History Nerd

My medieval gameplay has been moved to my main blog! @kat-simss

[milksockets]

mainbocher 1949 in the dress: 100 ideas that changed fashion forever - marnie fogg (2014)

[focsle]

Thinkin about that one whaler who complained about his shipmates in his journal being like ‘no one on this ship reads educational books, no one reads the bible, everyone only wants pencils so they can draw ships and obscene pictures’ and I’m just like…..where are they….where are the dirty drawings this fellow was complaining about…I wanna see some 19th century whaler’s amateur pornographic scribbles so bad WHERE ARE THEY?

[focsle]

Idk why this particular one has gotten so many notes, but here’s the fellow’s actual words. His name was Jon Langdon, and he signed aboard the bark St. Peter in 1849 at age 21.

[…] topgallantsails. The weather is very pleasant To day is spent like every other sunday in eating and sleeping angry words and a dial of swearing &c. Interesting and instructive books are seldom found in their hands and the perusal of the sacred pages of the Bible is beneath their notice altogether but the slate and pencil are in great demand for drawing Ships obscene pictures &c &c. Took in fore topgallantsail at 2pm.”

[focsle]

Another fellow from another voyage aboard the whaler Saratoga, William Chappell, also complains about his shipmates’ taste in literature. 1853.

“[it grieves me] to see how wreckless and indifferent my shipmates are to this great subject It is painfull to see how dilligent they are in reading the trashy novel to the neglect of the bible”

What trashy novels are you reading lads I wanna know.

[i-was-today-years-old-when]

TIL a family in Georgia claimed to have passed down a song in an unknown language from the time of their enslavement; scientists identified the song as a genuine West African funeral song in the Mende language that had survived multiple transmissions from mother to daughter over multiple centuries (x)

[sandersstudies]

Sorry I didn’t hear you I was busy thinking about the fact that the amount of information humanity has collectively lost is probably greater than the amount we now collectively posses.

[sandersstudies]

Me, reading a really old text: hmm I wonder what they mean by this let me ask the experts

Scholars: we dunno

Me: okay that’s fine *has an emotional breakdown*

[sandersstudies]

When scholars have whole conferences debating the meaning of some dots on an ancient tablet, each of them backing up their work with essays and research, it looks to us like some kind of information net gain.

But 9,000 years ago a 13-year-old shepherdess said “papa, I have counted the sheep for you” and gave him the tablet, and even her little brother, who was not old enough to watch the sheep alone, knew what it meant without knowing so much as an alphabet.

[sandersstudies]

Ancient Egyptian tradesman: Yes, this ivory has come to us from Punt.

Illiterate Egyptian man: Ah, from Punt. I know of them and the quality of their work. I will buy it.

21st century scholars, tearing their hair out: What the fuck is Punt

[etirabys]

can anyone find me that mesopotamian clay tablet telling you to marry a party girl because she'll bring you joy

[mentalwires]

It's from the "Maxims of Ptahhotep", purportedly written by a 96-year-old vizier to pass on his wisdom to his son:

If you marry a good-time girl

A joyful woman known to her town,

If she is wayward,

and revels in the moment,

do not reject her, but instead let her enjoy;

joyfulness is what marks calm water.

[etirabys]

yay ty. Between the above and the links in the mentions we have 3 translations total

[yesterdaysprint]

Oakland Tribune, California, August 20, 1939

[medici-collar-deactivated202412]

Pretty

Yes

No

Voting ended onMay 7, 2023

@dadoorman @battleofbunkerhill @themusingsofadah

[elierlick]

Now THIS is art. 😍

[lady-sanctum]

“When I first saw the original painting, I began to do some research on that little boy. I could find everything I wanted about every other detail in the painting, but there was nothing about him. No history. And so I wanted to find a way to imagine a life for this young man that the historical painting had never made space for in the composition: his desires, dreams, family, thoughts, hopes. Those things were never subjects that the original artist wanted the viewer to contemplate. In order to reframe the discussion, I decided to physically take action to quiet [and crumple] the side of the painting that we’ve been talking about for a very long time and turn up the volume on this kid’s story. And that’s the reason why I started that painting.” Via Artnet News 2019/03/27

[thequeeninyellowlace]

I wish for nothing more than that that little boy could see this and know that he was remembered.

[costumeloverz71]

Maternity or Laying-in Dress, 1888

[pissditching]

calling what is happening to trans people in the south an attempt at genocide: correct and ok. it's going to get worse if we don't fight back now

comparing it to the holocaust: not ok and also i'm fucking blocking you.

no genocide is the same. not every genocide mirrors the holocaust. using the deaths of jews, lgbt people, disabled people, and poc during the holocaust as your "gotcha" card every time our rights are in danger today proves you know nothing about the history you're talking about.

[pissditching]

also, if you are truly so hard pressed to bring up nazi germany into the discussion of trans rights being targeted in america, talk about what happened to gay and trans people under the regime. talk about how they destroyed our institutions. talk about how they burned our books. talk about the eerily familiar language they used to describe us (see "seduction of youth" and "recruitment")

but as a trans jew, i am telling you that if you're looking at a current social issue and thinking "hmm who are the nazis and who are the jews in this situation" then you're doing it wrong and you're doing it dangerously.

[caffeineandsociety]

For that matter, look into how the queerphobia and antisemitism were intertwined. Look into how the reason they hated Magnus Hirschfeld's work so much was because he was not just validating queerness, but a Jewish scientist validating queerness. Look into how this created a feedback loop in the nazi mind that accepting queerness - sorry, ~sexual deviance~ - was enabling the ~Jewish menace~, and that Jews are sexually ~deviant~ and predatory.

Examine this, then use this understanding to beat the importance of solidarity into your head. Realize that when they can associate a negative stereotype with more than one marginalized group, they're going to feedback loop it around all of us, unless they can come up with competing stereotypes to keep us fighting each other and doing their work.

Btw - a huge part of the reason the word "genocide" exists is so that we CAN describe targeted attempts to eliminate a population without trying to make 1:1 comparisons to the holocaust (or any other specific genocide, for that matter); so that we can learn from historical incidents WITHOUT erasing the unique distinguishing factors, and in doing so failing to learn from those distinctions on top of disrespecting the victims and survivors.

[klassizismus]

Hamlet’s Vision, 1893, Pedro Américo (Brazilian, 1843-1905)

[sovietpostcards]

Dasha the bear cub flies to Prague. Photo by Vladimir Medvedev, 1987.

[starswaterairdirt]

The Grape-Vine Swing, 1895

unknown photographer

[dizzymoods]

This is now my favorite image. I saw it for the first time yesterday before bed & couldn’t stop thinking about it. I dreamed about it.

[sometransgal]

I keep thinking about that one post that was going around talking about the potential origins of cheese and everyone immediately jumps to it must've been rotten milk that they ate out of desperation. But I'd like to posit that the first cheese was probably someone adding an acid to warmed milk and realising it splits it. Like it's not that big a stretch of the imagination for someone to think "oh I like warm milk but I also like this acidic fruit, I wonder if I can mix them". From there a little experimentation on separating the new curd from the whey and you've got a simple fresh cheese.

I dunno I think the reason I wanted to make this post is just that we tend to desscribe a lot of discoveries around food as desperate acts of starvation and not genuinely thought out experimentations based on observations like every other form of human knowledge. Ancient people weren't stupid starving unwashed masses and it's important to remember that. They were people who could think and deduce and logic their way through things as good as you or I.

[duckbunny]

there's this narrative I've encountered several times about our early ancestors figuring out that cooking food makes it good, and it goes "some meat probably fell in the fire and then when it cooled down they tried eating it and that's how they found out food could be cooked."

which, I do not accept. I have seen humans. I would like to propose an alternative explanation.

Cooking is the result of an early scientific experiment entitled "Does Meat Burn?"

(It was part of a wider research project considering such questions as Does Antler Burn? Does Hide Burn? Does Hoof Burn? and the oft-repeated Does My Hand Burn Ow Fuck Yes Actually It Does)

[lila-liliheureux]

Feel like "Does Meat Burn" may have been a direct follow-up project to "Does My Hand Burn Ow Fuck".

[fashionsfromhistory]

Denim Jacket

c.1850

United States

​This jacket would have been worn over a woman’s work dress or blouse, most likely while she labored outdoors. Its construction mimics the fashionable hourglass silhouette of the period, with tucks that cinch at the wrists and natural waistline. Denim is typically thought of as a menswear textile, but it was also common in women’s workwear during the 19th century.

Museum at FIT (Object number: P87.43.3)

[gunsngear]

“Bee Nott Afrayed  Of Anny Man Thatt Walks Beneath The Skys Tho Big He Bee Or Small You Bee For I Will Equalize”

[that-house]

@fearlesscomfort

[drag-tween]

Colonial Williamsburg uncovering LGBTQ history, aims for programming that reflects the time period

For two years, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s researchers and historians have been diving deep into historical records to better understand the history of LGBTQ people living in the colonial period. Through their research, they have made remarkable discoveries that will soon be presented to visitors

#ColonialLesbians