Kristina's Open Stacks Blog - KRISTINA R. GADDY

Old Line Plate, the Maryland Food Blog

4/1/2018

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.

Bad Science, Bad Parent

3/23/2018

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.

The Women of the Hull-House

3/20/2018

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.

The Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes

3/7/2018

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.

A Skimmington Shaming

3/2/2018

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.

Hey Baltimore Banjo

2/8/2018

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.

Mother of Monsters

1/29/2018

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.

'Communist' Legionnaires Take Over a Town

1/8/2018

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.

Let's Make Pepparkakor!

12/8/2017

Me, rolling out gingerbread dough.

...also known as Swedish gingerbread cookies!
As I was rolling out dough for pepparkakor last weekend, I realized I didn't know anything about the distinctly thin and crispy cookies I've been cutting out and eating every year. So, I decided to look into what I could find about the history of Swedish gingerbread and share my favorite recipe, which comes from an almost-antique 1986 Allt Om Mat.
Enjoy and God Jul!

At the Edge of the World, an Almost Lost Culture

11/23/2017

Last Thanksgiving,I shared images of the Ona Tribe of Tierra del Fuego in South America as a reminder of the cultures that have been destroyed because of a lack of respect for differences between us humans.
This Thanksgiving, I wanted to share images and stories of the Yaghan people, another tribe from Tierra del Fuego. As of 2017, only one native speaker of the Yaghan language remains alive.