Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

This crowd scene is the only known photograph of Lincoln at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863. Photographers needed time to set up their cameras, and by the time they set up to photograph his actual speech, he was finished. One photographer commented, "Oh, I wish I had a cell phone, but they won't be invented until six score and seventeen years from now!" 🙂 

Anyway: Lincoln's speech got mixed reviews but has become a classic. He used biblical images of new birth and sanctification. He was also, to some people at the time, innovative for believing that the nation was founded with the Declaration of Independence, rather than with the Constitution. 

One more fun fact: the bearded man seated to Lincoln's right is Ward Hill Lamon, his bodyguard. Tragically, Lamon was on assignment to Richmond the night that Lincoln was killed. Later, Lamon wrote two books about Lincoln. I have one downstairs in my Lincoln collection that I started years ago with Henry's Beef 'n' Burger money. 🙂 

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863

Jack D. Rittenhouse

 Born November 15, 1912, Jack D. Rittenhouse collected books and also printing presses while he was an advertising executive. He began his own publishing company, Stagecoach Press, which for a number of years produced books on the West, New Mexico, and reprints of important texts. His first own book, for which he is often remembered, was "A Guide Book to Highway 66" (1946). To research the book, he undertook the herculean task of driving the entire route, writing down mileages between towns, reporting the numbers of services in each town, and discovering helpful information for travelers. He wanted to reassure inexperienced travelers that a vacation in the West was very doable when you plan ahead. The book has been reprinted and gives an informative look at the highway in the immediate post-war time. Here's an original copy: 

Kristallnacht Anniversary

In 1938, Herschel Grynszpan was a 19-year-old Jew born and raised in Hanover, of a Polish family. Driven to desperation by the treatment of Polish Jews in Germany, Grynszpan shot and fatally wounded the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath on November 7. Grynszpan was arrested, and his fate is unknown. But the assassination set off a wave of anti-Jewish pogroms on November 9-10 throughout Germany, annexed Austria, and areas of the Sudetenland. The violence became known as Kristallnacht, "Night of Broken Glass," because of the many Jewish businesses, homes, and synagogues attacked. Kristallnacht also was a turning point in Nazi policies against the Jews. 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kristallnacht?fbclid=IwY2xjawOAyfdleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFQUU5QeElOYlJ3Rk5sYmNOc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHnNoslKMiEf33d6KQIputCLGml3VUT9mUQlhiXUSZRqlzI_ylwZRlxcbWf1J_aem_cnypXVP0SjWo5DhnDcPxlQ

Fall of the Berlin Wall Anniversary

November 9th is the 36th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. On November 9, 1989, East German party leader Günter Schabowski was giving a televised press conference. He made a surprising announcement: that East German citizens could apply for permission to travel without the usual requirements, and that permanent emigration at all border crossings, including those of East and West Berlin, was now allowed. This announcement was startling, but Schabowski said, "As far as I know, it takes effect immediately, without delay" ("Das tritt nach meiner Kenntnis ... ist das sofort ... unverzüglich"). His information was actually incomplete, and he had not been properly briefed how to handle the announcement. So his role in the day was to be a player in a bureaucratic mixup. As that same evening moved along, thousands of people who had been listening to the press conference gathered at the Berlin Wall, outnumbering the soldiers, who did not use force against them. Removal of the Wall began and continued during the weeks ahead. People hammered and picked at the wall, opening sections. Pieces were kept and traded as souvenirs. What remained of the wall was officially removed in the summer of 1990. Berlin roads that had been blocked by the wall's construction in 1961 were reopened. Within the year, East and West Germany were reunited. 

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Veterans Day

It's Veterans Day! My dad and his cousins Virgil Strobel, Charlie Strobel, and Delmar Strobel all went to WWII at about the same time, and Charlie was killed in Italy. Their uncle Ed was in World War I, and their grandfather John Strobel was in the Civil War. Another of my ancestors George Washburn, was also in the Civil War. My cousin Wayne Crawford did a tour in Vietnam, my cousin Max Storm served in West Germany, and my distant cousin Lewis Crawford was the first Fayette Co., IL death in World War I. I've also ancestors and distant great-uncles who fought in the Mexican War (Josiah Williams II), the Black Hawk War (John Carson), the War of 1812 (Winslow Pilcher, below; Josiah Williams I; and George Washington Williams), and the Revolution (John Kay, John Starrett Carson, Thomas Mahon). I trace some of these histories on my "Grace, Place" blog. Beth's dad, Bob Powell, was in the Navy in WWII and her grandfather Arthur McNabb was in WWI. My mom had a successful, if short career as a school teacher while Dad was overseas. Remembering all who served. 

99 Years of Federal Highways

 The United States Numbered Highway System, or Federal Highway System, was formed on this day in 1926. Route 66 thus began on this day as well.. The system laid out national highways on a grid, with U.S. 1 on the east coast, U.S. 101 on the west coast, and 1-ending highways in between. A similar west-east system with U.S. 10 in the north and U.S. 90 in the south; and then many other highways more or less following the pattern. Some highways were diagonal, like U.S. 42, 52, 62, and 66. Older, named highways like the Lincoln Highway, the National Old Trails Highway, the Dixie Highway, and others became numbered. The development and numbering of the highways continued over time. The Interstate Highway System, passed in 1956, introduced larger highways and also replaced some older ones, like Route 66 and U.S. 99, most of U.S. 91, and others. This picture is the former U.S. 40 just west of my hometown, previously part of the National Old Trails Highway.

A Whale of an Anniversary

55 years ago! On November 9, 1970, a 45-foot-long sperm whale washed ashore at Florence, Oregon. The dead whale was estimated to weigh 8 tons. State officials decided to use dynamite to blow up the carcass into small chunks that scavenger animals and birds could eat. An official decided to use 1000 pounds of dynamite, far too much, as a demolition expert warned. The whale was exploded on November 12---but a lot of the body remained on the beach, and large, falling chunks caused onlookers to flee. No one was hurt, although people were inundated with a rain of smelly whale stuff, and a big chunk crushed the roof of an unoccupied car. Seagulls were scared away. Bulldozers were called in to push the whale remains out to sea--and explosives were never again used in Florence to deal with beached whale carcasses. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6CLumsir34 

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Landscape: Tom Thomson

 Tom Thomson, "Spring" (1916).  

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Landscape: Pissarro

 Camille Pissarro, Gelee blanche a Eragny (1902). From Facebook, "Tree of Life - Depiction of Trees in Art".

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Landscape: Maxfield Parrish

Maxfield Parris, "Sheltering Oaks" (1956). From Facebook, "World Gallery" 

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