For a book I’m writing, I’ve spent an awful lot of time in the year 1883. It was a good year, more or less, and I’m come to understand the manner of speech, the outlook of the people, and, in short, to breathe their air. As a historian once said, keep researching until you can […]
In a previous post, I presented an example of how a newspaper could provide an “illustration” without using engraved plates. In that case, it was a map of Spain made simply by typing the names of cities in such an order on the page to approximate their actual relative locations. In a 19th century history […]
by Blue, the cat. Make sure you have a writing utensil. Check if it is sharp. Look to the ceiling for inspiration. Look to the table. Now you may start your writer’s block.
For details and to reserve a seat: https://thenaf.org/event/naf-washington-dc-michael-douma-presents-the-slow-death-of-slavery-in-dutch-new-york/
From the archival papers of Willard Wichers (a.k.a. “Mr. Holland), at Hope College. This stamp used for outgoing correspondence of the Netherlands Information Service reminds me of an old library stamp, but instead of just adjusting the date, it also could be adjusted to note the time of date. And this stamp, from the same […]
When it was still expensive and difficult to print maps, some sources created “maps” like this one, in German, showing the locations of places in North America. From Gottlob Hebold, Das Brittische Reich in America; oder: Kurzgefasste Beschreibung der engländischen Pflanzstädte samt ihrer Macht, Geschichte und Handlung iin [sic] Nord-America (1761)
Scanning through some digital newspaper databases, I came across the following curious story, originally printed in the Buffalo Courier Express of March 24, 1857. I could not access that newspaper, but other newspapers copied and re-printed the story, in part or in full. The title was typically “A MOHAWK DUTCHMAN IN SLAVERY,” but sometimes it […]
Michael J Douma 