Author Archives: michaeljdouma
How (not) to write a thesis statement
Too often I see history books with arguments of the nature: “x also shaped y.” They are usually written like this: “Early Virginian society was not only shaped by economics but also by gender relations” or “the American Civil War also had international impact.” I respond typically by uttering “that is not a thesis”, as […]
Is there a Conservative Philosophy of History?
Conservative historians have long battled the left over the proper interpretation of the facts of history, but in arguments about the philosophy of history, conservatives have ceded the field almost entirely. At first glance, it appears that conservative historians have no philosophy of history, or that they even reject theoretical and philosophical discussions about the […]
Dutch American consulate stamps and letterhead from the 19th century
Dutch consuls in the United States in the 19th century were unpaid. A consul was motivated by patriotism, but also accepted the position for its prestige, or the business connections it offered. That is why, in most cases the Dutch consuls in the United States were businessmen. Consulates sometimes had a stamp, or they had […]
Creative Newspaper Editor
When the editor of the South Carolina Gazette wanted to describe the “join or die” snake then in use in newspapers in Pennsylvania, he had to improvise because he didn’t have a printing block with the image cut on it. The result was something that would have made Lawrence Sterne happy: the use of text […]
Yankee Dutch from 1682
Brandt Schuyler writing to Robert Livingston in New York in 1682. The English had taken over New York just 18 years beforehand, and both English and Dutch languages competed for control of the Hudson Valley. Here, Brandt writes “Liffingston” for “Livingston” and in the second line uses the English word “opportunity” [oppertunietyt].
Lincoln’s Assassination (Telegram to the Netherlands)
Abraham Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865, and died of his wounds the next morning. News of his death spread widely and quickly, particularly because of the spread of the telegraph and the first transatlantic cable, laid in 1858. Here is a telegram I once found in the Dutch national archives. King Netherlands Hague […]
Book review: Mike Maxwell, Future-Focused History Teaching (Maxwell Learning, 2018)
Mike Maxwell is reader of this blog and a fellow historian who sent me a copy of his new book. The general message of the book is that history education, specifically at the high school level, is a mess. The first 55 pages of the book diagnose the problem, which is that history education does […]
The Legend and History of Peter Van Liere (continued)
In my previous post, I presented a selection of a text from Ray Nies, writing in about 1939 or 1940, recalling one of Holland, Michigan’s storied characters, a perpetually drunk but kind-hearted horse doctor named Piet Ver Liere. I discovered in a newspaper search that his actual name was Peter Van Liere, and that the […]
The Legend of Old Piet ver Liere, by Ray Nies
The following was written in 1939/1940 by Holland, Michigan’s Ray Nies. I have a lot more to say about Nies, but I will save that til later. The text below demonstrates Nies’ skill as a writer. In fact, if the Dutch of West Michigan ever had a Mark Twain, Nies was it. Although Nies was […]
Veneklasen Brick Research (15 years later)
Since writing my first book, Veneklasen Brick, in 2004, I never did any additional research on the topic of the Veneklasen family, their brickyards, and the Dutch American building tradition using their bricks. Mostly this was because I felt that by the time the book was published in 2005, I had learned just about everything […]
