A blog dedicated to Early American History Lovers, Civil War Reenactors, Living Historians, and people that love the past. Lots of Historical Recipes and Patterns!
When you are cooking over an open fire, kettle-holders are of the utmost importance. Unlike modern pots, the handles of cast iron get very hot, even if it doesn't look it.
Today, what we call pot holders were called kettle-holders. Pot holders then were metal stands designed to hold pots off of the ground.
It was common for kettle-holders to be made of wool squares, bound together at the edges with binding. Knitted kettle-holders also existed but were knitted with thinner yarn than we are used to today and "thicker" stitches. Similarly to holders today, kettle-holders generally had a loop in one corner for hanging.
Kettle-holders were small and easy embroidery projects and many feature designs or sayings such as the common "Polly put the pot on," or the abolitionist, "Any holder but a slave holder."
For examples of embroidery for kettle holders there are many "pot holder" quilts made during the Civil War. These quilts were not made from pot holders but the same type of technique was used to make each square and the binding between squares gives the appearance of pot holders.
I've got to get working on some of these. We always just use rags as they are the closest thing around but it's time that we stop dirtying our rags just to move pots.
We romanticize the job of historians. We imagine them as erudite,
old men, bent over old tomes with hair disheveled and glasses firmly in place.
We see them in their book lined study. Each
page they turn, they are piecing together the clues to a puzzle lost in
time.They touch documents that are of
such significance that your hands would shake under the importance of them.
I’m sure this kind of historian exists, somewhere.
Regardless of the image of the “classic” historian, few historians fit the
picture. Most deal with the writings of
everyday people who wrote about ordinary things. Many historians never touch
important documents; they study them on the computer or as photocopies. But these “ordinary” writings are just as important
to the study of history.
The digitization of documents has been a major advancement in the history field. It has not only opened up the history field for historians but also for amateur historians. What once required detailed planning, far away museum visits, phone calls, and hours of searching can now be done instantaneously at any time of day from the comfort of your own home. Historians are more average than ever.
Many museums have many more documents in their collections than they can afford to digitize and transcribe, so many resources remain unavailable to researchers. Many museums are now soliciting the help of nonprofessionals to transcribe these digitized works for the ease of researchers.
If the thought of digitizing documents on Friday night excites you, you can now do so for the only slightly lower than normal pay for a transcriber: free. :D
-The National Archives'"Citizen Archivist" project where transcribers can choose documents of varying transcription levels from beginner to Advanced.Visit here for more transcription projects from the National Archives.
This is a guest post from Andy, as he's been promising to record some music for me for quite some time. Some Irish music History will be fun for St. Patrick's Day. The song, An T-athair Jack Walsh was popular during the Civil War.
One of the notorieties of traditional tunes among those familiar with
them is the lack of a set name for many tunes. Many traditional tunes
still played today were composed in the 18th and 19th centuries.
During this time, the music was passed on "by ear." Musicians would
learn a tune from other musicians. Learning traditional music through
sheet music wasn't a common as it is now. As a tune spread through
different regions, it might pick up several names. In modern times,
some tunes are renamed after a musician who makes the tune popular.
The jig "An T-athair Jack Walsh" (pronounced "an 'ta-her") is a tune
with several names. These names are mostly the same, though, and
differ mainly because of translation. The name I've given is
translated from Irish as "Father Jack Walsh," as in a priest. One
other common name is "Tatter Jack Walsh," an Anglicized version of the
Irish name. I've recorded this tune on the flute.
The Rakes of Invercairn
The Rakes of Invercairn is an old tune that isn't very commonly heard.
I discovered it through a piper named Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn. He was
featured on a BBC show called "Seinn Liom (play with me). He
gives a very lovely history of the music in beautiful Irish with
English subtitles. Anybody interested in this music should definitely
see this! Tiernan describes where he found the tune, and that it
probably hadn't been heard in about 100-200 years! Not only does he
give a lovely history lesson, but also plays the tune much better than
I do.
Sunday night Andy and I had the opportunity to see the famous David Kincaid live at Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem, PA. Godfrey Daniels, an ex-doughnut shop turned hip little coffee house was the perfect setting with rustic wood paneling, broadsides and folk instruments lining the walls and warm low lighting casting an intimate ambiance onto tiny tea tables. Godfrey's has been a non-profit organization since 1978 and continues to foster and promote folk music.
David Kincaid, most well known in the historical community for his musical role in Gods and Generals gave a stellar solo performance accompanied by himself on mandolin. He played a mix of songs mostly from his first (and obsessively catchy) cd, The Irish Volunteer but also played some songs from his, equally as good, "Irish-American's Song," and finished the night with The New York Volunteer which can be heard on his live Album " David Kincaid and the Brandos " and is purportedly to be released on the next studio album. Some musicians don't live up to live performances; David Kincaid is not one of them. His live work is just as captivating and engaging as his studio stuff. It was such a good performance, we were so excited and the crowd was lively.
Want it for St. Patrick's Day? "Irish-American's Song" is available for download from Itunes.
It’s a dream.
You reluctantly go out back on your day off to start digging a garden exactly
where your wife wants it. With each shovelful, you are thinking of all of the
better spots in the yard for it.
“Where we had
it last year.” Thud, thud.
“In the
corner, out of the way of the lawnmower.” Thud, thud.
“ Near the
hose so it will be easier to water,” Thud, clink!
The headlines
start rolling: “Man Discovers Civil War Cannon in Back Yard Garden!” and “Man
Finds Valuable Treasure in Back Yard!”
It’s the find
of a lifetime and evidence shows that this really does happen. Many people find
valuable historical items accidentally, others go digging for them.
Such is the
case with Spike TV’s new show “American Digger,” which will debut on March 21st.
This show follows ex-wrestler Ric Savage who leads his team to dig up the back
yards of history rich areas in an attempt to make it rich in the relic market.
According to Spike
TV’s website,
“American Savage, based in Mechanicsville, VA, is the top artifact recovery
company in the country, digging as much as half a million dollars worth of
historical artifacts out of US soil each year.” Of course, once the artifacts
are recovered, they are no longer artifacts, they are relics. So in reality,
this company makes half a million dollars worth of relics out of artifacts each
year.
Once an item
is removed from the ground, the context of the item is lost. Yes, you know it’s
a Civil War belt buckle. But why is it in that particular field? What about the
rest of the items from this soldier that were not made of metal? What else is
in the area? What does the position of these items tell you?
The
importance of context has been a heated debate between and archeologists and
metal detectorists for years.Some
people think the item is more important and others, the context of the item. Although
metal detectors are regularly employed at archeological sites to plot possible
artifacts, the precise digging methods are still employed to preserve the
context surrounding the objects. Read a
good article about Archeology and Relic hunting at The Battle of
Franklin.
I am not
against metal detecting. I just don’t believe that you should metal detect in
historically important areas without working with an archeologist. If an area
will be destroyed and you have permission to metal detect, by all means remove
the objects. Also, if you find something
of archeological significance, you should contact local archeological
authorities.
