Kristina's Open Stacks Blog - KRISTINA R. GADDY

KRISTINA R. GADDY

When a tradition feels like forever...

12/24/2018

For newcomers to Baltimore or the neighborhood of Hampden, the lights on 34th Street feel like a tradition. And by now, they kind of are. I wrote an article for Shore Monthly about the "Spectacle on 34th Street," and found myself surprised that the street-wide decorations only started in 1991. But in the years since, the street has become Baltimore's place to be over the holidays.

Black and white image from the Baltimore Sun of 34th Street in Hampden, with lights strung across the street.

Read the piece via Shore Monthly.

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.

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!

The Proto-Feminists of Early America

11/11/2017

Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, Vice President John Adams about the 1793 Valmy Celebrations, where women marched in the streets with men in support of the French Revolution.

Read my new piece on OZY!

Just in time for election day, OZY published my piece on how early feminists in the U.S. got inspiration from women participating in the French Revolution. This story was inspired by an essay in Riot and Revelry in Early America, a book that explores the celebrations, parades, and traditions that helped create American culture, even if they have been forgotten.

Pumpkins & Parties!

10/13/2017

Friday the 13th has enough scary stuff, so here are some cute photos of kids celebrating Halloween festivities!

This whole post was inspired by this one photo, from the Upshur County Historical Society in Buckhannon, West Virginia. In a collection of thousands of glass plate negatives, this gem appeared. The photographer Fred Brooks was a naturalist working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, so many of the photos in the collection are of diseased trees or insects. But since he had the camera, he also took photos of his children (like this one) and the travels he took around the United States. (I'm pretty sure this is his daughter Dorothy and the photo is from 1920-22.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2/14/2017

I always loved finding old greeting post-cards when I worked at the archive. What better day to share some of my favorites?

Classic cupid cherubs are always a good choice for telling your valentine how much you care...

But then, you can also get more original. These are two of my favorites. I couldn't decide if the one with the Dutch children is poorly translated, or if it is supposed to be wrong, as if they can't quite make their English flirting correct. And I've definitely printed copies of the tickle card. I find it such a great image of how couples had to flirt in the early 1900s.

In the Dark, She Comes with Light

12/13/2016

With candles in her hair, dressed in white with a bright red sash, Lucia comes to bring warmth, light, and goodies in the dark Swedish winter.

Celebrating Lucia at Koberg in Västergötland, 1848, watercolor by Fritz von Dardel, Nordiska Museet

The story I always heard growing up is that Lucia is the Patron Saint of Light, and she comes on (what used to be) the darkest day of the year, today, December 13th. She is based on St. Lucy, who, in the 3rd century, brought food and aid to hiding and persecuted Christians in the catacombs. She wore candles on her head so that she could see in the dark while carrying food, and her red sash is said to represent the blood from when she was slain. Her martyrdom lead to Sainthood, but this all happened it Italy, so how did she become the figure of a Nordic holiday? It might have to do with witches. Yup, another Swedish holiday with witch connections...)

Ghosts at the Edge of the World

11/24/2016

At the southernmost tip of South America, the Andes mountain range plummets into the ocean and collides with the pampas plains of Argentina. Here, on the island of Tierra del Fuego, the wind whips across the landscape, the Straight of Magellan churns; the beauty of nature collides with the harsh realities of an Antarctic climate. For thousands of years, the Ona tribe called this place home. But as European settlers expanded throughout South America, they took the land the Ona lived on, systematically killed the Ona, and diminished their way of life. Finally, in the 1970s, the last person of full Ona ancestry died.

The land of Tierra del Fuego, 2007.

Images above and left from Charles W. Furlong's article on the Ona and Haush from 1915.

This Thanksgiving, as Native Americans are fighting for clean water and clean air here in the United States, I wanted to feature images of the Ona, with some historical and cultural context, as a reminder of the cultures and ways of life that have been destroyed because of a lack of understanding and respect for people that are labeled different and other.

Lost Witch Song from the Wizard of Oz

10/27/2016

Image of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and Dorothy from the 1902 production of "The Wizard of Oz."

While searching through the Levy Collection at in the Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries Special Collection for witch images, I came across "The Witch Behind the Moon," and it was so complex that I thought it deserved it's own post.

The Crab Derby in Crisfield

6/24/2016

Everyone is in place, waiting. Money and honor are on the line. The gate comes up. Bang! They're off!

They are crabs; Chesapeake blue crabs to be specific. A crab race? Really? Yes.
In 1947, the town of Crisfield decided to host a hard crab race outside of their post office as part of a summer Fishing Fair, highlighting their seafood bounty. In Maryland, summer is synonymous with eating blue crabs out on a deck by the water, and Crisfield, located on Eastern Shore between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, is a town that revolves around watermen and fishing culture.
I came across these great clips from WMAR-TV's coverage of the 6th annual crab race via the University of Baltimore's archives, which got me to look into the history of the event a little more.