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Jaap Harskamp

Jaap Harskamp, PhD at Amsterdam University (Comparative Literature), Researcher at European University Institute (Florence), Curator Dutch & Flemish Collections at British Library (retired), Researcher at Cambridge UL. His work has been published by Wellcome Institute, British Library, and Brill. His current blog on migration can be viewed here.

Concrete, Plywood and Soviet Spies

November 15, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Walter Gropius Bauhaus building in DessauIn fiction, poetry or song, houses are treated as living organisms. They are noble, respectable, or infamous. There are houses of high rank and those of low repute – houses have human characteristics and their individual biographies.

The Isokon Building in Hampstead tells a striking tale of recent historical events. At the time of completion, it was one of the few modernist dwellings in London’s cityscape; the block of flats housed a number of notable refugees from Nazi Germany; almost simultaneously it served as a recruitment office for Soviet spies. Crucial aspects of post-war American cultural and political developments originated in a few flats in this leafy corner of North West London. [Read more…] about Concrete, Plywood and Soviet Spies

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Architecture, Cultural History, Material Culture, Political History

Slang, Stirrups, Paris in the 20s, and the Invention of the Bloody Mary

November 9, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

An American Jockey paintingAlthough much remains unclear about the origins of Cockney rhyming slang, there is a consensus that it stems from London’s East End, dates back to the 1840s, and is alive and thriving. One slang expression reads “on one’s tod,” meaning: on one’s own; all alone. The phrase is a shortened version of the original “on one’s Tod Sloan.”

In full, these four words offer a multi-colored mosaic of socio-cultural events involving Manhattan, London, and Paris. [Read more…] about Slang, Stirrups, Paris in the 20s, and the Invention of the Bloody Mary

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Cultural History, Horses, Jazz, liquor, Literature, Manhattan, Music, Musical History, New York Symphony, Social History, sports, Sports History

Newyorkitis, Bodybuilding, Gymnastics & The Origins of Pilates

November 2, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Promotion image for Sandows performance at the Chicago World Fair 1893In the late nineteenth century, commentators on the medico-psychological effects of rapid urban expansion identified two developments of concern.

One was an epidemic of nerves (neurasthenia) among the well-heeled; the other a slide towards degradation in inner-city slums.

In the battle for social regeneration, the need for physical exercise was emphasized. Man had to flex his muscles; his body needed rebuilding. [Read more…] about Newyorkitis, Bodybuilding, Gymnastics & The Origins of Pilates

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: boxing, Cultural History, Influenza, Manhattan, New York City, Sports History

A Modern Art Historian’s Hanoverian Inspiration

October 26, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Alexander Dorner’s Landes museum Hanover 1928 On November 8th, 1929, ten days after the Black Tuesday stock market crash, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) opened its doors to the public.

The idea of establishing an institution devoted to the collection and display of contemporary art was controversial. Artists feared that creativity would become institutionalized. If paintings and sculptures were taken out of the living environment, the museum would merely serve as a mausoleum or dumping ground.

As modernists defined art in terms of continuous movement and change (innovation was the new permanency), the idea of a “museum of modern art” seemed an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. It needed clarification. [Read more…] about A Modern Art Historian’s Hanoverian Inspiration

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: art, Art History, Furniture, Museum of Modern Art, New York City

The Saxophone: Born In Belgium, Raised In The USA

October 18, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 2 Comments

bronze statue of Adolphe SaxSince the saxophone was invented and patented by a young man from French-speaking Dinant, in Belgium’s Walloon Region, American musicians have paid credit to the instrument by producing memorable performances which include John Coltrane’s “Love Supreme,” Dino Soldo’s smooth jazz solos, or Clarence Clemons’s relentless drive.

Over time, the sax has found its way into almost every genre of music with one exception. The saxophone is not part of the orchestral repertoire. It was and remains a rogue instrument. [Read more…] about The Saxophone: Born In Belgium, Raised In The USA

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: art, Art History, Jazz, Military History, Music, Musical History, New York City

Portraying Presidents: A Sketch of Cultural History

October 12, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Penn Station around the time of its opening in 1910 courtesy Library of CongressBeginning with George Washington, it has been a custom for the President of the United States to have an official portrait sculpted or painted during his time in office.

From the beginning artists were faced with conflicting demands of aesthetics, the need to evoke the significance of the nation’s highest office, and the personal inclination of the sitter (varying from modesty to pomposity). How to reconcile such different strands in a work of art? [Read more…] about Portraying Presidents: A Sketch of Cultural History

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: art, Art History, Cultural History, George Washington, Political History

Huguenot Pirates on the Barbary Coast and the Mapping of New Amsterdam

October 5, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Johannes Vingboons View of New AmsterdamHuguenots were followers of Jean Calvin’s teachings for which they were persecuted in Catholic France. Many were forced to leave the country and settled in the Netherlands, Switzerland, England, and South Africa.

Nicolas Martiau was one of a number of refugees who made their way to America (Virginia) via England. A surveyor and engineer in the service of Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntington, he was an ancestor of George Washington. [Read more…] about Huguenot Pirates on the Barbary Coast and the Mapping of New Amsterdam

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Brooklyn, Dutch History, Geography, Huguenots, Mapmakers, Maps, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, surveying

Audio Technology, Trademarks and A Terrier Named Nipper

September 28, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and ArtThe Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, at Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, was founded in 1859 by inventor and industrialist Peter Cooper, a progressive member of New York’s Board of Aldermen.

The initiative was inspired by the state-sponsored École Polytechnique in Paris (founded in 1794). Cooper’s ideal was to create an institution that would be open to all, and independent of race, religion, sex, or social status. The history of the gramophone is associated with two of Cooper’s former students who overcame hardship through education. [Read more…] about Audio Technology, Trademarks and A Terrier Named Nipper

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Art History, Jazz, Manhattan, Music, Musical History, New York Telephone, Radio History, telephones

Electropathic Cure: Quackery in the Electric Era

September 20, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

A Galvanized Corpse What historians now describe as the Victorian Age, was then referred to as the Electric Era. Electricity lit up city centers and transformed the means of communication. Constant availability of power led to automation which, in turn, allowed for the mass production of goods. Electricity gradually entered the home and convenience stores were filled with new household devices. Even the death penalty went electric. [Read more…] about Electropathic Cure: Quackery in the Electric Era

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Furniture, Medical History, Patent Medicine, womens history

Humans In Zoos: A Long History of ‘Exotic’ People Exhibitions

September 13, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 3 Comments

Philippine Head-Hunters on display at the 1904 Worlds Fair in St LouisSocial Darwinism is an ideology that misapplied Charles Darwin’s ideas to the socio-political sphere. The theory proved fruitful to those who advocated the economic principle of laissez faire, and added an element of racial inequality as peoples were classified along an evolutionary scale.

The doctrine can be paraphrased in terms similar to these: “We (white men) belong to a superior race and civilization, be it in economic, military, or moral understanding. This primacy demands from us to direct and civilize the rest of humanity.” [Read more…] about Humans In Zoos: A Long History of ‘Exotic’ People Exhibitions

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: anthropology, Bronx Zoo, Cultural History, Imperialism, Science History

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