April 20th, but by the 21st they were back:

And they published every day for the rest of the month, though it did take them a week or so to get back to the full length.

Of course, other major papers around the nation covered the story. Here's The Atlanta Constitution from April 19, 1906:

And The Chicago Tribune for the same day:

3 Interesting Civil War Era Titles

2009-02-26T13:59:00.003-07:00

There are lots of titles on Footnote that don't get much attention. Today I was poking around in 3 from the Civil War Era.

This first one is from the Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims. During the Civil War, as the Union Army moved through the South, they commandeered and used supplies, food, transportation and other resources from local folks. After the war, a commission was established to allow people to claim redress for the items that were taken. To receive repayment, the claimants had to demonstrate that they were loyal to the Union and that the Army had taken and used, not just destroyed, the items. The vast majority of claims were refused, but this is a collection of claims that were approved. You can learn more here.

Here's an image from the case file of William Martin, a free African-American living in North Carolina who had two sons that fought for the Union. He was a boatman and also had a 1,ooo acre farm of "turpentine" trees from which he made rosin. The Union army took 51 barrels of rosin and used two boats belonging to Mr. Martin. This page of the file includes the commissions final decision about how much to pay out for the claim.

The next title you many not have heard of is the Confederate Amnesty Papers. In May of 1865, a proclamation by President Andrew Johnson gave amnesty to most people who fought for the Confederacy, but certain groups of people (for example, ex-confederate Governors) were not included in the general amnesty. People in those groups had to send a personal request to the president with an explanation of their situation and an oath of allegiance. You can learn more here.

This image is from the request of William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, the son of General Robert E Lee, who was ineligible because he served as a general in the Confederate army.

The third title is the Lincoln Assasination Papers, a collection of papers related to the investigation and trial of people suspected of being part of the plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. You can learn more about the title here.

Here's an odd little piece of the collection: a copy of the oath of office taken by President Andrew Johnson and the certification of the that oath by Chief Justice Salmon Chase.

World War I, Woodrow Wilson and William Jennings Bryan

2009-02-23T17:00:00.004-07:00

Here are a couple of interesting interchanges between Woodrow Wilson and his Secretary of State, William Jennings Brian:

First, this coded message from Wilson to Bryan from Department of State records from WWI . It's interesting to see the code they were using. This is from a collection of correspondence related to Illegal and Inhumane Warfare and comes from 1914, long before the US entered the war.

This second, published in The Times of London, is an offer from Bryan to Wilson to support the war effort in any way he could.

French WWI Ship Found 1,000 Feet Down

2009-02-19T16:39:00.001-07:00

There's a story on the BBC's website about the French battleship Danton which was torpedoed in 1917 by a German submarine. A team surveying for an undersea gas pipeline discovered the ship "in remarkable condition on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea."

The story includes some great video footage of the ship resting on the seafloor. I couldn't find an option to embed the video, but you'll find it here.

Here's the London Times' report of the event from the 24 March 1917 edition:

The Bomb Train

2009-02-19T14:58:00.002-07:00

Another great upload from PAKOPAKIS

Old Newspapers Really Knew How To Sell It

2009-02-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

Would the newspaper business be in trouble today if they still wrote things like, "Cloud-Funnels Daily Traversing the Continent, Seeking Whom They May Devour."

Half a Ship

2009-02-17T15:57:00.001-07:00

Found on Footnote.com

Happy Birthday Abe

2009-02-12T08:52:00.001-07:00

Footnote.com

Charles Darwin Turns 200

2009-02-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882), the English naturalist who put forward the idea that species evolve through a process he called natural selection.

Darwin, and his ideas, have been at the center of heated debate since he published his first works on natural selection in the late 1850s.

Here are a few articles that I found in the Chicago Tribune from 1872. Even within that one year, there seems to be a change in the way the paper talks about Darwin and a recognition of breadth of his influence.

A January 1872 article about Darwin and Francis Ellingwood Abbot, a US philosopher and theologian who was a spokesperson for "free religion." The tone of the article suggests that the Tribune doesn't approve or Darwin or Abbot.

Another article (from February 1872) linking Darwin and Abbot. This one details a meeting of the "Boston Radical Club" where Abbot and others engage in "lively discussion" of Darwin's ideas.

This November 1872 article describes the progress of Darwinism in religious, social and scientific circles.

Here, also in Novemeber 1872, the Tribune discusses the application of natural selection to changes in fashion.

And in this November 1872 review and discussion of Darwin's "The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals," the Tribune adds their own examples to those provided by Darwin.

Here's the Tribune's report on Darwin's death from page 3 of the in 21 April 1882 edition.

World War 2 Trucks

2009-02-10T15:54:00.002-07:00

PAKOPAKIS is a Footnote member who seems to have an interest in World War II era US military vehicles made by International Harvester.

As of this post, PAKOPAKIS has uploaded 146 great photos. Here are a few interesting examples:

The Battleship Potemkin at Odessa

2009-01-07T09:17:00.003-07:00

The other day, while looking through some newspapers, I came across a few interesting articles related to the Russian battleship Kniaz Potemkin.

This one from The Atlanta Constitution has a great info graphic with the story:

Here's an illustrated story from The Chicago Tribune:

And here's a story with a report from the Ukrainian city of Odessa:

I started a Footnote Event Page about the Potemkin incident and added these documents to it. I'll add some details to the timeline soon.

If you are interested in the Potemkin and would like to add to the page, please do.

Hower Slote House and Fort Freeland

2008-12-19T08:57:00.003-07:00

mmpt39 is writing a great Footnote Topic Page about the Hower Slote House and Fort Freeland.

The page provides a nice history of the place, the people and the preservation efforts and includes some wonderful pictures, maps and other documents.

Toy Prices in 1901

2008-12-15T15:22:00.003-07:00

Just in time for your last minute Christmas shopping, chris found this ad from the 1 December 1901 Atlanta Constitution listing prices for toys, clothes and a little something for everyone on your shopping list.

$1 in 1901 was the equivalent of about $26 dollars today.

Teacher Salaries in 1904

2008-11-22T07:52:00.002-07:00

Here's another nice find by Chris:

This comes from the August 1, 1929 edition of the the Alma Signal, a Kansas newspaper.

Some Remarkable World War II Photos

2008-11-20T12:44:00.003-07:00

It's amazing what a plane can go through and still keep flying.

This morning I was looking through some photos on the site and came into a section of photos taken in England of planes that had been damaged on missions, but still returned to base.

Here are a couple of examples:

Then I came across this one:

I did a little research and found a Missing Air Crew Report for this plane (one member of the crew was killed) and then found Footnote Pages, created from the Social Security Death Index, for the pilot, Lawrence DeLancey and the navigator, Ray Ledoux. I added a few web links and some stories about this amazing event to their pages.

Here's the first image in the section of battle damaged planes in England. You can browse through the collection using the filmstrip at the bottom to look at other images.

You can view all the World War II Airforce images for free.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T14:01:00.002-06:00

Chris started this Footnote Page for Halloween. It's open to posting, so if you have something spooky in your shoebox, feel free to add it.

148 Years of New York Times Presidential Endorsements

2008-10-24T14:02:00.004-06:00

Here's a nice feature on the New York Times' website that chronicles the presidential candidates they've endorsed over the years and links to PDF copies of the original endorsements.

The list begins with the 1860 race that brought Abraham Lincoln to the White House and ends with this year's endorsement of Barack Obama.

Popular Uploads

2008-10-17T11:41:00.005-06:00

Back in March, gengal called Footnote to tell us about an 1864 newspaper illustration of "Rebel Barbarities in Texas" that she had recently had scanned on a large format scanner. She wanted to add it to Footnote, but the image was so big that she wasn't able to upload it to the site. Fortunately for us, she lived pretty close to the office and was willing to bring it in on a disc so that we could put it up on the site.

I'd forgotten about it, but today, as I was looking at the list of popular uploads for this week, I saw the image sitting there in second place. Thanks again to gengal for going the extra mile to get this great image on the site.

While I was looking at the list, I also noticed that ruthcalhounbaker1951 uploaded a variety of pictures in September that have been quite popular this week. You can see a list of images that ruthcalhounbaker1951 has uploaded here.
The rest of the popular list is filled out with a combination of regulars like ldrew and bgill and relative new comers like norskmom.

Thanks to everyone for your contributions.

Footnote Pages

2008-09-15T11:37:00.003-06:00

It's been great to see people using the new Footnote Pages since the launch of the beta version last week. The feedback we've received so far has also been great. We hope see more of both in the future.

Here are a few Pages people have been working on:
Fairy A Spurrier
Henry Mellem
Jimmy Stewart

In addition to the Pages for people, you can create a Page for an event, a place, an organization or another topic.

Clio, our history maven, has been busily making pages for some of the events in the timeline. Here are a couple of examples:
Vietnam War
Brown vs. Board of Education

We hope that everyone will continue to use these Pages and send us your feedback so we can continue to improve them.

Footnote at TechCrunch50

2008-09-10T11:37:00.007-06:00

A new feature that we've been working on at Footnote was accepted as a finalist in this year's TechCruch50 conference. CEO Russ Wilding will be presenting the feature sometime after 2:15 Pacific Time today.

During the presentation we'll update the homepage with a link to the new feature.

Here's the video stream for the conference: [removed since the video stream is over]

Gallery of Quilts

2008-09-04T15:16:00.005-06:00

Footnote Member sharonquilts is using a Footnote Story Page to create an on online gallery for master quilter Sharon Greathouse of Richwood, WV.

Here's the page and here's a sample quilt block:

The long necked eagle looks like many found in US letter head and stamps, like this one from an 1839 passport application:

You'll find more eagle images on this Story Page by burnsfamily.

2008-08-25T09:24:00.002-06:00

margaretann1858 found a collection of automobile ads from 1909 and 1910 in The Atlanta Constitution. Brands include, Mitchell, Speedwell, Lambert, Cole and White.

Found on Footnote.com

Of Interest To Parents

2008-08-22T14:27:00.003-06:00

Here's an interesting article from The Chicago Tribune of 2 February 1886.

It seems that Edma H Blackmer gave his 2 year old daughter up for adoption and then, when he disapproved of the lifestyle of her new parents, tried to get her back and the case went to trial.

Capturing the American Eagle

2008-08-22T11:17:00.002-06:00

burnsfamily has started a Page on Footnote that is a "collection of eagle letterhead emblems." Interesting to see the way the eagle has been represented through the years.

Here's one example:

Early Coke Ad

2008-08-20T21:43:00.002-06:00

Here's an 1885 newspaper ad for Pemberton's French Wine Coca, an early version of Coca-Cola.

3 Milliseconds with an Atomic Blast

2008-08-08T11:16:00.003-06:00

Here are three great photos uploaded to Footnote by tbrewer.

These were reportedly taken by Harold Edgerton with an automated camera set 7 miles from the blast, with a shudder speed of 1/1000,000,000 of a second.

The blast at 1 millisecond.

At 2 milliseconds

At 3 milliseconds, vaporizing joshua trees in the foreground.

News in the Papers

2008-07-29T08:34:00.004-06:00

Here are some interesting stories Footnote members have found in the newspapers:

Squirrel hunting accident:

Tips for shipping a package to someone in the armed services during World War II:

The Chicago way:

A little encouragement for Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

Shot Down, Caught in an Avalanche and Captured by Germans

2008-07-21T13:06:00.003-06:00

valorc has been doing a lot of work on the Missing Air Crew Reports from World War 2.

While I was looking at some annotations, I came across this great report:

It tells the story of an American B-24H Liberator that was shot down south of Paris. 5 of the crew made contact with the French resistance. After being moved around a few times, it was decided that they would try to hike out of France over the Pyrenees.

They set out with 4 French civilians, one of whom was to act as guide. While they were hiking over the mountains they were caught in a blinding snowstorm and then in an avalanche. One of the crew, Royce E Smith, freed himself from the snow and then searched for and found the rest of the party. Francis J Thackeray, and the 4 French guides were killed.

The remaining 4 airmen (Smith, William J Donley, Edward J Gilbert and Robert H Hirsch) headed off to try to find the Spanish border, but became lost and wandered into a small French mountain village where they were taken by the local police and turned over to the Germans.

More Interesting Tales From The Atlanta Constitution

2008-07-21T10:06:00.002-06:00

margaretann1858 continues to find great stuff in the Atlanta Constitution. Here's a letter to the paper from William Holman who was convicted of murder and scheduled to hang in 3 days.

Found on Footnote.com

Chicago Tribune Tributes to Ralph Waldo Emerson

2008-07-16T14:06:00.004-06:00

Found on Footnote.com

Chewing Toothpicks Caused His Death

2008-07-14T14:50:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple of great stories from the Atlanta Constitution found by margaretann1858:

Found on Footnote.com

Connecting Images on Footnote

2008-07-11T07:49:00.000-06:00

The connection feature on Footnote allows you to point out relationships between images you find on Footnote or upload to the site.

Here are some examples of the connection feature at work:

recobb has added a few photos of Robert Rera to his name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
mikefry has connected two pictures of Josephine Feindt Haase.
Here's a connection between a photo of a B-17 and the Missing Air Crew Report that was filed when it was shot down over Germany 2 months later.
blake made a connection between two pictures of George Armstrong Custer
califarkin connected a newspaper article and a photo about oil drilling in Baston, Texas.

Mickey Mantle at 19

2008-07-11T07:07:00.000-06:00

2008-07-09T13:50:00.000-06:00

Found on Footnote.com

History from the People

2008-07-09T13:18:00.005-06:00

Here's a nice website that frequently posts transcriptions of first hand accounts from the Civil War, like this one of a Union soldier's account of the surrender at Vicksburg.

Here's a letter from Benjamin Trafford to his wife Cecelia in the early days of the war, that shonagon transcribed on Footnote.

It's great to hear the stories in the voice of someone who was there.

George Washington's Cincinnatus Moment

2008-07-08T15:28:00.002-06:00

Found on Footnote.com

The Capone's Come to America

2008-07-08T13:45:00.000-06:00

Found on Footnote.com

Other Countries have Suckers Too

2008-07-07T09:23:00.001-06:00

Found on Footnote.com

Happy Independence Day

2008-07-03T17:16:00.001-06:00

Found on Footnote.com

Buffalo Bill Cody fails to get a divorce

2008-07-02T15:37:00.001-06:00

Found on Footnote.com

Watches on Footnote

2008-07-01T17:05:00.003-06:00

Today we added a new Watch feature to the site. Now you can place a Watch on items you are interested in and be notified when they are updated. You can read more about this new feature here.

Adolf Hitler Watching a Weapons Demonstration

2008-06-30T08:45:00.002-06:00

logibear64 uploaded this photo of Adolf Hitler and some cronies watching a weapons demonstration:

And this one of a 6 January 1942 meeting between Hitler and Indian nationalist leader Chandra Bose:

The Gouge Family of North Carolina circa 1898

2008-06-30T08:34:00.000-06:00

Testing Other Embeds

2008-06-27T15:44:00.004-06:00

Moab a Unicycle Festival from Daniel Myers on Vimeo.

Testing Dev