This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: Chicago Tribune
Oct 14, 2007
Little did the pigeons at the dilapidated warehouse on Chicago's South Side know they were roosting near historical treasures.
Sadly, no one else knew either.
These long-lost riches included virtually every letter, ordinance, election return, permit and scrap of paper that the Chicago City Council received or generated between 1833 and 1940. Here were the original 1833 town incorporation vote (12-1), city physician reports from cholera epidemics, building blueprints and
Source: http://canadianpress
Oct 14, 2007
ST. LOUIS - The slender little beech tree planted recently on property near the Missouri Botanical Garden looked pretty much like any other specimen. But it was special - both scientifically and historically.
The clump beech, cloned from one at President Teddy Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill home on New York's Long Island, joined an ash tree cloned from George Washington's Mount Vernon estate, and plans are to add genetic replica trees from properties owned by Thomas Jefferson and Abraham
Source: Editorial in the Age
Oct 14, 2007
IN AUGUST 2006, the Prime Minister's history summit agreed on six principles, the first that any core version of Australian history had to be teachable. What this meant was that teachers and students should feel engaged by the course — otherwise the whole initiative would be a disaster. Fourteen months later, John Howard has announced a final version of his guide to the history program. The good news is that the guide is fair and balanced, not at all the ideological sermon some feared. The bad n
Source: BBC
Oct 14, 2007
A 13th Century church, which was dismantled and rebuilt 50 miles away at a museum in Cardiff, has been opened by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
St Teilo's Church has been recreated stone-by-stone over 20 years at the National History Museum, St Fagans.
The church from Pontarddulais near Swansea has been restored to recreate its appearance in 1520.
Source: NYT
Oct 14, 2007
THE 220-year-old home of a freed Montclair slave named James Howe is in danger of being uprooted, dragged through town and perched next to the house of his old master. The current owner of the small, two-story Howe House has agreed to donate it to the Montclair Historical Society so it can be preserved as a showcase for the black experience in that town. But the Howe House may be physically damaged by a move, and there is no guarantee that the historical society will manage the house properly wh
Source: Reuters
Oct 14, 2007
Greece on Sunday began moving the ancient sculptures from the temples of the Athens Acropolis to a new museum, designed specifically to prod the British Museum into returning its own prized collection of Parthenon marbles.
Dozens of bystanders, some in tears, watched as three cranes relayed a massive stone slab from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon. It was carved with four youths leading bulls to sacrifice to the goddess Athena.
"I am trembling, it touches my soul,&quo
Source: NYT
Oct 14, 2007
WHAT if they held a debate and everybody came? So far this presidential primary season, we’ve been able to watch seven Democratic and seven Republican candidate debates. Not many people, even those who like me are paid to follow the campaigns, have watched all 14 of them. Democratic debates are reported to tend to attract mostly Democratic audiences, Republican debates mostly Republican audiences.
Voters who are in the middle, who do not yet feel committed to either party — and ther
Source: Buffalo News
Oct 13, 2007
World War II hero Audie Murphy got his own U.S. postage stamp. So did Elvis Presley, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Buffalo’s most decorated war veteran, the late Matt L. Urban, should get a stamp, too, according to organizers of a nationwide petition drive.
The Polish American Congress recently renewed its petition drive and other efforts to convince the U.S. Postal Service to honor Urban with a stamp.
The organization argues that Urban and Murphy — both U.S. Army veter
Source: Editorial in the WaPo
Oct 13, 2007
HISTORIANS WON a small victory last week in their quest to lift the heavy cloak of privilege from papers generated by the president and his White House staff. A federal judge ruled that the National Archives should have the final say on when those papers are publicly released. But that action takes care of only part of the problem. Congress has before it a law that would make as many of those documents available as possible. The only obstacle is Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.).
Source: NYT
Oct 13, 2007
LEVITTOWN — Sixty years ago this month, the first families moved into this suburban outpost, and soon there were 17,447 houses that as the song “Little Boxes” noted derisively, were “all made out of ticky-tacky, and they all looked just the same.”
The Cape Cods that first became available in 1947 — with four rooms, one bathroom and among other modern amenities a Hotpoint electric range in every kitchen — were offered for $6,990, and 800-square-foot ranch homes went for $7,990.
Source: http://www.ligali.org
Oct 12, 2007
The european descendants of Lothar von Trotha, a brutal German military commander who instigated the mass slaughter of thousands of Herero people, have met with their representatives to apologise for the actions of their ancestor.
Representatives of the von Trotha family visited the chiefs of six Herero royal houses Omaruru, in central Namibia following an invitation from the Herero Supreme Chief Alfons Maharero, the grandson of Samuel Maharero who led the wars against the German in
Source: http://www.nj.com
Oct 12, 2007
As Francois Dellatre stepped across the outdoor platform at a rededication ceremony Wednesday in Morristown, he looked at the two red, white and blue flags mounted at either side of him.
"As a Frenchman, it is moving to me to be here with you, and to have the French flag side by side with an American flag," said Dellatre, the Consul General of France in New York.
The French diplomat's statement about the two countries' historic and recently mended relationship
Source: Spiegel
Oct 12, 2007
Attracted by the calm of long-abandoned machine gun posts, rare animals have been settling in the ruined bunkers that make up the Siegfried Line Hitler built to protect Germany's western border. Now wildlife groups are battling to stop authorities from bulldozing this giant legacy of the Nazi era.
The Siegfried Line, the 630-kilometer network of bunkers Hitler built in a vain attempt to protect his western frontier from an Allied invasion, is finally serving a purpose six decades af
Source: NYT
Oct 12, 2007
LAST month the City of New York gave Duffield Street in downtown Brooklyn an alternate name: Abolitionist Place. It’s an acknowledgment that long before Brooklyn was veined with subway lines, it was a hub of the Underground Railroad: the network of sympathizers and safe houses throughout the North that helped as many as 100,000 slaves flee the South before the Civil War.With its extensive waterfront, its relatively large population of African-American freemen — slavery ended
Source: Telegraph (UK)
Oct 12, 2007
Spain is to ban all public references to the Franco regime under a controversial Bill that seeks to make amends to the victims of the Spanish Civil War and ensuing 36-year dictatorship.
All statues, street names and symbols associated with the dictator and his supporters will be removed as part of the Law of Historic Memory, which was presented to the Madrid parliament this week.
Even plaques and stained glass windows showing the Falange symbol of the yoke and arrows o
Source: AP
Oct 12, 2007
The remains of nine U.S. airmen including two from Massachusetts, one from New Hampshire and one from Vermont, missing in action since a World War II mission over Germany, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial, the Pentagon said.
The B-24 crew took off from North Pickenham, England, on July 7, 1944, to bomb a German aircraft factory near Bernburg, Germany. The plane was last seen by other crews in the target area. Captured records showed that it cra
Source: Fox News
Oct 12, 2007
Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian president and current Chairman of the Assembly of Experts, said Friday that Hitler’s treatment of Jewish people in Europe was due in part to their being “a pain in the neck.”
Rafsanjani’s comments came during a sermon for "International Jerusalem Day" on Iranian TV.
Rafsanjani noted that Jews caused problems for European governments because they “had a lot of property” and “controlled an empire of propaganda.” He also said th
Source: NYT
Oct 12, 2007
The Australian prime minister, John Howard, proposed a referendum on Thursday to change the Constitution to recognize the role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia’s history.
Mr. Howard, who is expected to call parliamentary elections in the next few days, said he wanted what he described as a “New Reconciliation” with the country’s indigenous people.
“If re-elected, I will put to the Australian people within 18 months a referendum to formally recogni
Source: NYT
Oct 12, 2007
To an outsider, the Turkish position on the issue of the Armenian genocide might seem confusing. If most of the rest of world argues that the Ottoman government tried to exterminate its Armenian population, why does Turkey disagree?
The answer is hidden deep inside the Turkish psyche, and to a large extent, printed on the pages of Turkish history books.
But with the changes to promote democracy in Turkey in recent years, opinions are slowly changing.
Source: AP
Oct 12, 2007
The Vatican has published secret archive documents about the trial of the Knights Templar, including a long-lost parchment that shows that Pope Clement V initially absolved the medieval Christian order from accusations of heresy, officials said Friday.
The 300-page volume recently came out in a limited edition — 799 copies — each priced at $8,377, said Scrinium publishing house, which prints documents from the Vatican's secret archives.
The order of knights, which ultim
