MetaFilter posts tagged with 60s

reeks too much of "space pirate" or similar bad science fiction

Sara C. — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:38:58 -0800

How do you solicit freelance scripts for a science fiction television series that breaks the mold? You create a comprehensive guide to writing an episode of Star Trek. Harvard's Houghton Library recently acquired the 31-page document, which has not (yet?) been completely digitized. But what has been released provides a glimpse into a world before the conventions of TV sci-fi that Trek cemented into place. No pockets. No space suits. No, we are not on LSD. In other "incomplete smidges of weird Star Trek ephemera" news, wikia is working with Roddenberry Entertainment to start releasing materials from the archives of Gene Roddenberry via their new Trek fan portal, Trek Initiative.

Five Young Men From Mamaronek New York

ecorrocio — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:06:15 -0800

The moment you've been waiting for... I give you the winners of the talent contest held under the auspices if the Westchester County Recreation Commission... The Continentals! Click for the music, stay for the dancin'! --- Interesting side note: I discovered this a month or two ago while searching for the very same Jimi Hendrix/Shotgun video that flapjax at midnight posted yesterday. Such a small interwebs world.

I killed my first D&D monster, and it was a Klan rally!

23 — Sat, 04 May 2013 02:01:05 -0800

Mapping D&D combat mechanics to the world of 60s activism is remarkably effective and lots of fun.

You can't ground Spiderman!

The Whelk — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:59:22 -0800

Josh Keaton, the voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man from 2007-09 for the TV series The Spectacular Spiderman reads a whole bunch of 60s Spider-Man Image Macros (Bleeped Audio) (Know Your Meme - video)

The 100 Most Influential Singles of the 1960s

item — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:04:52 -0800

The 100 Most Influential Singles of the 1960s. [via mefi projects] Mefite jonp72 says, "I liked Pitchfork's list of the 100 best songs of the 1960s* for creating a canon of great 1960s songs instead of keeping the focus solely on albums, but I wanted to create my own revisionist take on such a list with the constraint that I limit myself to songs that were actually released on 45rpm singles. In addition, to make the list more interesting, I decided to focus on records that I thought were the most influential rather than songs that I considered the coolest or the best or the most pleasurable." *It's actually Pitchfork's 200 best songs of the 1960's, but who's counting? Besides, jonp72's list is far more interesting than smelly old Pitchfork's. It's an extremely well thought-out article that profiles each of the hundred songs in a well-written and informative fashion. I felt that it'd be nice to have links to the songs, as there were a few tracks that even a music supersnob such as myself wasn't immediately familiar with. Here's youtube links to around 99% of the tunes: 1. The Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown / Always it's You 2. Roy Orbison - Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel) / Here Comes That Song Again 3. Johnny Kidd (& The Pirates) - Shakin' All Over / Yes Sir, That's My Baby 4. Wanda Jackson - Let's Have a Party / Cool Love 5. The Shadows - Apache / Quartermaster's Stores 6. Chubby Checker - The Twist / Toot 7. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Shop Around / Who's Lovin' You 8. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things (Parts 1 & 2) 9. Bobby Parker - Watch Your Step / Steal Your Heart Away 10. Tony Sheridan - My Bonnie / The Saints 11. Bruce Channel - Hey! Baby / Dream Girl 12. Ray Cathode - Time Beat / Waltz in Orbit 13. Dick Dale - Miserlou / Eight Till Midnight 14. The Tornados - Telstar / Jungle Fever 15. Booker T. & The M.G.'s - Green Onions / Behave Yourself 16. The Ventures - The 2,000 Pound Bee (Part 1) / The 2,000 Pound Bee (Part 2) 17. The Rooftop Singers - Walk Right In / Cool Water 18. Bob Dylan - Mixed Up Confusion* / Corrina Corrina 19. The Beatles - Please Please Me / Ask Me Why 20. The Kingsmen - Louie Louie / Haunted Castle 21. The Ronettes - Be My Baby / Tedesco and Pitman 22. The Jaynetts - Sally, Go 'Round the Roses / Instrumental Background to Sally, Go 'Round the Roses* 23. The Beatles - She Loves You / I'll Get You 24. The Rolling Stones - I Wanna Be Your Man / Stoned 25. The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird / King of the Surf 26. The Beach Boys - I Get Around / Don't Worry Baby 27. The Animals - The House of the Rising Sun / Talkin' 'Bout You 28. Chuck Berry - You Never Can Tell / Brenda Lee 29. The Kinks - You Really Got Me / It's All Right 30. Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam / Sea Lion Woman 31. Them - Baby Please Don't Go / Gloria 32. The Primitives - The Ostrich / Sneaky Pete 33. The Sonics - The Witch / Psycho 34. Yardbirds - For Your Love / Got to Hurry 35. The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man / I Knew I'd Want You 36. Gloria Jones - Tainted Love / My Bad Boy Is Coming Home 37. Kim Fowley - The Trip / Big Sur* 38. The Rolling Stones - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction / The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man 39. James Brown - Papa's Got a Brand New Bag (Parts I & II) 40. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone (Part I) / Like a Rolling Stone (Part II) 41. The Kinks - See My Friends / Never Met a Girl Like You Before 42. Yardbirds - Evil Hearted You / Still I'm Sad 43. The Who - My Generation / Shout and Shimmy 44. Monks - Complication / Oh, How to Do Now 45. Gypsy Trips - Rock 'n' Roll Gypsies / Ain't It Hard 46. The Great Society - Someone to Love / Free Advice 47. Prince Buster - Al Capone / One Step Beyond 48. The 13th Floor Elevators - You're Gonna Miss Me / Tried to Hide 49. The Byrds - Eight Miles High / Why? 50. Love - Hey Joe / My Little Red Book 51. The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black / Long Long While 52. The Beatles - Paperback Writer / Rain 53. The Creation - Making Time / Try and Stop Me 54. The Velvet Underground - All Tomorrow's Parties / I'll Be Your Mirror 55. Four Tops - Reach Out I'll Be There / Until You Love Someone 56. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations / Let's Go Away for Awhile 57. Frank Zappa - Trouble Comin' Every Day / Who Are the Brain Police? 58. Godz - Lay in the Sun / I Want a Word With You 59. The Velvet Underground - "Loop" 60. The Ethix - Skins* / Bad Trip 61. The Doors - Break On Through / End of the Night 62. The Beatles - Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever 63. Soft Machine - Love Makes Sweet Music / Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin' 64. Pink Floyd - Arnold Layne / Candy and a Currant Bun 65. Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze / 51st Anniversary 66. Scott McKenzie - San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) / What's the Difference 67. The Parliaments - (I Wanna) Testify / I Can Feel the Ice Melting 68. The Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come Today / People Get Ready 69. The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat / Here She Comes Now 70. Sly & the Family Stone - Dance to the Music / Let Me Hear It From You 71. The 1910 Fruitgum Company - Simon Says / Reflections From the Looking Glass 72. Bob Dylan - All Along the Watchtower / I'll Be Your Baby Tonight 73. Cream - Sunshine of Your Love / SWLABR 74. Larry Williams & Johnny Watson - Nobody / Find Yourself Someone to Love* 75. Les Yper Sound - Psyché Rock / Too Fortiche 76. Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues / Out of Focus 77. MC5 - Looking at You / Borderline 78. The Byrds - You Ain't Going Nowhere / Artificial Energy 79. The Rolling Stones - Jumpin' Jack Flash / Child of the Moon 80. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Fire! / Rest Cure 81. The Temptations - Cloud Nine / Why Did She Have to Leave Me (Why Did She Have to Go) 82. Desmond Dekker & the Aces / Beverley's All Stars - Israelites / The Man 83. Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina / Adeus Maria Fulô 84. Silver Apples - You and I / Confusion 85. Lothar and the Hand People - Machines / Milkweed Love 86. James Brown - Give It Up or Turn it a Loose / I'll Lose My Mind 87. The Inner Space - Agilok & Blubbo / Kamera Song 88. MC5 - Kick Out the Jams / Motor City Is Burning 89. James Taylor - Carolina in My Mind / Taking It In* 90. Dick Hyman - Topless Dancers of Corfu / The Minotaur 91. The Winstons - Color Him Father / Amen, Brother 92. David Bowie - Space Oddity / Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud 93. Funkadelic - I'll Bet You / Qualify and Satisfy 94. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son / Down on the Corner 95. Jackson 5 - I Want You Back / Who's Lovin You 96. John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Cold Turkey / Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for a Hand in the Snow) 97. The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog / 1969 98. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (Parts 1 & 2) 99. Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love / Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman) 100. The Shaggs - My Pal Foot Foot / Things I Wonder and finally, I get to add one of my own because I just did a lot of computering to make this list. They're not really very good songs, and probably not all that influential, but who cares - I wanted it to be on this list and now it is: 101. Zager & Evans - In the Year 2525 / Little Kids *denotes shit that wasn't on youtube in an easily-findable spot. Feel free to prove me wrong. I did my half-assed best to try to link to the single versions of each song, but even in this infotainment superage I had trouble with some songs. Instead, I linked to the closest approximation of each single. I'm going to assume right here and now that there're likely a few mistakes in my linking, as I made this post while watching Dredd 3D (minus the 3D).

The Yodeling Astrologer

solarion — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 03:53:44 -0800

When Jim Holmberg fractured his skull after a motorcycle accident in the 1960s, it left him several things - deafness in the left ear, a belief in cosmic forces that had cured the resulting spinal meningitis, and an astonishing sopranino range in his voice. This voice subsequently caused his discovery while busking in New York by Bernard Stollman, head of the eclectic ESP-Disk label. A short studio session later and 1969's Color By the Number would be his solitary recording artifact, solo psych-folk coated in reel-to-reel delay and reverb courtesy of experimentation with ESP-Disk engineer Onno Scholtze. Like so many other psychers of the day he subsequently fell off the musical map, the limited pressing of the LP soon becoming a collector's item. But without trace wasn't quite true; a good 40 years later this cult status reached his awareness. "I gave my brother one of the albums and asked him if I can borrow it back. He sent it to me and I opened it up and the record was broken. I had no other copies. then I just thought I would google it to be shocked to see I'm all over the internet. " Subsequently he sent several missives of a spiritual nature to ESP-Disk,, and was interviewed by Vice Magazine on his whereabouts for that whole time, and his reflections on music.

"Unbelievable. Do you recognize those uniforms?"

zarq — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 19:29:15 -0800

Artist Dusty Abell has created a massive poster featuring "at least one, sometimes more, character, entity, starship or structure from every episode of [Star Trek: The Original] series." Via io9, who ask: How many characters can you name? Stumped? Here's a key of all 123! Some close-ups. This is a follow-up to his "Television Sci-Fi and Superheroes of the '70's" and Saturday Morning Action Adventure TV posters. JPG Downloads: * Star Trek: The Original Series * Television Sci-Fi and Superheroes of the '70's * Saturday Morning Action Adventure TV Mr. Abell is a character designer for Warner Bros., and a former artist at Marvel, D.C. and Dark Horse Comics.

Commissions and Fees

Artw — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:30:19 -0800

Mad Men season five in review (audio) - As the latest season is released on DVD the Nerdist Writers Panel talks to creator Matthew Weiner, showrunners Andre and Maria Jacquemetton, and writer Erin Levy about the show.

Spoiler alert: there is a red shirt.

1f2frfbf — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:22:56 -0800

Jeff Altman has posted several stunning examples of his grandfather's Kodachrome 40 8mm home movies.

Previously with less, but now with more!! Also worth seeing: 1922 Kodachrome Film Test, with more info and previously, too.

I'm your toy, I'm your old boy

madamjujujive — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:09:28 -0800

Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel - An excellent 90 minute BBC documentary, the story of the legendary country rock pioneer as told by contemporary musicians, family, and friends. It includes rare performance footage. (Via Dangerous Minds) Mefi Gram Compendium Zipping through the days at lightning speed - by dersins Grievous Angel - by moi You be Emmylou, and I'll be Gram - by transient Close up the honkeytonks - Obit post for Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Flying Burrito Brothers steel guitarist extraordinaire - by keswick The Manolo, he has the blog - the man who tailored Gram's famous suit - by IndigoJones

The (real) Dude

madamjujujive — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 17:29:23 -0800

From director Jeff Feuerzeig, The Dude is a documentary short that follows Jeff Dowd to a Tampa Lebowski Fest. Dowd was a friend of the Coen Brothers and the real-life inspiration for the iconic film character in the Big Lebowski. (Previously: Jeff Dowd of the Seattle Seven is the model for The Dude in The Big Lebowski)

Where Do We Go From Here?

The Whelk — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:01:12 -0800

SF author and Mefi's Own Charles Stross talks about the future of "big idea" Science Fiction: If SF's core message (to the extent that it ever had one) is obsolete, what do we do next?

And Guest Starring: Cameraman and Fly

The Whelk — Sat, 19 May 2012 16:43:38 -0800

One of the side effects of being a 5-day, live show was that the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows featured regular technical and acting flubs. Many, many, many flubs And More (with laugh track).

The themes of "The Marvel Super Heroes"

Trurl — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:04:23 -0800

When Captain America throws his mighty shield, all those who chose to oppose his shield must yield. Doc Bruce Banner, pelted by gamma rays, turns into The Hulk; ain't he unglamorous? Tony Stark makes you feel; he's a cool exec with a heart of steel. Cross the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard, where the booming heavens roar, you'll behold in breathless wonder the god of Thunder, mighty Thor. Stronger than a whale, he can swim anywhere; he can breathe underwater and go flying through the air. Produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, headed by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson and Robert Lawrence, [The Marvel Super Heroes] was an umbrella series of five segments, each approximately seven minutes long, broadcast on local television stations that aired the show at different times. The series ran initially as a half-hour program made up of three seven-minute segments of a single superhero, separated by a short description of one of the other four heroes. It has also been broadcast as a mixture of various heroes in a half-hour timeslot, and as individual segments as filler or within a children's TV program. This mid-60s were a golden age for Marvel cartoon themes - including The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man - the latter the subject of this excellent post. For further research: Mike's Classic Cartoon Themes. (previously)

Restoring Stanley Kramer's "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"

Trurl — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:09:44 -0800

What you see here is a prime example of what happens to film that is neglected and improperly stored. This is an original reel from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World that is now untouchable. The film has turned acidic, sporting the strongest and most foul vinegar-like odor I have ever smelled. In fact, Robert Harris told me a story of how his contact lenses were singed by the fumes the film produced, causing temporary retinal damage to his eye. Efforts to restore the soundtrack by Ernest Gold have been of interest to The Rosarita Beach Podcast.

And With Every Step Pain

The Whelk — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 13:36:45 -0800

A visually inventive, super-stylized, 27 minute Soviet cartoon telling of The Little Mermaid / Rusalochka from 1968.

NEW ENGLAND BOILED DINNER

The Whelk — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:10:25 -0800

From the How To Be A Retronaut archives: U.S SENATE DINING MENU, Thursday August 27th, 1964

Dreaming in French

latkes — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 09:26:00 -0800

On Angela Davis.

The history of Vox guitar amps

Ardiril — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 19:20:20 -0800

How Dartford Powered the British Beat Boom , a BBC documentary on the history of Vox guitar amps, played by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Shadows and Queen. Part II

Love me, I'm a liberal

madamjujujive — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:04:57 -0800

Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune - excellent 90-minute documentary of the trenchant folk performer who chronicled civil rights, politics, and the Viet Nam War until death by his own hand in 1976. Although he never achieved widespread popular acclaim, many found him to be the true voice of his generation - with themes that are sadly still relevant today. Just a musical taste to whet your appetite: Love Me, I'm a Liberal. Interview about Ochs with Christopher Hitchens - Before his death, Hitchens offered his viewpoint on the music of Ochs, the United States involvement in Chile, how the modern documentaries have replaced folk music in activism, and more. Tom Paxton tribute: Phil No More Songs - a fan site Remembering Phil Ochs - his sister Sonny's site There But for Fortune I Ain't Marching Anymore When I'm Gone Power and the Glory Too Many Martyrs The Ringing of the Revolution That's What I Want to Hear The Highwayman Crucifixion The War is Over Related, previously on Mefi Broadside Remembering Phil Ochs

Dory Previn, 1925 - 2012

The Whelk — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:56:57 -0800

"Whether writing as herself, or through one of the many voices she heard in her head, Previn's sinister riverboat chansons revealed the pain, games, lies and loneliness behind the L.A. free love myth. 1971's Mythical Kings And Iguanas was, perhaps, the peak point of Previn's eerily confessional style containing the searingly honest Lemon Haired Ladies and The Lady With The Braid, both of which recount encounters between young men and single older women in chilling detail. Her third album, Reflections In A Mud Puddle was a concept album based upon her life with her father, and contained the astonishing Doppelganger, a Weillian Sympathy For The Devil in which the world's evils are found to lurk in all of us. " Singer-Songwriter Dory Previn has died. (previously on Metafilter).

A 10 Minute Shoot

msalt — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:46:57 -0800

Outtakes from the Beatles' Abbey Road photo shoot

A few things we learned on the way to the Moon

Brandon Blatcher — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:09:06 -0800

39 years ago today, Apollo 17 splashed down in the South Pacific, marking the end to manned exploration of the Moon. What we learned from those 10 years of discovery was amazing. It wasn't cheap or easy to send men to the Moon. In 1960 dollars, the financial cost was $25 billion dollars (estimated to be $170 billion in 2005 dollars). The human cost is harder to quantify. While it's easy to note the three astronauts who died in the Apollo 1 fire, others died during training. Meanwhile, the long hours required for training left families bereft of a spouse and parent, a hole that the wives and families had to fill on their own. Despite the long hours and the turblence of 1960s America and the world, humanity accomplished a feat that reaped four benefits. 1: The rapid developement of fuel cells and computers The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was used for control, guidance and navigation of the Command and Lunar module. Developed at MIT laboratories (then headed by Charles Draper), the computer required the large scale development of intergrated circuits, a low cost amd low power chip. This propelled the development of hardware and software, as chronicled in Moon Machines: Apollo Guidance Computer (1, 2 & 3). Yet as powerful as the computer was, the amout of RAM it used is dwarfed by the size of a font in modern day systems. To run the AGC and everything else on the ships, a power source was needed. Batteries couldn't do the job, not with the size and weight needed for a 8-12 day voyage in space. Enter the fuel cell, a device that uses hydrogen and oxygen to provide a constant supply of electricity, along with a useful by-product, water. Developed early in the '60s, fuel cells saw development and use in the Gemini program and further refinement in Apollo. These days, the technology is viewed as a possible alternative to gas cars. 2: Insight into the orgin of the Earth and the universe While Apollo was largely about beating the godless commies to the moon, scientific exploration was a major component of the program. Each mission carried numerous experiments, most of them bundled into the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package or ALSEP. The package contained instruments that measured the internal structure of the moon, revealing that moonquakes occurred, information that indicates the moon did not form at the same time as the Earth. Also measured was the "atmosphere" and the solar wind that mixes with it; the distance from the Earth to the Moon, within centimeters; and the magnetic field. But what about the 800 plus pounds of rocks and dust brought back from the Moon? Surprisingly, they're similar to Earth rocks, giving weight to the Giant Impact Theory. But the most amazing fact is that with no true atmosphere, there's no erosion. The Moon rocks, laying on the surface for billions of years, contain information about the universe from early era of the universe, which also reveals the conditions of Earth shortly after it was formed. 3: A stunning collection of photographs and video was taken If you just want to start clicking and viewing, check out the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, which has an amazingly huge library of images and video for missions 11-17. Be warned that many of the videos are in the RealVideo format, so one would have to download the RealVideo player to view them. All the links below are to non RealVideo Clips from other sources. Note that Apollo 11 made it into Big Picture on the 40th anniversay of the landing. Oddly enough, there are very few photos of Armstrong on the moon. Every classic and iconic picture from the mission is of Buzz Alrdin, taken by Armstrong. Rumors persist that Aldrin was annoyed about not being designated the first man out and delibrately snubbed Armstrong in revenge. All the missions carried still and TV cameras, even the unmanned Apollo 4 and 6, which produced the famous scenes of booster stages separating. This enabled Apollo 7 to be the first US mission to broadcast video from space. The next mission, Apollo 8, continued doing live transmissions, including the low resolution but moving Christmas message of 1968. Later, Apollo 9 produced remarbly better color videos of the astronauts and Earth, particularly the spacewalks. With the tenth mission, the increased quality and color provided not only breathtaking video of moon but pretty decent video of the astronauts inside the ships. Yet for the history making moon landing, that quality was noticably absent for the historic first step, probably due to the more rigorous demands of having the the camera outside. That was supposed to be remedied on Apollo 12, which had a color camera for the moonwalking astronauts. Unfortunately, the camera didn't come with a lot of instruction, so one of the astronauts ended up pointing the camera at the sun, which destroyed the video tube. Other than the landing, taken with a 16mm camera from the pilot's window, no video exists of the crew on the moon. Apollo 13 transmitted a public broadcast, as all missions did. But later the crew ran into a problem that resulted in no images from the lunar surface. For Apollo 14, good video footage of astronauts on the moon was finally seen, a trend that conintued for the rest of the program. Apollo 15, 16 and 17 increased the quality even further with a camera on the Lunar Rover, allowing the public to come along for the ride and see men leave the moon. 4: A different view of ourselves and our home As Apollo 8 circled the moon late in 1968, astronaut William Anders snapped the famous color photo known as Earthrise. Widely credited with igniting the environmental movement, the picture offered a startling view to humanity, that Earth was fragile and alone in space. As Anders himself later noted "...we came all the way to the moon to discover the Earth." This wasn't the first photo of Earth from the vantage point of the moon. Lunar Orbiter 1 had done that two years earlier, in grainy black and white. But the Apollo 8 crew had better cameras and more importantly was a sign that humans had actually traveled so far from home. 24 men traveled to the moon, thanks to the work of 4 0 0,0 0 0 p e o p l e. It wasn't easy or cheap, the cost was enormous, arguably spent better elsewhere and perhaps, in the end, the Apollo program was an anomaly. But it was worth it.

“We try and illustrate a “universe-next-door” where the new product is the only novelty. Where there is still tea, and the traffic is still miserable.”

The Whelk — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:24:51 -0800

Future Drama is a tumblr devoted to that particular kind of futurism - corporate prediction demos of how their products will change the world - See The Mother Of All Demos from 1968 introducing the mouse, video conferencing, teleconferencing, hypertext, word processing - Apple in 1987 - Philco-Ford The Future Now!

The John Coltrane Quartet performs "A Love Supreme"

Trurl — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:11:47 -0800

On July 26, 1965, at the Antibes Jazz Festival, the John Coltrane Quartet made its only public performance of A Love Supreme. (previously) Coltrane's original manuscript is exhibited by the Smithsonian as a "Treasure of American History".