I imagine there was a lot more hand-wringing prior to the Covid-19 lockdown in Switzerland as compared to other countries, because since 2008 it has been a federal crime there to isolate social animals. Makes you wonder if Swiss authorities have brought charges against themselves yet, or whether they’re waiting until after the crisis lets up. [Read more…] about Social Isolation: Live Long and Prosper Together
Medical History
Memoir Recounts The Remarkable Life of Sophie Kussmaul
Through Sophie’s Eyes (Cahaba, 2008) is a remarkable memoir by Sophie Kussmaul (1875-1968), granddaughter of Princess Regina Henry, first cousin to Frederick III, Emperor of Germany, and niece of Dr. Adolf Kussmaul, a noted Heidelberg physician.
Edited by Sinclair Seevers, the memoir spans her first six decades, two thirds of Kussmaul’s long life. It’s a vivid account of her shy childhood in the 1870s through the years of the Great Depression. [Read more…] about Memoir Recounts The Remarkable Life of Sophie Kussmaul
NYS Pandemic Documentation Initiative Underway
The Office of Cultural Education (OCE), made up of the New York State Archives, Library and Museum, has been working to support New York State’s cultural community throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic. [Read more…] about NYS Pandemic Documentation Initiative Underway
NY Natives: Joseph Shauquethqueat’s Joe Pye Weed
June 22-28 is National Pollinator Week and one of New York State’s important pollinator friendly species is Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium spp.), a native essential for any garden seeking to attract and help pollinators.
According to legend, Joe Pye was a Native American herbalist who used local plants to cure a variety of illnesses including typhoid fever. For years, it was unknown if Joe Pye was a real person or a botanical myth, that is until research confirmed the plant’s name originated from the nickname of Joseph Shauquethqueat, a Mohican chief who lived in Massachusetts and New York in the 18th and early 19th centuries. [Read more…] about NY Natives: Joseph Shauquethqueat’s Joe Pye Weed
Doctor Benjamin Rush As Founding Father
In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Stephen Fried, an award-winning journalist and author of Rush: Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father (Crown, 2018), joins us to explore the life and deeds of one founder we don’t always talk about, Benjamin Rush.
The Cholera Pandemic of 1832 in New York State
History shows that several pandemics have struck in New York State – one of the less remembered is known as the Second Cholera Pandemic of 1832.
New York was among the most thoroughly scourged among the states.
[Read more…] about The Cholera Pandemic of 1832 in New York State
19th Century Botany, Medicine, and Philanthropy (Podcast)
How did Americans learn to establish philanthropic institutions?
In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History, Victoria Johnson, an Associate Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College in New York City and author of American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic (Liveright, 2018), leads us on an investigation of the life of Dr. David Hosack and the many organizations he founded, including the Elgin Botanical Garden.
[Read more…] about 19th Century Botany, Medicine, and Philanthropy (Podcast)
Municipal Historians: Start Documenting COVID-19 Crisis
The Association of Public Historians of New York State is asking local government-appointed historians, to document the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, including the impact on their communities and how citizens respond.
Government-appointed historians have a duty under New York State Law to document these sorts of episodes and may wish to partner with local historical societies. “The key here is to document, collect, and preserve as much data and information on the local reaction to COVID-19 as you can,” an announcement from APHNYS said. [Read more…] about Municipal Historians: Start Documenting COVID-19 Crisis
POSTPONED: Civil War Medical Care Round-Table
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED.
Dennis Eickhoff, Colton Town Historian, is set to give the presentation on Civil War medical care at the next North Country Civil War Round Table in Colton, NY, on Sunday, March 22, 2020. [Read more…] about POSTPONED: Civil War Medical Care Round-Table
When Condoms Were Avant-Garde: A History
Columbus brought syphilis from the New World to Europe. The first record of an outbreak of the infection dates from 1494/5 in the aftermath of the French invasion of Naples (where it became known as the ‘French disease’).
By the late nineteenth century, syphilis was alluded to as an artist’s affliction as it had struck an alphabet of creative individuals, including Baudelaire, Delius, Donizetti, Gauguin, Heine, Keats, Manet, De Maupassant, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Schubert, Smetana, Tolstoy, and Van Gogh.
Medical practitioners talked mutedly of an emerging health crisis, but their warnings ignored, an epidemic of sexually transmitted disease during the global Great War caused panic. [Read more…] about When Condoms Were Avant-Garde: A History