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Alice Cunningham Fletcher's Tenuous Legacy

6/29/2018

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In the 1880s, a woman from the East Coast fascinated by the culture of the Plains tribes set out to record their music. At the same time, she championed a policy that would destroy Native American ways of life in the West.

Read more about Alice Cunningham Fletcher in my article on OZY and check out my sources and more images below.

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The Farmerettes of Washington, D.C.

5/2/2018

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Propaganda poster for the Women's Land Army of America. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

100 years ago, women across the country took to the farms to support the war effort, and prove that women could do men's work.

My piece on the D.C. Chapter of the Women's Land Army of America was published on Narratively this week. Go read it and then come back for more images of the WLAA.

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Old Line Plate, the Maryland Food Blog

4/1/2018

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When I first learned Kara Mae Harris's blog Old Line Plate, my first thought was that she had a huge task before herself. I tried my hand at cooking some Victorian vegetarian recipes-- the blogging thing is hard, the food blogging thing is really time consuming and requires a lot of research and planning.
When I then learned that Kara is working to preserve and share the history of Maryland's culinary traditions, I knew I had to write a piece on her. Thankfully, she was into the idea, and so was the editor at Atlas Obscura's new food section, Gastro Obscura.

Kara Mae showing me her database.

On the Sunday afternoon when I was hanging out with Kara, she made pickled oysters, and as she pointed out, "This sounded like just the perfect somewhat repulsive thing to make when I recently interviewed for Atlas Obscura." Strange, lost recipes like this aren't the only thing Kara makes for her blog, but they all come with a little bit of Maryland spice.

Read the piece on Atlas Obscura.

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Bad Science, Bad Parent

3/23/2018

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What would happen if you raised your baby and a baby chimp together, as brother and sister, in the name of science?

Don't worry, you don't have to try. In 1930, scientist Dr. Winthrop Niles Kellogg did just that. Read more about the crazy (bad) experiment in my article on OZY.

If you want to check out the full report on the experiment, Kellogg's book is available via HathiTrust, and there are some good newspaper articles from when the research was made public in 1932.

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The Women of the Hull-House

3/20/2018

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Inspiring women, innovative approaches to living and learning, and pioneering social justice work: sound like something from the #metoo or #TimesUp movements? Maybe, but it was also how women at the Hull-House in Chicago lived and worked over 100 years ago.

Smith Hall of the Hull House, 1910.

While I was in Chicago in February, I had a chance to visit the Hull-House and be totally amazed by these women, who I already knew a little bit about. Here is a tour and brief history of the settlement house.

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The Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes

3/7/2018

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Think hockey is a white sport? The fast-paced action and some signature moves are thanks to a pioneering Black Hockey League that changed the game forever.

Read my piece on OZY.

The Africville Sea-Sides, c. 1922. Team members include: Aaron 'Pa' Carvery, Frederick Carvery, James Carvery, Richard Carvery, William Carvery, Jr., James E. Dixon, William Carvery Sr., T.G. MacDonald, Richard Dixon, James Paris, Jr., and Mantley. Photo from the Public Archives of Nova Scotia.

The Coloured Hockey League of the Maritimes was truly innovative in so many ways, and I'm glad that George and Darril Fosty researched the story in their book Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895–1925. I can't remember where I first heard about the anecdote that led me to the Fostys' book, and I didn't know much about the history of Black Canadians in Nova Scotia or the Maritimes, but I've found some cool research of which I hope to share more.

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A Skimmington Shaming

3/2/2018

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Is your neighbor being annoying? Too loud? Coveting another neighbor's wife? What do you do about it?
In early America, the answer would have been skimmington.

Metropolitan Museum of Art / The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1966

Read my piece on skimmington in OZY.

If you want to read even more about skimmington and the European traditions it evolved from, check out Riot and Revelry in Early America, a collection of essays about protest and celebration in the United States from the colonial period to the Civil War.

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Hey Baltimore Banjo

2/8/2018

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What does the banjo have to do with Baltimore?

So much! So much! Listen to this interview with Pete Ross and me about the origins and early history of the banjo, plus the connection to Baltimore. There's even a little reference to Baltimore's red light district, the Block.

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Mother of Monsters

1/29/2018

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In 1954, a make-up artist named Milicent Patrick drew the costume for an iconic monster. She never received credit, and may have even quit the industry after her boss, Bud Westmore, gave her a hard time about taking credit for the Creature from the Black Lagoon's creation. She really was the beauty behind the beast.

Read my full story about Milicent Patrick on OZY.

By Source, Fair use, Link

Universal International made sure to take glamour shots of Patrick working on the Creature and other monsters to include in her promotional tour for the movie.

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To read more about Milicent Patrick and the history of the Creature from the Black Lagoon films, check out Tom Weaver's The Creature Chronicles.

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'Communist' Legionnaires Take Over a Town

1/8/2018

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On May 1, 1950, Communists took over a small town in Wisconsin. Except that every part of it was totally fake, a stunt meant to scare and warn Americans about what communism was really like. Newspapers, photographers, and newsreels (like the video below) captured the day and make the story a nation-wide news phenomenon.

Read the full story at OZY.

Communist Party USA booklet, available via the National Archives.

The Communist Party USA called out the stunt for being a total misrepresentation of what communism was, but the Legionnaires thought it was successful.

June 1950 article in The American Legion Magazine about the stunt.

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<<Previous

In the 1880s, a woman from the East Coast fascinated by the culture of the Plains tribes set out to record their music. At the same time, she championed a policy that would destroy Native American ways of life in the West.

100 years ago, women across the country took to the farms to support the war effort, and prove that women could do men's work.

Think hockey is a white sport? The fast-paced action and some signature moves are thanks to a pioneering Black Hockey League that changed the game forever. Read my piece on OZY.

Is your neighbor being annoying? Too loud? Coveting another neighbor's wife? What do you do about it? ​In early America, the answer would have been skimmington.

What does the banjo have to do with Baltimore?

Come in, the stacks are open.

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Think hockey is a white sport? The fast-paced action and some signature moves are thanks to a pioneering Black Hockey League that changed the game forever.

Read my piece on OZY.

Is your neighbor being annoying? Too loud? Coveting another neighbor's wife? What do you do about it?
In early America, the answer would have been skimmington.