Nineteenth Century America
1818: A Year in Review
The year 1818 began and ended with the introduction of two very different works of art, both of which have become a permanent part of the popular culture. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was published on January 1st. On Christmas Eve, in the small Austrian village of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, young curate Joseph Mohr and schoolteacher/organist Franz…
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Toby Riddle: “Pocahontas of the Lava Beds” ?
Last week I was stunned to read this tweet from the Women’s History Museum of California:(1) Toby Riddle was one of the first Native American women acknowledged by US Congress for her actions in time of war. In 1891 Congress granted her a pension of at “the rate of twenty-five dollars per month” for her…
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Road Trip Through History: Local History Museums, Logging Trivia, and the Lumberjack Sister
My Own True Love and I make a point of stopping in local history museums when we’re on the road. On our recent road trip along the northern leg of the Great River Road, we visited three local and/or county historical museums.(1) There were several others that we failed to visit because they were closed…
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