Authored by Cara Vincente
In an old, dilapidated book, found among a trove of yet-to-be processed archival material at Green-Wood Cemetery, the inevitable resting place of four famous brothers is revealed. James, John, Joseph Wesley and Fletcher Harper, the founders of the eponymous publishing house, Harper & Brothers, purchased four adjacent 300 sq. ft. burial plots in Green-Wood Cemetery in May of 1845.
Continue readingAuthored by Gina Coticchio
The first manual switchboard came about in 1878 and Hazleton, Pennsylvania got its first dial switchboard in 1954. At 11:59pm on April 24the switchboard was up and running in this small town (The Plain Speaker 1954). The Bell telephone company decided to invest in this small town by opening up a building on W. Green St. in Hazleton; with the new switchboard, converting to dial service was costing them $1.5 million (The Plain Speaker 1954). According to Tom Gabos, who is the president of the Hazleton Historical Society Museum, “this switchboard came from the corner of W. Green Street, right across from where our library now is” (Tom Gabos, pers. comm, September 2019). This new technology that was coming to Hazleton was welcomed with open arms. Once word got around of the new switchboard technology, Hazleton was booming with people who wanted to see how this technology would work. By 1940, the population of Hazleton was just over 38,000 (City of Hazleton Pennsylvania, n.d.). By 1953, about 14,000 people were using telephone technology (The Plain Speaker 1954). This is a little under half of what the population was in Hazleton back in 1940.
Continue readingAuthored by Kaitlyn Jeffries
The King and I is a musical theatre play, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II that originally premiered on Broadway at St. James Theatre. Mongkut, King of Siam (now Thailand), hired a British tutor, Mrs. Anna Leonowens to teach his children English. A widow, Anna tutors while simultaneously attempting to humanize their cultural difference and broaden their world-view beyond Siam. Anna endeavors to remove Siam’s perceived barbaric image by assimilating the family into Western culture and customs. Anna and Mongkut engage in a short lived romance, and after subsequent family turmoil with one of the King’s many wives, Anna wants to leave Siam. On his deathbed, Mongkut asks Anna to watch over his son, Chulalongkorn, as he begins his rule.
Continue readingAuthored by Jasmine Pacheco
This newspaper clipping of two men, one of which was holding a guitar quickly catches the eye due to the overtones of potential Blackface. However, after reading William Harris’ review, I discovered the work of Trinidadian playwright Mustapha Matura who used his experiences to craft powerful political commentaries. Matura first began writing and directing plays in London often tackling the ways Black people have been mistreated and abused throughout the Caribbean and the UK.
Authored by Lindsey C. Kult
From the turn of the 20th Century until the mid-1920s, travel by rail was the best way for Midwesterners to travel beyond their hometowns (Ellison 2019; Geberer 2019, 51; Jenison Historical Association 2009, 2; van Reken 1998). The road conditions were so poor during this time that the Dutch and German settlers of small towns such as Jenison, Saugatuck, and Zeeland were essentially isolated from the larger cities in the region (van Reken 1998, 77). The implementation of the electric interurban not only provided the citizens of West Michigan access to the diversity found in larger cities, but also gave them the opportunity to share their values with others.
Continue readingAuthored by Patricia Monaghan
As “the most widely published American journalistic humorist of the second half of the 20th century,” Art Buchwald was a writer unlike any other (Biography Reference Bank 2007). Buchwald spent the majority of his career writing a satirical column that, at one time, was syndicated in 550 newspapers (Nilsen 1996, 80). His contributions to journalism earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1982 (Folkenflik 2007).
Continue readingAuthored by Ashley Compton
As early as the 1700’s, coal was discovered in the area of Chesterfield County, Virginia (McCartney 2019). The coal from these pits supplied the fuel to the cannon factory at Westham during the Revolutionary War until the pits were destroyed by the British in 1781 (McCartney 2019). The industry prospered in the area in the 1840’s-50’s, making Midlothian one of the largest settlements in the area (McCartney 2019).
After the Civil War, production of coal fell sharply, and the business in the area was never truly successful again (McCartney 2019). The Burrows family from Albion, NY bought the bankrupt Mid-Lothian mines from public auction in 1869 (McCartney 2019). After numerous accidents, including an explosion that killed thirty-two miners, and an embezzlement scandal, the Burrows family lost control of the mine in 1882 (McCartney 2019).
Continue readingAuthored by Jennifer Loubriel
Amid the backdrop of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, Black college students paved the way for campus protests across the United States in the 1960s. Due to an increased presence of Black students at primarily white institutions (P.W.I.s), a number of systemic issues and needs were cropping up. This included recruitment and retention, financial aid, racially sensitive support services, culturally competent curriculum, and social facilities (Gamson, Peterson, and Blackburn 1980, 260). Colleges became hotbeds of activism as Black students fought against institutional racism and stood in solidarity with local community organizers (Biondi 2012). In the late 1960s, Morningside Heights was no stranger to Black student organizing. In spring 1968, students at Columbia University, Barnard College’s brother school, had organized protests against the white supremacy of the institution (Bradley 2003). The events of that protest directly led to the founding of the Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters (B.O.S.S.), whose goals were to center Black women’s issues on campus (Rosenberg 2004, 241).
Continue readingAuthored by Jessica Santulli
The Cold War is defined as a period of hostility and political tension between the Soviet Union and the United States of America from after World War II in 1945 through 1990, when the Berlin Wall fell (Halperin and Woods 1990). This era was certainly a trying time for world leaders, diplomats, politicians, and the military. But how did ordinary people in Bergen County, New Jersey handle the looming threat of Nuclear War?
Authored by Sonia Lau
This letter is written to Father Lydio Tomasi on January 19,1983 from Eugene F. Higgins thanking him for his contributions and insights regarding refugee situations that is happening around the world during the 1980s. It is part of the Directors’ Files of CMS Collection #084A, Box 4, Folder 41.
Immigration has had an enormous role in shaping the United States as a nation. There are many reasons for one to immigrate and such decisions are major and life-changing. Conflicts between nations, as well as economic turmoil, displace millions of people all over the world. What happens when the people are forced to flee their homelands to escape and seek refuge in another nation? Thus, immigration becomes an essential topic for understanding and discussion. With such need, people like Father Lydio F. Tomasi, along with a few of his community of Catholic priests, nuns, and laypeople founded the Center for Migration Studies. Continue reading