The History Cellar

Early Tobacco card of Actress Anna Held

2009-12-31T18:40:00.002-05:00

Below is a example of a tobacco card from the early 1900's of actress and stage performer Anna Held. Held’s lively and energetic personality was well-liked. She was recognized for her risqué songs, teasing nature and enthusiasm to reveal her legs on stage. While Held was on the road touring Europe she met Florenz Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld invited her to come back to New York City with him and she agreed. Ziegfeld promoted Held heavily, creating a large amount of public interest in her. By the time Held and Ziegfeld arrived in New York, she was already the subject of extreme public gossip. When she finally performed, the critics were indifferent of her, but the public enjoyed her. From 1905 Held enjoyed a number of successes on Broadway which made her a millions. Ziegfeld's aptitude for producing publicity stunts made certain that Held's name remained well known. Ziegfeld would cheat on Held and remarry another actress in 1914. Held spent the years of World War I performing in vaudeville, and touring Europe, performing for French soldiers. She was regarded as a war heroine for her charity, and was highly regarded for the bravery she demonstrated in traveling to the frontline. In 1916 her health began to fail. She collapsed while performing in 1918 and died after a few months from multiple myeloma at the young age of 45.

1909 Pain and Horror of Child Birth Advertisement

2009-12-29T19:43:00.003-05:00

It's a wonder anyone would conceive a child after reading this advertisement. A ordeal women approach with indescribable fear? Nothing compares with the pain and horror of child birth? To be fair, in the beginning of the twentieth century it was rare for a woman to ever seek care throughout her pregnancy from a doctor or hospital. Midwives were generally responsible for the delivery of most children for the first 250 years of America's existence. The maternity death rate in America was far worse than that of Europe or Asia. In 1915 there were 600 maternal deaths for every 10,000 babies delivered so there was reason to be anxious over a child's delivery.

Advertisement is from the San Fransisco Call - November 22nd 1909.

Family life in twentieth-century America by Marilyn Coleman, Lawrence H. Ganong, Kelly Warzinik

Midwifery and Childbirth in America by Judith Rooks

1840 Amistad Biographical Sketch of Slaves

2009-12-27T20:50:00.002-05:00

This page is from A History of the Amistad Captives: being a Circumstantial Account of the Capture of the Spanish Schooner Amistad, by the Africans on board, Their Voyage, and Capture near Long Island, New York; with Biographical Sketches of each of the surviving Africans. Also an Account of the Trials had on their case, before the District Courts of the United States,for the District of Connecticut. Written by John Warner Barber, compiler, New Haven, Ct. 1840. Transcribed below.

(i.)Sooeo-osr.,[Cin-gne,](generally spelt Cinquez) was born in Ma-ni, in Dzho-poa, i.e. in the open lend, in the Men-di country. The distance from Maui to Lomboko, he says, is ten suns, or days. His mother is dead, and he lived with his father. He has a wife and three children, one son and two daughters. His son’s name is Ge-waw, (God.) His king, Ka-lum-bo, lived at Kawmen-di, a large town in the Mendi country. He is a planter of rice, and never owned or sold slaves. He was seized by four men, when traveling in the road, and his right hand tied to his neck. Ma-ya-gi-la-lo sold him to Ba-ma-dyha, son of Shaka, king of Gen-du-ma, in the Vai country. Bamadzha carried him to Lomboko and sold him to a Spaniard. He was with Mayagilalo three nights; with Bamsdzha one month, and at Lomboko two months. He had heard of Pedro Blanco, who lived at Te-i-Iu, near Lomboko.*

(‘2.) Gi-LA-Bo-eu, [Grab—call,] (have mercy on me,) was born at Pu-lu, in the Mendi country, two moons’ journey into the interior. His name in the public prints is generally spelt GRABEAU. He was the next after Cingue in command the Amistad. His parents are dead, one brother and one sister living. He is married, but no children he is a planter of rice. His king Baw-baw, lived at Pu-lu. He saw Cingue at Fulu and Fadzhinna, in Bombali. He was caught on the road when going to Taurang, in the Bandi country, to buy clothes. His uncle had bought two slaves in Bandi, and gave them in payment for a debt; one of them ran away, and he (Grabeau) was taken for him. He was sold to a Vai-man, who sold him to Laigo, a Spaniard, at Lomboko. Slaves in this place are put into a prison, two...

1823 Map of New Hampshire for Children

2009-12-27T20:27:00.004-05:00

This map comes from "A Book for New Hampshire Children, in Familiar Letters from a Father" by Hosea Hildreth, published in 1823.

Early Photographs of Fire Engines from Boston, New York, and elsewhere

2009-12-24T18:08:00.006-05:00

1931 photo of the George Washington fire engine. This fire engine was purchased by George Washington in 1775 at Philadelphia and regarded at the time as the most efficient type of engine. The engine is still in good condition.

Fire engine with the initials FDNY on the side. The fire engine is being filled with water, photograph taken sometime around 1911.

Two men with fire engine. Photograph taken sometime between 1910 to 1930.

Photograph shows fire fighters and steam fire engines in front of the Alexandria, Virginia fire department which was taken over by Union forces in early 1863.

1913 New York City photograph showing firemen with their fire engine. Because of the massive amount of fires and monetary damages, in 1913 the fire prevention bureau was established in the fire department of New York City. In 1912 15,633 fires were reported, with a total loss of $9,069,500. In the first year of the existence of the bureau the number of fires was less by 1,800, and the loss by $2,300,000.

Photograph taken in the 1890's of a big pump fire engine.

Boston Fire Department rushing to the scene of duty, Boston, Mass. Taken around 1901. The Boston Fire Department would not be using horse drawn engines for long. By 1909 they had two steam automobile fire engines. The new fire engines were 80 horse-power and delivered 1,100 gallons of water per minute, with a speed of 25 to 30 miles an hour.

Here is a 1851 engraving of "Boston firemen. Cleaning the machine". In 1851, the Boston Fire Department responded to 333 alarms in the city with a overall loss of $386,000.

Here is a 1858 engraving of "The self-propelling steam fire-engine, "J.C. Cary". Self-propelling steam fire-engines were among the first of this chemical class of machines manufactured in this country, Initially their use was very limited because of increased weight and cost. There was also the fear of running these fire engines through the streets with pedetrians. Soon they would show to be as reliable as fire engines led by horses.

Photos from the Library of Congress.

1900 NO danger from San Francisco plague

2009-12-17T10:22:00.009-05:00

This article is from the Quincy (IL) Daily Journal, Tuesday March 13, 1900. In 1899, a boat entered San Francisco harbor containing two cases of the plague on board. Seven days before this article below was written, a Chinese male was autopsied and was found to have signs of the plague in his body. At this time, anti-Chinese feelings were rampant in the city and Chinatown was quarantined. High level political figures overrode health officials and denied its existence. The governor made it a felony to publish its existence as well. More than 100 people had died of "syphilitic septicemia," the official name of plague in 1904. In 1906, an earthquake of giant proportions devastated San Francisco making many of the cities rats without a home. More cases were discovered in 1907, however after a campaign to rid the cities of rats, the plague came to an end in 1909.

Please visit these sites for more information on the San Fransisco outbreak:

1851 Sacramento newspaper warning from farmer

2009-12-14T13:27:00.006-05:00

Interesting newspaper advertisement from the Sacramento Daily Union, September 16th 1851. Man threatens to shoot anyone who attacks his family again!

1885 Wyoming proclamation of Vice President Hendricks death

2009-12-09T15:55:00.003-05:00

From the Governor of Wyoming, Francis E. Warren, in 1885. Thomas Hendricks is the lone U.S. Vice President (who was never President) whose likeness appears on United States paper currency. His engraved portrait appears on the 'tombstone' $10.00 silver certificate of 1886.

A proclamation by the Governor. I am pained to announce to the people of Wyoming the death of the Vice President of the United States, which occurred at the city of Indianapolis at 5 o'clock this afternoon. The sudden and unexpected death of that able statesman, Thomas A. Hendricks will shock and deeply grieve the people of this great nation ... Done at Cheyenne, ... this 25th day of November, A. D. 1885. Francis E. Warren.

From the Library of Congress website.

1900 WANDERERS AND VAMPIRES PLAY A "SOCCER" GAME

2009-12-06T20:28:00.004-05:00

WANDERERS AND VAMPIRES PLAY A "SOCCER" GAME
San Francisco Call, December 15th 1900

The Vampires of San Francisco will play a match of association football, or "soccer,", as enthusiasts term it, this afternoon on the Presidio athletic grounds against the Oakland Wanderers, captained by Douglas Ersklne. The kick-off will be' at 3 o'clock and the teams will line up as follows: (names below)

1900 Massachusetts factory uses escalator and air conditioning!

2009-12-04T14:03:00.008-05:00

From a early newspaper around 1903.

WORKERS' FATIGUE MINIMIZED

There are few factories of prominence today which do not evidence a willingness on the part of employers to avoid physical waste of employees by installing the latest labor-saving devices. No longer, for Instance, does one see the factory girl climbing six or seven flights of stairs to her work. An electric elevator or an escalator, such as in a Massachusetts woolen mill distributes 2000 employees to six floors in five minutes, is now the vehicle of her rise. Devices for warming and cooling the air delivered to work rooms by drawing it over coils of steam pipe in winter and forcing it through cold water in summer are common. - The Circle

1895 Bridget Cleary burned to death in Ireland

2009-12-04T10:16:00.016-05:00

This article is from the San Francisco Call, July 6th 1895. Bridget Cleary was an Irish female murdered by her husband in 1895. Her demise is noteworthy for numerous reasons. According to her husband she was murdered because her husband believed that she had been kidnapped by fairies with a changeling left in her place. The murder's grisly nature provoked widespread press coverage.

BURNED WIFE FOR A WITCH

Michael Cleary Convicted of a Most Heinous Crime in Ireland.

Superstitious Relatives Who Participated in the Murder Also Sent to Prison.

DUBLIN, Ireland, July 6.— Michael Cleary, living near the town of Clonmel, was convicted to-day of manslaughter in having burned his wife, Bridget Cleary, to death last March. Cleary believed his wife to be bewitched and upon the advice of Dennis Ganey, the "family doctor," and in the presence of her father and a number of other relatives held her over a fire and afterward stripped her and poured paraffine over the body and set fire to it.

The woman was burned to death without the slightest effort on the part of the spectators to extinguish the flames which were consuming her. Cleary claimed that it was not his wife, but a witch that was burned.

Cleary was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. His accomplices were also convicted. Patrick Kennedy was condemned to live and John Dunn to three years' imprisonment, William and James Kennedy to eighteen months each and Patrick Bolen and Michael Kennedy to six months each.

Please visit these sites for additional information:

Blog O' The Irish
True Crime: The Cooper’s Wife is Missing, by Joan Hoff and Marion Yeates
The Legacy of Bridget Cleary

1905 Wives complain of golf wrecking their lives

2009-12-02T11:21:00.003-05:00

From the Los Angeles Herald, January 22nd 1905

"golf has insinuated its seductive form and paralyzed the enterprise and energy of the breadwinner."

The golf mania has reached that stage in the British isles where it seems to have justified the serious question whether the game is not having an injurious effect upon the domestic life of its devotees; or, to be more specific, whether it is not causing husbands to neglect their wives. The Weekly Scotsman, one of Edinburgh's most dignified Journals, has been publishing numerous letters from married women complaining that this is the result. Into too many households, we are told, golf has insinuated its seductive form and paralyzed the enterprise and energy of the breadwinner. The man who formerly gave his spare hours to self-improvement and the companionship of his wife and family now spends every available moment on the golf course. His once brilliant conversational powers, have given place, to the gossip of the club room; and when he does read it is only the books, magazines and papers that supply him with the small talk of his hobby that have any interest for him. Some women complain bitterly that they have sunk to the level of a mere housekeeper since the golf mania seized upon their husbands.

1910 West Virginia Football Death and Murder Charge

2009-11-30T12:09:00.005-05:00

Interesting article on a player punching a opponent in the back of the head. The player dies and the assailant is charged with murder.

From the San Francisco Call, November 14th 1910

MURDER CHARGE FOLLOWS BLOW IN FOOTBALL GAME

Magistrate Issues Warrant for Bethany College Team Player for Killing West Virginia University Captain

WHEELING. W. Va., Nov. 13.— A warrant charging- Thomas McCoy, right end of the Bethany college football team, with murder in connection with the death of Captain Rudolph Munk of the West Virginia team was issued here today by Magistrate R. G. Hobbs. The action followed a partial inquest by Coroner W. W. Rogers. Munk sustained injuries in the game between the two teams Saturday from which he died five hours later- without regaining consciousness.. The testimony was furnished principally by Homer N. Young, a Pittsburgh attorney, who umpired the game. The autopsy' disclosed that Munk's death was caused by a blood clot at the base of his brain and could not have" been the result of a former injury. McCoy lives at Canton, O. The warrant for his arrest will be served tomorrow. giving details of the way in which Munk was injured. Young said the ball was on Bethany's 30 yard line when Munk started down the field for interference.

"He was near the player with the ball," Young said. "Munk was met by McCoy, who ran toward Munk as they both were running down the field. Ten yards behind the scrimmage line, when Munk was in front, McCoy, struck him In the back of the head with his fist. Both Munk and McCoy fell, but the latter quickly regained his feet, looked at Munk and started off the field."

Umpire Young said that as the blow appeared to him clearly intentional he immediately put McCoy out of the game. No other witnesses were heard today, but several players have been summoned for tomorrow night, when the inquest will be resumed.

McCoy left college this fall without notifying the faculty and had not played on the team for two weeks. President Cramblett of Bethany said tonight that he was unaware that McCoy was to play In Saturday's game.

All the remaining games scheduled by West Virginia university will be canceled, including the Thanksgiving day game with Washington and Jefferson.

1802 Equipment for the Recovery from Drowning

2009-11-29T13:31:00.004-05:00

Here is a engraving I found of "Implements of Restoration from Drowning". This is from "The Domestic Encyclopaedia Vol. 2", by A. F. M. Willich, 1802.

Fig. 1, A pair of bellows with two separate bags, so contrived that by opening them, when applied to the nostrils or mouth of a patient, one bag will be filled with common air, and the other with the mepliitic air extracted from the lungs; and, by shutting them again, pure atmospheric air will be introduced into those organs, and that drawn out, consequently discharged into the room. Thus, the artificial breathing may be continued, while the other operations on the surface of the body are carried on ; Which could not be conveniently done, if the muzzle of a common pair of bellows were introduced into the nostril.

Fig. 2, A machine for injecting the smoke of tobacco by way of clyster, in those desperate cases which require the application of this remedy. It consists of a pair of bellows, to the muzzle of which is fitted a metal box, a, provided with a ring, in the middle of which it may be unscrewed, and again closed, after being filled with tobacco, and set on lire : the pipe c (which, by mistake, is represented with a sharp point in our plate, but should be perfectly round and blunt at the top) of the flexible tube b, is introduced into the fundament; and thus, by means of the bellows d, the smoke is forced into the rectum.

Fig. 3, A bier of wicker work, in the form of a slanting, oblong basket for conveying the body of the drowned, in a posture somewhat raised. This simple contrivance has the advantage, that the water may easily run off, while the patient is carried : and, as many unfortunate persons are materially injured by rough treatment, before they arrive at a house of reception, so that their recovery is thus often frustrated, we recommend the universal adoption of this useful implement. It costs at Hamburgh only ten marks currency, or about 15s.

1940's Electric Merchandise Catalog

2009-11-25T14:48:00.003-05:00

CLICK HERE - to read from front to back a electronics catalog from the 1940's. Electric Blankets, Blenders, Mixers, Waffle Makers, Vacuums, Roaster Ovens, Pots & Pans, Toasters, Heat Pads, Scales, Electric Washers, Alarm Clocks, Juicers, Coffee Brewers, Coffee Serve Sets, Knife Sharpeners, Hair Dryers, Electric Shavers, Drill Kits, Sewing Machines, Clocks, Pinking Shears, Carving Knifes, Cream Whippers, PYREX, Pressure Cookers, Ironing Tables, Irons, and MORE!

Photograph of the children of President James Garfield

2009-11-12T15:40:00.003-05:00

Below is a photograph of the children of President James A. Garfield. According to the Library of Congress it was taken sometime between 1865 and 1880. Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881, and died on September 19, 1881.

1878 Social Status of DEADWOOD SD

2009-11-11T14:40:00.003-05:00

This article comes from The Laramie Daily Sentinel dated March 13th 1878. It is transcribed below. As a frame of reference, the Gem Variety Theater was opened in April of 1877 by Al Swearengen. Also a fire on September 26, 1879, destroyed the town. According to HBO, the last season of "Deadwood" ended in the middle of 1877.

The social atmosphere of Deadwood and suburban camps has experienced a great change during the last six months. Deadwood is not the town of a year ago. It's gambling halls, dance halls, house of ill fame and disorderly characters have dwindled in numbers, and their business has decreased so greatly that a comparison with a town in the interior of the Empire State would not be malapropism. If there has been a period in the history of the people when a revolver was considered a necessary article of personal appendage, or that the necessity for its use was likely to arise at any moment, that time has passed, and now a person may walk the streets of Deadwood at any hour of the day or night and enjoy as great immunity from molestation as though perambulating the streets of New York. Society is large and highly respectable. Merchants, professional men and miners have bought out their families, until now the exceptional man is he who is here alone. Churches has sprung into existence in every camp on the Hills - Deadwood having two - and services are largely attended. Schoolhouses have been erected and are well supplied with tutors. Two daily papers and five weeklies publish the news from all parts of the world as brought in by telegraph, and the sheets will favorably compare with any published elsewhere in cities of equal size to Deadwood. Three daily stage lines afford ample means of egress and ingress, and bring mails only four days from Chicago. Well organized fire and police departments, very efficient county and United States Courts, as well as a full compliment of efficient county officers are among the other benevolent provisions of the people.

Other Deadwood posts:

1910 Odd Photo of a Performance "Good Nite"

2009-11-08T19:14:00.005-05:00

This is a interesting photo I found in a box from around 1900-1910. What this is about I have no idea, maybe some out there does. You can see that written on the bottom of the photo was "Good nite...." What is it? It looks as though that the woman on the left is holding a broom.

1843 Yellow Fever cure with mustard and tea

2009-11-05T09:49:00.006-05:00

Dr. Holt's prescription for the treatment of yellow fever ... D. Holt, M. D. New- Orleans, October 1, 1843. According to this doctor, drinking a lot of tea, Castor oil, and soaking your feet with some mustard will do the trick. It was not until 1881 that it was discovered that it was transmitted mostly by mosquitoes, and vaccines were made available in the 1930's. This pamphlet is transcribed below.

One who has not had yellow fever, and is apprehensive that he may have been exposed to its cause by a residence after midsummer, in a city where yellow fever is often epidemic if attacked a few weeks after such exposure, would reasonably suppose it to be an attack of yellow fever. If attacked with a chill, attended with violent head-ache, soon followed by severe pain of the back, and, in some cases, of the limbs also— prudence would dictate an immediate recourse to an appropriate method of treating yellow fever.

Let the patient at once take his bed and he covered with blankets. As soon as it can be done, have the orange leaves drawn in two or three pints of boiling water, and give a cup of orange leaf tea, sweetened to suit the taste, every fifteen or twenty minutes; at the same time have the feet immersed in a hot foot bath from fifteen to thirty minutes, or until the patient is in a free perspiration. This free perspiration immediately succeeding the chill, attended with much febrile heat and much pain, I regard as a distinguishing symptom of yellow fever. Mustard, though not essential, is a good addition to the foot bath.

When the chill is entirely off, the foot bath having been used and the tea given, let the patient rest quietly for half an hour. if then his hands and feet are about as hot as his body, give him the powder mixed with water, in a table spoon, and let him drink some water after it if he choose.

If the hands and feet remain comparatively cool, and the pulse small, you must delay giving the powder a while longer, until the reaction is more complete. Having given the powder, let the patient remain undisturbed for eight hours, giving only a little weak orange leaf tea or a little water at his request, which should be of the atmospheric temperature if the weather is warm, and a little above it if cool.

Six hours after giving the powder, let the senna and manna be put to draw in a pint of boiling water, and in two hours — that is, eight hours after giving the powder—give a fourth part of the senna tea, and repeat the dose every half hour until it be all taken, or until it excites copious purging.

The covering of the patient should be so regulated, as to make him comfortable; and when he may have occasion to rise to the vessel, he should be gently aided; and as soon as he is up, a cloak or blanket should be thrown over his shoulders. Too much care cannot be taken to avoid a check of perspiration; and that the feet may not be exposed to a sudden change on rising, it will be prudent to spread a wool rug or blanket by the bed side, on which to set the vessel.

About the time that the senna tea is made, let a third part of the pearl barley be thoroughly washed in cold water, and put to boil in about six pints of water, and when it has boiled down to four pints, have it poured into an earthen vessel, and kept in the patient’s room, to be used as his constant drink from the time his medicine begins to operate. Some of the barley water may be sweetened with loaf sugar if the patient desire it, and he may be indulged in a little water, as directed above.

Twenty-four hours after giving the senna tea, give a full dose of Castor oil. A good method of giving the oil, is to drop on a lump of sugar, of the size of a nutmeg, eight or ten drops of the essence of peppermint, dissolve it in a table spoonful of hut water, add four table spoonful of oil, stir it together and give it.

When the oil operates, aid and nurse the patient as directed above. Have fresh barley water made, and let him by no means take into his stomach any thing stronger or more nutritious than barley water.

By the end of the next twenty-four hours, the fever will have subsided. Half a seidlitz powder may then be given in a little less than half a tumbler of water, of the atmospheric temperature, well sweetened and in half an hour give the other half adding the acid in its dry state, and stirring it round once just as the patient is ready to drink it. The remaining barley may be now made into a light barley broth, by adding a squab of a part of a chicken; and after it is prepared season with salt to suit the taste of the convalescent.

From the Library of Congress.

1904 Philadelphia Phillies photograph at West Side Grounds

2009-10-29T21:07:00.002-04:00

Group portrait of Philadelphia Phillies baseball team, posed in front of grandstand at West Side Grounds. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Dated 1904.

John McGraw calls 1927 Yankees 'not a smart club'

2009-10-26T11:00:00.006-04:00

Sterling Daily Gazette - Sterling, Illinois - September 28th 1927

YANKS DEPEND ON HITTING AND LACK SMARTNESS

Jack Dempsey's only chance in the Tunney fight depended on the old sock and as a matter of official record it failed him.

Everyone knew that Dempsey could hit harder than Tunney and it was as generally agreed that Tunney was a better boxer and a smarter strategist than Dempsey. And in this particular instance the brain proved better than the blow.

The same logic that brains are better than might without brains is being applied to the dope on the coming world's series between the New York Yankees and the National League pennant winners.

The hitting power of the Yankees is recognized and respected in the National League but the brain power of the club is being disputed.

John McGraw, manager of the New York Giants, has gone on public record with the opinion that the Yankees are not a smart ball club and that they depend entirely upon the old sock. McGraw hasn't expressed any opinion about the coming series but he, as well as some other National League managers is said to believe that the Pittsburgh Pirates, the St. Louis Cardinals, or the Giants could beat the American League champions.

Only weeks later, the 1927 Yankees destroyed the Pittsburgh Pirates in four straight to become champions. The 1927 Yankees were considered to this day one of the greatest teams ever.

1840 New York & Boston rivalry going strong

2009-10-20T12:47:00.006-04:00

Even in the 1840's there was a Boston - New York rivalry. From "Diary of America"
written by Frederick Marryat.

Another difficulty and cause of misrepresentation is, that travelers are not aware of the jealousy existing between the inhabitants of the different states and cities. The eastern states pronounce the southerners to be choleric, reckless, regardless of law, and indifferent as to religion; while the southerners designate the eastern states as a nursery of overreaching peddlers, selling clocks and wooden nutmegs. This running into extremes is produced from the clashing of their interests as producers and manufacturers. Again, Boston turns up her erudite nose at New York; Philadelphia, in her pride, looks down upon both New York and Boston; while New York, clinking her dollars, swears the Bostonian's are a parcel of puritanical prigs, and the Philadelphian's would-be aristocracy. A western man from Kentucky, when at the Tremont House in Boston, begged me particularly not to pay attention to what they said of his state in that quarter. Both a Virginian and Tennessean, when I was at New York did the same.

At Boston, I was drinking champagne at a supper. “Are you drinking champagne?” said a young Bostonian. “That’s New York—take claret; or, if you will drink champagne, pour it into a green glass, and they will think it hock; champagne is not right.” How are we to distinguish between right and wrong in this queer world? At New York, they do drink a great deal of champagne; it is the small beer of the dinner-table. Champagne become associated with New York, and therefore is not right. I will do the New Yorkers the justice to say, that, as far as drinks are concerned, they are above prejudice: all’s right with them, provided there’s enough of it.

The above remarks will testify, that travellers in America have great difficulties to contend with, and that their channels of information have been chiefly those of the drawing-room or dinner-table. Had I worked through the same, I should have found then very difficult of access; for the Americans had determined that they would no longer extend their hospitality to those who returned it with ingratitude—nor can they be blamed. Let us reverse the case. Were not the doors of many houses in England shut against an American author, when from his want of knowledge of conventional usage, he published what never should have appeared in print! And should another return to England, after his tetchy, absurd remarks upon the English, is there much chance of his receiving a kind welcome? Most assuredly not; both these authors will be received with caution. The Americans, therefore, are not only not to blame, but would prove themselves very deficient in a proper respect for themselves, if they again admitted into their domestic circles those who eventually requited them with abuse.

Admitting this, of course I have no feelings of ill-will toward them for any want of hospitality toward me; on the contrary, I was pleased with the neglect, as it left me free, and unshackled from any real or fancied claims which the Americans might have made upon me on that score. Indeed, I had not been three weeks in the country before I decided upon accepting no more invitations, even charily as they were made. I found that, although invited, my presence was a restraint upon the company; every one appeared afraid to speak; and when anything ludicrous occurred, the cry would be—“Oh, now. Captain Marryat, don’t put that into your book.” More than once, when I happened to be in large parties, a question such as follows would be put to me by some “free and enlightened individual”.

1819 Advertisement for New Haven CT Church Bell Factory

2009-10-18T20:51:00.007-04:00

From the Columbian Register dated May 15th 1819, here is a advertisement from New Haven CT, for a bell foundry, making church bells of all sizes - 50 to 500 pounds!

If your interested in purchasing this newspaper - click here!

1817 Boston Astrologer Advertisement for 50 cents!

2009-10-13T10:16:00.005-04:00

From a Boston newspaper dated 1817. I believe this was located (Nashua street) somewhere around the Boston Garden.

THE SEER. (actual article below)

Professor Lister, the celebrated Astrologer, respectfully intimates to his friends and the public generally, that his stay in this city is positively short; therefore those desirous of having a statement of their destiny had better make an immediate application. Prof L. uses no mysterious means whereby to deceive the public, but gives his results from the application of science whose rules are infallible, was it not so it would have been trampled under foot centuries ago. From the position of the planets at the time of birth he will state every principal even through life from birth up to the period of death, as can be testified by thousands of the elite and scientific in this city during his twelve months stay, since his arrival from the West Indies. Also advice will be given upon any transient affair, such as sickness, if recoverable or not; or absent parties, whether dead or alive, or any other question of a similar character can be stated without time of birth. But to have a full description through life the time of birth must be known, and the more correct will be the Astrologer's statement. Fee 50 cents.

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Record of football deaths and injuries in 1900

2009-10-06T14:26:00.004-04:00

From a Quincy Illinois newspaper dated 1900, here is a list of current fatalities and major injuries from playing the sport of football that year. Players are from Asheville NC, Lake Forest IL, Englewood CA, Chicago IL, Hartford City IN, Philadelphia PA, Washington DC, San Fransisco CA, Boston MA, Johnstown PA and Lowell MA.

According to the National Center for Catastrophic Injury Research, the amount of deaths in football in 1968 was 36. From 1987 to 2008 the amount of deaths in the US was in single digits. You can see the complete chart here.