MetaFilter posts tagged with 1800s

After I got my post all done, Metafilter says it wants a title!

klangklangston — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:51:10 -0800

The Life and Times of Major Jack Downing of Downingville, away down east in the state of Maine, written by himself. Seba Smith is oft-cited as America's first professional humorist, with his Jack Downing stories being published in 1833, two years before the first anthology of Southern humor appeared. Downing became an archetype almost immediately, representing the humor of rural Yankee life in letters. While Downing made Smith famous, Smith was plagiarized widely by Charles Augustus Davis—whose Letters of J. Downing, Major, Downingville Militia were more widely known than the original. He was also plagiarized less directly by the Canadian author Judge Thomas Chandler Haliburton, whose "Sam Slick" became the default term for Northeasterners in the popular press.

O! Mesopotamia!

lolichka — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:58:09 -0800

Rev. George Whitefield, an 18th century preacher much admired by Benjamin Franklin, was an astonishing orator. According to a contemporary source, he "could make his audiences weep or tremble merely by varying his pronunciation of the word Mesopotamia. Garrick once said, 'I would give a hundred guineas if I could only say 'O!' like Mr. Whitefield.'"

O Hangout, My Hangout

Miko — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:21:37 -0800

The vault at Pfaffs where the drinkers and laughers meet to eat and drink and carouse
While on the walk immediately overhead pass the myriad feet of Broadway
As the dead in their graves are underfoot hidden
And the living pass over them, recking not of them,
Laugh on laughers! Drink on drinkers!

Mass murdering restauranteurs, the Benders

sleepy pete — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:43:42 -0800

The Benders were a family of German immigrants who opened a store and restaurant in the newly formed state of Kansas in the late 19th century. Led by the spiritualist Kate, they also were some of the United States first serial killers. Here's another site on the Benders, from the hotel that houses what's left of the Bender museum in Cherryvale, just watch out for the red background. As an added bonus, you can use this very cool historic newspaper search from the Library of Congress (as posted by cog_nate) to read news stories about what happened to the Benders. Here's a hint: several people were wrongfully arrested, but the Benders were never captured. Also, most believe they weren't even a family. They were liars and murderers!

Lautrec's models in photographs

taz — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 06:42:13 -0800

Photographs of the dancers, actresses, cafe-life figures and prostitutes who were the subjects of Toulouse Lautrec's paintings, including such luminaries as Sarah Bernhardt, "La Goulue" (Louise Weber; remember this?), and Jane Avril, who was the model for this last, iconic, Lautrec poster. View pages of the art matched up with photos, here, here, and here, and go to this page to rummage around in even more collections that include photos of Lautrec, his friends and family, street and location scenes, and lots of other tidbits. [Spanish language site; NUDITY]

Clean that Wax Out Your Ears

elr — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 01:46:57 -0800

Personally, I don't think hope is lost for modern music. Puerto Rican reggaeton is finding solid ground in the world of mainstream hip hop, indie kids are dancing to Brazilian favela jams at loft parties, and old time experimental music snobs don't even have to go to the "World Music" ghetto to find the newest Congotronic sounds. Still, sometimes I can't get off on the new school and I gotta dig back. Way back. The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project has created a database of over 6,000 wax cylinder recordings from the turn of the last century, all free to download or stream. For you sound recording buffs and noise connoisseurs, Tinfoil.com offers early sound experiments AND a cylinder of the month. And for extra nerd cred, check out Thomas Edison's contribution and peep his disturbing talking doll.

19th Century

caddis — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 15:09:55 -0800

A Dictionary of Amercanisms by John Russell Bartlett, published 1848. A "vocabulary of the colloquial language of the United States" during the mid-19th century. As noted by jmorrison at the nonist (the source for this link), it is interesting to see much of what we find so common today " called out as 'americanisms' not yet included in the dictionary." The site has other goodies too, such as The Slave's Friend, a Christian anti-slavery tract, and Memoirs of a Captivity Among the Indians of North America, by John Dunn Hunter, published in 1823 and 1824 and recounting his life after being captured as a young boy and raised by Native American tribes. It provides an intimate, inside look at their societies, customs and battles.