When I sat down to compile this week’s historical highlights I had only one link that I had saved to share, but I am thankful to say that I quickly came across many other fascinating articles, from new archives projects to witness trees, secret societies, and long lost letters.
The Culinary Institute of American is opening a new museum to showcase cookware collected by Williams-Sonoma founder Chuck Williams (1915-2015). From the images in this article, you can see that there will be plenty of historical artifacts on display.
“Each donation to the Sound Archive at the British Library carries with it a certain air of mystery, especially if the format on which it is recorded has made reproduction difficult without specialist help. This was certainly the case for the materials donated by the family of the composer Francis Chagrin (1905-1972). Nearly all of the 484 recordings contained in the collection are lacquer discs of session recordings conducted by Chagrin….” Read the rest of this article.
If you’re curious about secret societies, you should read this review of As Above, So Below: Art of the American Fraternal Society, 1850–1930 by Lynne Adele and Bruce Lee Webb. (The article includes some great images, like the one below.)
What is a “witness tree”? Read how early surveyors’ data can be used to manage forests in the 21st century.
If you’re interested in genealogy and have Irish roots (or are simply a Bruce Springsteen fan), you’ll probably enjoy this blog post.
Taiwan Families Receive Goodbye Letters Decades After Executions “The lost missives, which have been given to family members in recent years, are painful souvenirs from decades of authoritarian rule in Taiwan, a small part of the history buried in poorly cataloged government archives.”
The Society of American Archivists announces a new blog: ArchivesAWARE!
32 Years of PBS NewsHour Programs (1975-2007) will be digitized and made available online
Let me know if you found any of these historical highlights particularly interesting, and be sure to share any history-related links you’ve come across lately.