Since I gave up on Twitter, then stopped my weekly “Historical Highlights” posts, then took a hiatus from my e-newsletter, The Mouse and Pencil, I have not been sharing articles about libraries, museums, and historical topics. So here’s a throwback to my old Friday blog posts, a list of six articles I think you’ll enjoy!
“The Unsung Women of the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens” — “The early 1900s were a tumultuous time, with technology developing at a rapid place and millions of people living far away from their families. Having a calm, authoritative voice direct you on how to cook a roast or pinch a pie crust must have been a relief, even if that voice also constantly encouraged you to buy Gold Medal Flour.”
“15 Fascinating Facts About ‘Scrabble'” — “It’s possible to score 1782 points on a single word. That word is OXYPHENBUTAZONE, and to get the points, it would need to be played across the top of the board, hitting three Triple Word Score squares while making seven crosswords downward.”
“The Joy of Researching Historical Fiction” — “The 1922 tenement bombing inspired me to write a radio play, an adventure serial about bootleggers and anarchists in Prohibition-era New York. I spent months wading through the archives, compiling articles about gunfights in the streets, a bomb maker blown up by his own explosives, and a corset shop that was being used as a front for rumrunners. Attempting to hack together a narrative using all of this wild material, I failed miserably, but I didn’t care. Reading those articles was reward enough.”
“The Man Who Walked Around the World, Collecting the Autographs of the Rich and Famous” — “”I’m tired,” he told the New York Times in 1923. “I’ve carried this book all around the world, by pushcart, by ricksha[w], by pack mule, by rail and by ship, but mostly on my back. … I feel that I won’t be able to carry it much further, and I want to sell it.””
“Not All There” –“Yet if the loss of a document – or some other, comparable piece of testimony – is telling, its absence is even more so. Simply by not being there it can take on a life of its own. What reactions that non-existence provokes can themselves be instructive, not only of attitudes towards what has vanished, but also of much wider phenomena.”
“In South Africa, a Seed Librarian Seeks Ancestral Knowledge” — “Fascinated by the horticultural history of the Cape around her, Khan followed in her mother’s footsteps and became a librarian herself, of a slightly different kind. In 2011, she opened the Seed Biblioteek in her Cape Town home, offering seeds, art, recipes, and even jewelry made from seeds. Anyone is welcome to borrow from the library.”