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Native Alaskan women, c. 1890s. From the Beinecke Library (Yale).
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The pyramids of Giza, from 600 metres in the air, photographed via balloon. (Eduard Spelterini, November 21, 1904.)
The Swiss Spelterini's photographs are some of the earlier examples of aerial photography, the practice being pioneered from the latter half of the 19th century until the Great War.
'Italy Draws the Sword of Ancient Rome' (Edoardo Matania, 1911).
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This looks like a standard photo of an old letter. In fact, this letter has never been opened. Researchers have successfully used a technique involving x-rays to scan and interpret a 'letterlocked' letter without touching it.
Letterlocking involved the convoluted folding of the paper in order to prevent the words being seen through the envelope.
This study will allow research into letters without fear of damaging them by opening the envelope or folding, especially since so many are fragile.
This series is currently being shown on the BBC and is on BBC iPlayer. It's worth watching if you can access it there or elsewhere.
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As a reminder of the Second World War often still being physically with us, a large (probably) SC 1000 'Hermann' bomb was recently found in Exeter, UK, needing a huge evacuation of several thousand people. The bomb would probably have killed many people had it been accidentally detonated, as it was about a tonne and one of the larger ones produced by the Nazis. The right picture shows it next to a person.
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David Hoffman maintains a fascinating archive from various documentary films he has worked on. In this video, an American veteran of the Vietnam war explains his experience, and shows the loss of purpose and reason many soldiers experienced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tixOyiR8B-8
http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2015/03/dr-williams-pink-pills-for-pale-people/
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'American Style Potatoes', (USSR, 1947).
The top right states that one million tons of potatoes are being destroyed in the US to raise prices. The girls asks "will you boil the water later, mister?"
19 February 1913: Pedro Lascuráin becomes President of Mexico for about 45 minutes. Some sources put it at just 15 minutes. It is the shortest confirmed term of any president.
Victoriano Huerta had launched a coup against Francisco Madero, whom Lascuráin convinced to resign. Because of his position in the cabinet, Lascuráin then became president. After appointing Huerta as interior secretary, meaning he was next in line to the presidency, Lascuráin then resigned so that Huerta could take the position.
Map of Belarus, c.1992, showing radiation still coming into the country from the 1986 Chernobyl incident in Ukraine. This map was as much an appeal to the international community for aid as it was a government survey. 800,000 people were registered as being affected by radiation in Belarus alone.
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Happy Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day. Be thankful your day does not end like this man. A sort of bran pancake (burnt) was the last thing he ever ate before being bludgeoned and strangled to death, before being thrown in a bog.
He was probably of higher status, because his nails were well kept and his skin was smooth, indicating a lack of physical exertion.
Source
These cards were popular from the early Victorian era to the 1940s. They were usually anonymous, like traditional Valentines cards. The majority were targeted towards men, but women could also be on the receiving end.
More information:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vinegar-valentines-victorian
On Victorian Valentines in general:
http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/jjcoll/2018/02/01/dashers-and-dandies-elegance-or-vanity-victorian-valentines-and-the-the-artifice-of-dress/
Postcard celebrating the 15th anniversary of the October Revolution in the USSR (Viktor Deni (Дени), 1932).
On the left political enemies, including Mensheviks, declare that "Soviet power will last for two weeks!".
On the right, it reads that 'The USSR has established itself on the socialist path', showing a grinning worker.
The first mass observation of International Women's Day took place on 19 March 1911. Demonstrations took place across many European countries and in the US. Perhaps the most prominent was the demonstration around the Ringstraße in Vienna, which saw a turnout of 20,000 women and men. Pictured is the first IWD in Berlin.
The date was later moved to March 8th.
The granting of female suffrage in the cantons of Switzerland, 1959-1990.
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Not sure what to make of this article, but 'The Terror' looks set to be a fantastic series on the doomed Franklin expedition to the North West Passage.
www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/heres-how-amc-producers-worked-inuit-fictionalized-franklin-expedition-show-180968643/
The explosion was quite impressive, registering on local seismometers over 40km away. Why not simply transport it away? Unfortunately, such bombs are designed to be easily triggered if one attempts to defuse them.
The bomb disposal process involves using lots of sand to channel the forces downwards and upwards, rather than outwards. Regardless, structural damage was still done to some nearby houses, windows were smashed, and doors knocked off their hinges.
A demonstration of how traumatic war can be on civilian populations from when such a thing happened nightly over Europe. Although unfortunately one does not need to look to old WWII bombs to see that.
Dr. Jackson Crawford explains what Old Norse sounded like (atop a mountain, with a cowboy hat on). His channel is well worth subscribing to if you are interested in Norse history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ASsCH17cbA
Twitter is often not especially good for in-depth history, but where it does excel is the sharing of personal ephemera such as in this case, where we get a view of 1960s Bollywood (Indian Hollywood).
https://twitter.com/i/events/1364645288380485635
An advert for 'Dr Williams’ Pink Pills for Pale People'. These were on the market from the 1890s to 1970 and claimed to be able to cure all manner of diseases, including; pulmonary tuberculosis, consumption of the bowels, rheumatism, locomotor ataxy, paralysis, heart disease, rickets, dyspepsia, constipation, liver complaints, eczema, St. Vitus' dance (Sydenham's chorea), anaemia, influenza, and 'female problems' (menstrual disorders).
In reality, they were found to contain 'extract of Barbadoes aloes enclosed in a thin coating of sugar, coloured pink with carmine'. They appear to have had some minor placebo effects.
February 21 1965: the black American activist Malcolm X is assassinated by the Nation of Islam.
He had left the NoI after moving away from its nationalism and becoming more tolerant of other races.
The photo above is of the scene of his murder at the Audubon Ballroom, with the bullet holes circled.
A girl in the Chinese (presumably Red) army, February 1944.
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https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1984-1002-1
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A 1921 report in an American newspaper on life in 2021.
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If you are sad at not receiving any Valentines cards, be thankful you do not live in the era of 'Vinegar Valentines.'
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