Content about history

You don’t have to change the world with every post. You might publish a quick thought or two that helps encourage someone else to try something new, listen to a new song, or binge-watch a new series.

I agree with the assurance behind Jeff's encouragement to publish more — indeed you don't have to change the world with every post. I'd expand on his reasons for doing so, too. Sure you might encourage someone to do something, which is great, but you might also help your future self remember a tiny detail about something you did or otherwise experienced. Or maybe you'll help your children or grandchildren, or even people unrelated to you, learn about such things at some point in the future.

I thought about this the other day when we were sitting in Harvard Square with Jonathan waiting to meet his girlfriend. I recorded an audio clip of the sounds of the Square, an environmental audio clip. I read a book about the history of Harvard Square last year and remembered thinking how nice it would be to be able to see or hear it in the times being written about in the book. Maybe someone in the future will find my audio clip and be able to scratch the same itch.

Document your stories, and everything is a story. Everything.

tags: writing history

postposted by matt in Sunday, November 3, 2024

I researched Kaiser-Frazer and the Kaiser Darrin a bit this morning, still jazzed a bit after seeing a Darrin at the Perrysburg car show last night. I figured it would be featured in this book I have about the history of industrial design in Toledo.

Nope! It's not even mentioned in a footnote. Hard to believe, considering the unique appearance and features of the car, and its history and tight connection to other key aspects of Toledo history (Willys, Jeep, etc.).

I guess the bottom line is the Darrin was a failure (an epic one, apparently). I guess the phrase "history is written by the victors" applies to more than just war. That's a shame, of course, because, as the Darrin shows us, there's fascinating history in the tales of those who lost.

tags: cars history

postposted by matt in Saturday, June 1, 2024

Evelyn de Rothschild, Scion of Banking Dynasty, Dies at 91 (nytimes.com)

This obituary of Evelyn de Rothschild, who died on Monday of this week, has an interesting mini-history of the Rothschild family and its banking businesses.

tags: history business

posted by matt in Thursday, November 10, 2022

Responsive image

The history on display in Boston is incredible. There's so much of it to go around that some of it, while probably noteworthy and interesting on some level, has yet to warrant attention beyond a simple marker with a date and an unremarkable description of an otherwise forgotten event. Take this ordinary house that sits a few blocks down the street from our Airbnb, for example. Apparently it sits on the site of a fort built "by order of General Washington" in 1775. That seems like a historically significant event and location to me. But the marker in the photo is truly the extent of it today. Weirdly, its incorporation into the white picket fence around the front yard doesn't feel strange at all. It feels natural, fits in. It's so...Boston.

tags: boston cambridge history

photo posted by matt in Saturday, November 6, 2021

Evidence for European presence in the Americas in ad 1021 - Nature (nature.com)

"Here we provide evidence that the Vikings were present in Newfoundland in AD 1021."

Science sorting out history. Now the question becomes, how long will it take history to apply the science and teach this to children?

tags: science history education

posted by matt in Saturday, October 23, 2021

Howard Johnson's - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)

Howard Johnson's actually has a fascinating history. It was probably the first nationwide chain of restaurants. And those came before the hotels. I had no idea.

tags: history

posted by matt in Thursday, March 25, 2021