MakingHistory: Recent Episodes
Dan Allosso
Making History is the top-level thing I do, as a historian, teacher, and writer. I create content, based on either original primary research or to present the findings of other historians to my students. This channel will cover several topics (arranged in playlists) such as note-taking, research, and writing tools and techniques, history I'm teaching at Bemidji State University, research and writing projects I'm working on, Open Education techniques and resources I'm creating, and reflections on the ways that history helps us understand our current world.
This is an audio version of the first chapter of my Open Textbook, US History II: Gilded Age to Present. You can read along at https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/ushistory2/chapter/chapter-1/
Source: Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs (1886), II, 483-496. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/436/mode/2up
Source: Elizabeth Hyde Botume, First Days Amongst the Contrabands (1893), 82-129. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/444/mode/2up
Source: General William Tecumseh Sherman, Memoirs (1875), II, 171-90. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/428/mode/2up
Source: Daily Sun (Columbus, Georgia), October 13, 1863, quoted in Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove, Voices of a People's History of the United States.
Source: Anna E. Dickinson, What Answer? (1868), 243-257. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/376/mode/2up
Source: James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox (1896), 385-395. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/372/mode/2up
Source: James K. Hosmer, The Color-Guard (1864), 187-195. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/264/mode/2up
Source: George Washburn Smalley in New York Daily Tribune, September 20, 1862. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/346/mode/2up
Source: Mary A. Livermore, My Story of the War (1889), 86-96. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/220/mode/2up
Source: Jefferson Davis, in The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Fourth Series (1900), I, 104-106. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/188/mode/2up
Source: Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works (1894), I, 657-669. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/202/mode/2up
Source: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War (1887), 47-55. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/182/mode/2up
Source: Alexander H. Stephens, A Constitutional View of the late War between the States (1870), II, 279-299. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/164/mode/2up
Source: Senator John Sherman, letter to William Tecumseh Sherman, The Sherman Letters, 1837-1891 (1894), 85-88. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/162/mode/2up
Source: Speech of Horatio Seymour to New York Electoral Commission (1876) quoted in John Bigelow, The Life of Samuel J. Tilden (1895), 84-9. https://archive.org/details/lifesamtilden02bigerich/page/84/mode/2up
Source: Almira Russell Hancock, Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock (1887), 152-157. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/504/mode/2up
Source: "Battle of the Little Bighorn, Narrated by an Indian Who Fought in It", by Two Moons in McClure's Magazine, September, 1898. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/twomoonslittlebighorn.html
Source: Hilary A. Herbert and others, Why the Solid South? or Reconstruction and its Results (1890), 61-69. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/500/mode/2up
Source: House Reports, 42nd Congress, 2nd session (1872), II, pt. 1, 48-49. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/494/mode/2up
Source: Henry Wilson in Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 40th Congress, 3rd session (1869), 153-154, February 8, 1869. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/492/mode/2up
Source: Henry Varnum Poor, Annual of the Railroads of the United States, 1869-1874 (1869), xlvi-xlviii. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/514/mode/2up
Source: Samuel J. Tilden, Writings and Speeches (1885), I, 399-407. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/474/mode/2up
Source: Henry McNeal Turner, "On the Eligibility of Colored Members to Seats in the Georgia Legislature" (September 3, 1868). http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/mcnealturnergeorgialeg.html
Source: Thaddeus Stevens in Congressional Globe, 39th Congress, 1st session (1866), 2459-2460, May 8, 1866. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/482/mode/2up
Source: Edwin Lawrence Godkin, The Nation (1865, 1866), I, 209-210; II, 110-173. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/448/mode/2up
Source: "President's Policy" by Andrew Johnson in the Daily National Intelligencer, February 23, 1866. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/468/mode/2up
Source: Horace Greeley, The New York Daily Tribune, February 1, 1865. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/464/mode/2up
Source: Laws of the State of Mississippi, Passed at a Regular Session of the Mississippi Legislature, held in Jackson, October, November and December, 1865 (1866) 82-93, 165-167 http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/mississippiblackcode.html
Source: Report by General Carl Schurz, Senate Executive Documents, 39th Congress, 1st session (1866), I, No. 2, 13-40. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/452/mode/2up
Source: New York Herald, October 21, 1859. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/146/mode/2up
Source: Horace Greeley, New-York Daily Tribune, March 9, 1859. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/74/mode/2up
Source: Senate speech by James Henry Hammond, https://civilwarcauses.org/King%20Cotton%20speech.htm
Source: William H. Seward, The Irrepressible Conflict: a Speech Delivered at Rochester (1858), 1-7. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/138/mode/2up
Source: Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works (1894), I, 240-243. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/136/mode/2up
Source: Hinton Rowan Helper, The Impending Crisis of the South (1857), http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/impendingcrisissouthhelper.html
Source: Thomas H. Benton, Historical and Legal Examination . . . of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Dred Scott Case (1857), 4-96. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/132/mode/2up
Source: Dred Scott v. Sandford, in Samuel F. Miller, Reports of Decisions in the Supreme Court of the United States (1875), II, 6-56. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/126/mode/2up
Source: Thomas H. Gladstone, The Englishman in Kansas; or, Squatter Life and Border Warfare (1857), 22-66. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/114/mode/2up
Source: John Wannuaucon Quinney, From Great Documents in American Indian History, Edited by Moquin, Wayne and Charles Van Doren (1973). History is a Weapon, http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/johnquinney1854fourthofjulyaddress.html
Source: B. F. Stringfellow, Negro-Slavery, no Evil (1854), 9-35. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/68/mode/2up
Source: BlackPast, B. (2007, January 24). (1852) Frederick Douglass, “What, To The Slave, Is The Fourth Of July”. BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/speeches-african-american-history/1852-frederick-douglass-what-slave-fourth-july/
Source: George W. Julian, Political Recollections, 1840-1872 (1884), 134-150. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/100/mode/2up
Source: Lucy Stanton, "A Plea For The Oppressed", Oberlin Evangelist, December 17, 1850. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/stantonaplea.html
Source: Emily P. Burke, Reminiscences of Georgia (1850), 205-211. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/58/mode/2up
Source: Levi Coffin, Reminiscences (1876), 304-311. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/80/mode/2up
Source: John C. Calhoun, Congressional Globe, 31st Congress, 1st session (1850), 451-455. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/48/mode/2up
Source: The Ranney Letters: Family Correspondence During the Yankee Migration, https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/ranneyletters/
Source: Henry David Thoreau (1849). Original title: “Resistance to Civil Government”. http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/thoreaucivildisobe.html
Source: Alonzo Delano, Life on the Plains and among the Diggings (1854), 14-351. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/42/mode/2up
Source: David Wilmot, Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 29th Congress, 2 session (1847), 315. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/38/mode/2up
Source: "Capture of Mexico", by Winfield Scott, House Executive Documents, 30th Congress, 1st session (1848) II, No. 8, 375-383. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/28/mode/2up
Source: Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs (1885), l, 152-159. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/26/mode/2up
Source: Thomas Corwin, Appendix to the Concessional Globe, 29th Congress, 2nd session (1847), 216-217. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/24/mode/2up
Source: "Reasons for War" (1846), by James Knox Polk, in James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents (1897), IV, 437-442. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/20/mode/2up
Source: Thomas Hart Benton, Congressional Globe, 29th Congress, 2nd session (1847), 494-497. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/652/mode/2up
Source: John C. Calhoun, Works (1855), V, 333-339. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/648/mode/2up
Source: "Raleigh Letter", by Henry Clay, Daily National Intelligencer (Washington), April 27, 1844. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/646/mode/2up
Source: Waddy Thompson, Recollections of Mexico (1846), 235-241. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/14/mode/2up
Source: "A Fugitive Case", by Samuel Cochran, Philanthropist (Cincinnati), March 24 1841; reprinted in Liberator (Boston), May 21 1841. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/630/mode/2up
Source: Charles Lyell, Travels in North America (1845), I, 157-184. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/590/mode/2up
Source: Richard Henry Dana, Two Years before The Mast (1840), 87-212. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/10/mode/2up
Source: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1875), II, 137-143. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/524/mode/2up
Transcripts of family letters I discovered in a drawer in the Historical Society in Ashfield, Massachusetts.
Apropos of our current concerns about conspiracy theories, here's a look at one of America's first, the Illuminati Conspiracy of the 1790s.
In this one, with 278 days left until I lose my job, I have some thoughts about networks and the state university system.
I've been teaching as a tenure-track Assistant Professor since 2017. Was going up for tenure this fall. However, due to a financial calamity, my position and that of 26 other tenured and tenure-track faculty has been eliminated at the end of this academic year. Over the 281 days I have left, I'll be sharing my impressions.
Source: Angelina Grimké Weld, “Speech in Pennsylvania Hall”. (1838) BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1838-angelina-grimke-weld-speech-pennsylvania-hall-2/
Source: William E. Channing, "A Letter to the Hon. Henry Clay on the Annexation of Texas to the United States" (1837), 34-46. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/642/mode/2up
Source: Congressional Globe, 35th Congress, 2nd session (1859), 1433-1438. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/636/mode/2up
Source: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1875) I, 425-431. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/552/mode/2up
Source: James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents (1896), III, 69-93. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/548/mode/2up
Source: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by himself (1845) , 57-63. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/578/mode/2up
Source: Congressional Debates, 22nd Congress, 2nd session (1833), IX, part i, 188-190. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/544/mode/2up
Source: Patrick Shirreff, A Tour through North America (1835) https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/474/mode/2up
Source: Frances Anne Butler, Journal (1835), I, 128 to II, 186. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/564/mode/2up
Source: History is a Weapon website: https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/blackhawk.html
Source: John H. B. Latrobe, The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad: Personal Recollections (1868), 12-18. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/560/mode/2up
My thoughts about the 1970 article “Men in Motion: Some Data and Speculations about Urban Population Mobility in Nineteenth-Century America”, by Stephan Thernstrom and Peter R. Knights.
Source: This memorial letter, written in December of 1829 to the United States Congress, was printed in January, 1830 in the Cherokee Phoenix, the first American Indian newspaper. It was then reprinted in the March 13, 1830 issue of Niles Weekly Register.
Source: Mrs. [Frances Milton] Trollope, Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832), I, 48-188. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/520/mode/2up
Source: Speech by Nathaniel Macon, Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate (1828), III, 480-486. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/506/mode/2up
Source: James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents (1896), II, 7-260. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/494/mode/2up
Source: "Perils of State Banking" (1818), by a Committee of the New York Legislature, published by Hezekiah Niles, editor, Niles’ Weekly Register, March 14, 1818, XIV, 39-41. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/440/mode/2up
Source: John Heckewelder, An Account of the History, Manners, and Customs, of the Indian Nations, who once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the Neighbouring States, in American Philosophical Society, Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee (1819), I, 59-65. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/466/mode/2up
Source: "Argument for Internal Improvements" (1817), by John Caldwell Calhoun in Annals of Congress, 14th Congress, 2nd session. (1854), 851-857. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/436/mode/2up
When I was a grad student, I read a lot of books for my Comprehensive Exams, which had a fairly extensive take-home written component followed by an oral exam. I got in the habit of making lots of notes for my own purposes, which I continued even after I had passed the exams. Some of this content on Horwitz began life as part of my review of one of the most consequential books I read in grad school.
Source: Morris Birkbeck, Notes on a Journey in America from the Coast of Virginia to the Territory of Illinois (1818), 105-114. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari03hartrich/page/462/mode/2up
Source: Robert Proud, The History of Pennsylvania (1798), II, 220-231. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari02hartrich/page/84/mode/2up
Source: Report of South Carolina legislative committee, in B. R. Carroll, compiler, Historical Collections of South Carolina (1836), II, 351-359. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari02hartrich/page/340/mode/2up
Source: An Extract of the Journals of Mr. Commissary Von Reck . . . and of the Reverend Mr. Bolzius (1734), 32-50. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari02hartrich/page/114/mode/2up
Source: James Edward Oglethorpe, “A Brief Account of the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia” in Force, Tracts (1836), I, No. ii, 4-7. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari02hartrich/page/110/mode/2up
Source: Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, 177-210. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari02hartrich/page/228/mode/2up
Source: Cadwallader Colden, “Papers relating to . . . the . . . Encouragement of the Indian Trade, etc.” in his History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada (1747), second pagination, 25-40. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari02hartrich/page/320/mode/2up
Source: Daniel Neal, “The Present State of New-England”, Chapter XIV of his History of New-England, (1720), 600-616. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari02hartrich/page/52/mode/2up
Source: Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood in the Virginia Historical Society, Collections, II, 295-331. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari02hartrich/page/316/mode/2up
Source: John Wise, The Churches Quarrel Espoused, No. ii, 147-148. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari02hartrich/page/130/mode/2up
Source: Lahontan’s New Voyages to North-America, Volume II, Reuben Gold Thwaites, LLD, Ed., 1905 (https://archive.org/details/McGillLibrary-rbsc_lc_new-voyages-north-america-lahontan_lande00503-v2-17825/page/n3/mode/2up)
Source: Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, 1702, 1853. 50-53. https://archive.org/details/cihm_44870/page/n89/mode/2up
Source: "Pennsylvania, the Poor Man's Paradise" (1698), by Gabriel Thomas, in An Historical and Geographical Account of the Province and Country of Pensilvania, etc. (London, 1698). 23-45. https://archive.org/details/toldcontemporari02hartrich/page/64/mode/2up
Source: Life of a Southern Planter (1686), by William Fitzhugh, inVirginia Magazine of History and Biography (Richmond, VA), I, 30-396. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n321/mode/2up
Source: "The Infant Colony of Pennsylvania" (1683), by William Penn. Source: Samuel M. Janney, The Life of William Penn (Philadelphia, 1852), 246-249. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n573/mode/2up
Source: Treaty-making with the Indians (1683), by William Penn, in Samuel M. Janney, The Life of William Penn (Philadelphia, 1852), 244-246. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n577/mode/2up
Source: "How the Spaniards Came to Shung-opovi, How They Built a Mission, and How the Hopi Destroyed the Mission", by Edmund Nequatewa, in The Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature (https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/openamlit/chapter/132/)
Source: Two Dutchmen in Boston (1680), by Jaspar Dankers and Peter Sluyter (Translated by Henry C. Murphy, 1867), inJournal of a Voyage to New York in 1679-80, in Long Island Historical Society, Memoirs (Brooklyn, 1867), I, 377-395. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n515/mode/2up
Source: The Open Anthology of Earlier American Literature, Chapter 38. https://pressbooks.pub/openamlit/chapter/the-first-remove/
Source: "Condition of New York in 1687", by Thomas Dongan, in E. B. O’Callaghan, The Documentary History of the State of New-York (Albany, 1850), I, 101-117. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n561/mode/2up
Source: Reply of the West India Company to the Answer of the Honorable Peter Stuyvesant (1666), in Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York (edited by E. B. O’Callaghan, Albany, 1858), II, 491-503. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n557/mode/2up
Source: New England Opinion of the Dutch (1653), by the Commissioners of the New England Confederation, Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England (edited by David Pulsifer, Boston, 1859), X, 12-25. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n599/mode/2up
Source: "The Iroquois", by Rev. John Megapolensis in Ebenezer Hazard, Historical Collections (Philadelphia, 1792), I, 530-526. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n545/mode/2up
Source: "Account of the New England Indians" in Thomas Lechford, Plain Dealing: or, News from New-England (London, 1642), 49-53. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n337/mode/2up
Source: "The Pequot War", in Captain John Underhill, Newes from America (London, 1638), 9-40. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n459/mode/2up
Description of Native Americans and English colonists in Massachusetts, by Thomas Morton of Merrymount.
Account of a trip down the Ohio River, past Cincinnati and Blennerhasset, to New Madrid.
Richard Frethorne was an indentured servant working at Martin’s Hundred, a plantation a few miles from Jamestown, a year after an Indian attack in 1622 left hundreds dead in the area. A year later the royal government took over the struggling colony.
The Virginia Company's defense of their colony and its charter, presented to the King after several critics had attacked the mismanagement of the colony and lodged grievances against its leaders with the English government.
Captain Nathaniel Butler was an English privateer and governor of Bermuda. In 1621 he visited Jamestown for about a year and wrote a scathing report he presented to the King's Privy Council.
In March 1621 a representative of the sachem Massasoit named Samoset visited Plymouth, which the Pilgrims had established on the ruins of a Wampanoag village called Patuxet. The excerpts included here are Bradford’s story of Tisquantum or Squanto, a native who had been captured and sold into slavery as a boy, but after many years had made his way back to his home, only to discover that his people had all died of disease. Squanto had learned English while in Europe and England, so he was valuable to the Pilgrims as an interpreter and guide.
William Bradford (1590-1657) was an English Puritan Separatist who moved to Holland in 1608 to avoid religious persecution. In 1620 he and 101 other "Pilgrims" set sail on the Mayflower. Although originally bound for Virginia, they arrived at Cape Cod and established Plymouth. Bradford became governor of the colony in 1621. He kept a journal from 1621 to 1646 that became the book, Of Plymouth Plantation.
An audiobook version of Dan Allosso's 2013 biography of Dr. Charles Knowlton, read by the author in 2022 and 2023. Running time 7:37.
William Strachey (1572-1621) was a passenger aboard the Sea Venture which ran aground off the coast of Bermuda. He visited Jamestown for abut a year and wrote a glossary of the Powhatan language and an account of his experiences.
Source: William Strachey, The Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia, in Hakluyt Society, Works (London, 1849), 70-82. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n223/mode/2up
A 90-minute talk with my colleague Caleb Curfman about ChatGPT and Education, in which we discuss challenges and opportunities created by technologies.
Caleb's website: https://calebcurfman.com/
Source: "Condition of New York in 1679", by Jaspar Dankers and Peter Sluyter (Translated by Henry C. Murphy, 1867) in Journal of a Voyage to New York in 1679-80, in Long Island Historical Society, Memoirs (Brooklyn, 1867), I, 109-274. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n605/mode/2up?
A Story of Indian Captivity (1677-1678), by Quintin Stockwell, in Increase Mather, An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences (Boston, 1684), 39-57. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n521/mode/2up
Source: Bacon's Rebellion (1676), Anonymous, Strange News from Virginia, etc. (London, 1677), 2-8. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n261/mode/2up
Source: "The Causes and Results of King Philip's War" (1675), by Edward Randolph in Thomas Hutchinson, A Collection of Original Papers Relative to the History of the Colony of Massachusets-Bay (Boston, 1769), 490-494. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n477/mode/2up
Source: "Discovery of the Mississippi" (1673) by James Marquette, Translated by J. D. B. De Bow, Marquette and Joliet’s Account of the Voyage to Discover the Mississippi River, in B. F. French, Historical Collections of Louisiana (Philadelphia, 1850), Part II, 279-296. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n155/mode/2up
Source: Roger Williams, Letter to Major John Mason, in Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections (Boston, 1792), I, 275-283. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45493/page/n421/mode/2up
"Certain Proposals made by Lord Say, Lord Brooke, and other Persons of quality, as conditions of their removing to New-England, with the answers thereto", by John Cotton
Excerpt from "The Description and First Settlement of New Netherlands", in Nicolas Wassenaer’s Historie van Europa.
"A Declaration of the present State of Virginia humbly presented to the King’s most Excellent Majesty by the Virginia Company"
"Unmasked Face of Our Colony in Virginia as it was in the winter of the Year 1622", by Captain Nathaniel Butler.
How Pocahontas was kidnapped by the English and held for ransom, and how she married John Rolfe.
First proposal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific via the temperate region of North America rather than an Arctic passage.
Robert Dale Owen and Charles team up to produce a new edition of Owen's book, Moral Physiology, incorporating content from each of their birth control books.
Richard Hakluyt (1553-1616) was an Anglican priest and author, best remembered for his promotion of English colonization of North America and his histories of exploration. In 1584, Hakluyt returned from Paris, where he had been secretary to the ambassador, Edward Stafford, and wrote this article to encourage Queen Elizabeth I and her ministers to invest in settling a colony in America as a way to weaken the Spanish Empire.
An abridged account of Sir Francis Drake's expedition through the Straits of Magellan and up the coast of Spanish America during his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580.
Sir John Hawkins (1532-1595) was the second son of William Hawkins, an English sea captain who sailed between Africa and the Caribbean and helped institute the “Triangle Trade” in African Slaves. In this account, he tells the story of a voyage that ended with his defeat at the Battle of San Juan de Ulúa. He was later commissioned as a privateer by Queen Elizabeth I and later, as treasurer of the Royal Navy helped redesign English ships to be more seaworthy and carry larger guns. This helped England defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588. Hawkins was the mentor of Sir Francis Drake. A freebooter is a pirate or lawless adventurer.
John Sparke visited Florida and wrote about what he saw. While some of his descriptions are fantastical (unicorns and three-headed monsters), his account includes interesting descriptions of the land and people, and tells us about what interested Englishmen exploring these regions.
Hernando De Soto explored the American southeast from 1539 to 1542 when he died of a fever and was buried in the Mississippi River.
Captain Arthur Barlowe (1550-1620) left England in 1584 under instructions from Sir Walter Raleigh to find lands in North America to claim for Queen Elizabeth I. After stopping for supplies in the West Indies, he and Philip Amadas sailed up the Florida coast to North Carolina. Barlowe was very impressed with both the land and the people, which led to the settlement of Roanoke Island and later Virginia. The account below is from a letter he wrote to Raleigh.
A Primary Source account of Coronado's expedition in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola in 1540.
Primary Source excerpt of possibly the first mention of America in print in English, in 1511.
A Primary Source account by two Italians writing from London, of Giovanni Caoboto's voyage from Bristol to Newfoundland in 1497.
Christopher Columbus’ diary of his first voyage. The original diary was lost, but Bartolomé de Las Casas claimed that his account contained lengthy quotes he had transcribed directly from Columbus. The account describes the determination of the “Admiral” to justify the trust placed in him by the Spanish monarchs as well as his first impressions of the people he met in the Caribbean. He describes the welcome he received and the gift exchanges that he mistakes for barter. The passage quoted here also includes Columbus’ statement that with fifty men he could dominate the natives, although the language is less aggressively translated than in other accounts.
An American History Primary Source, originally from the Saga of Erik the Red, written about 1387. Text can be found at https://danallosso.substack.com/p/leif-eriksons-vinland.
I believe Scott said the ANTI in Antinet stands for Alpha-Numeric Tree Index. It seems to me to be a very faithful reproduction of Luhmann's zettelkasten system, but not just for the sake of being faithful. Scott seems to have plugged some of the holes that make it difficult to get info back OUT of a note-taking system, whether it's digital or analog.
Scott's channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/scottscheper
The third chapter of my biography of the famous freethinker, Dr. Charles Knowlton, in which as a teenager he believes he is dying, primarily due to onanism.
The second chapter of my biography of the 19th-century freethinker, Dr. Charles Knowlton.
This is an introduction to and a reading of the Preface and first chapter of my 2013 biography of the 19th-century freethinker, Dr. Charles Knowlton. The book is called An Infidel Body-Snatcher and the Fruits of His Philosophy.
For my 2022 research and writing, I've decided to finally incorporate Maps of Content. I've also begun turning empty notes that are nodes in the graph into actual notes, so I can better see the connectivity of my ideas.
My reactions to the fourth chapter of Graeber and Wengrow's recent book, prior to discussing them in the Obsidian Book Club this week.
My "Reading Notes" on the third chapter of The Dawn of Everything, which is called "Unfreezing the Ice Age".
A quick look at some of the ways authors develop credibility with readers, based on a discussion in the Dawn of Everything Obsidian Book Club yesterday.
The discussion of the Enlightenment in the early chapters of Graeber and Wengrow's book reminded me of a book I read in grad school about the wide reading habits of early US citizens, called Reading Becomes a Necessity of Life. Here's my summary of the book.
Okay, so I'm going to do it! A book club to read and discuss the new Graeber and Wengrow book, The Dawn of Everything, and a shared Obsidian vault in which we can do this and also share ideas and techniques for note-taking and knowledge management. This will include not only the shared vault but weekly Zoom meetings, so at the end of the video there's a list of things I'd like to know about you to get started and send you the appropriate invitations. I'll begin building the vault this weekend and we'll commence next week. EVERYONE who wants to share their thoughts is welcome! Basic rules of civility apply, and I'd like this to be visible to the rest of the world, so our work can be useful to others. Share this with your friends and relatives! THANKS!!
I'm beginning the process of looking for instances of ideas in my Obsidian vault. In this video, I find a bunch of times I thought about the idea of Domains, wondering about the limitations of explanatory schemes. I find a few to begin my Note on this topic.
This is my reaction to Neil deGrasse Tyson getting history spectacularly wrong on Joe Rogan's show. The original clip is a couple of years old, but it is still being watched regularly and these are topics I care a bit about. So I thought I'd set the record straight.
I'd like to compare the ways World History survey courses cover history in different regions of the world, and also if possible how this changes over time. I've asked Open Education folks, Moodlers, and others -- now I'm asking my viewers for suggestions of the textbook titles they've used or are aware of in their regions. Thanks!!
My reaction to the wildly popular Bill Wurtz video that begins before the Big Bang and races to the present in just under 19 minutes (I'm reacting to the "clean" version). I add some points I think need emphasis. Lots of great stuff in here. I'm always interested in people who can be super effective talking about history to the public, so this was very enlightening.
The second chapter of my recent book, covering the early history of peppermint in America, Ashfield, and the Ranney family.
This week I visited Baudette and International Falls, Minnesota, along the Canadian border. Did some research and met some very nice people as a result.
Since I've changed the name to "Making History", I thought I probably ought to share some of the history that I've made. So I'm going to start reading some of my writing, beginning with the book that came out of my dissertation. Peppermint Kings, A Rural American History, was published in 2020 by the Yale University Press, in their Agrarian Studies series. Since there isn't an audiobook version of this, I thought I'd provide one in podcast form. This is also an example of the type of project I'm working on when I do the note-taking and research I talk about on my channel.
Some thoughts about how I'm going to (re)organize myself to continue focusing on making content for the channel. The main theme will continue to be my work as a historian, writer, and teacher -- making and sharing history content.
My student, Kate Brekke, used Obsidian this summer to begin research toward her Senior Thesis. She demonstrated the graph and talked about her process in my Historiography class this week. Thanks, Kate!
An introductory lecture for my students this fall, to fill in some of the background info that will be useful to help them understand the modern world.
I tend to never be quite satisfied with my course content. This semester, I'm adding some new material and especially some new formatting to my OER World History text.
I'll be using a shared, private Obsidian vault hosted in Dropbox with my Modern World History students again this fall. I'll focus a bit more on knowledge co-creation, too.
A quick recap of my summer activities, including an unexpected visit with a professor who inspired me to study history a couple of decades ago.
Some thoughts on the way I'm going to use Permanent Notes as the abstractions on which I'll build my own arguments, stories, and texts. Also a brief comparison of what I'm doing here with retrieval practice as it's typically understood in education circles.
Part 2 of my Reading Notes section, where I try to make the case that good books are much bigger than the notes we make on them, but that we should make notes anyway, using William Cronon's book Nature's Metropolis as an example.
The second installment of my three-parter on my reactions to Sönke Ahrens book, How to Take Smart Notes, covering chapters three through six.
In this one I respond to a half dozen interesting questions asked by listeners. I appreciate the feedback and enjoy the interaction -- I'll plan on doing it again if the questions and comments continue!
As I'm working on my new Note-taking series, I thought I'd review my own notes on Sönke Ahrens very helpful book, How to Take Smart Notes.
In this one I begin talking about turning highlights into reading notes. This can be a time-consuming process, especially when the text is full of good material. In the background, the notes I made on part of Taleb's book Antifragile, while traveling last week.
I just returned home from a short vacation in California to see my parents. Stayed in my father's study while I was visiting. Looked at his books and highlights, walked and talked. The only thing that beats a zettelkasten is a real discussion partner.
Part 3 in my series on Heuristics and Biases, based on Daniel Kahneman's book, Thinking, Fast and Slow. This one covers the Anchoring Effect, which not only biases our estimates of numbers, but can affect our ability to perceive new information.
This is the sixth installment in my new Note-taking, Research, Writing handbook and series. I have some suggestions on highlighting and on the types of questions to ask as you are reading and processing a text.
I've just gotten beta access to Research Rabbit and it is a really powerful tool for chasing ideas down rabbit-holes. I used it to find a bunch of articles and monographs is a very short period of time. Super useful!
I've discovered a couple of new apps that I'm excited to try out this summer, to make my online course a little more personal and interactive.
I've decided to use the part of my vault I'm publishing through Obsidian Publish as my public website.
This is the fifth installment in my new Note-taking, Research, Writing handbook and series. I begin talking about sources and then say some things about arguments.
My first experience trying out Obsidian's website publishing tool. I'm pretty pleased with the results and I'll be using it, I think, to do my current big research project "with the garage door open".
Part 2 of my new series on Heuristics and Biases, influenced by recent books by Kahneman and Taleb.
This is the beginning of the first section of my new Note-taking, Research, Writing handbook and series. A lot of people have said "writing is thinking"; I believe thinking should be writing.
A quick demonstration of some of the things I do when making Reading Notes in Obsidian after processing documents using Zotero. Includes a brief tangent into my appreciation of Wikipedia and Hypothesis.
Introduction to a series I'm beginning to describe the heuristics discussed by Daniel Kahneman in his 2011 book Thinking, Fast and Slow (and also maybe touching on Taleb's Black Swans. Hopefully, installments will follow weekly covering the individual heuristics.
I used an Obsidian Vault in my Modern World History class this semester. It went very well! Here's a quick retrospective on that experiment.
I received an interesting letter from the executive editor at my publisher, which got me thinking again about publishing and looking at the experiences of some folks I know.
This is the first part of a new series I'm going to make, for my expanded update of "A Short Handbook for Writing Essays in the Humanities and Social Sciences", which I'm enhancing to include a lot more content on Note-taking. This will be a video series on YouTube and an audio series here. I'll add a new one weekly for about the next seven months.
A quick description of how I make PDFs and some of the apps I've used to annotate them and share them with my students.
A quick description of how I'm working on filling in the Empty Notes I make in Obsidian, and along the way editing a Wikipedia page.
Some initial thoughts about making the open educational resources I create available to my students (and maybe to the general public?) as Obsidian "Vaults".
How I use private groups in Hypothes.is to create a safe space for students to explore ideas, to focus them on classmates rather than the outside world, and to avoid annotation saturation in texts I assign.
Markus Krajewski's 2013 article, "Paper as Passion", and my process taking the notes and getting them into my workflow.
How I take notes on a book I can't write in, as well as some thoughts about grabbing clips and comments from audiobooks.
Some initial thoughts about Roam Research and Obsidian, their relative strengths, and the very cool communities surrounding each app.
My review of a very good article from a recent book, and some additional thoughts about MarginNote 3 and my own note-taking process.
At the end of a very hectic semester, I'm re-evaluating some of the apps I was excited about trying at the beginning.
I read Luhmann's 1981 article, "Kommunikation mit Zettelkästen", and here are my notes on it (in English).
This weekend I listened to the first third of David Allen's famous book and began thinking about implementing the GTD program in my own process.
The reading and note-taking process I developed in grad school, and thoughts about how and why I want to teach it to my students.
I'm starting to plan how to turn the things I've been learning about my own reading, note-taking, and writing process into material to teach my students how to do something similar.
A quick description of Thomas Kuhn's famous book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and how I think it applies to historical thinking.
A brief description of how I used to work as a grad student, processing books in my little study carrel at UMass and building Tinderbox "trees" of historiography. I've since moved on to MarginNote 3 and Roam, but I'm still thinking about visualizations.
Talking about how I'm adding Reading Notes into Roam Research from Kindle highlights and notes. Also, more of my comments on Sönke Ahrens' book, How to Take Smart Notes.
I'm thinking about the idea of block quotes vs. paraphrasing, the things I'll probably use Roam Research for (and not), and my notes on the first chapter of Sönke Ahrens' book, How to Take Smart Notes.
My thoughts about the first Zoom meeting of the Roam Research Reading Group that's going to read Sönke Ahrens book How to Take Smart Notes this month. It was a great model for a virtual conference! Also, my notes on the book's Introduction.
A second pod about my learning process, as I've been messing around in Roam Research for about three weeks now and loving it.
I listened to NowThis's final Who Is? pod of the season, on the Electoral College. While I get what they were trying to say, I think there were some historical lapses that could be corrected to improve their argument about power inequality throughout American history.
More thoughts on what I need to change about my classes and teaching as I move to the Hybrid-Flexible format.
Part 2 of Chapter 10, for my Modern World History class at Bemidji State University, Fall 2020.
My initial thoughts about the Hybrid-Flexible course format, which I'll be using this spring in all my courses. It promises to greatly increase student agency and flexibility, but comes with some additional work which I'll begin reporting on as I prepare for and implement this change.
The first half of Chapter 10 of my Modern World History course for Bemidji State University, Fall 2020.
The second half of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath, for my Modern World History class at Bemidji State University, Fall 2020.
Lucius writes a long letter to Henry, with lots of news including, by the way, that he has a new daughter.
I'm reading and watching lots of videos on Zettelkasten. I think when I teach it to my students, I'm going to just call it note-taking.
Anarchist James C. Scott has contributed greatly to my thoughts about the power and scope of empires, and the ways people have resisted them throughout history.
The first half of the Second World War, for my Modern World History class at Bemidji State University, Fall 2020.
I assigned a reading to my Gilded Age class this week from my favorite Muckraker, so I thought I'd take a couple minutes to define the term.
I'm planning to offer my courses in a hybrid format going forward, to add flexibility for students while (hopefully!) not adding too much additional work for me.
My review of The Transformation of American Law, 1780-1860, one of the most consequential books I read in grad school.
The second half of my 8th chapter in my Modern World History, for my Bemidji State University class, Fall 2020.
My thoughts after a week of playing with the new app, on the usefulness of Roam Research (spoiler, I like it a lot!).
Second half of my "interview" with my friend Nick Heisserer, where he talks about his decision to go for a PhD and his thoughts about higher education.
Conversation with my colleague and friend Nick Heisserer about researching a PhD dissertation topic.
A second book review in my new series, about Joyce Appleby's 1984 book, Capitalism and a New Social Order: the Republican Vision of the 1790s.
The social, cultural, and economic fallout of the Great War. For my Modern World History class at Bemidji State University, Fall 2020.
Percy Wells Bidwell's Rural Economy in New England at the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century, which I first read as a grad student and now have a slightly different reaction to.
Another letter from Lyman in Van Buren, Arkansas. Although he likes "merchandising", Lyman would really prefer studying medicine -- if he only had the funds.
Alfred W. Crosby Jr.'s groundbreaking 1972 book and its reception, in a new "History in 15" segment.
This semester I'm writing an OER textbook for my course, Modern World History. No wonder I feel busy!
This week I'll be exposing my students to two quite different types of history of the Gilded Age.
A look at the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who invented the process we use to make nitrogen fertilizer, and some of the complicated aspects of his life and his process.
Today in history (October 8, 1871), the most devastating fire in American History broke out in Peshtigo Wisconsin. It wasn't a freak accident caused by a dry summer. It was an externality of the lumber industry.
A longish (65 minute) talk about World War I, for week seven of my Modern World History class at Bemidji State University, Fall 2020.
A first look at some new tools I'm exploring to amp up my efficiency and effectiveness.
My review of the short biography of Thomas Jefferson by the always controversial but also quite interesting Christopher Hitchens.
Was Columbus a Heroic Discoverer or a Genocidal Invader? A talk for Bemidji State University's Hispanic Heritage Month.
Dr. Charles Knowlton wrote America's first birth control manual in 1831, and was jailed for it. But based on records from the town where he lived, it worked!
My reaction to Active History's Episode 162, reacting to the Patriotic History vs. 1619 controversy.
Lyman Ranney writes the first of several letters to Henry from the South. He includes observations on slavery.
Thinking about how the stories of radicals in the past can be useful in the present, with a 201-year old quote from Richard Carlile.
I originally joined the PhD program in History at UMass because I wanted to write about Englishmen Charles Bradlaugh -- but I'm still not sure whether that writing is going to be history or historical fiction!
Using a (slightly inaccurate) story from recent history to explain why Tesla underpromises and overdelivers on new technology disruptions. H/T to Gali Russell of Hyperchange.
A second letter from Jasper Bement, on a business and political trip to western New York and Detroit.
Robert Owen was an early textile mill owner in England, who inspired the men who built the New England textile industry. He was also a socialist who worked to insure the health and welfare of his community of workers.
Chapter Six of my Modern World History course for Bemidji State University, Fall 2020. This one focuses on the changing nature of imperialism, which never really goes away, but shifts from military and political to economic neo-imperialism.
Henry's friend and fellow abolitionist, Jasper Bement, writes from a trip west where he conducted both business and "Liberty" politics.
I like to talk about the environments of cities when I teach Environmental History. Here are a couple of things about water and stray pigs in 19th-century New York City.
I've reached the place in my Modern World History course where I talk about socialism. Here are some thoughts about talking to students about this contentious topic.
How did the Aztecs feed the 200,000 people living in their capital, Tenochtitlán? Using floating gardens called chinampas, which still exist today -- but just barely.
Revisiting my impressions of Eric Foner's foundational book on the post Civil War period.
A surprising story from Chinese history -- and one of those moments when everything could have turned out quite differently.
I read this classic on the Civil War over a decade ago. I wonder if my opinion of it would be different now?
When Napoleon was finally defeated for good in 1815, the Europeans fried to reset the clock. That failed, partly due to the Industrial Revolution.
Looking at a variety of applications to help me work more efficiently and thinking about connecting with work I've done in the past.
An example from history of why monopolies (and even corporations) aren't necessarily the best way to solve some public needs.
The number of people passing through cities in the nineteenth century was an order of magnitude greater than the change in population from one census to the next.
Did you know that natives of the Americas invented three of today's top five staple crops?
Another letter from Lucius to Henry Ranney, telling of a new farm and advising his brother to marry.
A quick take on the idea of writing history through the stories of unusual people, since I've just begun the Ranney Letters series on the podcast here as well.
The second Ranney letter and the first from Lucius to Henry, announcing Lucius' arrival in Allen Michigan in May 1842.
An introduction to the Ranney family and their origins, and the first letter of the series, dated May 19, 1839, from Lewis G. Ranney in Phelps New York to Henry S. Ranney in Ashfield Massachusetts.
Announcing the Ranney Letters, a collection of over five dozen personal letters saved by Henry S. Ranney in Ashfield Massachusetts, written by his seven brothers as they lived, worked, and traveled across the continent between 1839 and the end of the century. I found these in a file folder in the Ashfield Historical Society Museum, and they kindly allowed me to photograph, transcribe, and report on the contents. I'll be talking about one per week and reading it aloud, in slightly longer posts on this History4Today channel.
A description of the Monte Verde archaeological site in southern Chile, which native Americans occupied nearly 15,000 years ago. I also mention Clovis and stone tools a bit, too.
Lawyer and diplomat Adolf A. Berle wrote about capitalism in 1954. His description of monopoly sounds remarkably like Zephyr Teachout's recent take-down in Break 'Em Up.
Over a hundred children in Massachusetts between 1800 and 1850 were named after Darwin. Not Charles Darwin, but his grandfather Erasmus. This says something remarkable about the interests and reading habits of regular people in early America -- especially rural people.
A quick explanation why it's misleading to say the ancestors of Native Americans came via a land bridge from Asia.
My first History in 7 pod, in which I talk for about six and a half minutes about the Italian partisan folk song, Bella Ciao. I'll be tryin gto post a History in 7 daily, so there's never been a better time to subscribe!
The third installment in my Modern World History series, describing what happened when Europeans "discovered" the Americas.
My quick take on a Freakonomics podcast rebroadcast (#356) I listened to this week, about Michael Porter and Katherine Gehl's ideas regarding the nature of government, from their 2017 Harvard Business School publication and interviews.
The Republican Party was a coalition of abolitionists and Whigs. And they had a war to win. The results weren't inevitable, but they're understandable. A short lecture I wrote for my Gilded Age and Populism class.
Albert May Todd's 1898 speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, reminding Congress of the Crédit Mobilier scandal and the fraud and collusion of the railroads. Todd was a successful businessman as well as a Populist. His story is interesting, especially in light of the belief today that business and the people are on different sides.
The first lecture of my Modern World History course at Bemidji State University, Fall 2020.
A short introduction to the background students ought to have to make the most of my Modern World History course at Bemidji State University this fall.
My first lecture of my fall US History course at Bemidji State University, titled "Setting the Scene", in which I describe the cultures of the three continents that contributed to populating the US: the Americas themselves, Europe, and Africa.
This is my praise and critique of the first chapter, "Indigenous America" of the popular open educational resource (OER), The American Yawp, published by Stanford University. I'm reading examples of good OERs like this one as I write my own.