Posts Tagged ‘American History’
The War of 1812–Why Should We Care?
I admit I’m slow. It wasn’t until I read Donna Seger’s excellent blog post on historical anniversaries that I made the connection. It’s the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. Duh! * It’s an easy war to overlook for those of us who aren’t specialists in American history. It’s so small in scale and…
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Why I Want to Go to Omaha
Why is Omaha on my travel list? Two words, okay three: The Bodmer Collection. In 1832, German naturalist Prince Maximilian zu Weid-Neuweid led one of the earliest expeditions to the American West.* As anyone who has snapped a picture of the Grand Canyon or the Grand Bazaar knows, expeditions need to be recorded. Instead of…
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The Other First Thanksgiving
Unless you live in the American Southwest, the grade school version of American history* typically leaps from Columbus and 1492 straight to 1620, when the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. There is a vague awareness that the Spanish and the French were “out there” doing something, but the story focuses on the development of the thirteen…
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