A Historian Learns About

A Historian Learns About: The General Slocum Disaster

On Wednesday, June 15, 1904, a group of mostly German Immigrants from the St. Mark's Evangelical Church in New York boarded the PS General Slocum for their parish's yearly outing. Within hours, 1,100 of the 1,300 people on board would be dead. What happened? Join me as I find out about the General Slocum Disaster! Sources: O'Donnell, Edward T. Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum. NY, NY: Broadway Books, 2008. https://www.nyhistory.org/blogs/witness-to-tragedy-the-sinking-of-the-general-slocum

A Historian Learns About: Sacco and Vanzetti

The case of Sacco and Vanzetti is famous in American history. But why? I decided to learn about the two men and their trial so I could figure out just what makes this case so fascinating. Join me as I discuss what he learned about Sacco and Vanzetti. Also, sorry for the voice. This cold will not go away Sources: Avrich, Paul. Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background: Princeton University Press, 1991. Tejada, Susan. In Search of Sacco and Vanzetti: Double Lives, Troubled Times, and the Massachusetts Murder Case That Shook the World. Boston, MA,: Northeastern University Press, 2012. Temkin, Moshik. The Sacco-Vanzetti Affair: America on Trial. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009. Watson, Bruce. Sacco and Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind. New York, NY: Viking, 2007.

A Historian Learns About: The Medici Bank

At its height in the 15th century, the Medici Bank could claim to be one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world. It was the bank of Pope! However, by the end of the century, it no longer existed. So what happened? How did the bank rise and how did it fall? Join Ryan as he talks about what he learned about this once great bank that belonged to a legendary Italian family. Follow along as he covers what he learned. Sources: Tim Parks, Medici Money: Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth-Century Florence (London: Profile, 2013), 39-40. Raymond De Roover, The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank, 1397-1494. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963), 10-11. Richard A. Goldthwaite, “The Medici Bank and the World of Florentine Capitalism,” Past & Present, no. 114 (1987): 5, http://www.jstor.org/stable/650959. Paul Strathern, The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance (New York, NY: Pegasus Books, 2016), 20. Christopher Hibbert, “The Rise and Fall of the Medici Bank,” History Today, 1974 Aug 01, 1974, 526, https://www.proquest.com/magazines/rise-fall-medici-bank/docview/1299027156/se-2?accountid=12085. Mary Hollingsworth, The Family Medici: The Hidden History of the Medici Dynasty (New York: Pegasus Books Ltd., 2018), 134. R. A. Goldthwaite, “Local Banking in Renaissance Florence,” Journal of European Economic History 14, no. 1 (1985 1985): 43, https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/local-banking-renaissance-florence/docview/1292866160/se-2?accountid=12085. Juraj Kittler, “Too Big to Fail: The 1499-1500 Banking Crisis in Renaissance Venice,” Journal of cultural economy 5, no. 2 (2012): 165, https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2012.660783. Christopher Hibbert, The House of Medici, Its Rise and Fall (New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2003), 33. Frederick E. Gaupp, “Cosimo De’ Medici’s Banishment — a Farce?,” The Mississippi Quarterly 14, no. 1 (1960): 14-19, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26473223. Gene A. Brucker, Renaissance Florence, vol. Book, Whole (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), 121-27. Mark Jurdjevic, “Civic Humanism and the Rise of the Medici,” Renaissance Quarterly 52, no. 4 (1999): 999, https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2901833. C. W. Previte Orton, “The Medici,” History 32, no. 116 (1947): 81, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24402429. F. W. Kent, Lorenzo De’ Medici and the Art of Magnificence (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), 84. Eva Helfenstein, “Lorenzo De’ Medici’s Magnificent Cups: Precious Vessels as Status Symbols in Fifteenth-Century Europe,” I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance 16, no. 1/2 (2013): 415, https://dx.doi.org/10.1086/674434. Fabrizio Antonio Ansani, “A ‘Magnificent’ Military Entrepreneur? The Involvement of the Medici Bank in the Arms Trade (1482-1494),” Business history (20, https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2021.1944112. John F. Padgett, and Christopher K. Ansell, “Robust Action and the Rise of the Medici, 1400-1434,” American Journal of Sociology 98, no. 6 (1993): 1302, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2781822. A. Sapori, “The Medici Bank,” PSL quarterly review 2, no. 11 (2014): 205, https://dx.doi.org/10.13133/2037-3643/12855.

A Historian Learns About: The Glanton Gang

In 1850, there was a gang so vicious that Cormac McCarthy chose to use them as characters in his book Blood Meridian. But who were these men? What did they do? And finally, what happened to them? Join Ryan as he talks about what he learned about this villainous gang. Follow along as he covers what he learned. Sources: All information about Samuel Chamberlain and his life is taken from his personal memoir My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue. John H. Eicher, and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002), 742. Smith, Ralph A. "The Life and Legacy of John Joel Glanton: Soldier, Outlaw, and Bounty Hunter" (Texas State Historical Association website 1952), https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/glanton-john-joel. Revised by Sloan Rodgers on December 9, 2015. John Sepich, Notes on Blood Meridian: Revised and Expanded Edition (Austin, Tex: University of Texas Press, 2008), 22-28. William Carr et al., “Depredations by the Yumas,” Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California and of the Pioneers of Los Angeles County 6, no. 1 (1903): 52-54, https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/41169609.

A Historian Learns About: The Battle of Iron Works Hill

George Washington had a daring plan in the winter of 1776. His idea was to strike back against the British and give his army a much-needed morale boost, since they were still reeling from major defeats. However, to succeed, he needed to keep the enemy forces to a manageable number. He turned to Colonel Samuel Griffith and his militia men to help save his plan. These men fought bravely in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Join Ryan as he talks about what he learned about this relatively unknown battle. He covers what happened, why it mattered, and why it's difficult to learn much about this battle. Sources: Daniel Bancroft to the Committee of Congress, January 10, 1777, “Supreme Executive Council Clemency File (Roll 723)”, Clemency File, 1775-1790, undated, 1775, 218-224 https://oa-psa.libnova.com/view/668823/clemency-file-1775-surnames-a-z-to-1780-surnames-a-l-roll-723?q=must,any,contains,Clemency&offset=1&limit=10 Carl Leopold Baurmeister, Revolution in America: Confidential Letters and Journals 1776-1784 of Adjutant General Major Baurmeister of the Hessian Forces, ed. Bernhard A. Ulendorf (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1957), 75. https://archive.org/details/revolutioninamer00baur/page/n3/mode/2up. https://founders.archives.gov/ Joseph Reed, “General Joseph Reed’s Narrative of the Movements of the American Army in the Neighborhood of Trenton in the Winter of 1776-77,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 8, no. 4 (1884): 392, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20084674. Johann von Ewald, Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979), 35-42. George Ewing, William Cox Ewing, and Thomas Ewing, George Ewing, Gentleman, a Soldier of Valley Forge, ed. Thomas Ewing (Yonkers, NY: Thomas Ewing, 1928), 13-15. https://archive.org/details/georgeewinggentl00ewin/page/n7/mode/2up. John Hunt, John Hunt Journal, 1776 12mo. 24 – 1787 12mo. 22, John Hunt Papers, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College https://ds-pages.swarthmore.edu/friendly-networks/journals/sc203241 “Revolutionary Journal of Margaret Morris of Burlington, New Jersey, Ii,” Bulletin of Friends’ Historical Society of Philadelphia 9, no. 2 (1919): 65-72, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41945472. Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey ed. William S Stryker, vol. 1. 1776-1777 (Trenton, NJ: The John L. Murphy Publishing Co., Printers, 1901), 242-43. https://archive.org/details/ser2newjerseyrev01newjuoft/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater. Robert Morris to John Hancock, December 26, 1776, in Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789, ed Paul H. Smith (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1976-2000) Dennis C. Rizzo, and Alicia McShulkis, “The Widow Who Saved a Revolution,” Garden State Legacy (2012), https://gardenstatelegacy.com/files/The_Widow_Who_Saved_a_Revolution_Rizzo_McShulkis_GSL18.pdf. The Writings of George Washington (New York: G.P. Putnam’ Sons, 1889). https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/ford-the-writings-of-george-washington-vol-v-1776-1777 George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Continental Army Court Martial, April 8, Proceedings at Mount Holly, New Jersey. April 8, 1778. Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/mgw450243/. Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey ed. Francis B. Lee, vol. II, 1778 (Trenton, NJ: The John L. Murphy Publishing Co., Printers, 1903), 217. https://archive.org/details/ser2newjerseyrev02newjuoft/page/216/mode/2up. The Kemble Papers, vol. 1, 1773-1789 (New York, New York: New-York Historical Society, 1883), 596-97. Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey ed. Austin Scott, vol. V, October, 1780-July, 1782 (Trenton, NJ: The John L. Murphy Publishing Co., Printers, 1917), 38. https://archive.org/details/ser2newjerseyrev05newjuoft/page/38/mode/2up?view=theater.