Correcting Historical Data

CORRECTING HISTORICAL DATA

     A slim steel object that resembles a rusty bayonet is the center of a debate in Charlston, West Virginia.

     Part of an exhibit meant to portray the history of coal mining in that state, it represents a “Stickin’ Tommy:” it holds a stubby candle in a loop at its midpoint…Long before the days of carbide lanterns and helmet lamps, miners jabbed these into the seams they were working to light their way as they dug coal… Miners would hang the shared wick of homemade candles on the hook as spares…*

     The problem is a hook that rises up above the candle loop should…be facing downward. However, the hook is placed in the display upside down.*
      This error was discovered by labor historian Wess Harris.*

       I am not a trained historian, although a history professor I spoke with while I was doing research for a historical journal article and my historic romance novel** dubbed me an “independent historian.”

     During my research I’ve discovered numerous errors in historical books, documents, and local histories. My “lowest” experience occurred at an event during Ligonier, Pennsylvania’s, 250^th anniversary.

     The speaker was an expert in the George Washington papers. I attended his talk because I wanted to know if he was familiar with

Procope Cafe, Paris: Taking photos is an international venture

 

     Research for a historical (romance) novel and accompanying DVD/Power Point presentation can be challenging, especially when the scenes and research occur in Boston, Mass.; Alexandria, VA; the Scioto area of Ohio; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Lamoine, ME—and Paris, France. Travel to some of these places may be reasonable, since my husband and I travel to New England as often as we are able (I am a New Englander and love the coast). However, travel to France is not reasonable for us.

     When my research uncovered a French café that has been in continuous operation since 1686, I sighed contentedly. THIS could be the location of a scene somewhere in the novel, probably used as a back-story. The scene would occur several weeks after the fall of the Bastille. The characters include members of the French Scioto Company (an extension of the Ohio Company’s sub- land grant known as the Scioto Associates). These characters are discussing ways to interest the French populace in purchasing land in Ohio. American lawyer/poet Joel Barlow is present, as an agent of the Scioto Associates, as is an extraordinary woman, Rosalie de la Val (known as Madame). Being female, she was not allowed to be in the café. However, she entered, disguised in male attire (she was to become an independent land speculator in America).

     I needed pictures of the Procope Café. I found some on various Internet sites, including the photo site FLICKR. They show an elegant café, where patrons through the centuries met: writers, philosophers, revolutionaries, statesmen, scientists, dramatists, stage artists, play writers, literary critics, Americans.
     These excellent pictures supplied me with sufficient visual description to write the scene. However, copying the photos for use in a power point presentation (or to illustrate this post) could lead to copyright theft accusations. The process of getting permissions is unfamiliar to me, and seemed bothersome. What I really wanted to do was to somehow obtain my own photos. And to get them without flying across the ocean!

     I was pleased to receive an E-mail from a distant relative in Sweden, Ann Aberg. Her daughter, she wrote, was going to study in Paris for a year. I replied, boldly asking if she might take some pictures of the Procope Café for me. There was no response.

    

    Fortunately, three persons in my community go to France on a regular basis. Since one isn’t a photographer, I begged and cajoled the other two to do some photography for me. I sent the first traveler off with the following note:

     I’m writing an article for a historical journal, the New England Quarterly, and am also authoring a historic romance novel, concerning the La Compagnie du Scioto. The time era is 1789-1790. I will have one scene take place at the Café La Procope. I have asked (to continue reading this post, click on: PROCOPE CAFÉ, PARIS: Part 1—Finding photographs: An International Adventure )

Doing Historical Research in Philadelphia

 

Research at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Germantown, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

In September, 2008, my husband Monte and I spent twenty-eight days traveling along the northeastern seacoast. We began in Philadelphia and ended in the mountains of New Hampshire, before traveling through Vermont into New York. As I look back, three strands braided themselves together to form the story of our travels: first, research, second cemeteries and third, people— family, old friends and new friends. The post below relates our experiences doing research for my historic romance novel while we were in Philadelphia.  

     Our research journey began in Philadelphia, at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the repository of the Bingham Papers. In the 1790s, Henry Knox and William Duer purchased the Penobscot lands in the Maine territory of what was then Massachusetts. When they went “belly-up,” the land was returned to the state, freeing it for William Bingham’s land speculation.

     However, the Bingham purchase wasn’t my only interest. I’m writing a historical journal article profiling a female French émigré, Madame Rosalie de Leval. Her goal was to create a French colony in what is Hancock County, Maine, today. Her land purchases became caught in the tidal wave crash of the Duer bankruptcy. I’d been unable to locate information on her, and the reference alluded to above indicated that packets of letters and documents, to and from her, were lodged in the Bingham papers. These papers would be of value prior to any further research I was doing. Thus, I knew I had to travel to Philadelphia, and the best way to do so would be to go there enroute from my home in Southwestern Pennsylvania to Newport, Rhode Island, the starting point for our New England travels.

     Once my husband, Monte, and I determined to travel to New England via Philadelphia, I decided to visit the church where Madame was married in 1794. The starting place was the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, in Germantown. I’d prearranged with the historian, John E. Peterson, to obtain information and perhaps a photograph.

     While there, I learned that the Zion Lutheran Church and St. Michael’s Lutheran Church congregations were once tied together, although each had a separate pastor. I also saw a painting of the pastor who was most likely to have performed the ceremony for Madame and her husband. We were shown a model of the two churches as they were in 1794—they had been rebuilt several times since then—and best of all, the historian offered to locate the original book where Madame’s wedding was recorded in 1794. He also gave us materials, including a beautiful pamphlet on Henry Melchior Muhlenberg and The Colonial Lutheran Church. In it are pictures of the models and copies of documents.

     By then it was mid-afternoon. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania was (to continue reading this story click on: DOING HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN PHILADELPHIA

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA