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: NYT
Sep 10, 2005
A judge sent Edgar Ray Killen, the former Klansman convicted of the 1964 killing of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, back to prison yesterday, saying Mr. Killen had deceived the court about his health when he asked to be released on bond.The hearing was called after Mr. Killen, who was granted bail after testifying that he was confined to a wheelchair, was seen up and walking by sheriff's deputies.
Edgar Ray Killen waved Friday while being
Source: OAH
Sep 9, 2005
By establishing this message board, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association would like to assist members of the historical community affected by Hurricane Katrina.Post to the Message Board
You can 1.) post a request for assistance by area of need or 2.) post an offer of assistance by area of need.
To read postings on the board, please select from one of the fol
Source: C-Span
Sep 9, 2005
On C-Span Doiglas Brinkley, the Tulane historian, says that he plans to begin taking oral histories from Katrina victims and officials.
Brinkley fled to Houston after the hurricane hit New Orleans. He returned later to try to help the victims.
He told Brian Lamb that the oral histories will be taken under the auspices of the Roosevelt center, which he heads.
Source: NYT
Sep 9, 2005
The former secretary of state, Colin L. Powell, says in a television interview to be broadcast Friday that his 2003 speech to the United Nations, in which he gave a detailed description of Iraqi weapons programs that turned out not to exist, was "painful" for him personally and would be a permanent "blot" on his record.
Source: NYT
Sep 9, 2005
The firefighters had 29 minutes to get out of the World Trade Center or die. Inside the north tower, though, almost none of them realized how urgent it had become to leave. They had no idea that less than 200 feet away, the south tower had already collapsed. Until last month, the extent of their isolation from critical information in the final 29 minutes had officially been a secret. For three and a half years, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg refused to release the Fire Department's oral histories of
Source: Newsletter of the National Coalition for History
Sep 9, 2005
Former Clinton administration national security advisor Samuel "Sandy" Berger was caught smuggling classified terrorism-related documents out of the National Archives last year. On 8 September 2005 federal Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson ordered Berger to pay a $50,000 fine as well as $6,905 in administrative costs, give up his security clearance for three years, serve a two year probation, and perform 100 hours of community service as penalty for smuggling classified documents b
Source: Newsletter of the National Coalition for History
Sep 9, 2005
On 8 September 2005, Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein announced the award of a $308 million, six year contract to Lockheed Martin to build the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) system for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The ERA system seeks to capture and preserve the electronic records of the federal government, regardless of format; ensure hardware and software independence; and provide access to the American public and Federal officials.
Source: Newsletter of the National Coalition for History
Sep 9, 2005
As emergency officials continue to find and rescue survivors, recover bodies, and clean up the wreckage from Hurricane Katrina, which devastated a significant portion of the Gulf Coast nearly two weeks ago, efforts are also underway by various history and archival organizations to pitch in and begin to survey the damage done to sites of historical significance and to preserve as much as possible. This rescue and salvage effort takes on special importance in a part of the country that is especial
Source: LA Times
Sep 9, 2005
Paper is everywhere in New Orleans — floating in the water, trapped in tree branches, ground into curbside mud. Millions of pages are soaked in courthouse basements, businesses and homes. Among the items are records of families, land ownership and commercial transactions, along with all the paper that charts the minutiae of everyday life.In the basement of the Civil District Courthouse on Poydras Street, three blocks from the Superdome, water has lapped over 20%
Source: SF Chronicle
Sep 9, 2005
The official biography for Michael Brown, the beleaguered head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, contains a discrepancy about his background in emergency management, it was reported.
A 2001 press release on the White House Web site says that Brown worked for the city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 "overseeing emergency services divisions. "But a former mayor of Edmond, Randel Shadid, told The Associated Press on Friday that Brown had been an assistant to the
Source: Romanesko
Sep 9, 2005
NBC's Brian Williams, who had a run-in this week with a police sergeant, says: "I don't like being told when I can and cannot walk on the streets and take pictures." Washington Post reporter Timothy Dwyer says he heard an officer telling a camera crew allowed on a boat in a flooded area near downtown New Orleans: "If we catch you photographing one body, we're going to bring you back in and throw you off the boat."
Source: Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
Sep 9, 2005
Esteemed writer and historian Donald Horne, who coined Australia"The Lucky Country" has died aged 83.Mr Horne, a staunch republican, wrote The Lucky Country in 1964, questioning many traditional attitudes of Australian society.
He was also the editor of The Bulletin in the early 1960s, and was a long-time academic at the University of New South Wales.
...
He wrote 24 books, including an autobiographical trilogy, three novels and social criticisms,
Source: Los Angeles Times
Sep 9, 2005
New Orleans archives and personal records are among millions of pages lost or damaged.In the basement of the Civil District Courthouse on Poydras Street, three blocks from the Superdome, water has lapped over 20% of the 60,000 leather-bound books of the New Orleans Notarial Archives. The books contain the records of all property transfers in the city that have occurred in the modern era.
"We don't have deeds in New Orleans," said Stephen P. Bruno, cust
Source: AlterNet
Sep 8, 2005
In a country littered with nondescript urban sprawl, the picturesque 19th century houses that dotted the United States' southern shores were rare reminders of a bygone era. But now, many of Mississippi's grand beachfront homes, sturdy verandas and steepled churches have simply vanished -- generations of memories obliterated in a single, 12-hour storm.Almost all our old houses have gone. This isn't just a question of financial loss, this is our history that has disappeared,&q
Source: Inside Higher Education
Sep 8, 2005
A University of Colorado misconduct committee has rejected a set of allegations that were made against Ward Churchill by the family of his late ex-wife. Churchill is once again claiming that he has won a victory, but the most serious charges against him remain alive. The Denver Postreported Wednesday that a faculty review committee had examined and rejected charges that Churchill made inaccurate statements in the preface to a book by Leah Kelly, his ex-wife. Colo
Source: NYT
Sep 8, 2005
THE barrel of the Confederate 12-pounder howitzer was missing, and so was the saddle on which Jefferson Davis rode into the Mexican War. Four days after Katrina, Patrick Hotard's face was shadowed with exhaustion and dismay as he surveyed what was left of Beauvoir, the beachside Jefferson Davis home and presidential library, where he is the director. He had just arrived from his refuge in Louisiana, and many of his worst fears were being confirmed as he picked through the bricks, giant wafers of
Source: NYT
Sep 8, 2005
Revolutionary War-era documents, culled from the collections of the State Archives and the State Library, are being preserved, thanks to a $164,000 grant in public and private money through the federal Save America's Treasures program, a national effort to preserve historic structures, documents and works of art. Documents include the secrets British spy John André carried away in his boot."It's time, we feel, to work to bring them back to a condition where
Source: HNN
Sep 8, 2005
A full week and a half after Katrina hit the Gulf many people remain missing, including both historians and history students. The story unfolds chronologically in all its horror on the blog HNN set up last week to track the missing. Tulane's history department as of last evening had failed to locate eighteen people.
Source: Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
Sep 8, 2005
Australia's leaders have slammed the Australian War Memorial's top historian, Peter Stanley, over his controversial claim that Japanese plans to invade Australia in 1942 were a "myth".Australia's leaders have slammed the Australian War Memorial's top historian, Peter Stanley, over his controversial claim that Japanese plans to invade Australia in 1942 were a "myth".
Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kim Beazley rejected Dr Stan
Source: Slate
Sep 8, 2005
This has been the summer of "intelligent design." In August, President Bush endorsed this revamped version of creationism, and this week a Pew Forum poll found that fewer than half of Americans accept Darwin's theory of evolution. This widespread rejection of seemingly established truths has shocked many observers. After all, didn't the Scopes trial resolve this 80 years ago?The anniversary of the "Monkey Trial" provides an occasion to remember that it di
