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March 2008

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The Discovery of

KING TUT’S TOMB

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History

• Zero: A Brief History of Nothing


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OPENING NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Trivia items: The First Donut Machine, Earmuffs, Caisson
Disease
THE FIRST DECADE OF THE 1500S . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Victoria L. King explores the legacy of a period that still
lingers
THE SHE-SHE-SHE CAMPS OF THE
GREAT DEPRESSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1500-1509. Jane Kahramanidis looks at Eleanor Roosevelt’s attempts Zero.
Page 7. to keep the women of America busy during the Great Page 32.
Depression
JUMBO THE ELEPHANT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Doug Elliott follows the trail of the world’s most famous
pachyderm
THE BOAR WAR: MUCH ADO ABOUT A PIG . . . . 19
Kathryn Russell Selk looks at the pig that sparked an
international incident
WAX: THE FLUID MEDIUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Francine Kirsch follows the story of wax through the ages
She-She-She Camps. Marlowe.
Page 13. THE DISCOVERY OF TUTANKHAMUN’S TOMB . . . 25 Page 36.
Phill Jones documents one of archeology’s most famous
discoveries
ZERO — A BRIEF HISTORY OF NOTHING . . . . . . . 32
In an article about “nothing”, Ed Haag explains why
zero is such a big deal
THE ART OF INTRIGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Kel Morin-Parsons delves into the mysterious life and
death of playwright Christopher Marlowe

Jumbo. OPIUM DENS AND BOHEMIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Bertillon.


Page 17. Abridged from the book A Pickpocket’s Tale: The Underworld Page 44.
of Nineteenth-Century New York, author Timothy J. Gilfoyle
takes us on a tour of an opium den
THE MEASURE OF A MAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Phill Jones studies the case of Alphonse Bertillon, the
19th-century biometrician
HEY BUDDY, WANNA BUY A TOWER? . . . . . . . . . 47
Brian J. Noggle tells the story of the men who sold the
Eiffel Tower
TOUCHDOWN! THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL
Wax. IN NORTH AMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Touchdown!
Page 22. Matt Polacko goes deep as he examines the beginnings Page 49.
of all things pigskin
HINDSIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
We take a look at some recently released items that
may be of interest to our readers
THE LOST DAYS OF SEPTEMBER 1752 . . . . . . . . . . 54
Huck DeVenzio tracks the change to our modern-day
calendar
WHAT’S COMING IN HISTORY MAGAZINE . . . . . . 55
Tutankhamun. A peek at what we are working on for future issues of Lost Days.
Page 25. History Magazine Page 54.
History Magazine • February/March 2008 3
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OPENING NOTES

History Trivia
THE FIRST DONUT MACHINE Harlem. People lined up to watch the donuts fry
DONUTS HAVE BEEN around for centuries, but they and to purchase them fresh. Soon, he was unable to
were all made by hand until a Russian immi- make enough donuts to keep up with the
grant saw an opportunity in the early demand.
20th century. Levitt had an idea for a donut
Adolph Levitt emigrated from machine that could fry and auto-
Russia with his family to America matically turn donuts while
in 1892. His father died within a pushing the fumes to the roof
year, forcing Adolph to leave with a fan. With such a
school at the age of 10. As a machine, he would be able to
teenager, he began a mercantile produce donuts in greater
business with his brother, John. numbers and meet the
They opened several stores demand. Levitt worked with
using their plan to put mer- an engineer on 12 prototypes
chandise in the windows to before creating a successful
attract customers. The stores one. The total cost was $15,000.
prospered for awhile but, it Levitt called his machine The
didn’t last. Wonderful Almost Human Auto-
At 37, Adolph moved to New matic Donut Machine. He chose
York and bought into a bakery chain. Mayflower Donuts for his brand
Soldiers returning from WWI clamored name. He put the machine in the bakery
for the donuts they had eaten in France. window and produced large quantities of
Adolph heard about this and began frying donuts donuts. A circle of dough, shaped like a ring
in a kettle placed in the window of his bakery in dropped from a hopper and into a vat of boiling oil,

EARMUFFS As one of six children helping out on his family’s


SOMETIMES A GREAT idea comes when one least expects farm, he sold eggs door-to-door along an eight-mile
it. For Chester Greenwood, a flash of inspiration hap- route to raise extra money. Sometimes he made
pened while ice skating on Abbot Pond in Maine; it candy or fudge to sell as well. But once he began
was a particularly frigid day in December 1873. Fif- wearing his ear protectors, as Greenwood called
teen-year-old Greenwood wanted to test out his new them, his life went in a new direction. His peers
skates, but the icy wind rushing by his ears cut short asked their parents for earmuffs, and before long,
his fun. everyone in the small community of Farmington,
Most people in those days prevented cold ears by Maine, wanted a pair. The following winter,
tying a wool scarf or muffler around their heads. Greenwood was mass producing his Greenwood
Unfortunately, the wool Champion Ear Protectors.
caused Greenwood’s ears to Young and old alike
itch and the muffler was not were wearing Greenwood’s
secure enough to enjoy win- self-proclaimed “blizzard-
ter sports. Undeterred, proof” earmuffs, but he
Greenwood asked for his wasn’t satisfied. He made
grandmother’s help in fash- two important changes to
ioning something to keep his invention. The first was
his ears warm. Green- to solve the problem of the
wood’s design included muff flapping too much.
farm wire (a precursor of Greenwood attached a
bailing wire) for the head- hinge to each side to keep it
band and a combination of flush against the ear. A
The drawings submitted for patent #188,292 for
fur and velvet to cover the byproduct of this change
“Improvements for Ear-Mufflers”.
ear. His grandmother sewed was that the earmuff could
it together while Green- now be folded and stored in
wood shaped the headband with a pair of pliers, and a pocket. Then Greenwood substituted the farm wire
the prototype of the first earmuff was born. in the headband for flat, spring steel. “I believe per-
Many years later, The Wall Street Journal would fection has been reached”, he said and never made
report that Greenwood’s ears “were so sensitive that another alteration to his design.
they turned chalky white, beet red, and deep blue (in On 13 March 1877, the US Patent Office awarded
that order) when the mercury dipped.” Greenwood with patent #188,292 for his invention.
Greenwood had always been an industrious lad. He was just 18 years old. Greenwood soon opened a
4 History Magazine • February/March 2008
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circulated, turned over to brown both


sides and rolled out of the oil on a
moving ramp. He set up a donut
machine in a shop window in Times
Square, New York that drew so many VOLUME 9 NUMBER 3
onlookers, it caused traffic to come to a PUBLISHER:
halt. Halvor Moorshead
Soon, Levitt sold machines to small publisher@moorshead.com
shops and large baking companies all DEPUTY EDITOR:
over America. By this time, he was doing Victoria King
a 25-million dollar a year business. victoria@moorshead.com
Levitt’s next step was to manufacture ASSISTANT EDITOR:
the mix for the donuts. He started more Marc Skulnick
marc@moorshead.com
bakeries, opened restaurants to sell the
SPECIAL PROJECTS:
donuts and created advertising to sell
Ed Zapletal
them. During WWII, he rented machines edward@moorshead.com
to the Red Cross so the soldiers could CIRCULATION MANAGER:
have donuts. Rick Cree
Donut machines grew to be more rick@moorshead.com
refined and many other companies ADVERTISING SERVICES:
produced their own version of Levitt’s Jeannette Cox
machine. jeannette@moorshead.com
Today, some 300 million donuts are Published by Moorshead Magazines Ltd.
consumed in the US. In Canada, Tim 505 Consumers Road, Suite 500,
Toronto, ON, M2J 4V8 Canada
Horton’s, famous for its donuts, has (416) 491-3699 Fax (416) 491-3996
twice as many stores in the country as POSTAL INFORMATION — CANADA
McDonald’s. — SANDRA MCGARRITY Publications Mail Agreement No. 40062922. PAP Registration
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Postmaster send address corrections to History Magazine,
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ISSN 1492-4307. © 2008 Moorshead Magazines Ltd.
Some illustrations copyright www.arttoday.com.
We acknowledge the financial assistance of
Today earmuffs come the Government of Canada, through the
in a variety of colors Publications Assistance Program (PAP),
and sizes. toward our mailing costs in Canada.
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wood Champion Ear Protectors was making 400,000 earmuffs Quebec residents add 7.5% QST.
annually. Even after most of the manufacturing process was We welcome the submission of articles for publication. Please
automated, the factory still relied upon hand labor. It seemed address e-mail proposals to magazine@history-magazine.com.
the only way to attach the muff to the headband was the way We will always contact people who submit articles, but the
his grandmother had done it — by hand. review process may take several weeks. Authors’ notes are
Greenwood continued to turn his ideas into inventions, available on request.
and by the time he died in 1937, he had been granted more Toll-Free Subscription Line: 1-877-731-4478
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Each year in December, the state of Maine celebrates A full index of History Magazine’s past articles can be found at
http://www.history-magazine.com/historyindex.html.
Chester Greenwood Day to honor the man who found a way
to keep our ears warm. — JACQUELIN CANGRO HM51
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OPENING NOTES

CAISSON DISEASE er nine men died from compressed air exposure.


THE DEMAND FOR coal skyrocketed during Europe’s In September 1871, Washington Roebling started
industrial revolution, and inventors sought ways to work on the New York caisson of the Brooklyn
extract coal from previously inaccessible sites. In Bridge. Borings indicated that bedrock lay from 77 to
1839, Charles-Jean Triger, a French mining engineer, 92 feet below the surface. Every two feet translated
devised a method of excavating a rich vein of coal into an additional pound of pressure
buried under quicksand at Chalonnes. Triger had a By late January, the caisson reached a depth of 51
70-foot-long metal tube — a caisson — built in a mine feet, and workers experienced serious health prob-
shaft. Using compressed air, he drove water and sand lems. Roebling commissioned Dr. Andrew H. Smith
from the caisson and cleared a space for miners. The to help his men. During the next four months, Smith,
miners entered and exited the pressurized shaft who coined the term “caisson disease”, treated men
through an airlock on the surface. for the mysterious illness. Roebling himself suffered
A French company used a caisson to evacuate from caisson disease which he received while work-
underground water from a mine. The technology ing on the Brooklyn Bridge and was permanently
overcame the difficulty of installing a drainage affected by it.
machine with a capacity greater than that of incoming On 18 May 1872, the caisson reached a depth of
water currents. The new technique had a price: min- 78½ feet. Three men had died from caisson disease.
ers experienced severe pain in their arms, chest and Aware of the St. Louis Bridge tragedies, Roebling
legs. Two men died. stopped excavation. He
In 1854, two physi- gambled that the tower
cians, Pol and Watelle, on the New York side
published a treatise on could stand on sand.
the effects of air com- Smith treated 110
pression. The danger reported cases of cais-
does not lie in entering son disease. Undoubt-
a mine under com- edly, the disease had
pressed air, they affected many more
observed. “You only men, who feared that a
pay when you leave.” reported illness would
British engineers ban them from future
adapted Triger’s caisson projects. Workers kept
technology to sink piers to themselves if they
that supported bridges. had a dose of the Gre-
Basically, workers built Sectional view of the Brooklyn caisson of the East River cian Bends, a name
the shell of a pier in a Bridge from Harper’s Weekly (17 December 1870). shortened to the
large box or tube, which “bends” and inspired
was closed at the top. After sinking the caisson — open by the Grecian Bend stance, a fashionable forward
end first — into the river bed, compressed air forced bent posture of women who wore the restrictive
water from the caisson. Toiling in pressurized air, the corsets, crinolettes and bustles of the period.
men dug to the bedrock. To form the pier’s core, work- Smith, Pol and Jaminet correctly focused on rapid
ers poured concrete into the caisson’s interior. decompression as the cause of caisson disease. After a
While traveling through Europe, American engi- work shift in a caisson, the drop in atmospheric pres-
neer James Buchanan Eads observed the use of com- sure caused dissolved nitrogen to form bubbles in the
pressed air caissons. In 1869, he used the technology workers’ bodies. A rapid decompression overwhelmed
to build the first bridge across the Mississippi River at their lungs’ ability to expel the gas. Consequently, nitro-
St. Louis. Problems arose. At about 55 feet below the gen bubbles hindered the flow of oxygen to tissues,
river’s surface, men had joint pains while they dug causing intense pain and even permanent damage.
out the riverbed. As they continued to dig, they expe- Today, decompression sickness, as caisson disease
rienced painful paralysis of their legs. Eleven caisson is now known, usually affects pilots of unpressurized
workers died in five months. Eads shortened the aircraft and underwater divers. Sufferers are placed in
workers’ hours and called for his personal physician, recompression chambers; however, the damage is
Alphonse Jaminet. Despite the doctor’s efforts, anoth- sometimes irreversible. — PHILL JONES

ATTENTION SNOWBIRDS!
If you are moving to warmer climes for the winter, current address, your new address and the dates
please don’t forget to let us know. We would be you will be away. If you’d prefer to speak to some-
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copies until your return. moorshead.com and the toll-free number is 1-888-326-
Just send us an e-mail with your full name, 2476, extension 111.

6 History Magazine • February/March 2008


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Image courtesy of Heiko Mock. 1500-1509

The First Decade of the 1500s


Victoria L. King explores the legacy of a period that still lingers
IN MANY WAYS, the events and accomplishments of the Newfoundland and Brazil were explored and islands in
first decade of the 16th century remain relevant today the Atlantic and Indian oceans were discovered.
in the 21st century. Another famous figure from this period was
The artistic giants of the Renaissance, Leonardo Cesare Borgia. The natural son of Pope Alexander VI,
da Vinci and Michelangelo, created works in this the ambitious Borgia sought to create a kingdom for
decade which are still revered. Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, himself in Italy. Borgia’s ruthless determination
believed to have been painted between 1502 and 1505, brought him many successes; however, it came at a
is the world’s most famous portrait. The masterpiece price. He was betrayed, and when his father died,
is celebrated for its enigmatic subject, and has set a Borgia quickly lost all that he had gained. Years later,
standard against which all other portraits have been Borgia’s cold, calculating style became inspiration
compared. The painting, now five centuries old, for one of the most notorious books of all time,
continues to fascinate. Machiavelli’s The Prince.
Michelangelo’s work on the Sistine Chapel’s ceil- Another notable legacy from this decade is the
ing frescos was also begun in this decade. The artist, ubiquitous and humble portable timekeeping device
who considered himself primarily a sculptor, depicted known as the watch. The first watch more resembled
scenes and figures from the Bible which are still a large egg than what we are familiar with today.
admired for their drama and beauty. However, the invention of the watch allowed society
Christopher Columbus, the world-famous explorer, to leap forward, much as new inventions (usually)
undertook his final voyage in this period, dying shortly make our lives easier now.
afterwards. His “discovery” of the New World changed The events described here happened five cen-
the course of history forever. Other explorers also made turies ago. However, so much of what occurred in this
their marks on the map in this decade. The coasts of decade still resonates today.
History Magazine • February/March 2008 7
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1500-1509
1500:
Pope Alexander VI declares the year
a Holy Year of Jubilee and authorizes
various celebrations.
Cesare Borgia
CESARE BORGIA’S SHORT but dramat- elty. He was determined to create
Christopher Columbus returns from ic life is the material for books, his own kingdom in Italy, while he
his third trip to the New World.
and, indeed, one of the most infa- had the chance. Cesare’s involve-
France and Spain agree to invade mous books ever was written with ment with the murder of his
and divide the spoils of Italy him in mind. younger sister’s husband in 1500
between themselves. The French Cesare was born in Rome in the did little to help his reputation.
agree to the northern portion, includ-
ing Naples, and Spain the southern. mid 1470s, the son of Cardinal In 1503, Cesare’s commanders,
Rodrigo Borgia and his mistress, fearing his growing power, con-
Gaspar Côrte-Real visits the coast of Vannozza Catanei. While a child, spired against him and stripped
Newfoundland, naming several
places. Several Natives are kid- Pope Sixtus IV legitimatized the him of his followers. With the finan-
napped and sent to England. young Cesare, so he could hold cial aid of his father, Cesare rebuilt
ecclesiastical office. This was quick- his forces. Cesare then entered into
Surviving an assassination attempt, ly taken advantage of, as the seven- negotiations with his former com-
Alfonso, Duke of Bisceglie, husband
of Lucrezia Borgia and son-in-law of year-old Cesare was made canon of manders. A meeting was arranged
Pope Alexander VI, recovers in the Cathedral of where Cesare
Rome. However, a servant of his Valencia. Cesare promptly had the
brother-in-law Cesare Borgia, later went on to be bish- former comman-
strangles him. op of Pamplona and ders arrested and
The coast of present-day Brazil is then became arch- executed on 31
explored by Portugal’s Pedro bishop of Valencia December 1502.
Álvares Cabral. shortly after his The death of
1501: father became Pope Alexander on 18
Amerigo Vespucci sails along the Alexander VI in August 1503
coast of South America, and August 1492, all of marked the decline
concludes that the land mass is a which happened of Cesare’s for-
new continent.
before Cesare was tunes. Cesare was
Ascension Island in the South 20 years old. also ailing at the
Atlantic is discovered. The island Although time and unable to
remains uninhabited until 1815.
much of Cesare’s take advantage of
Pursuing a dynastic claim, France, success was due to the situation. In
with the assistance of Spain, his father, Cesare October, Giuliano
conquers Naples. was considered Della Rovere, an
The Danube River floods, brilliant and “the Cesare Borgia. enemy of the Bor-
submerging one-story buildings. handsomest man in gias, became Pope
This disaster is the worst flooding Italy”. Early in his father’s pontifi- Julius II. Julius refused to support
ever of the river. cate, Cesare was made an arch- Cesare and had him arrested. After
The Portuguese become the first to bishop and, in 1496, Alexander agreeing to surrender his conquests,
bring Asian spices to Europe via the made his son commander of the Cesare was allowed to go free. He
Cape of Good Hope. papal army. went to Naples seeking support,
1502: Despite this, Cesare was more only to be rearrested. He was
Arthur, Prince of Wales, dies. His known for his clothes and romances imprisoned, but escaped in 1506.
widow, Catherine of Aragon is than for his piousness, and when Cesare joined his brother-in-law’s
betrothed to Henry, Arthur’s his younger brother was murdered army, but died in battle in 1507.
younger brother. However, due to
rivalry between Spain and England, in 1497, it was rumored that Cesare Cesare Borgia might have
the marriage does not take place for had done the nefarious deed. simply been a minor figure in the
several years. Despite the rumors, Alexander still tumultuous 16th century, a man
Christopher Columbus leaves on his relied on Cesare and began making feared in his day and then forgot-
fourth trip to the New World. plans for a marriage alliance for ten. However, Cesare was immor-
him with the sister of Jean d’Albret talized in Niccolò Machiavelli’s
Cochin, a small fishing village on the of Navarre, Cesare gave up his car- 16th-century classic work of politi-
southwest coast of India, becomes a
Portuguese trading station and an dinalship accordingly. With the sup- cal thought, The Prince. Unlike
important port of Portugal’s Asian port of Navarre. Alexander and many of his contemporaries,
trading route. Cesare began to reassert papal dom- Machiavelli seemed to admire
James IV of Scotland marries
inance over Italy using military Cesare. He worked for Cesare and
Margaret, daughter of Henry VII of might. By 1502, Cesare had enjoyed saw firsthand how he controlled
England, as part of their “treaty of a number of successes. However, he and manipulated situations to his
perpetual peace”. Their descendants was not popular. advantage. Machiavelli’s literary
eventually unite the two countries. Cesare was seen as a power portrait of Cesare is a testament to
hungry man, capable of great cru- the man who wanted to be a king.
8 History Magazine • February/March 2008
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The Mona Lisa


THE MONA LISA IS arguably the sailles. Napoleon had the portrait walked out with it under his coat.
world’s most famous painting. hung in his bedroom. Then the He had smuggled the painting
Begun sometime around 1502 and Mona Lisa was given a spot in the back into Italy to sell it to an Ital-
worked upon for four years by the Louvre and became a popular ian museum. When the Uffizi
Italian genius Leonardo da Vinci, work due to the Symbolist art Gallery of Florence was
today the painting is instantly movement, which praised the approached to buy the painting,
recognizable. painting for its embodiment of they contacted the Louvre. The
The oil painting is believed to femininity. Mona Lisa was returned to France
be of the wife of Francesco del Despite her new home, the in 1914 and Perugia was impris-
Giocondo, thus the painting’s Mona Lisa’s adventures were not oned for the theft, but only served
nickname, La Gioconda. a few months.
Giocondo was a cloth mer- The year 1956 was not a
chant and in the Florentine good one for Mona Lisa. The
government, and both he portrait had acid thrown on
and his wife, Lisa, were art it and then a rock tossed at
lovers. If the painting is of it, resulting in the picture
Lisa del Giocondo, it is having to undergo restora-
believed to have been paint- tion. It is believed that an
ed around the time of the earlier restoration had
birth of her second son. removed the eyebrows and
The subject is seated eyelashes that once graced
against a background of the sitter. (However, it was
mountains and rivers, the also common in the early
shapes of which are echoed 16th century for women to
in the sitter’s hair and pluck off their eyebrows, so
clothing. Da Vinci used a the Mona Lisa may never
shading technique called have had them.)
“sfumato”, which involves In the 20th century, the
the layering of coats of Mona Lisa traveled to the
paint to create depth in a US, the former USSR and
work. The repetition creates Japan.
harmony in the painting. The painting is probably
The seated woman is smil- more famous now than ever
ing faintly; many suggest before. The Mona Lisa has
that her eyes are happier appeared in movies, songs
than her mouth, which may and books, including Dan
explain her enigmatic Brown’s book, The Da Vinci
expression. Code, which features the
However, the painting portrait and has sold more
was unfinished. According than 64 million copies.
to Giorgio Vasari, who Also, recent study of the
wrote in 1550, “after he [Da painting has kept the Mona
Vinci] had lingered over it Lisa in the spotlight. It was
four years, [he] left it unfin- discovered that the subject
ished.” A receipt or indica- is wearing a translucent
tion of payment for the The Mona Lisa is arguably the world’s most gauze garment called a
painting has never been famous portrait. guarnelo over her dress. The
found. Da Vinci took the guarnelo, as painted by Da
painting with him to France in over. In August 1911, the portrait Vinci is undetectable to the naked
1516, when the 65-year-old painter was stolen. It remained lost for eye. A guarnelo was worn by preg-
was invited there by King Francis two years until a former Louvre nant women or by those who had
I. While in France, Da Vinci employee, Vincenzo Perugia, was just given birth, which gives some
worked on the painting, but arrested for the crime. Perugia, an support to the theory of the sub-
stopped shortly before his death. Italian nationalist, thought the ject being Giocondo.
When Da Vinci died in France in famous painting deserved to be in Today, the painting is on
1519, the painting became the Italy. On 21 August 1911, Perugia display in the Louvre Museum in
property of the king. had found himself alone with the Paris, behind bullet-proof glass,
During the reign of Louis XIV, portrait in the gallery room, took and is viewed by some six million
the Mona Lisa was moved to Ver- the painting off its hooks and people a year.
History Magazine • February/March 2008 9
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1500-1509
(1502 continued)
Sir James Tyrrell is executed.
According to Thomas More, Tyrrell
The Ceiling of the
confessed to murdering the Princes
in the Tower — Edward V and
Richard of York — in 1483 on the
orders of their uncle, Richard III.
Sistine Chapel
The South Atlantic island of Saint
Helena, eventual island prison
of Napoleon, is discovered by
the Portuguese.
1503:
Christopher Columbus leaves his
brother, Bartholomew, in present-day
Panama to establish a colony. How-
ever, attacks by the Natives force
them to abandon the expedition.
Italian traveler Lodovico de
Varthema becomes the first Christian
known to make the pilgrimage Above: God creating Adam, as envisioned by Michelangelo.
to Mecca. Right: A self-portrait of Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel.
Pope Alexander VI dies. Francesco
Todeschini Piccolomini becomes THE PAPAL SISTINE Chapel was com- from darkness, the creation of
Pope Pius III, but dies less than a pleted in 1481 for Pope Sixtus IV. Adam and the Flood, were depict-
month into his pontificate. Giuliano The Chapel in the Vatican Palace is ed by Michelangelo. Along the
Della Rovere is elected Pope Julius II.
famous for its frescoes by sloping sides, where the ceiling
Vasco da Gama returns from his Michelangelo and other celebrated met the wall, prophets and sibyls
second voyage to India. artists. are shown, with the ancestors of
1504: Frescoes are created by apply- Christ between them, just above
A tax is imposed in colonial Spanish ing water-based paint to fresh plas- the inner windows. In the four
America on mineral products, such ter, which is absorbed and becomes corners of the sloped ceiling are
as precious metals and rare stones. part of the wall or ceiling surface. stories concerning the salvation of
The crown took one-fifth, hence its
name of quinto real, which becomes a The frescos on the walls of the the Jews, as told in the Bible.
large source of revenue for Spain. Sistine Chapel were begun in the To access the ceiling, a scaffold
1480s by leading artists of the day, was erected. At first, guidelines
Arguing over the spoils of their vic- such as Sandro Botticelli, famous and drawings were used in the
tory, France loses Naples to Spain.
for painting The Birth of Venus. work. However, these aids were
Christopher Columbus returns from These wall frescos depicted the abandoned as Michelangelo
his fourth — and final — trip to the lives of Christ and Moses. Above became more confident in his
New World. these, on the same level as the skills. The work took four years,
Isabella I of Castile dies. Her chapel windows, were popes, two with a brief break in the middle.
daughter Juana becomes queen, on either side of each of the 12 The Sistine Chapel’s ceiling
although Ferdinand II of Aragon, windows. fresco was probably finished
Juana’s father, rules the country.
When Michelangelo began sometime in October 1512, as Pope
The marble sculpture of David is working on the Sistine Chapel’s Julius II celebrated mass in the
finished by Michelangelo. ceiling in 1508, he was only 33 years chapel on 1 November 1512.
The teston or testoon, a coin repre- old and still in the early stages of Giorgio Vasari, Michelangelo’s
senting one-twentieth of a pound is his career. (Michelangelo was 16th-century biographer, said “The
struck for the first time in England. almost 89 years old when he died in whole world came running when
Some years later, the coin’s name is 1564.) Up until then, Michelangelo the vault was revealed, and the
changed to “shilling” and remains in
use until the late 20th century. was primarily known for his sculp- sight of it was enough to reduce
ture, and it was this medium that them to stunned silence.”
1505: he saw himself most associated Michelangelo returned to the
A famine strikes Hungary. It is with throughout his long career. By Sistine Chapel to work on a fresco
reported that some parents eat their
children in order to survive. this time Michelangelo was well- concerning the Last Judgment
known, and had already completed from 1534 to 1541.
Hiëronymus Bosch begins work on two sculptures, the Pietà and David, Today, the Sistine Chapel is
his Garden of Earthly Delights triptych. which are still famous today. used by the Sacred College of
Ivan III of Russia dies and is Despite being unfamiliar with Cardinals for their papal elections
succeeded by his son, Vasili. fresco painting, Michelangelo was and has some 10,000 visitors a day.
commissioned to finish the ceiling. Recently, the frescoes have been
Nine scenes from the Old Testa- cleaned and restored, removing
ment, such as God dividing light centuries of smoke and dirt.
10 History Magazine • February/March 2008
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The Last Voyage of Columbus


WHEN CHRISTOPHER Columbus la and Ferdinand. He stated that explored the islands of Jamaica
returned from his third voyage to he believed he had reached the and Cuba and along the coasts of
the New World in 1500, he was in Earthly Paradise and that the Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
chains. This was a dramatic riches it held would soon be and Panama. However, the adven-
change from what had happened found. When Columbus reached turers were plagued with bad
only seven years earlier with the Spain, the Spanish monarchs luck. Two of the ships were aban-
homecoming of his first voyage, removed Columbus as governor. doned as unseaworthy. The crews
when Columbus, as Admiral of However, his past successes were twice caught in violent
the Ocean Sea, was at the height of meant that he was allowed to storms while at sea, including
his powers. lead a fourth voyage to the New what is believed to have been a
Columbus’ sponsors, Isabella World. hurricane, and were eventually
of Castile and Ferdinand of The voyage began on 9 May beached as castaways on the coast
Aragon, had been delighted with 1502, with just four ships, a far cry of Jamaica. Men were sent to His-
the reports of riches in paniola to get help, which
the New World, along was over 400 miles of
with the precious metals, open sea. While waiting
exotic creatures, spices for the rescuers to come,
and human captives he Columbus predicted a
brought back to Spain in lunar eclipse with the help
1493. However, the of astronomical tables,
enchantment did not last. and frightened the
The monarchs were dis- Natives into helping them
appointed with the with food.
results of the second voy- Help did not arrive for
age (1493-96). The Euro- several months and it was
peans left behind from late 1504 when Columbus
the first voyage in the finally returned to Spain
New World had been as a disappointed and
killed by the Natives. broken man. He came
Columbus’ subordinates back to learn that his
also began to complain of greatest supporter, Queen
his harsh methods as gov- Isabella, was dying. In
ernor. Most importantly addition, evidence that
to the monarchs, the Columbus had not, in
investment in Colum- fact, reached Asia was
bus’s second voyage was mounting. Although a
not recouped. rich man from his suc-
However, the tempta- cesses in the New World,
tion of possible riches Columbus felt he was
meant that funding for a shortchanged and spent
third voyage was grant- part of his remaining time
ed. Columbus set sail in trying to get an audience
1498 with high hopes. with Ferdinand of
However, they were soon Aragon.
dashed. The passage to Columbus died on 6
A posthumous portrait of Christopher Columbus.
India remained elusive. May 1506, convinced that
Columbus and his broth- what he had discovered
ers, who were also involved in from the 17 vessels that embarked was a route to Asia.
the venture, were becoming on the second voyage. Columbus Today, it is well known that
unpopular due to their ruthless was instructed to avoid Hispanio- Columbus was not the first Euro-
ways, with both the Europeans la, where many of the problems pean to reach the Americas. How-
and the Natives. When a chief had previously occurred, and ever, these earlier Europeans had
justice arrived to investigate what instead search for a sea passage to failed to maintain links to the New
was happening in the New India. Columbus, however, dis- World. After Columbus’ first voy-
World, he had the three Colum- obeyed and made for Hispaniola. age, the European powers began
bus brothers arrested and sent Turned away by the new gover- to take notice of what lay to the
back to Spain. nor, Columbus reluctantly west, beginning a new chapter in
During the voyage home, returned to his mission. history.
Columbus wrote a letter to Isabel- During this voyage, Columbus
History Magazine • February/March 2008 11
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1500-1509
1506:
Christopher Columbus dies in
Valladolid, Spain. The Invention of
the Watch
Claude, heiress of Brittany, is
betrothed to Francis of Angoulême,
the future Francis I of France. The
marriage permanently unites Brit-
tany and France.
IN THE EARLY YEARS of the 16th cen- impossible, to move; sundials
Philip, the 28-year-old husband of tury, a German locksmith from needed to be in the same place or
Queen Juana of Castile, dies sudden- Nuremberg named Peter Henlein the readings were inaccurate.
ly. The already-unbalanced Juana
loses her mind in her grief and (or Hele) invented a portable time- Water clocks were also difficult to
refuses to be parted from his body. keeping device, which is consid- move, notched candles were
ered the first watch. expensive and inaccurate. The
The first Swiss Guards arrive at the Very little is known of Hen- necks of hourglasses became worn
Vatican, at the suggestion of a Swiss
bishop. The Swiss-born mercenary lein, who died sometime in 1542. after repeated uses, allowing sand
soldiers are under the direct control Like many locksmiths, Henlein to flow more quickly and distort-
of the Pope. dabbled in other fields and he took ing time telling.
The island group of Tristan da
care of the local clocks of churches Despite the drawbacks of the
Cunha is discovered by the Por- and the town hall. Apparently, in early portable watches, they were
tuguese explorer Tristão da Cunha. 1504, after being involved in a vio- considered status symbols.
The islands remain uninhabited for lent scuffle that ended a man’s life, These timepieces, later nick-
the next three centuries. Henlein fled to a Franciscan named “Nuremberg Eggs” due to
The sweating sickness breaks out in monastery for protection. He their shape, measured about four
England, though the continent is not stayed for several years and it is to five inches in diameter and
affected. Though it usually had a believed he about three inches in
Image courtesy of Heiko Mock.

high mortality rate, this is the only invented a portable depth and could be
known mild outbreak of the disease.
timepiece while carried about in the
Work on the Basilica of St. Peter in there. hand.
Rome begins under the direction of Various sources These early time-
Donato Bramante.
give different dates keeping devices
1507: for the invention, all were made of iron or
Margaret of Austria, aunt of the within the early steel, but later
future Holy Roman Emperor, years of the 16th watches were made
Charles V, is appointed regent of the
Netherlands on his behalf. century. However, a of brass and steel
work from 1511, and these timepieces
Martin Waldseemüller names the called the Cosmo- chimed the hour.
Americas after Amerigo Vespucci in graphia Pomponii They also lacked a
his world map. What is believed to be a Peter
Melae states the fol- Henlein watch from 1505.
minute hand, which
1508: lowing: “Every day was not invented
Juan Ponce de León conquers mod- now they invent more subtle until the late 17th century, and also
ern-day Puerto Rico, which is used
as a base for expeditions in search of things: Peter Hele (Henlein) of did not have a glass face, also
the fabled fountain of youth. youthful age, executes works that introduced in the 17th century.
raise the admiration of mathemati- Watches became more popular
The League of Cambrai is founded. cians, viz., he makes watches from as they became more reliable in
The League consists of Pope Julius II,
Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, iron with many wheels, that, how- keeping time. The invention of the
Ferdinand II of Aragon and Louis XII ever, they are worn, in the stom- fusee in the mid-16th century
of France claiming to be against the acher or in the purse will show made spring-driven time devices
Turks. The League was, in reality, and strike the hour during forty more accurate. The fusee is a cone-
against the Republic of Venice.
hours.” shaped grooved pulley that com-
1509: Henlein used a spring to drive pensates for the lessening of the
Diego Columbus, son of the famous the portable timepieces. The use of force of the spring, delivering con-
explorer, arrives in Santo Domingo a spring allowed the timepiece to stant pressure. Portable timekeep-
(present-day Haiti and Dominican
Republic) as royal governor of the be smaller than traditional clocks ing devices also became necessary
West Indies. and thus portable. As the tightly in the age of navigation, as they
wound spring relaxed, it drove the were needed for determining lon-
Henry VII of England dies. He is
succeeded by his son, Henry. The new timekeeping mechanism. How- gitude at sea.
king marries Catherine of Aragon, the ever, because the force exerted by It has recently been reported
widow of his elder brother. the spring decreased as it uncoiled, that the sale of watches has
the timekeeping was irregular. decreased as people are now
The French are victorious over
Venice at Agnadello. Prior to this, timepieces were relying on their cellular phones,
stationary. Mechanical clocks were Blackberries, iPods and com-
weight-driven and difficult, if not puters to tell the time. HM
12 History Magazine • February/March 2008
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SOCIAL PROGRAMS

The She-She-She Camps of the


Great Depression
Jane Kahramanidis looks at Eleanor Roosevelt’s attempts to keep the women of America
busy during the Great Depression
IT WAS A CLOUDY June morning in life and the philosophy of William Plight of Jobless Women
1933 as 17 young women, 20 to 35 James, who deemed this sort of Indeed, shocking stories about
years of age, boarded a bus in program as the “moral equiva- women sleeping in subway tun-
New York City. None of them lency of war”. Although adminis- nels and “tramping” proliferated
knew what to expect at the end of tered by the Army, the camps in the early ‘30s. Two million
their journey and, for most, it was were not to be militaristic because women across the country sought
their first trip into the country. the Administration did not want jobs. Why weren’t women in the
Each woman, victimized soup lines? Activist
by the Great Depression, Helena Weed of the
had been determined by National Women’s Party
the government to be answered, “Men thronged
appropriately destitute, the bread lines while
single and unemployed to women hid their plight.”
qualify for a camp vaca- Minnesotan writer/
tion at the taxpayer’s feminist, Meridel Le
expense. In fact, this Sueur, reported that
group, consisting of women “will go for weeks
unemployed stenogra- verging on starvation,
phers, clerks, saleswomen, crawling in some hole,
seamstresses, factory going through the streets
workers and a dancer was ashamed, sitting in
the first to begin a New libraries, parks going for
Deal program for jobless days without speaking to
women that would a living soul like some
become confused in its exiled beast.”
Above: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wife
mission and mired in con- Eleanor Roosevelt pose on a train caboose near Denver, Col- Hilda W. Smith, New
troversy, but would help orado in this undated photograph. Below: Eleanor Roosevelt Deal Education Specialist,
more than 8,000 women in addresses the women at a She-She-She Camp for unem- said, “People were hungry
90 sites across the US from ployed women, Bear Mountain, State Park, New York 1933. all over the country. I
1933 to 1937. know, I went to see some
So why in the midst of of our students in New
the Great Depression were York, and they showed
precious resources spent what they had for supper.
to send unemployed They opened the oven,
women on vacation? The and they were cooking a
answer lies somewhere little puppy they had
between the agenda of picked up on the street.”
Eleanor Roosevelt and the The First Lady was
Civilian Conservation especially aware of the
Corps (CCC). plight of unemployed
The CCC was one of women in New York City.
the most popular and suc- She initiated the “room
cessful New Deal pro- service” program at the
grams. Two and a half headquarters of the
million young men from Women’s Trade Union
all over the Depression- League (WTUL) where
ravaged US worked in state any embarrassing semblance to jobless women went to get clothes,
forests doing conservation work. “Hitler Youth”. The “tree armies” food and job information. Days
They lived in camps and earned kept an emerging young male after the inauguration she visited
one dollar a day. President population occupied and out of this program and several other
Franklin Roosevelt especially cher- the job market. But, “what about charity centers in New York
ished this project because it cham- the women?” asked Eleanor Roo- designed to help unemployed
pioned both his passion for rural sevelt. women. She called on the Salva-
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SOCIAL PROGRAMS

gram. Those in the Administration jobless woman and recommending munities cleaning old facilities and
supportive of the program camps as a way to solve this prob- donating bedding, clothes, food
included: Harry Hopkins, FERA lem. Half of the FERA field repre- and other necessities for the
Director; Frances Perkins, Secre- sentatives polled said they had no women. North Dakota Indian
tary of Labor and especially Hilda interest or need for such a pro- women left their reservation for
W. Smith, who would officially gram in their states. It wasn’t until the first time to attend a camp
join the New Deal Administration April 1934 after another confer- program. Barnard College in New
as Specialist in Adult Education. ence that the plan was finally York City hosted unemployed
Smith started her new position approved. union women. Oberlin College
in September 1933 with instruc- Smith and Roosevelt held a welcomed clerical workers into its
tions from Hopkins to “do some- press conference announcing their Summer School for Office Work-
thing” for jobless women. Smith program which was “intended to ers. The YWCA in Philadelphia
was eminently qualified for this serve as social and educational provided space for 40 women to
job as she had taught at Bryn laboratories (from which) women live and study. Black sharecropper
Mawr College and established the will go forth to cope more intelli- women studied at an Arkansas
famous Bryn Mawr Summer agricultural college. Unem-
School for Working Women in ployed professional women in
1921. Desirous of expanding New Jersey attended a special
the experience to include more program. Rented houses pro-
educational opportunities, and vided unemployed women
workers’ education, Smith instruction in housekeeping
worked to develop a more skills in Michigan and Ozark
defined purpose to the camps women attended literacy
apart from health and relax- classes.
ation. It would take several
months of tireless promotional Controversy
work to activate the program. Above: “The Whole School — Students and Fac- However controversies raged.
In November 1933, Mrs. ulty”, the Resident School for Unemployed Women In a meeting in the morning of
Roosevelt and Ellen Wood- in Oberlin, Ohio. Below: Negro Camp for Unem- 2 July 1936, the American
ward, FERA Women’s Direc- ployed Women in Atlanta, GA from July 1934. Legion of Rockland County
(Images courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library).
tor, organized an all-day accused Camp Tera of using
conference with 100 women Federal funds to promote
from government and communism.
women’s organizations with Camp Tera Director, Ber-
the mission of planning a nice Miller, denied the charge.
national camp program to “The campers were permitted
help unemployed women. the completest freedom to say
Although the conference par- and discuss what they
ticipants were unsure of fund- pleased,” she said, “and sing
ing, they put together a plan whatever songs they wanted
that would utilize empty to.” Some, Miller admitted
camps, hotels, schools and any were “of communist and
other donated buildings and socialist persuasion.” How-
provide vocational training, ever most supported the cur-
health education and recre- rent government.
ation. Smith also wanted to teach gently and with renewed strength Specifically the complaints
“workers’ education”, a term that and courage for their special prob- were that the “Internationale” and
had a strong communist associa- lems.” A few weeks later, 28 other radical satires were sung,
tion. She related years later, “I camps in 26 states began opera- communist speeches were made
hardly dared mention it because it tion. The camps were to be run by and controversial material read.
was so unpopular.” the participating states and feder- Critics complained that “a gate
However, the program failed ally funded, however Smith had been put up to keep visitors
to get off the ground. Smith would not have authority over out and the communist practices
addressed the FERA field repre- their management or curriculum secret.”
sentatives in February 1934 and offerings. Embarrassing events plagued
met opposition. Participants com- There were 90 camps scattered the program. There was a riot in a
plained there would be “serious across the country by 1936. Each Montana mountain camp that took
discipline problems if women reflected the different challenges several hours to subdue. Women
were brought together to live.” and cultures indigenous to their from Camp Tera “escaped” and
Smith then published a pamphlet, locations and depended heavily went to a men’s CCC camp
“The Woman with the Worn out upon available local resources and nearby. Harry Gersh, teacher at
Shoes”, depicting the plight of the talent. There were stories of com- Camp Tera said, “It was a most
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tion Army’s Unemployed Girls’ She asked the President for funds place very much, but I think the
Hostel, where women could live, to start a model camp there for requirements too strict,” she said.
and the New York League of Girl’s unemployed women. FDR gave Mrs. Roosevelt thought it unbe-
Clubs canteen service, which was the proposal to Harry Hopkins, lievable that it would be difficult
similar to the WTUL’s. However, Director of the Federal Emergency to find 200 unemployed women in
resources for these private chari- Relief Administration (FERA), New York City who could use the
ties were strained. who in turn instructed New York help. “If they do not get the quota,
State to fund the project with relief the camp idea will have to be
Opening a Model Camp money. Thus Camp Tera (Tempo- abandoned,” she warned.
Mrs. Roosevelt wasted no time rary Emergency Relief Adminis- Suddenly on the hot seat, Wal-
after her husband’s inauguration tration), later called Camp Jane ter W. Petit, field representative of
that March of 1933 activating her Addams, began on 10 June 1933 the State Relief Administration
agenda. She enthusiastically sup- with those 17 young women from explained the slow process and
ported the CCC plan, and she and New York City. But what exactly the method of choosing the
her feminist friends hoped to would the campers do? Would women to go to the camp. “It is a
establish something similar for they work? Take classes? Get very thorough investigation,” he
women. But what exactly did they paid? said. As of June 20, 700 women
have in mind? had applied. Petit said that the
Mrs. Roosevelt had just reason the camp filled so
finished reading the popular slowly was because of the
book Prohibiting Poverty by “rigorousness of the qualifica-
Prestonia Mann Martin, tions for eligibility.” The age
granddaughter of Horace was raised to 40; however the
Mann, who advocated a stringent qualification process
utopian concept where the remained the same.
nation’s youth, men and There were a lot of ques-
women, would work for eight tions as to the nature of the
years and produce the neces- camp. Some women thought
sary products and services for they would have to work at
Above: Unemployed women campers in New Jersey
the rest of the population. reforestation and wear uni-
off for dinner in the woods, August 1934. Below:
This philosophy fit perfectly Camp for Unemployed Women in Maine, from July forms as the men did in the
into her desire for utopian 1934. (Images courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library). CCC. “Some of the girls in the
planning and experimenta- city were afraid to come
tion. “It may be possible to try because they thought they
out some of these ideas under would have to work too hard
the emergency relief,” said the and get nothing to eat but
First Lady. maybe some beans,”
In an effort to be included explained a stenographer.
in the initial CCC funding that Others feared losing a chance
March 1933, Hilda W. Smith at a job. A few took one look
quickly organized a meeting at the camp and climbed right
of the Women’s Trade Union back on the bus to go home.
League. The women proposed Despite the initial prob-
a series of schools and camps lems, Camp Tera gained
to be set up for jobless women Red Tape and Confusion nationwide media attention. Mail
similar to the ones operated by the As Camp Tera Director, Marian poured into the White House from
YWCA. The proposal requested Tinker, showed the women and all over the country with offers of
that the camps be funded by fed- the press around the 200-acre facil- properties for more camps, pleas
eral relief money and located on ity that first day, she told them from individuals to attend such a
public property. that rest was to be the priority program and promises from gov-
Most officials scorned the idea with other activities and classes ernment officials to organize
and derisively called them the added later. The plan was to have camps if Camp Tera was success-
“She-She-She” camps. The idea of 20 girls arrive two times a week ful.
having a camp opportunity for until the capacity of 200 was met.
unemployed women would prob- However confusion and massive Expanding the Program
ably have died except for the red tape prevailed. Encouraged by the outpouring of
relentless pursuit of the First Lady. Eleanor Roosevelt first visited support from people across the
She knew that the New York Camp Tera a few days after it country and the reported positive
Life Insurance Company owned opened, driving from Hyde Park experience of Camp Tera partici-
an abandoned employee camp in across the Bear Mountain Bridge, pants, proponents of the She-She-
Bear Mountain State Park near her and she was very disappointed to She camps renewed their efforts
home in Hyde Park, New York. find only 30 campers. “I like this that fall of 1933 to expand the pro-
History Magazine • February/March 2008 15
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SOCIAL PROGRAMS

unnatural environment for these the government school can’t mean decided it was too expensive. As
women… No one had thought very much.” In fact between 1934 the crisis of hunger and shelter
that sexual isolation would be a and 1935 only one fifth of the eased, the camp program for
problem.” campers got jobs and then mostly women could not be justified and
Another ongoing negative in relief projects. it ended.
condition regarding the camps After returning to New York Mrs. Roosevelt was never
was the fact that American citizens City from Camp Tera, a group of happy with either the women’s or
in the ‘30s objected to the use of women joined the radical Work- men’s camps. She objected to the
public resources to support indi- ers’ Alliance. Sarah Rosenberg, military aspect of the CCC and
viduals, especially women. spokeswoman for the organization thought women should have a
Besides, most felt, the role of a and critic of the benefit of the She- parallel experience. She and her
woman was in the home and feminist friends shared lofty
it was wrong to entice her out goals for the camp program
into the public and the work and it confused the states. Her
force. vision was a two-year pro-
gram for young men and
Camp Experience women devoted to domestic
Pauli Murray, who would projects such as conservation,
later become a lawyer, writer, health care, education and set-
black civil rights activist and tlement houses. At the end of
Episcopal priest, came to 1933 she said, “There is noth-
Camp Tera on the advice of ing more exciting than build-
her doctor for three months at ing a new social order.”
the end of 1933 and beginning
of 1934. Living on the edge of
poverty had taken its toll on Top: “The Swimming Pool” at a
Murray and she had pleurisy. Camp for Unemployed Women
Murray’s camp experience in New Jersey (July 1934).
was cut short by her clash Middle: Camp for Unemployed
with the camp’s director, Miss Women in Minnesota (July
Mills. Murray described Direc- 1934). Bottom: Camp for Unem-
tor Mills as “a raw-boned, ployed Women in New Hamp-
gray-haired, authoritarian shire: “Robin Hood” (June 1934).
(Images courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt
person who had driven an Library).
ambulance in World War I and
attempted to run the camp on
semi military lines.” Murray
had a copy of Das Capital in
her trunk and when Director Despite the controversies
Mills found it, she had to related to communist influ-
leave. However, this spirited ence, the extravagance of
black woman would later funding camp vacations, the
become a close friend of confused mission and various
Eleanor Roosevelt. embarrassing skirmishes, the
After the campers finished She-She-She camps of the
their two- or three-month visit Great Depression did con-
they were asked to comment tribute to the well being of
on their experience. Most thousands of young women.
spoke effusively of how the The friendships and direction
camps had helped them overcome She-She camps said, “More than as well as healthful living, for
not only health problems, but feel- one girl says there is nothing left however brief a time, provided a
ings of hopelessness and loneli- except suicide or tramping on the welcome lift for these women.
ness. Others spoke of a new skill roads.” Also, perhaps most importantly,
they learned. However some and in the words of a camper:
campers came with expectations The Camps Close “It seemed like someone did
that were not met. “I attended On 16 August 1937 the New York have an interest in whether we
with the idea that the school, Times reported that the women’s lived or starved and was trying to
being a government school, would camps would close on 1 October help.”
mean a lot in securing a job,” said 1937. The National Youth Admin-
one camp participant. “The school istration, then in charge of the pro-
was a good idea but if you can’t gram, criticized the objectives and
get a job after you return home, necessity of the camps and HM
16 History Magazine • February/March 2008
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ANIMALS

Jumbo the Elephant


Doug Elliott follows the trail of the world’s most famous pachyderm

THE 10 HORSES STRAINED against “There is no elephant like him in Jumbo was a powerful magnet for
their massive burden as the Europe,” wrote The Spectator, the public, but a serious problem
wooden crate rumbled its ponder- “and, we imagine, very few for his owners. In January 1882,
ous way toward the docks. A bois- indeed like him anywhere.” The Times announced that Jumbo
terous crowd followed under the So it remained for almost 15 would be sold for £2,000 to Bar-
watchful eyes of the constables. years until, in 1880, Jumbo began num, who would be responsible
Under the great weight, the showing signs of restlessness. He for shipping him to America. Bar-
wheels smoked and shot sparks, flew into periodic rages and num also offered Scott a lucrative
requiring frequent stops as water smashed the doors and walls of position as Jumbo’s keeper.
was poured over the axles.
Through a gap in the front of
the crate, a gray trunk waved
gently. Jumbo was leaving
London.
In 1865, Abraham Bartlett,
Superintendent of the London
Zoological Gardens at
Regent’s Park — the original
“zoo” — arranged an
exchange with Paris’ Jardin
des Plantes. Paris got a rhinoc-
eros and London got a small
bull African elephant, perhaps
four years old. Bartlett named
his new acquisition Jumbo,
possibly from the Zulu jumba
(a large package) or the
Swahili jambo (hello) or jumbe
(chief).
Bartlett selected Matthew
Scott, a man with no previous
experience handling ele-
phants, as the elephant’s Jumbo the elephant at the London Zoological Gardens at Regent’s Park, c.1880. Jumbo
keeper. Pachyderm and was said to be 13 feet (four meters) tall when he died.
keeper became very close and
Scott soon developed a propri- his enclosure, punching holes in There was no immediate pub-
etary and protective attitude the metal plates of its walls and lic reaction to the sale. Indeed, if
towards his charge. breaking off both his tusks. When Barnum’s men had successfully
Improved public transport Scott, the only one who could delivered Jumbo for his scheduled
brought growing crowds to approach him during these sailing to America on February 19,
Regent’s Park and it became fash- episodes, took him walking in the we may have heard little more of
ionable on fine days in the late park, he became placid again. him. It was not to be.
1800s to walk in the Zoo. The Bartlett became increasingly con- Jumbo, it appeared, did not
largest elephant then in captivity, cerned. He could not confine want to leave. He refused to enter
Jumbo became a favorite with visi- Jumbo permanently and he feared the heavy wheeled shipping crate
tors who grew accustomed to see- an outburst that would threaten that Barnum’s men brought to the
ing him lumbering through the park visitors. Preparing for the Zoo. Scott then attempted to lead
park, a handful of grinning pas- unthinkable, he quietly petitioned him through the streets to the
sengers on his back. This was a the Zoo’s Council to purchase an docks, hoping he would enter the
decided novelty: previous riding elephant gun. crate there. Emerging from the Zoo
elephants had all been of the The answer to Bartlett’s night- gates in front of a large crowd, the
smaller, more tractable Indian mares arrived in the form of the great beast abruptly knelt down
variety. It was widely believed great American showman, P.T. and refused to go farther.
that African elephants could not Barnum. Constantly seeking new That week a letter appeared in
be trained, but to Bartlett, the gen- novelties for his famous circus, The Times expressing “disgust” at
tle Jumbo proved otherwise. Barnum learned in 1881 that the sale and at “the pathetic and
History Magazine • February/March 2008 17
JUMBO HM.qxd 12/5/2007 1:51 PM Page 2

ANIMALS

almost human distress of the poor two of Barnum’s circus elephants their respective cars. Their path
animal at the attempted separation to Madison Square Garden, home followed along an unused track
of him from his home and his fam- of the circus’s New York show. between the circus train and a
ily.” A torrent of similar corre- Joining Barnum, Bailey & steep slope down to the adjoining
spondence to the press and to the Hutchinson’s “Greatest Show on field. Suddenly, a freight train
Zoo itself followed. Some Fellows Earth”, Jumbo received prominent appeared, bearing down on them
of the Zoological Society even billing as the “Towering Monarch on the very track on which they
sued the Society itself to prevent it of His Mighty Race”. He led the were walking. Trapped between
from disposing of the animal, but grand parade of almost 30 ele- the embankment and the circus
the motion failed in court. Scores phants and after the show, he gave train, Scott hurried Jumbo along
of letters, many from children, rides to children. His debut the track away from the onrushing
arrived at Barnum’s door, plead- boosted attendance at the circus train. The freight engineer
ing him to cancel the deal in the and spawned a flood of Jumbo slammed his engine into reverse
interest of Jumbo’s welfare. Bar- souvenirs. but it was too late. The locomotive
num declined to comment, but Barnum fanned the publicity knocked Jumbo over and derailed.
published several of the letters, by leaving Jumbo’s actual height Scott rushed to the prone form of
thriving on the his old compan-
publicity. When ion. Jumbo’s trunk
Jumbo had knelt grasped his hand.
on the street by A few minutes
the Zoo gates, later, Jumbo died.
Barnum had glee- Scott was incon-
fully wired his solable.
men, “Let him lie Barnum had
there a week if he planned for the
wants to. It is the inevitable. Two
best advertise- men arrived
ment in the shortly to retrieve
world.” the skin and
The ends were skeleton for
removed from the preservation. Bar-
crate and it was num toured the
set into a trench at skeleton and taxi-
the entrance to dermied skin with
Jumbo’s enclosure, the circus for two
forming a tunnel years. In 1889, he
between the enclo- Workers stand around Jumbo’s body following the elephant’s tragic death in gave the stuffed
sure and the Park. St. Thomas, Ontario on 15 September 1885. skin to Tufts Col-
He happily lege in Medford,
walked through this tunnel every and weight a mystery. When the Massachusetts, where it became a
day for more than a week. On the animal had left London, he was school mascot until it was lost in a
morning of March 22, Scott halted nearly 11 feet tall and weighed six fire in 1975. He donated the skele-
Jumbo inside the tunnel and car- tons. Barnum claimed that he had ton to the American Museum of
penters closed the ends, leaving continued to grow in America but Natural History in New York.
gaps in front for Jumbo to see and refused to let anyone weigh or Cornell University bought
to extend his trunk. Crowds joined measure him. Jumbo’s heart.
the journey the following day as At the end of the run in each The great elephant’s name is
the horse-drawn crate rumbled its city, the circus was packed up and now part of our lexicon. Jumbo, the
way, wheels smoking, to St. loaded onto railway trains, nearly adjective meaning large, is applied
Katharine Dock. Three days later, 100 cars, including Jumbo’s own to a wide variety of objects from
Jumbo, secure in the hold of the custom-made Palace Car, for the shrimps to airliners. As a noun, it
Assyrian Monarch, left England for trip to the next city. Scott has come to mean elephant and
his new life in America. Jumboma- remained close at all times, living carries a mythic association with
nia faded in England, but in Amer- in quarters in Jumbo’s car. On the regal grace and gentleness. Jumbo’s
ica, the excitement was only rare occasions that Scott was story has been retold in books, a
beginning. absent, Jumbo fussed and pined Broadway musical and a film. The
On April 10, the ship was met for his keeper. town of St. Thomas, 100 years after
by Barnum and the press in New On 15 September 1885, the the tragic event that raised it
York’s North River. Jumbo had circus was playing St. Thomas in briefly to the world’s attention, felt
weathered the journey “fine as western Ontario. At the end of the the need to commemorate Jumbo’s
silk”, the captain reported. The performance, the elephants were memory by dedicating a full-
crate was pulled by 16 horses and led through the railway yards to sized statue. HM
18 History Magazine • February/March 2008
WAR OF THE PIG HM.qxd 12/5/2007 1:54 PM Page 1

“CONFLICT”

The Boar War:


Much Ado About a Pig
Kathryn Russell Selk looks at the pig that sparked an international incident
LYMAN CUTLAR HAD A problem tries, but the “Oregon Country” country of the Oregon” was “clear
with a neighbor’s pig rooting in was not addressed. and unquestionable”.
his vegetable garden. Cutlar com- Negotiations continued, with Soon the belief in a “manifest
plained to the neighbor, but one no result. The British did not want destiny” to the entire continent
morning, the pig was there again. to lose the lucrative fur trade route had begun to grip the minds of
Cutlar grabbed his shotgun, killed of the Columbia River, in the many in the US and some began
the pig — and nearly started a southern part of what is now to call for war on the border issue.
war between the United States Washington State. The US, how- In 1846, the US Congress passed
and Britain. ever, wanted to secure the impor- resolutions urging peaceful resolu-
The year was 1859, and Cutlar, tant port of Seattle, well north of tion, and negotiations were hastily
a US citizen, was on San Juan the Columbia, because the ports of begun. By June of that year, the
Island, one of a group of islands what later became California were “Treaty of Oregon” was ratified.
sitting between what is now the
mainland US and Canada’s Van-
couver Island. The pig — actually Former British Camp, now part of San Juan
a “Berkshire boar” — was the Island, a National Historic Park, showing the
blockhouse and a little of the garden.
property of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, whose agent on the
island, Charles Griffin, had estab-
lished Belle Vue Farm there in
1853. Unfortunately for Cutlar, his
act would ignite tempers in an
already long-simmering conflict
between the US and the British. It
would also lead to what would
eventually be called the “Pig
War”.

The Disputed “Oregon Country”


In the early 1800s, the Pacific coast
of North America was in dispute,
with both the British and the US
among those claiming the “Ore-
gon Country”. This vast, resource-
rich area included all of
present-day Washington, Oregon
and Idaho and parts of Montana
and Wyoming, as well as much of
the current Canadian province of
British Columbia. Despite the not yet in American hands. Through the Middle of “Said
presence of indigenous Native With matters at a standstill, Channel” and into Further
Americans, the US and the British both sides agreed to jointly occupy Conflict
claimed the region based upon the region for 10 years. This time In the treaty, the British living near
their “discovery” of it. passed and joint occupation con- the Columbia River were given
Fur trading was a major com- tinued. In the meantime, by the navigation rights, and the border
mercial venture in the area and, in 1840s, American settlers were was set in North America west of
1812, the Hudson’s Bay Company steadily pouring into the area the Rockies, in general, at the 49th
had established a foothold by tak- along the Oregon Trail. Some in parallel. There was one major
ing over a significant fur trading the US became interested in active problem, however. The treaty set
post in what is now Northwest confrontation, including President the boundary in the Pacific North-
Oregon. Two years later, in the James K. Polk, who declared in his west region “along the forty-ninth
Treaty of Ghent, some boundaries inaugural address on 4 March parallel of north latitude to the
were set between the two coun- 1845, that the US claim to “the middle of the channel which sepa-
History Magazine • February/March 2008 19
WAR OF THE PIG HM.qxd 12/5/2007 1:54 PM Page 2

“CONFLICT”
rates the continent from Vancou- which included San Juan Island at replace it. Things deteriorated
ver’s Island, and thence southerly the time. When his efforts to col- quickly, however, when Griffin
through the middle of the said lect “county” taxes were rebuffed, started demanding the then-huge
channel, and of Juan de Fuca’s the sheriff paddled over to the sum of $100. According to Cutlar,
Straights, to the Pacific Ocean.” island with a group of bidders. He Griffin also threatened to arrest
But there was not one such rounded up a bunch of the Com- him and take him to Victoria for
channel — there were several. One pany’s livestock, sold them in auc- trial if he refused to pay.
of them (now known as Rosario tion on the beach after midnight, Cutlar and the other American
Strait) divides the mainland of and managed to herd about half of settlers then threw a defiant
what is now Washington State them into tiny boats while bran- Fourth of July party on the island,
from nearly all the islands in the dishing guns at the frustrated running a US flag up a pole. It
chain. Another channel runs to the Griffin, who had arrived too late. was still flying a few days later,
east of San Juan Island, dividing The US Secretary of State, alarmed when it was seen by US General
the islands roughly down the mid- at the hi-jinks, warned the territor- William S. Harney while visiting
dle. The largest channel, Haro ial governor in the area that such outposts in the territory aboard
Strait, runs between San Juan the USS Massachusetts. Curi-
Island and Vancouver Island. ous, Harney landed and
Whether through lack of quickly became enraged at the
knowledge of the region’s stories the settlers told.
geography or out of a desire to Harney, well-known for his
settle more pressing disputes, anti-British sentiments, had the
the drafters of the Treaty of settlers write up a list of their
Oregon left open a very large complaints. He then ordered
question. The British chose to Captain George Pickett and his
interpret the “channel” divid- 9th infantry to the island, in
ing the two countries as the order to protect American citi-
one now known as Rosario zens on what he deemed was
Strait, thus giving them virtu- US soil. A letter Harney wrote
ally all the islands in the chain. at the time reported the claim
The Americans, not surpris- that Douglas’ son-in-law had
ingly, chose Haro Strait, which arrived at the island in a sloop-
gave the US the bulk of the of-war and threatened to take
islands, including San Juan. Cutlar forcibly to Victoria to
With the specter of contin- stand trial.
ued US settlement, the Gover-
nor of the Crown Colony of Escalation Towards War
British Columbia and the On 30 July 1859, four days
Company’s chief factor at Fort after Pickett landed and about
Victoria, James Douglas, 45 days after the pig was shot,
decided to take action. He had Griffin sent a demand. He told
the Company set up a salmon Pickett the land the Americans
curing station on San Juan were on “is the property and
Island in 1851 and, in 1853, in the occupation of the Hud-
ordered Griffin to establish Auction notice for buildings from both British son’s Bay Company”. Pickett
Belle Vue Farm. and American camps. The buildings were sold responded that he did not
Soon after, an American off after the Pig War ended. “acknowledge the right of the
customs collector started com- Hudson’s Bay Company to
ing to the farm to demand that the confrontations with the British dictate my course of action” on
Company pay customs duties on were to be halted immediately, what he deemed American soil.
the livestock there. The collector, pending resolution of the bound- By then, Douglas had ordered
Isaac Ebey, declared the animals ary dispute. a 30-gun British frigate to the
illegally “smuggled” into Ameri- A boundary commission was island, under the command of
can territory. Ebey also appointed unable, however, to come to any Captain Geoffrey Hornby. Fearing
an inspector to remain on the conclusion. In the meantime, set- imminent attack, Pickett begged
island, and tensions increased tlers, seen as squatters by Griffin Colonel Silas Casey at Fort
when the inspector was nearly and Douglas, were continuing to Bellingham to send help. In the
arrested by the British for the land on the island. One of them meantime, Hornby had also called
crime of calling himself a custom- was Cutlar. for help, as it had become clear he
house officer on British soil. would need more than one ship to
Others then got into the act, A Pig of Very Great Price carry out his orders of preventing
including a sheriff of the newly After shooting the pig, Cutlar Pickett from building fortifications
established Whatcom County, went to Griffin and offered to or landing more US troops.
20 History Magazine • February/March 2008
WAR OF THE PIG HM.qxd 12/5/2007 1:54 PM Page 3

Map showing the disputed boundaries between


the Americans and the British.

By August 3, two more armed British ships had


arrived. At meetings with the British, Pickett refused
to leave, threatening to fight any British troops that
landed. Douglas had already ordered Hornby to make
the occupation “at least... a joint one.”
For some reason, Hornby kept his troops offshore.
There they stayed while both the Massachusetts and
Casey arrived. By about August 12, Casey estimated,
the British forces had increased to 1,940 men, 167 guns
and five warships.
On August 13, Douglas wrote Harney, declaring
the continued American presence on the island a
“marked discourtesy to a friendly government”, “cal-
culated to provoke a collision between the military
forces of two friendly nations”. But Harney would not
back down. Instead, the US forces began to build a
fortification, called a “redoubt”, and gathered sup-
plies, including guns, preparing for the worst.

Cooler Heads Prevail


In the beginning of September, Washington DC finally
became aware of what was going on. An alarmed
President James Buchanan hastily dispatched Lieu-
tenant General Winfield Scott to sort things out. Scott
proposed joint occupation while the boundary dispute
was resolved. The British eventually agreed. By
November, the dispute was mostly over. Within a few
months, the British and Americans would set up sepa-
rate camps on opposite sides of the island.
It would be 12 years before the boundary dispute
would be resolved. After an agreed arbitration in front
of a commission appointed by Kaiser Wilhelm I of
Germany, the US interpretation of the treaty won. The
“Pig War” had ended with only one casualty — the
pig.
HM

History Magazine • February/March 2008 21


wax.qxd 12/5/2007 1:57 PM Page 1

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Image courtesy of Donna Weaver, http://www.waxportraits.com.


Wax: The Fluid
Medium
Francine Kirsch follows the story of wax
through the ages

WAX HAS BEEN crafted as long as For instance, the same men who pliers and authors. Quite a few of
bees have been kept, but it was made wax church figures were the new professionals were
only after 1867, with the arrival of also privately commissioned to women, the best known being
the first commercially produced make wax dolls. Emma Peachey. Appointed the first
paraffin, that the wide world of Other uses for wax were quite “Artiste in Wax Flowers to Her
wax products opened up to the practical. Cadavers for medical Majesty” by Queen Victoria,
average person. schools were in such short supply Peachey made wax hair ornaments
Because natural wax — that wax models of human limbs for court balls, which survived the
whether from bees, whales or and organs were much sought heat better than natural blossoms.
plants — is malleable, easy to color For the Queen’s wedding crown,
and lifelike, for millennia it was a Peachey crafted a headpiece com-
favorite medium among the well- posed of wax orange blossoms.
to-do. Ancient Egyptians, for exam- Real orange blossoms soon became
ple, created encaustic paintings, so popular — and expensive — for
paintings made by fusing hot, pig- weddings that an entire wax
mented wax onto wood with hot orange blossom industry emerged
irons, or in some cases cartonnage in western France.
panels, which were inserted into At the 1851 Great Exhibition in
the mummies of the deceased. London, an entire section was
Wax became even more desir- devoted to wax flowers. Peachey
able in the 18th century as it had a display space separate from
became more readily available. the many other wax artists, proba-
Still, it was an expensive and frag- bly because of her royal connec-
ile medium, so only professionals tions. Peachey’s work was
and wealthy amateurs worked outshined by a Mrs. Strickland’s
with wax — and it was only the wax model of the Victoria Regia
wealthy who could afford wax water lily, which showed every
A sixth-century encaustic icon from
creations. stage in the development of this
Saint Catherine’s Monastery, on
Many of these creations were Mount Sinai. also royally linked bloom.
wax portraits, often, but not The public immediately took
always, miniatures. They might be after. One highly regarded wax flowers to its heart. Wax
of royalty or relatives or, in the anatomical artisan, Dr. Philippe camellias were all the rage in 1852,
US, of patriots like George and Curtius, expanded his art to com- thanks to Alexandre Dumas’ hit
Martha Washington (see title back- plete, life-sized figures. His niece, play, The Lady of the Camellias. All
ground). Some portraits were Marie, who was also his appren- 12 issues from 1856 of the Ameri-
exceptionally realistic, even wear- tice, immigrated to London in can magazine, Godey’s Lady’s Book,
ing seed pearl jewelry, and their 1802, and later opened Madame contained directions for homemade
cream color contrasted with the Tussaud’s wax museum in 1835. wax fruits and flowers.
black velvet background of their Once paraffin, a by-product of Part of this infatuation was
shadow box frames. the new petroleum industry, was due to the Victorian
Even in America, found to be stronger, more abun- woman’s passion for
rich young women dant and, therefore, more afford- botany. In some
were sent to special able than natural wax, the schools, wax flower
schools to learn professional monopoly was bro- making was taught
wax portrait mak- ken. In only five years, paraffin to girls as a science
ing. However, found its way into the “parlor” arts subject. Realism was
these girls posed enjoyed by Victorian ladies. the goal, down to a
no threat to male Professionals with a survival browning leaf or the
professionals. instinct turned into teachers, sup- bruise on a pear. In
22 History Magazine • February/March 2008
wax.qxd 12/5/2007 1:57 PM Page 2

the home, wax food was displayed Because of the painstaking Wax crayons, once made only
alongside the real thing to fool the realism required, a woman might in black for crate marking, became
eye or, in dining rooms, to “pro- spend a decade assembling one available in a rainbow of colors in
voke appetite”. basket of flowers. The process 1903 by the Crayola Company.
One all-wax creation boasted became faster (and easier) when Waxed sewing thread was
fruit, slices of layer cake, vegeta- sheets of wax could be bought stronger and easier to use — and
bles, oyster shells and hard-boiled instead of made at home. Printed the wax that seamstresses pulled
eggs cut open. Another was com- patterns and metal cutters elimi- their thread through often came in
posed of watermelon slices, apples nated the need to pull apart real novelty shapes.
and peaches, cakes and strawberry flowers for tracing. Molds for In the 1920s, people used seal-
pastry. fruit, birds and animals could also ing wax not only for correspon-
Men, too, took the scientific be purchased, instead of being cast dence, but for modeling flowers
side of wax seriously. Scientific from plaster by the artist. and birds to adorn baskets, boxes,
American named Edmunds & Gill For those with limited talent, vases, lamps, lampshades and
the year’s best wax fruit makers in waxed flowers were an alterna- mirrors. This sealing wax decora-
its November 1850 issue. English- tive. While wax dipping dimmed tion was a variation on the popu-
men John and Horatio Mintorn colored flowers, it added luminos- lar gesso-based craft called barbola
were renowned in the 1870s for ity to white ones. Many white work, in which objects would be
their wax models displayed in the waxed wedding bouquets or crafted out of a thick paste and
British Museum and, later, for funeral wreaths found their way then painted.
those in New York’s American under glass domes or into shadow Dennison Manufacturing
Museum of Natural History. They Image courtesy of the V&A Museum of Childhood. Company, in particular, offered
were also known for making wax Henry sealing wax in many colors. In a
mourning wreaths and published Pierotti Dennison newsletter from the
wax crafting handbooks. perfected the 1930s, “paint” made by dissolving
Wax crafting produced a flood poured wax white sealing wax in alcohol, was
of how-to manuals, many of which method used applied to a picket fence-like win-
went into second and third edi- for making dow box. Another article told how
tions. For example, the book Wax dolls’ heads the Queen of Italy invited a Den-
Flowers: How to Make Them, was in the 1800s. nison instructor from Rome to
originally published in 1864, but teach her sealing wax crafts. The
was re-issued as The Art of Making article was illustrated with a
Flowers in 1885. This second edition photograph of the instructor’s cre-
was produced without the earlier ation which had so pleased the
volume’s extensive fruit-making Queen: A plate centered with a
section, which had covered mold beautiful sealing wax bouquet.
making, casting and finishing. The Candy shops in the 1940s sold
book also instructed how to bleach red wax lips and little wax bottles
wax at home, remove wax from a filled with sugary liquid. And, in
dress and — like many manuals of the 1950s, factory-made wax fruit
the era — make wax flower vari- box frames around a photograph filled many a bowl on dining and
eties unfamiliar to us, such as of the bridal couple or a deceased coffee tables, alongside sequined
heartsease and coreposis. loved one. and beaded varieties. While most
Other books gave directions Wax also had uses beyond the wax flowers were superceded by
for such arrangements as the nat- botanical. British straw-plaiters plastic ones, a 1950s crafts book
ural Easter cross or an Easter cross made wax figures to wear the (Joseph Leeming’s Fun with Artifi-
of flowers. Crosses were consid- braided straw costumes they cial Flowers) gave instructions for
ered the perfect form for wax craft- designed. Wax angels and cherubs waxing crepe paper flowers with a
ing. An 1875 book detailed the were sold as Christmas tree decora- combination of beeswax and
making of both marble and tions. Even after china and compo- paraffin. The same volume told
autumn leaf crosses. The 1888 Pop- sition dolls took over the market, how to model wax flowers using
ular Art Instructor told how to repli- some dolls wore a wax layer over candle wax colored with crayons.
cate icicles on an imitation granite their pottery base. Tiny wax babies Today, wax art isn’t as preva-
cross by spooning melted wax over decorated greeting cards celebrat- lent, but many crafters are still
its arms, then sprin- ing births and baptisms. brushing melted wax over collages
kling on “diamond Possibly the most imposing made from the pages of artist’s
powder”. It also wax figures were the display man- books to create
advised arranging nequins, which “peopled” the interesting and
wax violets, snow- windows and selling floors of the unusual effects.
drops and trailing new department stores. The best
arbutus around the “dummies” had real hair, glass
cross’ base. eyes and amazingly lifelike skin. HM

History Magazine • February/March 2008 23


HISTORY BOOK FULL PAGE AD HM.qxd 12/5/2007 1:59 PM Page 1

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KING TUT HM.qxd 12/5/2007 2:02 PM Page 1

ARCHEOLOGY

The Discovery of
Tutankhamun’s Tomb
Phill Jones documents one of archeology’s most famous discoveries

ON 4 NOVEMBER 1922, a young, which is modern Tel el-Amarna. In


restless water boy made history at doing so, the eccentric king
an excavation in Egypt’s Valley of removed power from the adminis-
the Kings. Imitating his elders, he trative headquarters in the city of
dug into the hot sand. Soon, he hit Memphis and religious center in
a hard surface — a stone step. The the city of Thebes.
boy ran across the site and told Smenkhkare succeeded
Howard Carter about his finding. Akhenaten. He ruled for a brief
By the end of the day, workers time and quietly left.
uncovered a stone stairway that Around 1343BC, a boy of about
led to an ancient tomb. 10 years, Tutankhaten, ascended to
Carter sent a telegram to Eng- the throne and assumed control of
land. the Egyptian superpower.
“At last have made wonderful Although his name meant “living
discovery in Valley,” he told his image of the Aten”, the boy king
benefactor, Lord Carnarvon, “a restored the old ways by reinstat-
magnificent tomb with seals ing the traditional pantheon of
intact; re-covered same for your gods and reopening their temples.
arrival; congratulations.” Tutankhaten also reestablished
Before long, Carter would Howard Carter delicately works on Memphis and Thebes as seats of
learn that the tomb held one of the King Tut’s funerary mask. power. To honor the god Amun,
greatest archeological discoveries Tutankhaten and Ankhesenpaaten,
of the time: the final resting place As a ruler, the pharaoh’s son, his chief queen, changed their
of King Tutankhamun. Amenhotep IV, failed to measure names to Tutankhamun and
up to his father. Amenhotep IV Ankhsenamun.
The Boy King abandoned the god Amun and the Tutankhamun’s relatively
Amenhotep III, who might have pantheon of lesser Egyptian gods. peaceful nine-year reign ended
been Tutankhamun’s father or Turning from the traditional gods, with his untimely death. Many
grandfather, became pharaoh at Amenhotep IV advocated devo- conspiracy theories evolved to
the age of 12 and ruled for 38 tion of the Aten, the solar disk. explain how the boy king died.
years. During this golden age of The new pharaoh changed his
the 18th Dynasty, the Egyptian name to Akhenaten, “servant of
empire accumulated immense the Aten”, and he built a new cap-
wealth, and excelled in literary ital city christened Akhetaten,
and artistic achievements. “horizon of the sun disk”,

History Magazine • February/Mar


February/March
ch 2008 25
KING TUT HM.qxd 12/5/2007 2:02 PM Page 2

ARCHEOLOGY

Despite a lack of evidence of mur- Howard Carter Draws Near His had an aptitude for it.
der, two of the pharaoh’s advisors Destiny Howard Carter’s interest in
have figured in assassination theo- Carter was born on 9 May 1874. Egyptian antiquities and his artis-
ries: Aye, who might have been As a boy, he suffered from ill tic talent brought him to Egypt in
Ankhsenamun’s grandfather, and health and lived with his aunts in 1891. London’s Egypt Exploration
General Horemheb, the comman- Swaffham, Norfolk. Carter’s par- Fund had hired Carter to help P.E.
der-in-chief of the army. ents, who believed their son too Newberry record drawings and
The burial ritual of Tutankha- delicate to attend a private school, inscriptions of tombs at Beni Has-
mun reflected the Egyptian belief arranged for home education. san and el-Bersha. During the fol-
that his ba and ka, the two parts of Carter’s father was an artist who lowing decade, Carter gained
the king’s personality, separated worked for the Illustrated London archeological experience at the
from the body. The ka, an individ- News and also specialized in ani- excavation of el-Amarna with
ual’s life force, needs food, drink, mal paintings. He taught Howard Flinders Petrie and as a member of
clothing and other earthly require- drawing, and found that his son an expedition at the temple of
ments to function in the afterlife. Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri.
The ba, the soul or personality, In 1899, Carter accepted the
could leave the tomb and travel position of Inspector General of
around the earth during daylight. Monuments for Upper Egypt, and
A correctly mummified body and controlled archeological work in
properly executed funerary rites the Nile Valley. A fight between
would enable the ba and ka to be drunken French tourists and
reunited, allowing the deceased to Egyptian guards ended Carter’s
become an akh, an eternal spirit. Antiquities Service career. Carter
An elaborate embalming refused to apologize for his
process preserved the body so that guards. He insisted that his men
the ba could return to the mummy had only defended themselves; it
at night and ensure its continued was the tourists who should apol-
life. Embalmers removed the lungs, ogize. Following a demotion to a
liver, stomach and intestines, dried minor post, Carter resigned from
the organs in salts, anointed them the Antiquities Service in 1905.
with oils, wrapped the organs and At the same time, George
placed them in solid gold minia- Edward Stanhope Molyneux Her-
ture coffins. Using a long metal bert, Lord Carnarvon, toured
hook, the embalmers removed the Above: The mummified head of Egypt to recover from a terrible
brain through the nostrils. King Tut. Below: The viscera coffin automobile accident. In 1908,
They dried the corpse’s flesh of Tutankhamun. Carnarvon decided to finance an
with natron, a mixture of salt and archeological exploration. The
baking soda. After applying resins government required that such
to soften the skin, embalmers work must be supervised by an
wrapped Tutankhamun’s limbs in experienced archeologist. Carter,
linen bandages, while priests who eked out a living as a com-
chanted spells and placed amulets mercial artist and tour guide, hap-
and jewelry between the layers of pened to be available.
cloth. They covered the body’s fin- At first, Carter and Carnarvon
gers and toes with golden cylin- focused on Thebes. In 1912, they
ders and placed a golden funerary moved their operation to the Delta
mask on his face. with modest result.
Aye, Tutankhamun’s succes- The Egyptian government —
sor, prepared a small set of rooms under British occupation —
in an underground tomb near the granted qualified archeologists
floor of the Valley of the Kings, permission to excavate on ancient
located on the west bank of the sites. The Antiquities Department
Nile and across from Thebes. Soon allowed them to take out of the
after the burial, thieves broke into country half the antiquities that
the tomb, but were caught in the they found. The government
act. Officials resealed the vault. In excluded the Valley of the Kings
time, workers constructed a tomb from this rule, but did grant one
for another pharaoh nearby. Their license to explore the area.
huts obscured Tutankhamun’s Since 1902, Theodore M.
burial place. Over the years, Davis, a wealthy American, had
floods erased any surface evidence secured the license to dig in the
of the young king’s tomb. Valley of the Kings. In 1906, Davis’
26 History Magazine • February/March 2008
KING TUT HM.qxd 12/5/2007 2:02 PM Page 3

archeologists uncovered a blue the step-by-step artillery barrages looked inside. A passage filled
glaze cup bearing the cartouche of of the war. Carter’s plan required from floor to ceiling with stones
Tutankhamun. During the next the transport of hundreds of thou- and rubble lay on the other side of
year, they found a rock-cut cham- sands of cubic meters of sand, the door, a sign that care had been
ber that held numerous objects rock chips and boulders, labor taken to protect the tomb. He
with Tutankhamun’s name. Davis performed by men and young ordered his workers to refill the
assumed that he had discovered boys with picks, hoes and small stairway for protection and sent a
the tomb of Tutankhamun. baskets. telegram to Carnarvon in England.
Carnarvon had acquired one For five years, the work Three weeks later, Lord
of the most valuable private col- yielded little. In the summer of Carnarvon arrived with his
lections of Egyptian antiquities by 1922, Carnarvon told Carter that daughter, Lady Evelyn Herbert.
1914. Nevertheless, when Davis, he would no longer fund the expe- After clearing all 16 steps of the
who believed that he had uncov- dition. Carter persuaded his bene- stairway, Carter found a seal
ered all major finds in the Valley, factor to continue for one more impression of Tutankhamun on
relinquished his license, Carter season. the lower part of the doorway.

Left: Excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Right: Lord Carnarvon, Lady Evelyn Herbert and Mr. Howard Carter at the
entrance to the tomb; work at King Tut’s tomb continued until 1933.

convinced Carnarvon to obtain the Grave Discovery When the workers cleared the rub-
concession. On November 1, Carter continued ble from the corridor, they found a
For years, Carter had gathered his search in the Valley of the second plastered doorway, which
scraps of information on Kings. After a water boy discov- also appeared to have been broken
Tutankhamun and believed that ered a stone step on November 4, and resealed in antiquity.
the pharaoh’s tomb remained hid- Carter and his workers spent the On November 26, Carter used
den in the Valley of the Kings. The afternoon uncovering 12 steps of a his hands to dig a small breach in
outbreak of WWI forced the two rock-cut stairway that descended the second doorway. He inserted
to postpone their work. at a 45-degree angle into a small an iron rod into the opening and
In 1917, Carter and Carnarvon hillock below the entrance to the found empty space on the other
began their exploration of the Val- tomb of Ramesses VI. At the level side. He then lit a candle to check
ley of the Kings. Carter decided of the 12th step, Carter found the for noxious gases. In his book, The
that the only way to search for upper portion of a door con- Tomb of Tut.Ankh.Amen (1923),
Tutankhamun’s tomb would be to structed of large stones that had Carter recorded his impressions of
ignore earlier excavations. He been plastered. The doorway’s the moment:
focused on a two-and-one-half surface bore the Royal Necropolis “At first I could see nothing,
acre triangular plot of land seal: Anubis over nine foes. Carter the hot air escaping from the
defined by the tombs of Ramesses could not find a royal name, but chamber causing the candle flame
II, Merenptah and Ramesses VI. he did notice that a corner had to flicker, but presently, as my eyes
For the first time in the history of been resealed, indicating that rob- grew accustomed to the light,
Egyptian archeology, he would bers had broken into the tomb details of the room within
clear the surface down to the during ancient times and that emerged slowly from the mist,
bedrock. To ensure that the work something valuable remained. strange animals, statues and gold
would be systematic, Carter Carter made a small peephole, — everywhere the glint of gold.
devised a grid system based on inserted an electric light and For the moment — an eternity it
History Magazine • February/March 2008 27
KING TUT HM.qxd 12/5/2007 2:02 PM Page 4

ARCHEOLOGY

must have seemed to the others Between the antechamber’s tion of ancient Egyptian treasure
standing by — I was struck dumb two sentinel statues, they found sparked a frenzy in the media.
with amazement, and when Lord another sealed doorway. Did it Although it had been hastily ran-
Carnarvon, unable to stand the lead to the burial chamber? Carter sacked, the tomb remained almost
suspense any longer, inquired anx- and his colleagues secured the intact. For the first time, archeolo-
iously, ‘Can you see anything?’ it site, mounted their donkeys and gists could study all of a
was all I could do to get out the returned home, silent and sub- pharaoh’s funerary equipment
words, ‘Yes, wonderful things.’” dued. that offered insights into an
Carter and Carnarvon entered ancient culture.
the room that they would name
the antechamber. Here, they found Triumph Begins to Unravel
three large gilt couches with sides Tens of thousands of visitors
carved in the form of animals, and rushed to the Valley of the Kings
two life-sized figures of a king in and interfered with the study of
black that faced each other like the site. Carter became frustrated
sentinels dressed in gold kilts and and began to turn everyone away
gold sandals, and armed with from the tomb, including those
mace and staff. The room also who had official government per-
held painted and inlaid caskets, mission.
alabaster vases, black shrines, By the end of February, the
carved chairs, beds, a golden contents of the antechamber had
inlaid throne and a heap of over- been carefully removed for exami-
turned chariots that shimmered nation. Carter made a hole in the
with gold and inlay. On the floor, doorway between the sentinels
Carter found a large bouquet of and inserted an electric torch.
flowers with preserved petals and “An astonishing sight its light
leaves. revealed,” Carter wrote, “for there,
Despite the hundreds of trea- within a yard of the doorway,
sures it held, the antechamber mea- stretching as far as one could see
sured only 12 by 26 feet with a and blocking the entrance to the
ceiling seven-and-one-half feet Diagram showing the layout of chamber, stood what to all appear-
high. It did not contain a mummy. Tutankhamun’s tomb. ance was a solid wall of gold.”
Through a plunderer’s hole in one They removed stones from the
wall, they found a ransacked room After notifying the Antiquities doorway, revealing the side of a
that they named the annex. The Service, Carter assembled an inter- nine-foot-tall shrine. Within this
cluttered chamber held oils, wine, national team of experts to exam- shrine, they found a second
food, carved thrones, an ivory-cov- ine the tomb and preserve its shrine, built to cover a sarcopha-
ered, carved chest, detailed contents in drawings and photo- gus. They had entered the burial
alabaster figures of animals and a graphs. They offered the first offi- chamber.
boat, game tables, vases and other cial press viewing of The room contained objects
everyday items that the pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb on Decem- that the king would need during
could take with him to the afterlife. ber 22. News of the richest collec- his journey through the under-

Left: The antechamber’s sealed door intact, and right, in the process of being uncovered.

28 History Magazine • February/March 2008


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CSI: EGYPT
AFTER HOWARD CARTER and his entists removed Tutankhamun’s a slightly cleft palate, an over-
team finished their examination, mummy from the sarcophagus, bite and an elongated skull.
they replaced Tutankhamun’s and transported it to a nearby The scan revealed the bone
remains in his coffin. The trailer equipped with a mobile fragments uncovered by earlier
mummy rested undisturbed for computerized tomography scan- x-rays. However, the experts
about 40 years. ner. The machine scanned the concluded that embalmers or
In 1968, a group from the body in 0.62-millimeter slices, Carter’s group had inflicted the
University of Liverpool used producing 1,700 three-dimen- damage. The pharaoh had not
x-rays to learn more about the sional images. An Egyptian been murdered by a blow to the
young pharaoh. They found team of radiologists, patholo- head.
bone fragments inside gists and anatomists, as well as A break in Tutankhamun’s
Tutankhamun’s skull. Did politi- three international experts, left thighbone suggested a pos-
cal enemies bludgeon the young examined the scans. sible cause of death. The scan
pharaoh to death? X-rays The images revealed a well- revealed a thin coating of
revealed that the mummy nourished 19-year-old boy who embalming resin around a bone
lacked the sternum and some stood about five-feet six-inches break that showed no sign of
frontal ribs. Had the pharaoh’s tall and had a slight build. He healing. This suggested that the
chest been crushed in a chariot appeared to have enjoyed good pharaoh broke his leg just before
accident? The spine displayed health, or at least, avoided any he died. A fatal infection could
signs of scoliosis. disease that would have left a have set in.
Almost another 40 years trace on his remains. The The damaged chest still pre-
passed before researchers experts decided that a misalign- sents a mystery. Did embalmers
applied a new technology to the ment during embalming had remove the breastbone and part
riddle of the boy king’s health produced the spine’s curvature, of the front rib cage? That ques-
and death. In January 2005, sci- not scoliosis. Tutankhamun had tion remains unanswered.

world: seven oars to ferry himself British Protectorate, began to exert denied the request. Carter
across the waters of the under- greater control over the excavation responded to the calculated insult
world, lamps of translucent cal- site. Carter bristled against the impulsively. With the massive
cite, a silver trumpet and jars of diminishing power over his find. stones hanging over the young
perfume and unguents. The walls In February 1924, Carter con- pharaoh’s remains, Carter and the
of the chamber were decorated ducted special guests into the excavators went on strike.
with brightly painted scenes and tomb for a long-awaited event: The Egyptian authorities
inscriptions. examination of Tutankhamun’s accused Carter of negligence.
Further examination revealed mummy. It was not a simple mat- Carter demanded apologies from
the entrance to yet another cham- ter. First, massive granite slabs of the government for the disrespect
ber: the treasury. A figure of the the sarcophagus lid had to be it showed him and his staff.
jackal god Anubis guarded the pried up, so that stones could be Instead of an act of contrition, the
entrance to this chamber, which rammed into the opening. After government required Carter and
contained a monument, the central securing straps around the lid, the Lady Carnarvon to sign a waiver
portion of which consisted of a granite slabs, weighing nearly two stating that they would not make
large shrine-shaped chest overlaid tons, were raised from the stone a claim on objects found in the
with gold. A statue of a goddess coffin. When Carter shone a light tomb.
guarded the shrine on each of its into the sarcophagus, he saw an After a year of negotiation, the
four sides. The chest held jars of object obscured by linen shrouds. Egyptian government agreed to
preserved organs. The treasury He removed the linen wrapping to pay Lady Carnarvon £36,000, the
also held numerous black shrines, reveal a golden effigy of the boy approximate amount of Carnar-
chests and caskets of ivory and king made of gilded wood and von’s expenses over the years.
wood. decorated with thin gold plates, Carter received about £8,500 of
In April, Lord Carnarvon died faience (tin-glazed earthenware) this sum and was allowed to
unexpectedly. A cut mosquito bite and semiprecious stones. resume work on the excavation.
became infected, and Carnarvon, After they left the tomb, In January 1925, Howard
who suffered poor health, per- Carter asked Pierre Lacau, director Carter returned to the Valley. He
ished from pneumonia. His death general of the Antiquities Service, raised the lid of the gilded coffin
marked the beginning of a decline if the excavators’ wives could visit that he had seen a year before and
in Carter’s outlook of the excava- the tomb before the press viewing found a second coffin, this one
tion. on the following morning. The covered with fine linen shrouds
The Egyptian Antiquities Ser- next day, Carter learned that the and adorned with garlands of
vice, now unencumbered by a Minister of Public Works had flowers. Carter rolled back the
History Magazine • February/March 2008 29
KING TUT HM.qxd 12/5/2007 2:02 PM Page 6

ARCHEOLOGY

shrouds to reveal yet another cof- After the examination, they account, Carter had the opportu-
fin, one fashioned of thick gold reassembled the remains on a nity to explore the burial chamber
foil inlaid with engraved glass that layer of sand in a wooden box and treasury months later. What
simulated red jasper, lapis and with padding to conceal the dam- Carter failed to mention in his ver-
turquoise. age and replaced the mummy in sion of events is that he, Carnar-
After they pried open the lid the tomb. von and Evelyn had secretly
of the third coffin, Carter revisited the tomb. After
saw Tutankhamun’s breaking through the
mummy. A sticky, hard- antechamber, they risked
ened, black resin covered their license by exploring
the body and bound the the burial chamber and
king’s head to a life-sized treasury. Afterwards,
gold mask inlaid with they had disguised traces
blue glass simulating of their adventure.
lapis lazuli. A report of their unau-
For four days, the thorized exploration
team unraveled bandages emerged years after
and recorded each of the Carter’s death. Yet Carter
artifacts hidden within might have hinted about
the wrappings. With the the excursion in his book.
assistance of Dr. Douglas “I think we slept but lit-
Derry, professor of tle, all of us, that night,”
anatomy at the Egyptian he wrote.
University, Carter sliced
through 13 layers of stiff Further Reading:
linen. By the time that Howard Carter and a worker examine King Tut’s sarcophagus. • Carter, Howard and
they had finished, they A.C. Mace, The Discovery
had collected 143 pieces of jewelry, The Tutankhamun excavation of the Tomb of Tutankhamen (New
ornaments, amulets and imple- marked Carter’s last. He died in York: Dover Publications, 1977).
ments. England in 1939. • Hoving, Thomas, Tutankhamun:
To examine the resin-coated In his account of the first The Untold Story (New York:
mummy, they cut off the head at exploration of the antechamber, Simon and Schuster, 1978).
the neck and used hot knives to Carter wrote that, “The day fol- • Smith, G. Elliot, Tutankhamen and
pry the skull from the mask. Then lowing (November 26) was the the Discovery of His Tomb (London:
they separated the pelvis from the day of days, the most wonderful George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.,
trunk and detached the arms and that I have ever lived through, and 1923).
legs. Two medical specialists certainly one whose like I can
examined the mummy and con- never hope to see again.”
cluded that the king had died This might seem like an odd
between the ages of 18 and 22. statement. According to his official HM

THE MUMMY’S CURSE


IN JANUARY 1923, Carnarvon had mummy’s curse slew Carnar- protection of the deceased.”
to minimize the press’ intrusion von, newspapers informed their One correspondent embellished
on excavation workers, and he readers. Carter’s find by adding the
had to acquire additional fund- Journalists backed up the words, “and I will kill all those
ing for the expensive project. curse story with reports of omi- who cross this threshold into the
Carnarvon solved both prob- nous hieroglyphs. One reporter sacred precincts of the Royal
lems by signing an exclusive invented a curse written in King who lives forever.”
contract with the London Times. hieroglyphics on the door of the Six of the 24 people present
Reporters from other publica- second shrine: “They who enter at the official tomb opening had
tions resented the Times’ monop- this sacred tomb shall swift be died by 1934. No matter how
oly on breaking news. visited by wings of death.” natural the circumstances, each
Lacking facts, excluded In front of the Anubis shrine death rekindled stories about
journalists eagerly reported that, of Tutankhamun’s tomb, Carter the dreaded mummy’s curse.
at the time of Carnarvon’s had found a wick lamp with a However, recent statistical
untimely death, Cairo’s lights small mud base bearing hiero- analyses show that those pre-
blacked out, while in England, glyphics that read: “It is I who sent at the opening of the tomb
Carnarvon’s dog, Susie, howled hinder the sand from choking did not experience a decreased
and dropped dead. The the secret chamber. I am for the survival time.

30 History Magazine • February/March 2008


Carryover FC.qxd 12/5/2007 2:08 PM Page 1

Coming Soon in

F a m i l y C h ro n i c l e
The
Ferguson W olf and
Family Pr edator
Bible
Edward E. Deckert
Bounties
and Constance R.
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search for the owner of David A. Norris shows you another way of
a family heirloom. hunting down your ancestors.

ALSO:
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Re gister s
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David A. Norris shares some hot tips on an
overlooked resource.  Almanacs

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Zero.qxd 12/5/2007 2:10 PM Page 1

MATH

Zero — A Brief History


of Nothing
In an article about “nothing”, Ed Haag explains why zero is such a big deal
FOUR MINUS FOUR may equal zero The ancient Greeks had a back to their passion for numbers
today, but in the days of ancient more sophisticated number sys- and their relationships. Music,
Greece and Rome the answer was tem than the Babylonians and astronomy and society could all
not so simple. This is because their advancements in knowledge be sensibly explained to the
zero was not a concept included were unprecedented. Despite this, Greeks using numbers and num-
in Greek or Roman counting sys- the Greeks had no symbol for ber relationships. Numbers were
tems. Not even by the Middle zero in their number system. In the cornerstone of the Greek uni-
Ages, in fact, had zero found a fact, zero had a tendency to cause verse. One Greek thinker,
home in the counting systems of Pythagoras, even took to organiz-
Europe. Why? Because zero has ing a cult around the worship of
an uncommon history. And it numbers. There was only one
would take centuries before zero problem — the Greeks used only
would finally ensconce itself com- rational numbers (any number
fortably in the framework of that can be written in the form
European society. a/b, such as ½, where a is any
integer and b is any integer
Zero in Ancient Societies except zero). They would have to
Zero was discovered indepen- learn by experience that num-
dently at least three times. When Above: The Babylonian symbols bers, like the humans that created
it was discovered, its solitary for zero. Below: Pythagoras, them, were not always rational.
purpose was as a place holder in shown seated, was a sixth-century Men like Hippasus of Metapon-
place value counting systems. A BC philosopher and mathemati- tum died, according to legend,
written record of its use in this cian, who is often called the before the Greeks admitted to
manner by the ancient Babyloni- “father of numbers”. cracks in their perfect rational
ans in present-day Iraq around number universe. Hippasus was
300BC is the first known. executed by members of the cult
Originally, the Babylonians of Pythagoras for revealing the
had no symbol for zero because secret truth about irrational num-
an empty space between numbers bers (numbers that cannot be
was considered sufficient demar- expressed as fractions, such as
cation of a place holder. But pi).
because blank spaces could be Although the next appearance
easily overlooked or misinter- of zero anywhere post Babylonian
preted, the method proved unreli- would take time, that time was
able. The Babylonians responded certain to arrive. It would, in fact,
by coming up with the first be centuries later, halfway across
known symbol for zero, two dif- the world, where zero would
ferent symbols in fact, although reprise its role as a place holder
their use was infrequent. — in the intricate calendar system
The wedge shape of the of the Mayan culture of Central
Babylonian zero little resembled America, where it would survive
the zero of today, but it success- for hundreds of years. But, unfor-
fully accomplished its purpose as tunately, as Mayan culture crum-
a placeholder and as a marker bled, so again did zero.
between two numbers to indicate
an empty position. But as time problems for the Greeks of liter- Zero in India
passed, and Babylonian culture ally universal proportions. While the west had difficulty
declined, zero did too. And in Numbers were important to with zero, the east took to it with
doing so, began a pattern of the Greeks. To say that the an almost instinctual sense. The
hibernation and emergence in Greeks worshiped numbers is fact that Indian Hinduism is a
human society that would prove not, in fact, hyperbole. Their col- religion that acknowledges, even
to be zero’s trademark for a long lective brilliance in both geome- worships, a “void” concept,
time to come. try and philosophy can be traced likely played no small role in
32 History Magazine • February/March 2008
Zero.qxd 12/5/2007 2:10 PM Page 2

zero’s acceptance there. Conse- system and its properties. It was Greek philosophy. And its impli-
quently, it’s no surprise that the Latin translation of Al- cations were so terrifying to the
zero’s first known appearance as Khwarizmi’s Algoritmi de numero intelligentsia of the time that its
the symbol and number we know Indorum (Concerning the Hindu discussion was taboo. Since much
today has been traced back to Art of Reckoning) in c.1200AD that of Church philosophy and cos-
India in the ninth century AD. It would, more than any other sin- mology was derived from ancient
was there that a tablet was gle work of mathematics, help to Greek culture, the taboo mental-
inscribed with directions for sup- raise Europe from the miasma of ity of many pre-Renaissance
plying garlands to a local temple. the Middle Ages. thinkers was the same as that of
The instructions included the their Greek predecessors. The
numbers “50” and “270” and philosopher-mathematicians (as
were written almost exactly as they were frequently called since
they are today. philosophy and math were often
From the moment it was intertwined in those days, as
born though, zero would were philosophy and science)
begin causing problems. And of the day could not, or did
one of the biggest of all for not, want to grasp the impli-
Indian mathematicians cations of the existence of
would be how to even nothingness or a void.
approach the concept of The Italian Leonardo
division by zero. Regard- Pisano, also known as
ing this, Bhaskara II, a Leonardo Fibonacci, was
leading Indian mathe- the first European to rec-
matician, writes, “This ognize zero for its poten-
fraction is termed an infi- tial in the 13th century.
nite quantity… there is And as trade and com-
no alteration, though merce between Europe,
many may be inserted or the Middle East, Islamic
extracted; as no change and Arab countries
takes place in the infinite became increasingly com-
and immutable god when mon, so would the conve-
worlds are created or nient number system of
destroyed, though the Arabs. The full
numerous orders of impact of the number
beings are absorbed or zero in the Hindu-Arabic
put forth.” It wasn’t the system would take two
first time the divine centuries to really make
would be referenced in an impression, but in
discussing zero. Nor doing so would have pro-
would it be the last. found implications for
European society. And be
Zero Catches On one of the foundations of
As India went into the Renaissance.
decline, so did zero once
again. But this time it Zero and the Church
wouldn’t be for long. The Church tolerated
The Très Riches Heures were designed for the Duc de Berry
From India, it went to many Renaissance ideas
in the early 15th century. January, shown here, lacks per-
China and to Arab and spective as the figures in the foreground and in the distance at first, but it wasn’t long
Islamic cultures. It would are out of proportion in relation to one another. Also, the before it began fighting
be Islamic culture, in fact, table and the wall behind the seated Duc de Berry do not back. All the talk of zero,
that would act as the cru- have the correct angles and perspective. infinity and the void was
cial link between India threatening to undermine
and Europe when it came to the Oddly enough, many of the the Church universe and, more
transmission of zero. Men, like reasons why zero failed to catch importantly, it threatened to
the Muslim mathematician and on in the west had to do with undermine God himself, or at
astronomer Al-Khwarizmi (from philosophy and religion, rather least their version of God. The
whose name comes the English than mathematics. Zero repre- Church reacted with a number of
words algorithm and algebra), sented nothing, the void, the measures meant to contain the
would continue to spread the great chaos from which all cre- rising tide against their authority.
idea of zero with brilliant mathe- ation sprang. It was a dark and The Spanish Inquisition was
matical treatises that elaborated frightening concept in Church instigated, the Jesuit order was
upon the Indian Hindu number theology, just as it had been in instituted, Galileo was ordered to
History Magazine • February/March 2008 33
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MATH

stop his scientific heliocentric the-


investigation and ory, Pascal with
put under house his work on vacu-
arrest, and men ums and the
with controver- independent dis-
sial views, like covery of calculus
Giordano Bruno, by Leibniz and
were burned at Newton, all owe
the stake. a debt to zero,
As the infinity and the
Church itself void.
would eventually As mathemati-
discover how- cian G.B. Halsted
ever, its objec- said of zero, “No
tions to single mathemati-
Renaissance ideas cal creation has
were in vain. And been more potent
it would have to for the general
learn to reconcile Perugino’s fresco Giving of the Keys to St. Peter in the Sistine Chapel shows on-go of intelli-
its authority with that perspective — a concept that used zero — revolutionized artwork. gence and
the revolution in Executed less than a century after the Très Riches Heures of Duc de Berry, power.”
thought that was the advancement in technique is clear. The diagonal lines of the courtyard’s
occurring all stones all move towards a vanishing point in the distance, creating depth Zero’s Adven-
around it. in the two-dimensional work. tures Today
Zero still likes to
Zero and the Renaissance dimensional. Now they could be stir things up occasionally. The
The impact of zero on Europe deceiving in their realism. great millennium cyber panic of
was immense. And the contribu- The revolution in science in the year 2000 is sufficient evi-
tions to the Renaissance directly the Renaissance can be traced to dence of that. It also still has a
or indirectly attributable to zero zero as well. For zero’s symbol- penchant for confounding even
are many. ism of infinity and the void the greatest of mathematic and
For example, European mer- would quite literally open up sci- scientific minds today as it did a
chants began to recognize the entific thought to whole new millennium ago. One thing
value of nothing when it came to worlds. Copernicus with his appears certain though, after cen-
understanding busi- turies of disappear-
ness and keeping ance and discovery,
track of goods. it looks like this
Another such time, zero is here to
advancement was stay.
known as the van-
ishing point. Mathe- Further Reading:
matical in • Barrow, John D.
conception, it came The Book of Nothing
about as artists real- (London: Vintage
ized that a single Publishing, 2001)
one dimensional • “History Topic: A
point had within it History of Zero” by
the power of the J.J. O’Connor and
void and infinity E.F. Robertson
from which every- (www-groups.dcs.
thing could st-and.ac.uk/~history
emanate. Its first /PrintHT/Zero.html)
use in European art • Seife, Charles.
transformed the Zero: The Biography
medium, as it of A Dangerous Idea
brought the tech- (New York: Penguin
nique of perspective Books, 2000).
into play for the
first time. Before the The Harmonia Macrocosmica of Andreas Cellarius dates from the
Renaissance, paint- mid-17th century. The Harmonia Macrocosmica is a star atlas showing
ings and drawings the heliocentric system. The heliocentric system, vacuums and the HM
were flat and two understanding of much of the modern world are possible with zero.
34 History Magazine • February/March 2008
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MYSTERY

The Art of Intrigue


Kel Morin-Parsons delves into the mysterious life and death of playwright Christopher Marlowe
NO MATTER HOW famous the names took place on 26 February 1564. He starts to become intriguing.
or how much information we seem was the son of a shoemaker, John When Marlowe arrived at uni-
to have, people from centuries past Marlowe, and his wife, Katherine versity, Elizabeth I was queen. Two
seem invariably remote to us. This Arthur. Although there is some dis- of the most powerful men in Eng-
makes sense, of course; we didn’t agreement about the financial state land were her trusted advisor Sir
know them, and they lived in a of Marlowe’s family during his William Cecil, and her secretary of
time that was very different from childhood, there is no question that state, Sir Francis Walsingham.
our own. This sense of distance is shoemakers were not terribly high Walsingham, known to history as
especially pronounced when one on the Elizabethan social scale; they Elizabeth’s spymaster, was a man
considers those who were artists of were considered artisans, and thus of exceptional shrewdness and cun-
some sort — poets, playwrights or tended to be more “respectable” ning, and had worked diligently to
painters. After all, such creatures than prosperous. establish one of the best and largest
seem exotic at the best of times, intelligence networks in Europe.
even when they are our contempo- His close colleague, Cecil, was a
raries. Privy Councillor and Lord High
But we know that, at base, peo- Treasurer — and also Chancellor of
ple are people, regardless of when Cambridge University.
they lived, and it is often the small, These facts in themselves would
overlooked details that draw them mean little in terms of Marlowe’s
out of the mists of time and make story, were it not for the circum-
them seem familiar. When we are stances surrounding the granting of
lucky enough to have any informa- his master’s degree. Cambridge
tion about a historical figure, we was initially reluctant to approve
may be surprised by how appeal- the degree for a couple of reasons.
ing and intriguing we find that per- First, Marlowe had been absent for
son, and how the centuries seem to extended periods of time, and did
melt away. not seem inclined to take the holy
Christopher Marlowe is such a orders for which his scholarship
figure. Most people who recognize (and the graduate degree) had fit-
his name think simply of a poet or ted him. Second, it was rumored
A portrait in Corpus Christi
playwright — someone who died College, Cambridge, believed to that he was spending his time away
young and has been overshadowed be of Christopher Marlowe. in the French city of Rheims.
by his contemporary, William In Marlowe’s day, Rheims was
Shakespeare. Marlowe, however, is Despite his humble back- notorious as the home of a seminary
far more than just a footnote or ground, young Marlowe’s keen where English Catholics and con-
afterthought. Upon examination, intelligence was evident early, and verts were trained to return to Eng-
the pieces we know of his life make he was given a good education. land to serve and encourage the
him seem like a character from a After attending the King’s School in faithful there. Elizabeth was Protes-
spy novel. We know with certainty Canterbury, he was sent to the ven- tant and Catholicism was outlawed
that he was a noted and admired erable Corpus Christi College of in England under her reign. The
writer in his own time, the late 16th Cambridge University in 1580. Catholic powers on the continent
century. On top of this, however, Marlowe attended Cambridge as a were eager to see her removed from
there are indications that he scholarship student thanks to the power and England returned to its
worked as an intelligence agent for legacy left by Archbishop of Can- Catholic roots. The rumor that Mar-
the government of Elizabeth I of terbury Matthew Parker. It seems lowe was visiting Rheims was
England, may have been an atheist that Marlowe was originally des- enough to make Cambridge author-
at a time when it was illegal and tined to enter the church, as he ities assume that he was contem-
was probably homosexual. Finally, received a six-year scholarship, plating conversion. That, combined
he met a violent end at the age of generally reserved for students with Marlowe’s cavalier attitude
29 in an incident that has long been intending to take holy orders. toward attendance, jeopardized his
shrouded in controversy. Studying history, philosophy and second degree. What finally com-
theology, Marlowe was granted his pelled Cambridge to grant Marlowe
Education and Intrigue Bachelor of Arts in 1584; three years the MA was a letter from Queen
Christopher Marlowe was born in later, he obtained his Master of Arts Elizabeth’s Privy Council — signed
the southeastern English town of degree. While this course of events by, among others, Privy Councillor
Canterbury. His baptism, at the may seem unremarkable, it is dur- and Chancellor of Cambridge
church of St. George the Martyr, ing this period that Marlowe’s life University, Sir William Cecil.
36 History Magazine • February/March 2008
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Intervention from the Privy circumstances of his death. in poetry anthologies.


Council was not, of course, usual in By 1587, “Kit” Marlowe, the During this time, Marlowe’s lit-
disputes between the university and shoemaker’s son, had attracted the erary reputation grew, provoking
its students. The fact that this letter attention of some very powerful both imitation and jealousy among
exists at all is extraordinary, and people, and had proven himself other members of London’s lively
makes clear that whatever was tak- worthy of their confidence. This theatre community. Regardless,
ing Marlowe away from his studies confidence, however, may have unlike his contemporary Shake-
was considered important by the been fatally shaken by Marlowe’s speare, Marlowe showed no signs
most powerful people in the land. conduct as the years went by. of becoming a settled, successful
The letter does not specify just what businessman of the theatre. In Eliz-
Marlowe was doing while absent Art and Incarceration abethan England, the world of the
from university, but it alludes to the Marlowe proceeded to London performing arts was generally con-
rumor that he had visited Rheims after leaving university. Any sidered scandalous and degraded,
and intended to remain there. The thoughts of taking holy orders were even by those aristocrats and
letter denies this, and instead says clearly behind him. Instead, the nobles who enjoyed its fruits.
that Marlowe was engaged in Shakespeare was able to navigate
Image courtesy of The Marlowe Society, www.marlowe-society.org
important business on the Queen’s this prejudice and become a
behalf, and that Her Majesty did wealthy landowner in his home-
not want his degree jeopardized as town of Stratford-upon-Avon. The
a result of this service. focus and discretion that made this
It is impossible to say for cer- possible, however, were evidently
tain what sort of government busi- of no interest to Marlowe.
ness Marlowe was engaged in In 1589, Marlowe and a friend
during that time, but it seems evi- were charged with murder as the
dent that it involved intelligence result of a street brawl; he spent
work. The Privy Council letter two weeks in jail, but was let off
makes it clear that he was not with a warning. Three years later,
simply an ordinary civil servant, Marlowe was arrested in the
and Rheims (if Marlowe did, Netherlands on a charge of coun-
indeed, travel there) was a target of terfeiting, and was sent back to
spy activity for the English, as it England. Although Cecil was sup-
was a fertile ground for plots posed to have dealt with him on
against the Queen. The so-called this serious charge, there is no evi-
Babington plot, which was aimed dence to indicate that Marlowe was
at assassinating Elizabeth and her punished in any way. It is thought
chief advisors and placing the that this incident may well have
Catholic Mary Queen of Scots on been part of Marlowe’s ongoing
the throne, was exposed in 1586, intelligence work. The same year,
and it is thought that Marlowe The house on the corner of St. George’s Marlowe was charged with assault-
Street and St. George’s Lane, believed to
may have been involved in its ing two police constables in Lon-
be where the Marlowes lived during the
exposure. early years of Christopher’s life. It was don, though he again seems to
Marlowe’s employment as a destroyed in a German air raid in 1942. have escaped with only a warning
spy makes sense when one consid- to keep the peace.
ers his circumstances at Cambridge. writing career he had begun at While it seems clear that Mar-
Chancellor Cecil was close to Wal- Cambridge became his focus. Mar- lowe’s connections protected him
singham the spymaster, who would lowe wrote some poetry at Cam- from the worst consequences of his
have been interested in sharp and bridge, but the plays for which he actions, his brash, impulsive behav-
adventuresome young men who is best remembered were written ior can hardly have been compati-
might make able spies. Cecil would after that period. Such works as ble with sensitive espionage work
have been aware of the most Tamburlaine the Great parts I and II, — and it ultimately may have led
promising students, and could have Dr. Faustus, The Jew of Malta and to his tragic death.
advised Walsingham about them. Edward II all belong to the fertile Marlowe’s life did not become
Supporting this theory is the fact seven-year period between 1587 calmer or more stable in the wake
that, while at Cambridge, Marlowe and 1593. Several of his major the- of his brushes with the law. Instead,
became friends with Thomas Wals- atrical works are still produced in the summer of 1593, he found
ingham, a cousin of Sir Francis. today, and in their own day himself in even deeper trouble. In
Thomas Walsingham, whose ensu- revealed the power of blank verse May of that year, authorities
ing career kept him close to the in the hands of an expert. As well, arrested a playwright named
court for the rest of his life, became among his enduring poems are Thomas Kyd for possession of doc-
an important artistic patron of Mar- such pieces as The Passionate Shep- uments that denied the divinity of
lowe’s, and would have an omi- herd to His Love (“Come live with Jesus Christ. At the time, this was
nous connection with the me and be my love”), still a favorite considered heresy, a serious crime.
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MYSTERY

In 1589, Kyd had written The Span- drawn Marlowe away from Cam- indeed over payment of the day’s
ish Tragedy, an incredibly popular bridge during his graduate studies. tab. As the argument grew heated,
play in its day, and he was well- Marlowe had probably known these Marlowe grabbed Frizer’s knife and
known in London theatre circles. operatives for some time. attacked him with it. In defending
Under torture, Kyd claimed that the What truly transpired that himself, Frizer grabbed the knife
incriminating documents, which evening in Deptford will probably from Marlowe and stabbed him
had surfaced during a raid on his never be known, but after the over the right eye, killing the 29-
lodgings, in fact, belonged to Mar- evening meal, a dispute apparently year-old Marlowe instantly.
lowe, with whom he had been arose between Marlowe and Frizer. This account sounds plausible,
roommates a couple of years before. The general description of what and may have been what hap-
As a result, Marlowe was arrested, ensued was that Marlowe was pened. The men involved in this
but was not tortured as the hapless stabbed as a result of a brawl over incident could all be described as
Kyd had been. Instead, he was put the paying of a bar bill, and died. In potentially violent, and Marlowe’s
on probation, and was warned to 1925, Renaissance scholar Leslie history makes it clear that he had a
remain where Elizabeth’s advisors Hotson discovered the report of the hot temper. Considering the large
could find him. coroner’s inquest into Marlowe’s quantities of wine that may have
Shortly after this incident, a death in the Public Record Office. been consumed, it wouldn’t have
man named Richard Baines, a been surprising if circum-
known government informant stances got out of hand.
who was connected with Mar- The fact is, however, that
lowe’s counterfeiting trouble in the only accounts offered of
the Netherlands, brought to the Marlowe’s murder were those
Privy Council a note suppos- of the three men present when
edly outlining Marlowe’s blas- he died, one of whom was his
phemous feelings on matters killer, and all of whom were of
crucial to the Christian faith. questionable reputation.
Some of the contents of this Marlowe’s notoriety was at its
note, along with a number of peak in the spring of 1593, and
references in Marlowe’s plays he was facing the possibility of
and poems, have also con- serious legal trouble and
tributed to the opinion that he severe punishment for his
was homosexual. It was the behavior and supposed beliefs.
atheistic material, however, that If he was a government agent
put the playwright in danger. — and it is hard to dismiss the
The young writer’s recklessness evidence that he was — then
seemed to be catching up with On 29 June 1613, the thatched roof of the Globe the- his handlers may have decided
him. atre, where many plays of the time were performed, that he was too great a liability
caught fire and destroyed the building. This engrav-
ing shows the second theatre built in its place.
to continue in their service, or
The Final Act even to be left alive. Did
Perhaps it would have been better This brought eyewitness accounts to Thomas Walsingham, acquaintance
if Marlowe had been jailed after his light for the first time in several cen- or employer of all the men present
arrest. On 30 May 1593, still await- turies. The first thing the report did in the Deptford room, order
ing a summons or judgment from was set the record straight on the Marlowe disposed of before he
Elizabeth’s authorities, he dined in place of Marlowe’s murder. Mar- was called to account for his
Deptford, now a southeast London lowe dined and died at the home of beliefs and actions? Theories
suburb. The company he kept there one Dame Eleanor Bull, a widow abound, and the truth is probably
reinforces the notion that Marlowe with ties to the Elizabethan court. now beyond reach.
was deeply embedded in an under- Her place was neither a bar nor a One thing is indisputable,
world of espionage, filled with tavern, but a private home that is however: Christopher Marlowe
characters that could most charita- now thought to have been a safe was a larger-than-life figure whose
bly be described as shady. house for agents employed by the impact on English literature is
The three men who dined with government. The four men present matched by the excitement and
him were Robert Poley, Nicholas that evening had spent most of the tragedy of his existence. He
Skeres and Ingram Frizer, all known day at the house, and had lunched reminds us that even a few intrigu-
con men engaged in intelligence and dined in an upstairs room. ing pieces of a personal history
work through their association with After the evening meal, Marlowe from the distant past, when care-
Marlowe’s patron Thomas Walsing- apparently reclined on a bed behind fully considered and investigated,
ham (Frizer was actually described the dining table. The other three can yield a story as gripping as
as a “servant” of Walsingham’s). All men remained seated at the table anything we observe today.
three men were involved in the with their backs to him. The coro-
exposure of the Babington plot — ner’s report claims that Marlowe’s
the very matter thought to have angry exchange with Frizer was HM
38 History Magazine • February/March 2008
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DRUG CULTURE

Opium Dens and Bohemia


Abridged from the book A Pickpocket’s Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York,
author Timothy J. Gilfoyle takes us on a tour of an opium den
ON ENTERING THE place [4 Mott high rates of success like bunco,
Street], I was surprised to see so flimflam, fake jewelry, and green
many new smokers. In fact, the joint goods — supplanted pickpocket-
was crowded with young men and ing. The opium den proffered a
girls. Most of them were strangers to new criminal career for Appo.
me. I was unable to order an opium Opium was a commonplace
layout, still having the prison clothes drug in the 19th-century United
on. I felt out of place and was about States. While its precise use prior
to go out, when a young man called to 1920 remains uncertain, con-
out: “Hello, George! Come over here.” temporaries and later historians
As I approached, he got up from the acknowledged a dramatic increase
bunk. He shook hands with me, and after the Civil War. By 1870 opiate
said: “When did you come down from use in the United States was not
‘above’ (Sing Sing Prison).” I told only widespread but virtually
him and showed him the clothes they unregulated; it was more popular
gave me coming out. He laughed and and widespread than tobacco
said: “I’ll fix you up in the morning would be a century later. Physi-
with a front (clothes) so that you can cians and pharmacists, for exam-
get out and make some coin. So lay ple, prescribed laudanum,
down here and roll up some pills for morphine, and other addictive
me and have a talk.” So I lay down, opiates as painkillers. Since opium
cooked up the card of opium and we did little damage to the kidneys
both fell asleep. The next morning he Extracted from A Pickpocket’s Tale by and liver, some doctors assumed
bought me a complete outfit of wear- Timothy J. Gilfoyle. Copyright (c) the drug was less detrimental than
ing apparel and loaned me five dollars 2006 by Timothy J. Gilfoyle. alcohol. Others falsely believed
besides. This man was a crook and his With permission of the publisher, that opium cured alcoholism. For
business was a confidence swindler, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. these and other reasons, the
or better known as a “handshaker.” United States never prohibited the
His name was Burt Fitzgerald. basement of 4 Mott Street their hang- use of opium for nonmedical pur-
Every night I would go to the out. This place was the first public poses until the 20th century.
opium joint and I soon got acquainted opium joint opened for the American Like his contemporaries Appo
with all the habitués of the place and habitués and was managed by a Chi- attributed the rise of opium smok-
their line of business. Every one of naman called “Poppy.” The place was ing to Chinese immigrants. The
them with the exception of a few were crowded day and night by opium missionary E.W. Syle reported
crooks in every line of graft. As I habitués from all stations in life, both finding extensive opium smoking
learned the different systems by men and women, some of good social among the few Chinese immi-
which one could earn money easy and and financial standing. Most of the grants in New York in 1854.
with less risk than picking pockets rest were crooks in every line of “There is no question that the Chi-
and other rough ways, I started in for dishonest business, from the bank nese imported the opium habit
myself and was quite successful in burglar down to the petty thief. into America,” complained one
making money in “sure thing graft” newspaper in 1883. While racial
as it is called by crooks. I had a run of George Appo’s experiences in stereotyping — if not outright
good luck for nearly five months.... Gotham’s earliest opium dens racism — characterized most
Mott Street was being deserted marked the emergence of a new analyses, probably a minimum of
by the good American people on kind of criminal — the drug 20 percent of Chinese immigrants
account of the Chinese tenants drift- addict. Opium dens represented a used opium.
ing into the neighborhood rapidly. unique place of criminal assembly, The growth of opium smok-
With the Chinamen came many an underworld collectivity ing, however, was more than a
American opium habitués from the devoted to the pleasures of the product of Chinese immigration.
West, most of them from San Fran- pipe. Like the street and prison, Indeed, the emergence of opium
cisco, and all crooks in every line of the opium den served as a school dens — commonly called “opium
stealing brought on to the East by the for Appo, providing the means to joints” or simply “joints” — was
Centennial Exhibition at Philadel- learn alternative and safer forms stimulated by their popularity
phia. They worked their different lines of illicit enterprise. “Sure thing within the non-Asian population.
of graft, and then drifted into New graft” — confidence games or During the 1840s and 1850s, the
York and made the opium joint in the swindling operations with very increasing Chinese population
History Magazine • February/March 2008 39
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DRUG CULTURE

generated little, if any, discussion immigrants. In the 1880s, when opium smoking. In 1882, an
of the drug. Opium smoking, for various officials expressed outrage Evening Post reporter described a
example, was never mentioned regarding opium use, their con- visit to 4 Mott Street as “an extra-
during Quimbo Appo’s trials for cern focused on non-Chinese ordinary experience.” The den
murder in 1859 and 1860. Only as users. Second, opium smoking was situated in a four-story tene-
opium grew popular in under- was hidden and confined to Chi- ment just off the Bowery, only a
world, entertainment, and leisure nese boardinghouses, groceries, few steps from several prominent
venues after 1865 did contempo- laundries, and gambling dens, concert saloons. Inside, smokers
raries take notice. some of which secretly supplied reclined on low platforms extend-
Opium smoking differed from opium to select customers. By the ing the length of the small, dimly
other forms of drug use. In con- 1880s Chinese laundries in differ- lit room, their heads supported by
trast to orally ingesting the nar- ent parts of New York functioned small wooden stools. The Chinese
cotic, smoking required a lengthy as opium dens for American cus- proprietor, Poppy, weighed and
preparation process and an expen- tomers, part of an informal net- served opium in little seashells.
sive “layout.” Smokers needed a work of dens extending Fumes from the pipes filled the
special 18-inch pipe, bowl, throughout the United States. room with such a thick, bluish
sponge, chisel, and tray. The Appo testified that “Poppy” on cloud that one visitor claimed it
“cooking” was usually performed Mott Street provided friends with was impossible to see his hands
by a resident “chef,” who held at his waist. When
shredded and then boiled the smoke cleared, he
raw opium, allowing him observed a dozen small
to separate the “essence” peanut-oil lamps glowing
or “purified” opium. The “like the fire flies in a
residue was then kneaded fog,” and a room packed
in a pan and fermented with smokers, all of
into a gooey, thick black whom were Euro-Ameri-
paste, which smokers cans. Poppy busily moved
called “dope.” Unlike from patron to patron
“opium eaters,” who usu- supplying opium, many
ally became addicted crying out, “Poppy,
because of a medical con- gimme a quarter’s
dition, opium smokers worth.”
used the drug for plea- The proliferation of
sure. Chinese-operated opium
Opium smoking dens evidenced a more
attracted increasing atten- significant phenomenon:
tion after the Civil War. In the emergence of an
1871 one writer noted that American bohemian sub-
opium shops were found Addicts in an opium den. culture. An ill-defined
in cities “where the hoi pol- intellectual proletariat of
loi, the ‘filth and scum’ are prone addresses and “tickets” to laun- penniless and carefree writers,
to live.” By 1873 Donovan’s Lane, dries with opium dens in Syra- journalists, poets, actors, and
where Appo lived as a child, had cuse, Chicago, Buffalo, and artists, bohemians challenged a
at least one reported Chinese Cleveland. “It’s a poor town now host of Victorian social norms. For
“opium saloon,” later documented a-days that has not a Chinese a variety of people, the bohemian
in a lithograph by the artist laundry,” wrote one critic in 1883, milieu of opium smoking was
Winslow Homer. Manhattan phar- “and nearly every one has its accessible to almost anyone,
macists claimed that numerous opium lay-out.” Finally opium allowing not only men and
poor, “half-stupid” men and dens were frequently hidden or women to intermingle but also
women came in and purchased overshadowed by other under- individuals of different class, eth-
opium to get high. By the early ground enterprises on the same nic, and racial backgrounds. The
1880s numerous observers premises. Appo remembered that opium dens frequented by Appo
claimed that scores of over- 4 and 17 Mott Street, for instance, in Lower Manhattan embodied
crowded joints operated in Pell, were also gambling dens and the popularization of bohemian
Mott, and Doyers Streets and on houses of prostitution. life in the United States. After vis-
the lower Bowery. The den at 4 Mott Street was iting one Pell Street den, one
Despite the growing visibility one of the best known, but not the reporter wrote that “in five min-
of opium smoking, legal authori- first opium den in New York City, utes [we] found ourselves in busy
ties were slow to respond for sev- as Appo believed. More accu- Printing-house Square, mingling
eral reasons. First, the practice rately, it was the first well-known again with that civilized half of
was considered an “imported opium joint that allowed Euro- the world which knows not, nor
vice” identified with Chinese American visitors to indulge in could ever dream, how the other
40 History Magazine • February/March 2008
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half lives.” Another claimed that time he remained addicted to the anywhere from 15 minutes to sev-
by the 1870s, the opium dens in narcotic. He published The Opium eral hours. Upon waking, the
Chinatown competed with the Habit (1868) before his premature smoker felt no aftereffects like a
city’s most popular concert death in 1870. hangover. Opium induced a sub-
saloons, attracting patrons from The opium use and bohemian- dued tranquillity, “an indescrib-
uptown spots like the Bijou and ism popularized by Poe, Ludlow, able sense of complete
the Haymarket. and the Pfaffians was limited to a satisfaction,” “dreamy wakeful-
Elements of a bohemian sub- small, elite group of intellectuals ness,” and “paradise,” according
culture with alternative views on and artists. “Opium eating,” in to various smokers.
sexuality appeared before the particular, tended to be a solitary A new language emerged in
Civil War. The most notable was activity. This changed by the this paradise. Habitual opium
Henry Clapp’s group of writers, 1870s. As opium use shifted from smokers were labeled “hop
actors, and intellectuals that gath- eaters to smokers, the drug fiends” or just “fiends.” Novices
ered at Pfaff’s Broadway saloon became more accessible and com- and infrequent users were simply
just north of Bleecker Street. munal. In fact smoking was a “pleasure smokers.” By the 1890s
Clapp fostered a reputation as social experience. In places like the drug was called a variety of
“king of the bohemians,” and Poppy’s Mott Street den, smokers names: “victor medicine,” “Span-
attracted the patronage of writer organized themselves into small ish cigarettes,” and “dope.” As
Fitz-James O’Brien, poets opium dens spread
Walt Whitman and Ada throughout cities in the
Clare, actress Ada United States, they
Menken, and journalist became part of an under-
and future French prime world social network
minister Georges with a common argot,
Clemenceau. Other, less shared rules, and peer
ideological males reinforcement, anticipat-
ascribed to an ethic of ing the pattern of 20th-
pleasure, even hedonism. century drug subcultures.
“Sporting men,” “fancy The opium den pro-
men,” dandies, and moted a certain egalitar-
nabobs challenged ian ethos. One former
“respectable” definitions addict and otherwise crit-
of urban masculinity and ical observer noted that
male sexuality. A hetero- “the old saying, ‘There is
geneous mix of wealthy honor among thieves,’
and poor, educated and applies equally well to
ignorant, fashionable and opium fiends. They never
ragged, sporting male steal from each other
culture valorized a sexual ethic groups of two to six persons, all while in the joint.” He was most
based upon male aggressiveness sharing a pipe and smoking impressed by witnessing intoxi-
and licentiousness. Some even equipment. One individual cated men and women enter
attributed the growing popularity cooked the drug and prepared the opium dens, lie down, and go to
of opium smoking to sporting pipe, which was then shared and sleep with jewelry exposed and
men. smoked in turn by the others. money in their pockets. Fighting,
American writers like Edgar Opium den patrons told stories, he and others noted, rarely
Allan Poe and Fitz-Hugh Ludlow cracked jokes, sang in low voices, occurred. Similarly a reporter was
were the first to describe in detail and drank beer. In contrast to the impressed with the loyalty and
the world of opium users and raucous and sometimes violent camaraderie among opium smok-
abusers. While their examinations atmosphere of the saloon, the ers, in which social position
emphasized orally ingested opium den was a place of relax- accounted for little.
opium, Poe introduced some of ation and quiet contemplation. Opium dens also promoted an
the earliest opium-addicted char- Numerous smokers maintained exotic, “Oriental” ambience of
acters in American literature, in they enjoyed a kinship with fellow Asian mystery. Typical was one
some quarters becoming “the habitués. Opium smoking Pell Street den with a narrow
prophet of organized Bohemian- “loosens the tongue and develops room decorated with vases, color
ism.” Fitz-Hugh Ludlow went one social qualities,” observed one prints, mirrors, and Chinese
step further: He became addicted writer, “rather than the fighting inscriptions. Two broad shelves or
to hashish as a teenager. After he spirit engendered by whiskey.” divans extended along a wall, the
published The Hasheesh Eater in Opium smokers saw the drug upper about six feet above the
1857, Ludlow became a regular at as the raw substance of dreams. floor, the other less than two feet
Pfaff’s and went on to a writing Smoking opium put the user in a high. Each was covered with bam-
and editorial career, during which deep but refreshing sleep, lasting boo mats and pillows, turning
History Magazine • February/March 2008 41
PP.qxd 12/5/2007 2:17 PM Page 4

DRUG CULTURE

them into “bunks” on which confidence men, and thieves — plied in the final quarter of the
opium smokers reclined. “The took up opium smoking early on. 19th century. Opium smoking,
mysterious gloom, the flickering Numerous other commenta- concluded one writer, was an
opium-lamps, the barbaric colors tors, however, noted the diverse indulgence for primarily “the
on the walls, the trance-like clientele of the joints. Entertainers indolent and rich.”
appearance of the smokers, and associated with the theater were For many opponents of opium
the deathly stillness,” wrote one among the most frequently cited use, however, the most controver-
visitor, “contributed to make the opium smokers. “Together with a sial element of the den was the
scene a weird and impressive few brilliant Bohemians,” sur- random, unregulated intermin-
one.” mised writer Allen Williams, the- gling of classes, races, and sexes.
Although opium smoking atrical people “compose the The societal markers of the “out-
induced sleep and lethargy, opium aristocracy of the joints.” Some, side” world broke down under an
dens were identified with “licen- like the den under Paddy Martin’s ethic of individual hedonism and
tiousness.” The physician and Wine Room at 9 Bowery, were narcotic license. In contrast to
opium researcher Henry H. Kane known for their patronage by opium dens in London, the joints
believed that opium smoking pro- well-known actors. Others, like Appo frequented, like 4 Mott
duced “satyriasis” in men and Bessinger’s Fourteenth Street Street, were filled with “men and
nymphomania in women. Opium opium joint, attracted so many boys of respectable conditions,
dens were consequently perceived thespian addicts in the 1880s that girls and hardened women,
as sites of seduction. thieves and sporting
Repeated observations men, actors and actresses,
noted that opium dens drunken carousers and
were filled with scantily Chinamen,” according to
clad women who dis- one reporter. One detec-
robed on entering in tive noted that all
order to make themselves “castes” were set aside in
comfortable. At the very opium dens. Homeless
least the atmosphere was beggars lay down beside
erotic. offspring of the wealthy;
The presence of pros- whites, blacks, and
titutes further sexualized Asians shared the same
the opium den. By 1887 physical space. A
certain businessmen and Repeated observations noted that opium dens were filled reporter concurred, not-
property owners com- with scantily clad women who disrobed on entering in order ing how in certain dens a
plained that prostitutes to make themselves comfortable. At the very least, the “Union League Club man
worked out of most of atmosphere was erotic. will lie with the head of a
the buildings along Mott City Hall Park bunco
Street and north of Chatham the proprietor admitted patrons steerer upon his chest, laughing
Square. Opium dens on adjoining simply to observe famous stage and joking with him as if they had
streets displayed a similar mixture performers getting high. One been ‘comrades, comrades, ever
of drug use and commercial sex. police reporter concluded that the since we were boys.’“ Periodic
When the police raided establish- “lower order” of theatrical people police raids, random arrests, and
ments on Pell and Mott Streets for — variety actors and dancers — prosecutorial indictments con-
prostitution violations, they found represented “the greater part of firmed many such charges.
the inmates “hitting the pipe.” By the white devotees of the pipe in These behaviors alarmed crit-
1890 at least six tenements on New York.” ics, but to little avail. New York’s
Doyers Street were noted for their Yet Euro-American opium Koch Law of 1882 made buying,
mixture of prostitution and smokers also came from affluent selling, giving away, or using
opium. backgrounds, in part because opium for the purpose of smoking
The link of opium with prosti- opium was expensive. One Chi- a misdemeanor, but most arrests
tution and various illicit activities nese writer claimed in 1888 that resulted in little more than sus-
convinced some that the milieu of some addicts needed to smoke pended or dismissed cases. More
the hop was filled with social out- three dollars’ worth of opium often than not law enforcement
casts. “The people who frequent daily in order “to keep straight,” a officials tolerated opium dens.
these places are, with very few habit costing approximately one Numerous reporters and
exceptions, thieves, sharpers and thousand dollars a year, roughly observers claimed that police offi-
sporting men, and a few bad the entire annual wage of most cers stationed in Chinatown rou-
actors; the women, without excep- American workers. Reports tinely brought “slumming parties”
tion, are immoral,” wrote one. The describing dens full of “society of outsiders, curious about the
writer James L. Ford admitted that women,” “richly-dressed ladies,” goings-on in opium dens. One
“the criminal classes of New “respectable people,” and “the addict remembered policemen
York” — gamblers, prostitutes, best class of customers” multi- entering a Pell Street opium den,
42 History Magazine • February/March 2008
PP.qxd 12/5/2007 2:17 PM Page 5

arresting several suspects, and failure that evening. He then told me appear, I went and got the morning
walking out without bothering the he was going West. I told him I paper and therein was an article
smokers. Reportedly the ward would join him and we would work about the house being robbed of jew-
man was a close associate of the both ways, that is, I would help him elry and money to the amount of
proprietors. at his work and he would help me at $37,000 while the family were at din-
In the final decades of the mine. He agreed and the next day we ner. The fact that Fred had tried the
19th century, the opium dens of both went to Philadelphia, where we night before to rob the house and
Chinatown facilitated and repre- stayed three days. He made no money failed and he disappointed me at the
sented an ill-defined, inarticulate there, but I was successful and we hotel by not showing up to [meet] me,
bohemian world. While this inter- went to Scranton, Pennsylvania. led me to believe that he robbed the
cultural milieu fostered little intel- On arriving there, I said to him: house alone and left me out.
lectual debate, displayed less “Should you ever get arrested, what I then made up my mind to hunt
middle-class self-consciousness, name would you give in?” him up and bring him to account for
and attracted fewer females com- He replied: “Fred Crage.” his mean act, or as the “crook” says
pared with Greenwich Village “Is that your right name?” I — “Putting me in the hole for my
bohemia after 1900, it nevertheless asked. share of the coin.” I knew that he was
embodied a liminal space foster- “No, my right name is Fred deeply attached to a young girl about
ing an ethic of mutuality, hedo- Young.” 17 years of age who was an inmate of
nism, and fantasy. The bohemia I told him I would give the name a parlor house in St. Louis on Elm
George Appo confronted in these of George Leonard, so we worked Street. In fact, he was all the time
early opium dens at once con- Scranton and many other cities until talking about her to me, so I got a
veyed an exotic and erotic “Orien- we reached the city of Chicago, where move on myself, made some money
talism” alongside a “rough,” male we made a long stay, about 3 months, picking pockets that day and then
underworld. In Gotham’s opium and all the money he made from New bought a ticket to St. Louis and left
dens pickpockets like Appo met York to Chicago was $17. I paid rail- St. Paul that night.
their “genteel” Victorian counter- road fare and all other expenses from On reaching St. Louis, I went
parts. Respectable actors, the results of my stealing from New direct to the fast house where his girl
actresses, artists, and “clubmen” York to Chicago. lived. I saw and talked with her and
fraternized with sneak thieves, So one day, just the beginning of she said to me: “Fred was here and
confidence men, and prostitutes. winter time, Fred said to me: “We left about an hour ago for New York.
Evoking an ambiance of Asian will go to St. Paul, Minnesota. I have See what nice presents he made me,”
mystery, this hidden subculture a good ‘thing’ up that way and if I am showing me a pair of diamond ear-
was devoted to the pleasures of lucky we will be ‘away up in G.’” rings, a diamond ring and a sealskin
the pipe and the body. Opium “Well, all right, any place suits sacque. “Fred is going to send for me
smoking then gave birth to a dis- me.” So we went to St. Paul. In two and take me to New York in a few
tinct American bohemia. weeks, he made eight dollars. Finally, days,” said she. I commented upon
one afternoon we took a train for his generosity and bid her goodbye.
So one cold winter’s night, I drifted Minneapolis, only a short ride from After one day’s graft in St. Louis,
into a Mott Street opium joint at St. Paul. That night he took me up to I left for Louisville, and from there to
No.17 (basement at the time) where a a place called the “Five Corners.” Cincinnati, and kept on going from
man named Barney Maguire and his Above this section all the rich people town to town until I arrived in New
“green goods” employers were smok- live. He went to a house, climbed the York. Then began a search for Fred in
ing opium and drinking wine at porch and opened a window and got the opium joints. After visiting three
Maguire’s expense. In the place at the in while I was on the lookout for him. of them and not meeting him, I
time I noticed a young man lying on He soon came out and when a safe finally learned that Barney Maguire,
the bunk all alone smoking opium. As distance away we met and he showed the green goods financial backer, had
he was an entire stranger and I had me a silver watch and a cheap stick- opened a swell opium joint on Crosby
never seen him around before, I sat pin. I told him that was very poor Street, opposite Niblo’s Garden The-
down on the foot of the bunk near him graft and too risky and that he had atre. I called there and was informed
and without a word between us, he better give it up. that Fred had been smoking there and
handed me the opium pipe with a pill He replied: “You just wait, I’ll that he had taken a ship and sailed for
on it to smoke. I took it and lay down get there, good and fat.” Paris, France. This information I
and we soon became acquainted. I “I hope so,” said I, so we went found to be true, so I gave up the
asked him where he was from and he back to St. Paul to our room. On the chase and soon forgot about Fred’s
said from the West. Every evening I next evening at 5:45 p.m., I was at meanness until one day about five
would meet him at the joint and soon the St. Charles Hotel in Minneapolis months after he sailed for Europe, I
learned that he was a traveling house by appointment with Fred, who told heard from a friend of Fred’s, who got
thief and robbed wealthy people’s me to be sure to be there. I waited for a letter from him, stating that he was
homes at supper or dinner hours in him until 10 p.m. at the hotel, but he sentenced to 15 years imprisonment
the fall and winter. did not show up himself, so I went in Paris, France for burglary. Then I
One evening I went out with him back to St. Paul to my room and forgot him entirely.
to see how he worked, but he made a waited there all night. As he did not HM
History Magazine • February/March 2008 43
bertillon.qxd 12/5/2007 2:31 PM Page 1

FORENSICS

The Measure of a Man


Phill Jones studies the case of Alphonse Bertillon, the 19th-century biometrician
ALPHONSE BERTILLON MATURED in from 10 percent in 1828 to 40 per- shot format remains a worldwide
an atmosphere of scientific cent in 1869. Government officials standard.
achievement. His father, Louis- concocted a way to curb the prob- Bertillon met resistance to his
Adolphe, a pioneer of demogra- lem: Treat first-time offenders identification scheme, but several
phy and anthropology, served as leniently and repeat offenders years’ persistence earned him an
president of the Paris Anthropo- severely. Implementation of this extended trial. In Bertillon’s sys-
logical Society. His brother Jacques policy required a system for iden- tem, officials measured an
became a prominent statistician. tifying habitual criminals. arrestee, recorded descriptions of
Alphonse, on the other hand, dis- Bertillon became familiar with characteristics and photographed
tinguished his early years as a deficiencies of current identifica- the subject. They preserved infor-
dedicated underachiever. tion tactics, a mixture of vague, mation and photos on a large
After get- Source: US Library of Congress
cardboard
ting the boot form. To search
from his first for a match
school, independent of
Alphonse irri- the name given
tated his by an arrestee,
German tutor investigators
into quitting. sorted cards
Alphonse went until a small
on to boarding number had
school where the correct
he tried to use combination of
a spirit lamp to measurements.
cook inside his Mug shots
desk. This confirmed
experiment, identification.
and the In February
resultant fire, 1883, bertillon-
secured a age revealed a
dismissal. habitual crimi-
His blem- nal who had
ished formal been arrested
education did under different
not prepare Taking arm span and ear measurements at the New York Police Department, c. 1908. names. By the
Alphonse for a end of the
career. He drifted from one job to written descriptions, blurry pho- year, Bertillon had identified 49
another, joined the army for a tographs and police officers’ mem- habitual criminals. During 1884,
while, and gave medical school a ories. Drawing upon his father’s the first full year of operation, he
try. With his father’s help, a 26- and brother’s specialties, Bertillon identified 241 recidivists.
year-old Alphonse secured a cleri- developed an anthropometric Across the globe, law enforce-
cal job in the department of the identification system that required ment agencies adopted Bertillon’s
Préfecture of Police in 1879. Here, a series of measurements. system. In part, fear drove this
he copied information about First, he classified a criminal enthusiastic response, a fear of the
arrested felons and entered the by one of three general head size anarchist movement. As director
data in a record. Bertillon, who types. Using an 11-step process, he of the new Judicial Identification
found the work excruciatingly then categorized an individual by Service, Bertillon showed how
boring, might well have moved on height, length of trunk and dimen- bertillonage could fight political
to another job. Instead, inspiration sions of various parts of the body, radicalism. In 1892, Bertillon
struck. including the forearm, middle and revealed that the infamous anar-
At this time, European law ring fingers, and the left foot. chist “Ravachol” was François
enforcement agencies faced the Bertillon also noted distinctive Claudius Koenigstein, a mass
dilemma of recidivism (habitual characteristics, such as scars, murderer.
offending), a problem nourished moles, tattoos and eye color. Even as Bertillon enjoyed his
by the anonymity of new, large Finally, he enhanced the tradi- triumph, a contender for bertillon-
cities. In France, the proportion of tional arrestee photo by including age emerged. In his book Finger
récidivistes among arrestees rose frontal and profile views. The mug Prints (1892), Francis Galton sug-
44 History Magazine • February/March 2008
bertillon.qxd 12/5/2007 2:31 PM Page 2

Courtesy of Gavan Tredoux, galton.org


gested a new identifica- cation method. Bertillon-
tion system based upon age had proved difficult
an examination of finger to put into practice.
friction ridges. Over the Calipers, sliding com-
next decade, fingerprint- passes and other measur-
ing gained momentum. ing tools required
Edward R. Henry, Com- frequent maintenance
missioner of London’s and recalibration, and the
Metropolitan Police, pro- labor-intensive measur-
posed a fingerprint classi- ing process called for rig-
fication and analysis orous training. Even
system to replace highly trained officers
bertillonage. In 1901, Scot- could decide upon differ-
land Yard opened a small ent values after measur-
Fingerprint Branch. A ing the same person
year later, the organiza- twice. And, unlike finger-
tion abandoned bertillon- prints, bertillonage relied
age after attempting to upon characteristics that
combine the systems. changed as criminals
Fingerprinting aged.
offered several advan- The anthropomorphic
tages. A person required system persisted in parts
little training and equip- of Europe, bolstered by
ment to record a set of Bertillon’s prestige and
fingerprints. Henry’s Mug shots of Francis Galton, taken during a visit to influence. After Bertillon
classification system Bertillon’s Criminal Identification Laboratory (Paris, 1893). died in 1914, however,
made it easy to perform a fingerprint identification
search of records. The fingerprint crime by fingerprints left behind. rapidly overtook bertillonage.
system also allowed police a Law enforcement agencies
chance to connect a criminal to a were ready for a simpler identifi- HM

History Magazine • February/March 2008 45


IG Current issue.qxd 12/5/2007 2:34 PM Page 1

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eiffeltower.qxd 12/5/2007 2:37 PM Page 1

CRIME

Hey Buddy, Wanna


Buy a Tower?
Brian J. Noggle tells the story of the men who sold the Eiffel Tower

IN AMERICA, CON artists, such as George C. mission, so the city decided to extend the
Parker, made a living selling the Brooklyn tower’s lifespan. But the maintenance,
Bridge. However, they didn’t usually prey including some 60 tons of paint applied
upon native New Yorkers. Sometimes, regularly to prevent rust, burdened the
well-heeled foreigners saw the visible city’s coffers. When a Parisian newspaper
landmark and coveted the toll revenue ran an article detailing the city’s concerns,
produced — hundreds of dollars a day at Victor Lustig found inspiration.
the turn of the 20th century. Although The Eiffel Tower weighs approximately
audacious, the cons yielded only hundreds 7,300 tons and includes more than 18,000
of dollars from naive newcomers — a bar- pieces of puddle iron, an alloy with high
gain for a bridge that cost $15.1 million to tensile strength that was cutting edge in
build. the latter half of the 19th century. Eiffel
Across the ocean in Paris, a Bohemian designed the tower for easy disassembly at
native pulled off a more daring and more the end of the 20-year period. This infor-
lucrative scheme: He sold the Eiffel Tower mation provided a ready back story for
to a native Parisian. Lustig. Unlike his American counterparts,
Victor Lustig took to the seas at an he would not target people who might
early age. Not as a sailor, but as a con have an interest in operating the Eiffel
artist working the transatlantic liners filled Tower for profit. Instead, he targeted those
with gullible passengers. Lustig worked a who would profit from its easy destruc-
number of cons on the ships and stateside. tion: Scrap metal dealers.
Along the way, he befriended “Dapper” Together, Lustig and Collins acquired
Dan Collins, another conman. The duo counterfeit government stationery and
decided to settle in Paris, not as honest invited several scrap metal dealers to a
men, but as schemers with bigger dreams. meeting at the prestigious Hotel de Cril-
In 1925, Paris had recovered from lon in Paris. Six men arrived, at which
WWI and was returning to prominence as point Lustig identified himself as a
an artistic hub. American expatriate writ- deputy minister. He detailed the tribu-
ers, such as Ernest Hemingway, Ezra lations of maintaining the Eiffel Tower
Pound and Sherwood Anderson, congre- and said that the government had
gated in the salon of Gertrude Stein and decided to sell it for scrap. Lustig
Alice B. Toklas. Pablo Picasso and Henri took the group on a tour of the
Matisse were being recognized as brilliant tower to point out the value in the
artists. However, at the center of Paris metal.
stood a blight that many Parisians He then solicited bids from
deplored: La Tour Eiffel. all, but made them vow to keep
Gustave Eiffel built his namesake to the pending sale secret. To
serve as the entrance to the 1889 Exposition avoid a public outcry, he
Universelle (World’s Fair). Many didn’t care asserted, the government did
for its appearance. French novelist Guy de not want to release news
Maupassant purportedly ate at the restau- until the details were final-
rant in the Eiffel Tower daily because it ized. Regardless of the bids
was the only place in Paris from which one received, Lustig only
did not see it. wanted one bid in partic-
The tower served its purpose, and the ular: Andre Poisson’s.
city granted permission for it to stand for Lustig’s research
20 years. After that, the city of Paris indicated that Pois-
planned to tear it down, but the invention son was something
of radio gave the structure a new purpose. of an outsider in
In the early 20th century, the tower the Parisian
was not the tourist attraction it is today. Its world, making
height and structure lent it to radio trans- him an ideal
History Magazine • February/Mar
February/March
ch 2008 47
eiffeltower.qxd 12/5/2007 2:37 PM Page 2

target. Additionally, Lustig expected that Poisson


would be on the lookout for a big deal to earn the
respect of his business peers — and the Eiffel Tower
deal could provide that impetus to greatness.
Something in the initial meeting confirmed
Lustig’s hopes and expectations about Poisson.
When Poisson provided a bid, Lustig sent him word
that his bid had won, and Lustig’s secretary, Collins,
scheduled a second meeting.
At the second meeting, Poisson was slightly sus-
picious. His wife had raised concerns that the deal
seemed too good to be true. However, Lustig hinted
at his own dishonesty, indicating that he needed a
bribe as part of the deal. This subterfuge proved
effective, for Poisson could see a reason for the sur-
reptitious meetings and what was in it for the
deputy minister. Perhaps Poisson had met with such
officials
before.
Poisson
took the bait
and bribed
the corrupt
“govern-
ment offi-
cial”. Lustig
accepted the
bribe and a
cashier’s
check —
reportedly
for 250,000
francs
(approxi-
mately half
a million
dollars US
today) — Victor Lustig successfully conned people
for the Eiffel until 1934, when he was sent to Alcatraz.
Tower. After He died 13 years later from pneumonia.
quickly
cashing the check, Lustig and Collins left the coun-
try, expecting the authorities on their heels. But Pois-
son apparently didn’t report the crime. Perhaps he
feared that the swindle would have made him the
laughingstock of his peers instead of a leader
amongst them. After this, Poisson faded from view,
probably left bankrupt and shamed.
A month later, Lustig and his companion
returned to Paris and tried the scam again.
They selected another mark and rounded up
additional scrap dealers, but this time, the mark
grew suspicious and alerted the authorities. Lustig
and Collins, however, eluded capture. Lustig
returned to America to run many more cons, includ-
ing escaping custody by selling a money-making
machine to the incarcerating sheriff.
Although Lustig’s sale of the Eiffel Tower and
his other exploits have become legend, there’s one
scam he has never been associated with — selling the
Brooklyn Bridge.
HM

48 History Magazine • February/March 2008


FOOTBALL HM.qxd 12/5/2007 2:42 PM Page 1

SPORTS

Touchdown! The History


of Football in North America
Matt Polacko goes deep as he examines the beginnings of all things pigskin

FOOTBALL IS AN extremely popular was played on 6 November 1869 more similar to rugby, partly due
team sport enjoyed by millions the in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to climactic conditions. Rugby
world over, yet it has numerous between Rutgers and Princeton. could be played under worse field
varieties, including two distinct The rules used that day were very conditions than football and thus,
forms native to North America. similar to Association Football and later into the fall, better befitting
North American football owes its it was deemed a success as the Canadian calendar. Members
origins to British Association Foot- Columbia, Yale and Stevens all of the English garrison stationed in
ball and rugby that developed in joined the original two colleges in Montreal during the 1860s played
the early 19th century. Canadian competition in the following rugby against civilian teams com-
and American football were years. posed principally of McGill stu-
spawned in the latter half of the During those years, Harvard dents. This led to an upsurge in
19th century as an amalgamation was perfecting their own game, the game’s popularity amongst the
of the two sports, to which the similar to rugby, as it was charac- English-speaking segment of Que-
path into its modern identifiable terized by less kicking and bec and by the early 1870s, Quebec
form was wrought with many allowed running with the ball if a could boast of having the best
twists and turns. player was being chased. An Inter- rugby teams in North America.
Both British football and collegiate Rules Convention was Harvard’s isolation and simi-
rugby were played in North held in New York in 1873 with lar style caused them to challenge
America in the 19th century, most Harvard’s refusal to attend as they McGill to a series of contests in the
prominently amongst the eastern now found a shortage of oppo- spring of 1874 at Cambridge,
colleges and universities. Different nents to challenge. This decision which has frequently been cited as
rules were adopted at different had far reaching consequences, as the most important turning point
colleges, as there existed no real it caused Harvard to look else- in the history of North American
uniformity at first. The first club to where for opponents and, as luck football. The first game was con-
be formed was the Oneida Foot- would have it, a team in a similar tested under Harvard’s rules and
ball Club of Boston in the 1860s, predicament existed north of the the second under McGill’s.
composed of high school boys border. Although both teams normally
from Boston. Many of them went While British football was used more than 11 men, McGill
on to attend the Ivy League col- popular in the United States dur- only arrived with 11, which gave
leges of the region, where they ing this period, Canada tended to birth to the present number of 11
brought with them their more lean towards a game that was men-a-side in American football.
organized form of football. The Canadian style was also more
It was from this that the open and made a good impres-
first intercollegiate sion on the Americans,
game of football as the editor of the

History Magazine • February/March 2008 49


FOOTBALL HM.qxd 12/5/2007 2:42 PM Page 2

SPORTS

Harvard Magenta thought it to be into practice, as some teams would This final major development to
much better than the “somewhat keep the ball for entire halves. To the game introduced some finesse
sleepy game now played by our solve this problem, Camp decided and precision to a sport that had
men.” Harvard then adopted to adopt the system of downs used previously been based on sheer
McGill’s style, which included an in Canada, whereby a team would physical force.
egg-shaped ball along with the have three opportunities to move Canada developed its own
drop kick and free kick. the ball five yards. In 1912, this version of football, separate from
Subsequently, Harvard went rule was changed to the present the British and American models,
on to challenge its fierce rival Yale form of four downs allowed to which became basically a hybrid
to a game of rugby the following gain 10 yards. of the two. After the McGill-Har-
year and Yale was quickly won Camp later reduced the num- vard game in 1874, the Canadian
over. By 1877, the rest of the Ivy ber of players per team from 15 to game ceased to influence the
League schools had adopted the 11 and each player was assigned a American game and the roles
new style. The Association Foot- specific position to specialize in became reversed. Canada moved
ball style of play disappeared from and a standard arrangement of cautiously away from rugby
American campuses until shortly seven linemen, a quarterback, two towards American Football, which
after the turn of the century, which halfbacks and a fullback was became the major reason why
allowed American football to devised. He also created signal Canadian and American schools

Images courtesy of Library of Congress.


In these undated profile pictures, unidentified Charlotte Hall Military Academy football players go through their
warm-ups at practice.

firmly take root in the US. calling and reduced the field sub- soon ceased playing exhibition
It took one man, affectionately stantially in size from 140 by 70 games against one another. Like
known as the “Father of American yards to its modern 100 by 53 yard the Americans, Canada dropped
Football”, Walter Camp, to offi- dimensions. Lastly, he revised the the rugby scrum in the 1880s and
cially transform rugby football scoring system, giving a larger adopted the scrimmage. However,
into a new sport. Camp was a leg- value to touchdowns than field it was a compromise between the
endary player, and later coach, at goals, which placed a greater two styles, as it was only a three-
Yale, who wrote the first book emphasis on running over kicking. man scrimmage, which attained
ever published on football. While Camp’s introductions later set the more motion and flow than the
playing for Yale, he devised the stage for football’s lasting domina- American game. The game also
revolutionary changes that trans- tion by statistics (yards per carry, became notable for kicking
formed the game. total passing and running exchanges rather than for running
The first was the introduction yardage, etc.). or lateral exchanges.
of the scrimmage, which meant The new game introduced by At this time, Canadian rugby-
that instead of dropping the ball Camp did not come without prob- football was still highly disorga-
between two teams locked in lems, however, as a defining char- nized, as games were played
scrums, one side would be given acteristic of early American sporadically between various col-
possession to plan offensive move- football was its extremely violent leges and universities in Ontario
ments, and the other side would nature. Injuries were rampant and and Quebec. There were various
have to try to stop them. Once a fatalities would occur on a regular rugby unions that organized com-
score was made, the teams would basis. In 1905 alone, 18 people lost petitions, and many disagree-
exchange control of the ball. The their lives and 154 more were seri- ments arose between them over
scrimmage was initiated to speed ously injured. To remedy this rules until the Canadian Rugby
up the game, however, it proved to problem, the forward pass was Union (CRU) was formed in 1891.
be a complete failure when put brought into the game in 1910. A hodgepodge of rule adjustments
50 History Magazine • February/March 2008
FOOTBALL HM.qxd 12/5/2007 2:42 PM Page 3

was made by the CRU, many at Cup, to the top college or univer-
the behest of former Toronto Var- sity team in Ontario and Quebec.
sity captain J.T.M “Thrift” Burn- The winner would advance to the
side. He proposed 12-men-a-side CRU playoffs for the Dominion
and three downs to acquire 10 Championship against the senior
yards, both still in place to this winner of the rugby union play-
day, along with the continued use offs. In 1909, Governor-General
of the larger field. These rules Lord Grey donated the Grey Cup
stand out as the primary defining as an award for the winner of the
features of the Canadian game. Dominion Championship. The tro-
Many other minor variations were phy was coveted by all teams and
introduced in the years thereafter, served to increase the professional-
leading up to the last major rule ism in the Canadian game, as well
introduction in 1931, when the as to finally attract western teams
CRU finally approved the forward to the competition in 1921, giving
pass for all leagues. This led to the it a national identity. University
dropping of the old oval rugby teams finally quit the competition
ball, and a new streamlined and in 1934, as the proliferation of
narrower ball was adopted in American professionals into Cana-
order to facilitate passing. As a Steve Banois, All-American dian clubs had been increasing.
result, the Canadian game finally football center, in 1941. The Canadian Football League was
resembled less of rugby and finally formed in 1958. It still exists
became a variation of the Ameri- running back Red Grange. He was today after much turmoil over the
can game. nicknamed the “Galloping Ghost” years, including the allowance of
The development of football and toured the nation with the American teams for a few short
from an amateur game to a profes- Chicago Bears in 1925, filling sta- years in the 1990s.
sional one was an even longer diums wherever he went. The pro The origins of North American
process than the initial creation of game continued to grow and by football and its successive devel-
the game. The first professional mid-century, it was one of Amer- opment into a popular profes-
team in the United States ica’s most popular sports. The sional sport is a path that
appeared in 1894 in Greensburg, advent of the Superbowl and encompasses two nations, who
Pennsylvania. The first pro league merger of the two top leagues each developed their own take on
was not established until 1920 allowed football to easily attain the popular 19th-century British
with the advent of the American the crown of most popular sport sports of rugby and Association
Professional Football Association, in America in the 1970s, which has Football. It is the variations that
which consisted of 14 teams, all continued to this day. emerged during those formative
located in the Midwest. It was not Professional development was years which explain the differ-
until the mid-1920s that the pro much slower in Canada. The Inter- ences in the Canadian and Ameri-
game achieved respectability, collegiate Union was set up in can games played today.
which was largely due to the 1898, which awarded Canada’s
arrival of the talented and exciting oldest football trophy, the Yates HM

From left: Coach Vince Lombardi on the sidelines with Forrest Gregg of the Green Bay Packers during a National Foot-
ball League (NFL) game from the 1960s. The league’s championship trophy would later be named the Vince Lombardi
Trophy. Right: The “Tigers” of Hamilton, Ontario c.1906. Founded in 1869 as the Hamilton Foot Ball Club, they eventu-
ally merged with the Hamilton Flying Wildcats to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
History Magazine • February/March 2008 51
Hindsight51.qxd 12/5/2007 2:45 PM Page 1

REVIEWS

Hindsight A selection of new books and products we believe


may be of interest to History Magazine readers.
The History of Death: Burial Cus- and an index. Priced at about $60 looks at the history of the event
toms and Funeral Rites, from the US/CDN for the hard cover. ISBN: from its early days as a market
Ancient World to Modern Times 978-155407-311-5. selling printed and hand-copied
looks at the social history of books to being the most important
death. The Whiskey Merchant’s Diary: book fair for international deals
Author An Urban Life in the Emerging and trading, with a strong focus
Michael Ker- Midwest tells the story of German on the 20th century. From Dun-
rigan plays immigrant Joseph J. Mersman, durn Press, 280 pages including
Virgil to our who lived in Cincinnati and St. several black and white illustra-
Dante as he Louis, then the frontier of tions and an index. Priced at
takes us on a America. Edited by Linda A. Fish- about $40 US/CDN for the hard
tour of how er, the diary cover. ISBN: 978-1-55002-744-0.
we handle covers the
death, from period from The 19th-century authors
burial cus- 1847 to 1853 Catharine Parr Traill and Susanna
toms of early and chroni- Moodie are famous for their
civilizations to the Victorian’s cles the works about pioneer life in early
cult-like devotion towards mourn- successes Canada. Sisters in Two Worlds: A
ing, from how Europeans handled and failures Visual Biography of Susanna
the deaths of thousands during of a man in Moodie and
the Black Plague to how people the 19th Catharine
commemorate death today. With century. Of Parr Traill
black and white illustrations on interest are chronicles
nearly every page, this will make the descrip- the women’s
for an interesting read. However, tions of early life in
perhaps not before bedtime. From Victorian etiquette, his views on England and
The Lyons Press, 192 pages gender, entertainment and his what they
including bibliography and an suffering due to his “confounded experienced
index. Priced at about $20 US or complaint” of syphilis. The work once they
$25 CDN for the paperback. ISBN: also features illustrations and came to the backwoods of Upper
978-1-59921-201-2. maps of the period. From Ohio Canada, a far cry from their
University Press, 432 pages manor home as children. Full of
The World Encyclopedia of including an index. Priced at colorful illustrations from the
Archaeology is an over-sized book about $49 US/CDN for the hard authors themselves and photo-
featuring the work of more than cover or $25 US/CDN for the graphs of the places they knew,
40 archaeologists, historians and paperback. ISBN: 978-0-8214- author Michael Peterman has
cultural anthropologists. The vari- 17452 (hard cover)/978- 08214- created a delightful book. From
ous archaeological sites profiled 17460 (paperback). Dundurn Press, 280 pages includ-
here are ing an index. Priced at about $45
grouped the- The annual Frankfurt Book Fair is US/CDN for the hard cover. ISBN:
matically, an event of interest to book lovers 978-0-385-66288-8.
from the around the world and continues a
dawn of tradition that dates back more
humans to than 500 years. A History of the History Magazine will
the collapse Frankfurt consider any history book,
of society on Book Fair by publication, product, website,
Easter Island Peter etc., for inclusion in Hindsight.
in c.1500, Weidhaas, This is an editorial service;
with most the director items are chosen solely on
sites cover- of the merit and there is no charge for
ing facing Frankfurt inclusion. Send information to:
pages, featuring multiple color Book Fair, Hindsight, History Magazine,
illustrations and aerial pho- and 505 Consumers Road, Suite
tographs. Sites and discoveries translated 500, Toronto, ON M2J 4V8,
such as Troy, Tikal, the Great Wall by Carolyn Canada, or e-mail
of China and the Iceman are fea- Gossage victoria@moorshead.com.
tured. From Firefly Books Ltd., and Wendy
400 pages including a glossary Wright,
52 History Magazine • February/March 2008
HMSpecialV8_V4567_newHM51.qxd 12/5/2007 2:50 PM Page 1

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lostdays.qxd 12/5/2007 2:52 PM Page 1

CALENDAR CORRECTION

The Lost Days of


Huck DeVenzio tracks the change to our
modern-day calendar

WE EXPERIENCE ENOUGH clock con- to cause


fusion when we cross time zones, protests by
recite “Thirty days hath Septem- people who
ber…” and semi-annually spring feared that
ahead or fall back an hour. What if the govern-
we had to spring ahead a week ment was
and a half? That’s what American stealing days from their lives. This Style). What should people do?
colonists, and all subjects of the tale has been refuted, but anti- Should they back-convert all the
British Empire, did in 1752 when reform candidates used the slogan, Old Style dates to New Style? If
they replaced the Julian calendar “Give us our Eleven Days”. Such a your ninth birthday had been 10
with the Gregorian calendar and correction today would likely gen- July 1752, did it make sense for
skipped 11 days. your birthday to fall on 21 July in
Check your favorite 1752 cal- the future?
endar. The day after Wednesday, Another issue caused further
September 2, was Thursday, confusion. It seems natural now
September 14. In 1752, September that December 31 marks the end
hath 19 days. of one year and New Year’s Day
The Julian calendar, intro- is January 1. But that was not the
duced under Julius Caesar in universal practice. Depending on
46BC and implemented the fol- where you were, the new year
lowing year, served well for cen- began on different days, such as
turies until its slightly overstated December 25 (Christmas), March
year of 365.35 days became out of 25 (the Annunciation) or, in East-
sync with the seasons. Pope Gre- ern European countries, Septem-
gory XIII decreed in 1582 that a ber 1 (beginning of the taxation
revised calendar would be used, cycle). In England, the stroke of
keeping Easter where it belonged midnight was all that separated
in the spring. 24 March 1745, from 25 March
The new tropi- 1746.
cal year (from Above: Pope Gregory XIII When the New Style calendar
one veneral issued the papal bull Inter was adopted, the British also
equinox to the gravissimas to promulgate the chose to adopt January 1 as the
next) was new calendar on 24 February first day of the year.
365.2422 days 1582. Right: Thomas Jefferson’s Thus, some historical dates
long. Italy, birthday was 2 April under the took a second bewildering punch,
Spain and Old Style calendar (as noted on which includes the birthday of
his tombstone), but is now
several other celebrated on April 13 under
George Washington. He was born
European coun- the New Style calendar. on 11 February 1731, by the calen-
tries adopted it dar then in effect. Under the New
immediately as their official calen- erate untold concern over work Style calendar, his birth date was
dar, but most non-Catholic nations schedules, interest charges, rent February 22. Furthermore, since he
took longer. The British Empire payments and getting reservations was born between January 1 and
waited 170 years, but was not the at restaurants when 12 days of March 25, even the year of his
last. Russia and Greece, among a birthdays were being celebrated birth changed under the New
few others, did not accept the Gre- on the same afternoon. (At least Style — to 1732. This presents a
gorian calendar until the 1900s. the colonists did not have to birthday/math/calendar problem:
The year of acceptance worry about planes falling out of If Washington was born on 11 Feb-
affected the number of days to be the sky because of Y2K computer ruary 1731 (Old Style), how old
skipped. Early adopters skipped glitches.) was he on 11 February 1761? He
10. By 1752, it was necessary to The calendar change created was not 30 but, time zones aside,
leapfrog 11 days. Russia missed 13 dating problems that still linger. he was 11 days shy of 29.
days, jumping from 31 January One week before 16 September
1918 to 14 February 1918. 1752 (in what was called the New
In England, the jump was said Style) was 29 August (in the Old HM

54 History Magazine • February/March 2008


History Carryover.qxd 12/5/2007 2:54 PM Page 1

Features We Are Working on for


Future Issues of THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC: THE GREAT ILLUSIONISTS
Doug Elliott conjures up the history of a world
where anything was possible.

THE CARNATIC WARS:


Pamela D. Toler details
TITANIC: the Anglo-Franco
David Norris takes us on a first-class tour of the ill- struggle for control of
fated ship, which now rests at the bottom of the India during the 18th
Atlantic. See who was on the ship’s first — and last century.
— voyage and what happened to its crew and
passengers after it hit that infamous iceberg.

THE TEDDY BEAR:


Hero of childhood adventures, THE STORY OF RUBBER:
beloved bedtime companion Few products have impacted the
and one of the most popular modern world more than
toys in history, the teddy bear rubber. Edward E. Deckert and
is cherished by millions, both Constance R. Cherba bounce
young and old. Phill Jones around the history of this
looks at the international ancient space-age material.
history of the teddy bear.

HOCKEY:
It’s played by boys
PANORAMAS, DIORAMAS and girls, men and
AND CYCLORAMAS: women of all ages —
David Norris looks at as passionately in
this now forgotten Porkalompolo, Sweden,
entertainment which as in Podunkville, US.
once enthralled millions. Author Al Henderson
takes to the ice in search
of hockey’s storied past.

BRITAIN’S ROYAL CORPS OF


ENGINEERS IN CANADA:
HOW THE GREAT DEPRESSION
The Quebec Citadel, the
GAVE AMERICA THE BLUES:
Rideau Canal and the Cariboo
Heath Lowrance looks at
Road have all contributed sig-
early American music and
nificantly to the establishment
how it reflected what was
of Canadian sovereignty. They
Google Earth

happening at home and


were also all built by Britain’s
beyond.
Royal Corps of Engineers. Art
Montague investigates.

The features mentioned here are in preparation and are planned for future issues. However, circumstances may affect the final content.
US_Coin_HM51.qxd 12/3/2007 10:49 AM Page 1

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