MetaFilter posts tagged with 19thcentury

The uncanny beauty of decayed Daguerreotypes

Horace Rumpole — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 09:21:22 -0800

Daguerreotype portraits were made by the model posing (often with head fixed in place with a clamp to keep it still the few minutes required) before an exposed light-sensitive silvered copper plate, which was then developed by mercury fumes and fixed with salts. This fixing however was far from permanent – like the people they captured the images too were subject to change and decay. They were extremely sensitive to scratches, dust, hair, etc, and particularly the rubbing of the glass cover if the glue holding it in place deteriorated. As well as rubbing, the glass itself can also deteriorate and bubbles of solvent explode upon the image.

"First freedom and then Glory - when that fails, Wealth, vice, corruption - barbarism at last"

Rhaomi — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 17:43:34 -0800

Savagery - Arcadia - Consummation - Destruction - Desolation. The five stages of The Course of Empire, a fascinating quintet of paintings by 19th century artist and Hudson River School pioneer Thomas Cole. In it, an imaginary settlement by the sea becomes the stage for all the dreams and nightmares of civilized life, a rural woodland grown in time into a glorious metropolis... only to be ransacked by corruption, war, and a terrible storm, at last reduced to a forgotten ruin. At times deceptively simple, each landscape teems with references to cultural and philosophical markers that dominated the era's debate about the future of America. Interactive analysis of the series on a zoomable canvas is available via the excellent Explore Thomas Cole project, which also offers a guided tour and complete gallery of the dozens of other richly detailed and beautifully luminous works by this master of American landscape art.

Eric Hobsbawm

Mister Bijou — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 06:44:14 -0800

British Marxist historian and lover of jazz, Eric Hobsbawm is dead: Guardian obit. His key works: Industry and Empire (1968); and the "Age of" series, which he began with The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848, first published in 1962. Followed in 1975 by The Age of Capital: 1848-1875. And in 1987, The Age of Empire: 1875-1914. A fourth volume, The Age of Extremes: 1914-91, was published in 1994. He also found time to be castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs (5 March 1995). Other than the music, his choice of book was a collection of Neruda's poems and his "luxury item" was a pair of binoculars. stream or download

Possible second photograph of Emily Dickinson

Egg Shen — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 09:35:01 -0800

The only authenticated photgraph of Emily Dickinson is of a 16 year old girl. Amherst College now believes that a privately owned daguerrotype shows the poet as a 28 year old woman - about the time she wrote the "Master" letters.

Victorian values

Artw — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:12:52 -0800

Victorian slang - a guide to sexual Victorian terms [NSFW]

Play With Your Food

zamboni — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 12:53:10 -0800

A Collector's Weekly article on 19th Century butcher shop playsets. Also available in the 21st Century. If you prefer LEGO, your options are more limited.

19th Century Maps Drawn By Children

Rykey — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 07:08:28 -0800

The David Rumsey Map Collection presents 19th-century maps, drawn by children. Relics of an approach to the teaching of geography through the copying of existing maps and atlases, many of these maps are stunning in their detail and elegance--though not always in their accuracy. Also, I'll be damned if one of the teachers mentioned didn't create something that looks an awful lot like an infographic. [Via]

Boom Bip: from abstract hip-hop to spooky sounds of black magic from the turn of the 19th century

filthy light thief — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:31:56 -0800

Bryan Hollon, better known by his musical handle Boom Bip, is probably recognized for two drastically different sounds: abstract hip-hop from his early Mush Records days, and his Mercury Prize-nominated Neon Neon collaboration with Gruff Rhys. Add to that a new inspiration: black magic from the turn of the 19th century. What does that sound like? Let Boom Bip walk you through his new album, Zig Zaj. Step behind the deep red velvet curtains for a peek at the history of Boom Bip. Starting as so many artists seem to, Bryan Hollon was first in a few rock bands going back to his middle school years, but he had been interested in hip hop for a long time. When he got enough money to buy turntables, he did so, and started spinning hip-hop and downtempo. While DJing, Hollon met Adam Drucker (Doseone) and Robert Curcio (of Mush Records), and thus Boom Bip began as a hip-hop producer and DJ. His first recording was the first record released by Mush Records, the 1998 EP The Low End Sequence (sample: Boom Bip & DJ Osiris - Voodoo Science [YouTube audio]). In a couple years, Boom Bip had collaborated with Doesone on Bip's first album, Circle (The Bird Catcher [YTa]; The Bird Catcher's Oath [YTa]; The Bird Catcher's Return [YT video]; album streaming [Grooveshark]). This album marked the shift of Mush Records from hobby to proper label, and John Peel had them on his show in 2002 (Me and People, Fence Hopper, Birdcatcher's Return [YTa]). Of this album, Peel even likened the sound of the record to Captain Beefheart. Two years later, it was a new century, and Boom Bip signed to a new label for his new album. Moving across the pond, Hollon signed on with Lex Records, which was an appendage of Warp Records at this time. Lex gave Boom Bip wider distribution, ensuring a broader audience for this new project: Seed to Sun (U R Here [YT, odd video]; Awaiting An Accident [YTa]; Mannequin Hand Trapdoor I Reminder [YTa]; album stream [MySpace]). This album, and the tour to promote it, were the first times Boom Bip had moved beyond strictly samples, creating sounds on the fly with a range of items, from turntables to a theremin. The album was extended with two EPs (From Right to Left and Morning & A Day), which were combined as Corymb, with two new songs. This new collection featured a rare Boards of Canada remix (Last Walk Around Mirror Lake [YT, paired nicely with slow motion sky diving]) and a wicked remix by Venetian Snares (The Unthinkable ft. Buck 65 [YTa]), to pick out two tracks. Boom Bip's next album featured payback of sorts from Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals. Hollon remixed a track (Father Father [YTa]) on SFA's remix album, Phantom Phorce, on the condition that Rhys would lend his vocals to a Boom Bip track, which he did on the track Do's and Dont's (YTa). The album was Blue Eyed in the Red Room (album stream [Grooveshark]), in which Hollon relaxed, looping less and playing live instruments more:

Seed to Sun I used several live instruments, but usually looped sections and sequenced them out. This was because I was wanted everything so perfect and I was not able to keep time with a click track for 5 minutes on each instrument. With Blue Eyed I was able to do that and also allow a bit more freedom with the changes within the song. I was not concerned about DJs being able to spin this album. With Seed to Sun I still had that in mind. I just wanted to do a piece that people could enjoy listening to in any situation.

And then things shifted for Boom Bip. Something happened, and his next release was, as put in a Pitchfork review, "an album of driving electronic pop infused with Krauty mechanical pulsations, clubby, night riding synthesizers, and the sort of crystal-clear dynamic shifts Hollon has shied away from until now." Sacchrilege (album stream [MySpace]) came out in 2007 on Lex Records, and would not be the end of the Krauty sounds from Boom Bip. Rhys and Hollon continued collaborating, working on a concept album about the life of John DeLorean. They called themselves Neon Neon, and their album, Stainless Style (I Lust U feat. Cate Le Bon [YT video]; I Told Her on Alderaan / Trick for Treat [YT video]; album stream [MySpace]) made the 2008 Mercury Prize short-list (they lost to Elbow, for the album The Seldom Seen Kid). Now it's 2011, and Boom Bip is bac, and it's time to get haunted. After delving into the library below the Magic Castle in Hollywood, Hollon emerged with magic on his mind, naming his album with a nod to the magician Zan Zig. You can stream the whole album and read Hollon's track-by-track comments, listen to his "album parallels mix" (tracks that inspired his tracks), and read his list of five favorite uses of magicians in music.

Creed Crusher, or Spiritual Mill for Pulverizing Creeds &C.

KirkJobSluder — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:05:41 -0800

Creed Crusher, or Spiritual Mill for Pulverizing Creeds &C. is an 1867 poster by Dr. T. L. Lewis. In it, a pair of cherubs grind the religious and educational institutions of 19th-century against a an allegorical globe of philosophy dominated by the Great Ocean of Spiritualism. Below, Lewis quotes himself no less than four times. Similarly weird is the anthropomorphic map of Europe by Schmidt. (Both via the Big Map Blog previously)

Anno Dracula

Artw — Thu, 19 May 2011 12:20:34 -0800

Kim Newman discusses the novels that inspired Anno Dracula, his epic pop-culture mashup of all things vampire, set in a Victorian London ruled by Dracula. Newman's long fascination with Dracula led to two more novels in the setting and several short stories, several of which can be found online.

Amo Amas Amat

The Whelk — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 09:40:00 -0800

Harvard's 1869 Entrance Exam (PDF - NYT)

Mapping the Republic of Letters

Kattullus — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:22:17 -0800

Mapping the Republic of Letters is a cartographic tool designed by students and professors at Stanford that seeks to represent the Enlightenment era Republic of Letters, the network of correspondence between the finest thinkers of the day, such as Voltaire, Leibniz, Rousseau, Newton, Diderot, Linnaeus, Franklin and countless others. Patricia Cohen wrote an article about Mapping the Republic of Letters as well as other datamining digital humanities projects in The New York Times. The mapping tool is fun to play with but I recommend you read the blogpost where Cohen explains how to use Mapping the Republic of Letters.

Explaining the Internet to a 19th Century Street Urchin

jivadravya — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 17:20:44 -0800

Flowcharts! Flowcharts! Flowcharts! Fast Company magazine's latest installment of "Everything Explained through Flowcharts", charts the explaination of the Internet to a 19th Century British Street Urchin.

CAUTION: CHRONOVISOR IS FRAGILE

Minus215Cee — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:52:12 -0800

1894. 1905. ~~1919~~. 1916. 1921. 1935. ~~1942~~ 1945. 1951. 1967. 1974. 1989. 1993. 2003. YouTubeTimeMachine. (MLYTTML) Will do what is indicated on tin.

[Warning—painted Victorian bosom below]

The Whelk — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:56:55 -0800

On Tor.com, Mefi'sown Patrick Garcon (smoke) is writing lively essays on Victorian fantasy illustration, from the Pre-Raphaelites to Orientalism. [via mefi projects]

The Art of the Flourish

Sara C. — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:57:43 -0800

Platt Rogers Spencer was born in 1800 near the Hudson River. His family was too poor to afford paper so Spencer practiced on whatever was handy – leaves, bark, snow and sand – everything was a canvas for handwriting. Through a series of popular textbooks and business colleges throughout the United States, Spencerian became the style of penmanship. So what happened to the flourish? Modern life and the Palmer method.

Dead or alive

Artw — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:50:34 -0800

Wanted: Jonah Hex - on making a movie prop, and a little about actual Old West wanted posters.

Here's Howe and Here's Hummel

interplanetjanet — Sat, 01 May 2010 11:11:45 -0800

New York city in the 19th century was famous for it's corruption, criminals and "Gangs of New York." All of them knew exactly who to call when they were in trouble, the law firm of Howe and Hummel. Howe and Hummel was started by William F. Howe, specialist in criminal defense and courtroom histrionics, famous for his flamboyant dress and ability to cry at the drop of a hat. His partner, Abraham Hummel, specialized in civil proceedings, including divorce and the lucrative practice of threatening wealthy men with breach of promise suits after their affairs with chorus girls. Hummel also represented many in the New York theatrical community, including P.T Barnum, Little Egypt, and Lillian Russell. Because of their connections with the entertainment world, Howe and Hummel also represented clients in many censorship cases. They represented Olga Nethersole when she was arrested for "violating public decency" onstage in 1900. In 1873 Howe and Hummel represented sisters, spiritualists, stockbrokers and feminists, Victoria Woodhull and Tennie C. Claflin, who were arrested for printing the indecent word "virginity" in an article accusing a prominent minister of adultery in their paper "Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly." When crusading politicians and district attorneys pledged to clean up New York in the early 20th century, Howe and Hummel had to go as well. Howe died unscathed by reform in 1902, but in 1907, Hummel was sentenced to a year in prison and disbarred for suborning perjury in a divorce case. After his release Hummel left the United States and spent the rest of his life traveling the world and spending his money, ill-gotten or otherwise. A brief and entertaining book "Howe and Hummel, Their True and Scandalous History" by Richard H. Rovere is unfortunately, now out of print, and not old enough to be available in the public domain.

H.H. Cool J

cashman — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:47:50 -0800

Helen (Hunt) Jackson was an author and an activist. Her mom died when Helen was 14, her dad 3 years later. Helen's first child died at 11 months, her second at 10 years old. In 1879 she was inspired after hearing Chief Standing Bear describe how the U.S. government took Native Americans' land. She began to publish in support of Native American rights. 1881 brought her book A Century of Dishonor [pdf], branded with the words "Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations". In 1883, she published her most famous work, Ramona, a novel about racial discrimination set in California. If that's too much to take in, and now you need some kitties, she's still got you covered. Letters from a Cat (1879) is being featured at Archive.org today. Her husband, Edward Bissell Hunt, died in 1863. He held various positions in the United States army, producing a pamphlet urging the "energetic deportation" of Black people so that land could be "reclaimed for the sole use of the white man". Parenthesis around "Hunt" in Helen's name because apparently she went either by Helen Hunt or by Helen Jackson.

To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.

ikahime — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:41:41 -0800

Women Explorers and Travellers of Asia and the Middle East - In an age where women struggled for basic human rights, these individuals were literal trailblazers. Leaving their homelands for varying motivations (but often due to dissatisfaction with their social lot in life), they devoted their lives to "explore these antique lands before they are irretrievably caught up in the cacaphonic whirl of the modern world." Gertrude Bell - Iraq previously Isabella Lucy Bird - Japan Lady Anne Blunt - Arabia Alexandra David-Neel - Tibet Dame Freya Stark - Hadhramaut

"My humble efforts to assist in the elucidation of the social condition of a distant and comparatively unknown race."

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:34:54 -0800

Sketches of Japanese Manners and Customs (1867).

Cholera and Epidemiology

peacay — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:49:12 -0800

Sick City - Maps and Mortality in the Time of Cholera [print version] reviews Stephen Johnson's "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic"*. Dr John Snow became the acknowledged modern father of epidemiology by identifying water as the transmission vehicle of a cholera outbreak in Victorian England. UCLA have an amazingly comprehensive website devoted to Dr John Snow (and much more) - worthy of a look if only for the nice maps.

An fine gallery of fine mustachios

MadamM — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:30:08 -0800

An excellent resource for connoisseurs of facial hair that is firmly above-the-lip. Also good for people interested in amusing blogs, vintage photography and glossaries. My first post ever! I hope I didn't break anything. Link thanks to The Morning News and their wonderful headlines.

In China, it is a common thing to stumble over the bodies of dead babies in the streets.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:26:47 -0800

In the 19th century, English author Favell Mortimer wrote several books describing various countries to children. Apparently she didn't travel much. Favell Mortimer also wrote "The peep of day, or, A series of the earliest religious instruction the infant mind is capable of receiving" and "Reading without tears", a childrens' orthography primer. Wikipedia.

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]