Economic Thought

Thorstein Veblen - via Wikimedia Commons

Henry Ford - Library of Congress

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting that Thorstein Veblen and Henry Ford shared a birthday, July 30, though born in different  years, six years apart. One wrote about the differences between the labor and leisure classes and the other personified this in his accumulation of industry and wealth. Henry Ford established and promoted one of the greatest symbols of, "conspicuous consumption", the automobile. Even though cars eventually came within everyone's capacity to own, early on it was only the wealthy who had them. Just a small Economic Thought for the day.

Anniversary of the Founding of Detroit

Detroit skyline, seen from Windsor Ontario, by Shawn Wilson, via Wikimedia Commons

Just learned recently that today is the 312th anniversary of the founding of Detroit, by French explorer  Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac. The city has a rich and long history, made all the more poignant considering the economic and social travails it is currently enduring. It is difficult to know if Detroit can solve its problems and once again become at least a bit of the vibrant hub it once was. Let us hope and pray so - Detroit's residents deserve no less.

NMAAHC Building Fly-through

 



This is a great animated video fly-through for the new National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), part of the Smithsonian Institution, which is scheduled to open on the National Mall in the Fall of 2015.

For Fans of Fonts

A charming and clever little history of typography done with paper cutouts - worth watching!

David Christian: The history of our world in 18 minutes

 

 

From TED Talks: "Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and humanity, set against our slim share of the cosmic timeline. About David Christian."

Log Cabin Day

This interesting little holiday is celebrated on June 30 in Michigan where log cabins are commemorated with tours and open houses. Log cabins have always evoked a sense of coziness, as well as simplicity, humble and homespun goodness. It's amazing to reflect that this simple structure built of inter-linking logs could be built by a pioneer family providing them with protection and comfort. It's a beautiful symbol of independence and resourcefulness.

Log Cabin at Black Moshannon State Park, Pennsylvania by User: Ruhrfisch - Wikimedia Commons

Happy Juneteenth!

 Harriet Tubman, 1931, by Aaron Douglas, American (1898-1979) - Oil on canvas, Bennett College Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC

Even though Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, which became effective in 1863, word of this did not reach Texas until June 18 and 19th of 1865. Slaves in Texas were only informed of the Emancipation two years after the fact. The term, Juneteenth, was created in 1903 and it has been celebrated as a holiday throughout the south and other parts of the country. It is a state holiday in Texas and other states commemorate it in some unofficial manner. The history of this day is an interesting one and the holiday has enjoyed a resurgence of interest and acknowledgement in recent years.

 

"Juneteenth" A Painting by G. Rose

 

Superman - Looking Good at 75!

Promotional art for Superman (vol. 2) #204 (April 2004)
by Jim Lee and Scott Williams copyright DC Comics
Wikimedia Commons

New Superman Logo
 

Man of Steel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The LA Times has a nice article on the 75th anniversary of Superman which includes a quiz, the new logo, plus information on the upcoming movie, "Man of Steel." Wikipedia, of course, has a comprehensive history of Superman and his creators, as well as the impact this superhero has had as the quintessential American icon. He's getting a lot of coverage in the news and there will be more as the summer progresses. And coincidentally, June also happens to be Skyscraper Month, which is very fitting considering one of Superman's powers is the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

Tech Ruined Our John Hancocks

John Hancock's signature on the United States Declaration of Independence

Technology is killing the integrity of our signatures. When we purchase anything or sign for a delivery, we use technology that renders our signatures as nothing better chicken scratches. Matthew J. X. Malady, in an informative article in the New Republic, writes, "In addition to signing things less frequently, we're also signing in vastly different ways than before. Annoying and frustrating ways. We've all used those dreaded signature pads when paying for something in a shop with a credit card or accepting a FedEx delivery. Those things are infuriating, seemingly designed by the devil himself." He also discusses the history of signatures and their connection to literacy; we're now going backwards in a sense when our signatures lose their value. Yet another bit of "progress" at which we can only shake our heads.

125th Birth Anniversary of Russell Stover

Russell Stover Candies

Not the candy company, but the man who started it. Russell Stover was born 125 years ago in a sod house in Kansas and became one of the top candy makers in America. His is a true Horatio Alger tale, embodying the tenants of hard work and perseverance. His fortune was initially made by the sales of the Eskimo Pie which was invented by his partner, a school teacher named Christian Nelson. Stover's wife came up with the name, "Eskimo Pie" and the rest is history. The Eskimo Pie, however, was sold by a separate company later on. The Russell Stover company then branched out into candy-making. The company has remained private, although it changed hands in the 60's when Stover's wife sold the company to Louis Ward, whose family still owns and operates it. Russell Stover also acquired Whitman's Chocolates later in the century and today is the third largest chocolate maker in the US. The familiar and ubiquitous chocolates are found in grocery stores, drug stores, and other retailers everywhere. Just an interesting bit of American history.

Thomas Jefferson's 270th Birth Anniversary

Portrait of Thomas Jefferson
by Rembrandt Peale in 1800 - public domain

Our third President described his achievements best by writing his own epitaph: "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence Of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom & Father of the University of Virginia." No mention of being President, although that position couldn't have been achieved without his writing the Declaration of Independence to begin with. So, his emphasis on his authorship is well-placed! Every student of U.S. History is already aware of Jefferson's great intellect and wide-ranging interests, from science to religion, politics to philosophy, and much more. The following are some resources that highlight some particularly interesting bits of information about Jefferson, some not so well-known:

• Smithsonian Magazine's articles about Jefferson's interests and works.
• WP's 10 Things about Jefferson written for children.
• Monticello's Wiki of quotes by Jefferson, "famous and spurious." 

Aerial view of Monticello (www.monticello.org)

100th Anniversary of the Seventeenth Amendment

Amendment XVII in the National Archives

Prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, US Senators were selected by state legislatures, not by popular vote. Direct elections to the Senate were held only after April 8, 1913 when the amendment had been ratified by three-fourths of the states. Some states never actually ever ratified the amendment, with one (Utah) expressly rejecting it. A few states only ratified it in the 21st century, notably, Alabama, Delaware, and Maryland. Ironically, although Maryland was the last state to ratify it on April 1, 2012, it was actually the state in which the first direct elections to the Senate were held! Direct elections enabled more democratic outcomes of Senate elections, where before, rural votes often carried more weight than urban votes, sometimes in excess of 200 to 1. Needless to say, this amendment has not been popular with all constituents (particularly business and rural interests), but it was intended to, rightfully, prevent the Senate from becoming an American 'House of Lords.'

Florida's Quincentennial

At least, that's how long the western world has known about Florida, when Juan Ponce de Leon claimed and named it for Spain back in 1513. (Archeologists have determined that the area around Florida had been inhabited by Paleo-Indians going back 14,000 years.) When Ponce de Leon came upon Florida, it was Easter week and the Spanish term for that is "Pascua Florida" or "flowery Easter". Flowers were also blooming then and it was fittingly regarded as, "la Florida" ever since. And the rest is history - we now have the land of sunshine, seniors, and sinkholes. And let's not forget citrus. Florida's a land that fills the imagination with low taxes and high fun in the sun. It has a schizophrenic personality that manifests itself in politics, demographics, and geography. Such a unique state deserves a big party on its quincentennial - Happy 500th la Florida!

200th Birth Anniversary of Nathaniel Currier

American Homestead Winter - Currier and Ives, Public Domain

Nathaniel Currier, of Currier and Ives fame, started his famously prolific lithographic company in the 19th century and produced over 7500 lithographs. The Currier and Ives lithographic style is probably one of the most recognizable anywhere, as the images are often reproduced for greeting cards and other merchandise. While today most people associate Currier and Ives with Christmas cards and cookie tins, the company also produced a number of illustrative lithographs depicting political figures and events. Their collection may be viewed on many websites, as most, if not all, is in the public domain:

Currier & Ives Foundation

Online Gallery of Currier & Ives Prints

Currier & Ives, Printmakers to the American People

Currier and Ives, Printmakers to the People

A Gallery of Currier and Ives Lithographs

Library of Congress Digital Resources; search Currier and Ives

Behind the Scenes: The Artists Who Worked for Currier and Ives

Currier and Ives Tradecards

Currier and Ives, Perspectives on America

Harriet Endicott Waite research material concerning Currier & Ives, 1923-1956  from the Smithsonian Archives of American Art

The 95th Anniversary of Daylight Savings Time

Image assembled by theLibraryLander

The Calder Act, Pub.L. 65–106, 40 Stat. 450, enacted March 19, 1918, was the first U.S. law implementing Standard and Daylight Saving Time in the United States. In addition, it allowed the Interstate Commerce Commission to define the time zones across the U.S. It was initially established as a fuel saving measure during WWI, but it was never  popular and was abolished for a time after the war. In subsequent years, there were no Federal laws governing its observance and states were free to establish it or not. In 1966, however, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 was passed to make the various state rules consistent. Ever since the first law was passed enacting DST, there has been controversy over the need and effects of DST on the population. Most research supports the idea that it is detrimental to the health and safety of the nation in general. More accidents happen following the time change, and it is implicated in an increase in heart attacks as well. Currently, a petition has been started to eliminate the time change altogether, by either ending DST or making it year-round. Recently, this idea has gained a bit of extra traction with the viralization of an imaginatively written obituary for a man who opposed DST with a passion. Harry Stamps' obit states, "the family asks that in honor of Harry that you write your Congressman and ask for the repeal of Day Light Saving Time. Harry wanted everyone to get back on the Lord’s Time." I say amen to that!

The First .COM

Today's post was almost going to be about the Ides of March, but in researching that date, I happened upon an interesting bit of internet history. The very first commercial internet domain name was registered on March 15, 1985 - symbolics.com. The company that registered it, Symbolics, Inc. is no longer in business and the domain was transferred to XF.com in 2009. While symbolics.com was the first domain ever registered, the very first one to be created was Nordu.net, which served as the identifier of the first root server, nic.nordu.net. Nordu.net was created just three months before symbolics.com was registered through the normal domain registration process. TechCrunch has a fascinating article about this history as well as the current status of symbolics.com. Today, this domain exists as a mere marker of its history, although the owner has posted some interesting information about his personal role in acquiring symbolics.com. He has also created an enlightening infographic depicting internet trivia and statistics. Alas, everything has its day and then must pass gracefully into the aether.

Women's History Month

 

March 3rd is the 100th anniversary of the Suffragist March of 1913. This event which took place in Washington DC, marked a major victory in the women's movement and contributed to the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1919. More information can be learned from these resources: 

 

•  Library of Congress Women's History website
•  Current Statistics on Women from Census.gov
•  National Women's History Project

Image above: Official program - Woman suffrage procession, Washington, D.C. March 3, 1913 / Dale. Image right: Suffragette parade, Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1913. Public domain.

 

Black History Month

Recent Books of Note:

1. More Than Freedom : Fighting for Black Citizenship in a White Republic, 1829-1889
by Kantrowitz, Stephen David, 1965
Published 2012 by Penguin Press

2. Desert Rose : the Life and Legacy of Coretta Scott King
by Bagley, Edythe Scott
Published 2012 by University of Alabama Press

3. The Longest Fight : in the Ring with Joe Gans, Boxing's First African American Champion
by Gildea, William
Published 2012 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

4. American Tapestry : the Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama
by Swarns, Rachel L.
Published 2012 by Amistad

5. The Grey Album : on the Blackness of Blackness
by Young, Kevin
Published 2012 by Graywolf Press

6. The Color of War : How One Battle Broke Japan and Another Changed America
by Campbell, James
Published 2012 by Crown Publishers

7. Guest of honor : Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, and the White House Dinner that Shocked a Nation
by Davis, Deborah, 1957-
Published 2011 by Atria Books

8. From Slave Ship to Harvard : Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family
by Johnston, James H., 1944-
Published 2012 by Fordham University Press

9. Our Black Year : One Family's Quest to Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy
by Anderson, Maggie, 1971-
Published 2012 by Public Affairs

10. How to be Black
by Thurston, Baratunde
Published 2012 by Harper

11. Fraternity
by Brady, Diane
Published 2012 by Spiegel & Grau

12. Floyd Patterson : the Fighting Life of Boxing's Invisible Champion
by Stratton, W. K.
Published 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

For Children:

1. I Lay My Stitches Down : Poems of American Slavery
by Grady, Cynthia
Published 2012 by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

2. Miles to Go for Freedom: Segregation & Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years
by Osborne, Linda Barrett, 1949-
Published 2012 by Abrams Books for Young Readers

3. It Jes' Happened : When Bill Traylor Started to Draw
by Tate, Don
Published 2012 by Lee & Low Books

4. Jazz Age Josephine
by Winter, Jonah, 1962-
Published 2012 by Atheneum Books for Young

5. Touch the Sky : Alice Coachman, Olympic High Jumper
by Malaspina, Ann, 1957-
Published 2012 by Albert Whitman

6. Words Set Me Free : the Story of Young Frederick Douglass
by Cline-Ransome, Lesa
Published 2012 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

7. Crow
by Wright, Barbara, 1951-
Published 2012 by Random House

8. Ellen's Broom
by Lyons, Kelly Starling
Published 2012 by G. P. Putnam's Sons

9. Just as Good : How Larry Doby Changed America's Game
by Crowe, Chris
Published 2012 by Candlewick Press

Rosa Parks' 100th Birth Anniversary

Rosa Parks received the Congressional Medal of
Freedom in Detroit in 1999 - AP photo.

Small acts of courage can have huge consequences. Rosa Parks' life exemplifies the idea that a seemingly ordinary person can perform heroic acts which can benefit society at large. But she was far from an ordinary person - she had been involved in efforts to improve the lives of Black people well before her arrest in 1955. A new biography of Parks, “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” by Jeanne Theoharis, paints a portrait of a citizen who didn't shirk her duty when confronted with wrongdoing. A fitting tribute on her 100th birthday. 

National Geographic Society's 125th Anniversary

Cover of January, 1915
National Geographic Magazine
public domain Wikimedia Commons

Founded January 27, 1888, this iconic organization helped to literally globalize our view of the world. No one alive today has been untouched by their scientific and educational efforts throughout the world.  I remember as a grade schooler watching NGS documentaries about Jacques Cousteaus' undersea explorations and thinking I could do that  someday. Their ubiquitous yellow bordered monthly magazine graced many a coffee table, though that's becoming scarcer as print vanishes. Happily, their online and television presence continues to grow, expanding their outreach into newer frontiers.  Interestingly, no one quite knows what to do with their collections of NGS magazines cluttering basements; at some point, these will become valuable to collectors. Still, their motto, "Inspiring people to care about the planet" continues to define their mission. Happy Birthday, NGS! Thanks for giving the world a larger window into our home planet and beyond.

1. NGS celebrates its 125th.
2. NPR asks explorers to reflect on NGS' 125th.
3. WP gallery of NGS highlights.
4. Guardian's photo highlights of NGS.
5. NGS FB page with history and accolades.