May 2011
Wild Mint
30/05/11 18:33
This is peppermint, growing in a damp ditch in Ashfield Massachusetts. Peppermint has been growing wild in Ashfield, on the edges of cultivated fields, since the early 1800s when the town was the center of the early mint oil business.
Student Evals
27/05/11 18:32
At UMass, faculty does not evaluate TA performance — at least not formally. I’ve TAed three courses in the four semesters of my PhD program here: both halves of the US History Survey, as well as US Environmental History. The professor I worked with my first semester (Fall ’09) “hired” me back for Enviro last Spring, so I guess he liked my work.
What I do know, because I get to look at them after the end of semester, is what the students said about me. They said things like “I loved every discussion with Dan; he made the class interesting and worthwhile” (Fall ’09), “TA was amazing!! Very thorough and clear. Always available for advice or to meet” (Fall ’10), and “Always lets people give their opinion. Accepts the views in a way that makes you feel good when you speak up” (Spring ’11).
Since it’s difficult for prospective employers to decide what kind of teacher a new PhD would be, by just looking at the CV, I posted a page with all the comments my students have made. It was nice typing it up -- a kind of validation for the work I put into those courses. Maybe it will be useful, when it comes time for me to apply for work...
What I do know, because I get to look at them after the end of semester, is what the students said about me. They said things like “I loved every discussion with Dan; he made the class interesting and worthwhile” (Fall ’09), “TA was amazing!! Very thorough and clear. Always available for advice or to meet” (Fall ’10), and “Always lets people give their opinion. Accepts the views in a way that makes you feel good when you speak up” (Spring ’11).
Since it’s difficult for prospective employers to decide what kind of teacher a new PhD would be, by just looking at the CV, I posted a page with all the comments my students have made. It was nice typing it up -- a kind of validation for the work I put into those courses. Maybe it will be useful, when it comes time for me to apply for work...
Biddle's Stairs
17/05/11 18:32
It’s interesting to think of banker Nicholas Biddle and Secretary of War Porter, in a wider context than their political offices. What other surprises lurk in the stories of public figures we think we know well?
(Info from the Niagara County Historical Society’s Bicentennial Moments )
Note the "Terrapin Tower" in the 1846 watercolor by Michael Seymour below. Many more illustrations and early photos of Niagara Falls here.
Chester Cheetah
13/05/11 18:31
Doesn't that perspective tend to denigrate the contribution of “performers” who write the histories that people read? But even if we let that pass, if you extend the metaphor, you have songwriters who need professional singers to get their songs in front of the public in an acceptable (salable) form. You may have a bunch of amateurs, singing the same songs and posting their efforts on YouTube, but does this really ruin the game for the songwriters? If anything, it would seem like the fact lots of people are humming the tune would be good for sales…(see Neil Gaiman on copyright).
Or, is the issue that lots of Napsters are pirating the songs, so there are fewer actual purchases generating royalties for the record companies to share with songwriters? I think this is a potentially solid point, based on the arguments made in the music industry. But was it ever conclusively proven that “illegal downloads” actually took sales from record companies? Did radio airplay? Did making “mix-tapes” in the 80s? Seems more likely to me, that downloading raised the overall number of “listens” to any particular song, but probably not at the expense of actual record sales. It mobilized a completely different market.
Since this is a contested issue in the music business, do these questions follow it, when we use it as an analogy for academic history? Is there way the advent of web-based info sources can be seen as “Napsters” of learning? Is it possible they extend the reach of our ideas into territory they might not otherwise be able to access?
Doesn’t this discussion also sort-of assume that there are a limited number of good historical ideas that you can discover, and that we have to hoard them and guard them as if they’re precious? To me it seems just the opposite. Everyplace I look, there are historical things that I could talk about. So if someone was to start talking about the same things, I think I’d be happy. Not that I’m going to give away my dissertation ideas, before I’ve had a chance to put them all together. But once it’s a book, wouldn’t it actually be good for me, if my argument got mainstreamed to the point where it just appears everywhere, like a tune people are humming? I can certainly step up at any time and say, “see, I said that in 2011,” if I need to.
Like the Cheetos guy says, "Crunch all ya want, we'll make more."
Interest for everybody
12/05/11 18:31
One of the arguments historians have used to support the idea of widespread distrust, is the fact that everybody knew how to discount notes. This was a skill that was taught to many people in common school, as part of the basic package of reading, writing, and arithmetic. But I think that rather than showing that these people were all busily discounting the notes of bankers they didn't completely trust, it actually shows that they were learning how to charge and receive interest. We tend to forget, because the currency we carry around in her pockets does not, that most of the banknotes, bills of exchange, and other commercial paper that functioned as currency in the 19th century, carried interest.
To illustrate just how widespread the need to calculate interest was, here is a reproduction of a passage from Dr. Chases Practical Recipes, printed in 1870. This book contains 800 recipes for all types of items, all as Dr. Chase says, “arranged in their appropriate departments.” He gives an explanation on how to calculate interest, using the odd amount of $1,111 at 6% for one year, four months and 27 days. Then he includes rate tables for interest rates ranging from 6 to 10%. Clearly discounting was a skill for which there was still a need, even in 1870, five years after the national banking laws had begun taxing state bank currency out of existence.
Food Deserts
11/05/11 18:30
When I was visiting upstate New York, on a research trip, I was surprised to find there was nowhere to buy food. Living in an affluent, populated area in the Northeast, I have access to three supermarkets I use (Hannafords, Price Chopper, and Market Basket), as well as several I avoid (Shaws and Walmart). And there are a number of neighborhood stores that sell more than just beer and candy — one even has a New York style sandwich shop in the rear!
The USDA has just published an interactive Food Desert Locator on its ERS website, which gives a detailed graphical perspective on this issue. Interestingly, the areas along route 90 seem to be desert-free on their map. Does this suggest that their data are on the conservative side? That there are places (maybe a lot of them) where rural people have to go to a nearby, bigger town to buy groceries once a week, and feel a lack of options in their food choices? In rural Minnesota and the Dakotas, people seem to lack options, unless they can get to a decent-sized city. The food desert ends at eastern Wyoming, not because there are a lot of food stores, but because there aren’t a lot of people. Another artifact of the statistics.
When I have time, I’ll look at the discussion the UDSA attaches to this. Do they talk about WHY there are fewer choices for rural (and poor urban) people? Consolidation of the food processing, marketing, and distribution systems? Box stores putting local mom & pop shops out of business? Food assistance programs that have historically made it difficult for local (and often more natural/organic) producers to compete? There seem to be some concerned , aware people working at ERS. I wonder if they have any input into the USDA’s overall program?
Dictator
06/05/11 18:29
This has been incredibly valuable to me in transcribing all of these old letters from the 19th century that I’m using as my primary sources. Previously, I would read the letters through and then type a brief synopsis and maybe quote a few lines. Now it’s just as quick to dictate the entire letter. This is especially helpful in the long letters my subjects write to each other, describing their business strategies; and also for getting a much better sense of the language and tone they use with each other. And I can get them done about four times faster than if I was typing them.
I do feel a little bit like a telemarketer, sitting here with this thing on my head. But it’s not the first time I’ve worn a Plantronics headset, and as I get better at it, I expect it to go even quicker. Donna love technology… yeah, okay. I said, “Gotta love technology.” There’s a little learning curve. But I edit anyway, so it’s not such a big change.
Old Books
04/05/11 18:29
I found this in an 1879 book called History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts. Also, an illustration of the river valley, and a lot of interesting little biographies of regular people. I love these old books!
