Tag Archives: American Revolution
The Everywhere Footprints of Captain John Montresor
This post was written by Mariam Touba, Reference Librarian for Printed Collections. Fictional works—movies, most memorably—depict characters like Forrest Gump or Woody Allen’s Zelig who manage to turn up at every major historical event alongside the world’s movers and shakers. A nominee for such a real-life character in 18th-century America would be John Montresor. Unlike [...]
Mr. Mitchell’s Muscular Map
Post written by Eric Robinson It’s hard to believe, but a document with the imperious title A Map of the British and French Dominions in North America was the cartographic basis for our American republic. John Mitchell’s 1755 masterpiece provided the lens with which the founding generation negotiated independence and plotted westward settlement. Needless to [...]
Occupying Manhattan’s Public Spaces: 1776 and Today
Post written by Eric Robinson. Love it or hate it, the forlorn but determined group camped out at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan thrust New York City back into the center of a national debate. Our city has long been considered a political outlier because of its progressive voting patterns and ability to weather recessions, [...]
An Occasion for a Rare “Screaming” Headline
Written by Mariam Touba, N-YHS Reference Librarian Even as we are told that newspapers are a dying medium, each of us can remember their banner headlines announcing momentous events. Such headlines, however, did not always come with newspapers. How then did early newspapers alert their readers to important occurrences? The answer is, “very subtly,” at [...]
