This series examines the nature, origins, and creation of Ancient and Medieval manuscripts, which are handwritten texts created before the invention of the printing press in the 15th century.
Interested in ancient and medieval manuscripts? I am currently working on a series that will (briefly) introduce codicology & paleography. Codicology (from Latin cōdex, genitivecōdicis, “notebook, book”; and Greek -λογία, -logia): The study of books as physical objects, especially manuscripts written on parchment (or paper) in codex form. Paleography (from Greek: παλαιός, palaiós, “old”, and γράφειν, graphein, “to write”): The study of ancient and historical handwriting (that is to say, of the forms and processes of writing, not the textual content … Continue reading New Series: Ancient & Medieval Manuscripts
Alexander Hamilton was born on this day in 1755, and in 1789 he became the first United States Secretary of the Treasury. The visionary, who foresaw the need for a strong system of national government, was the primary contributor to The Federalist Papers, co-authored by James Madison and John Jay. Hamilton, who served with George … Continue reading Alexander Hamilton
You may have heard of information literacy, which is the fancy name for fact checking. Information literacy and fact checking skills are now more important than ever. Not only is there a need to fact check the so-called ‘fake news’, any entity that claims to be a fact checker must also be fact checked, for … Continue reading Fake News? Fact-checking the fact-checkers (and the Internet)
Those who served in the 67th Regiment, New York Infantry (volunteer, union) in the American Civil War are indexed as derivative record. For example, the one for Vincent Valentine states that he was in company “C”, though his rank was not recorded. The original record is described as being located on film number M551 ROLL … Continue reading Military Records: The Civil War, National Park Service and National Archives
Northern Italian immigrants settled in Northern California, and other coal and mineral mining towns. Southern Italian immigrants to the United States settled along the East coast of the United States, and Chicago. Italians also settled in other European countries, Canada, Africa, South America, Australia and New Zealand (Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2016). Northern Italians were of the first European settlers and pioneers of the American West. By 1890, there … Continue reading Italian immigrants to America: Northern vs. Southern California