Lokalhistorie

"Fire lookout towers are enjoying a retrospective rebirth, attracting the curious and the adventurous, as Americans seeking escape for moments of solitude rediscover the structures' national significance. Though the Civilian Conservation Corps' national fire control policies and reforestation efforts have been covered elsewhere, each state's legacy is as unique as its people, forest conditions, traditions, and legislative history. In Texas, what emerges is a story that shaped national policies and examines the ethos of a generation. Edward Cavallerano's Fire in the Piney Woods develops several parallel stories. The first describes the Piney Woods and the antecedent conditions that necessitated fire prevention, forest fire detection, and the development of Texas' fire lookout network. Second, through collected stories, poetry, and primary accounts, it pays tribute to a generation of Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees, foresters, surveyors, and dedicated, self-sufficient lookouts who redeveloped or protected the forestlands of Texas and educated rural communities about the value of their natural resources. Finally, it describes the location and design of the lookout towers and associated structures in Texas by consolidating a decade of observations. In this effort, Cavallerano introduces methodologies to assess tower characteristics that may be useful to workers in other regions. Taken together, the book shares an appreciation of the past and celebrates the heritage these sites still possess. Fire in the Piney Woods preserves the history of forest fire protection in Texas, enhances readers' recreational experiences, and builds a compelling case among Texans to preserve the lookout towers that still stand"--

The Dutch World of Washington Irving tells an alternative origin story of American literary culture. In December of 1809, before finding fame with "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Washington Irving published his satirical History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker. Elisabeth Paling Funk explains that the History of New-York and the Hudson Valley folktales that followed are part of an early trend to respond to the national desire for a historical record. Funk argues that these works uniquely describe this part of the American scene in the period of the Early Republic and bring forward the Dutch strain in its history and culture. Funk explores what the young Irving would have read, heard, and observed during his early life and career in New York City, once part of the former colony of New Netherland, where he was surrounded by Dutch-speaking neighbors, relatives, and Dutch literature. Based on these sources, The Dutch World of Washington Irving argues that Irving's Knickerbocker works-not only his History but also his Hudson Valley stories-represent a crucial effort to preserve Dutch life and folk customs in the Hudson Valley in the face of Anglo-Americanization. Providing the first complete glossary of Irving's Dutch vocabulary and drawing on untranslated Dutch sources, Funk offers cultural historians, scholars of American folklore and literature, and the latest generation of Irving's readers unprecedented access into the Dutch world of Washington Irving and his American contemporaries.

A thoroughgoing look into a rare case where the eugenics movement "failed" in spite of its power in the United States and around the world--while still wielding a toxic influence--Phillips and Friauf's work offers insight into the history of the LGBTQ community, abortion, and immigration policies in Texas, and persuasively argues that the long arc of eugenics history has helped shaped contemporary politics in the Lone Star State.

Volume 1 depicts the origins of the society and its objectives, cultural context, and expanding importance in American art history. The essays that follow focus on the contributions of the society's founding members: Joseph H. Sharp, E. Irving Couse, Bert G. Phillips, Ernest L. Blumenschein, Oscar E. Berninghaus, and W. Herbert Dunton. Volume 2 explores the achievements of six other prominent artists who joined the society, as well as its associate and honorary members. The volume concludes with a detailed chronology of relevant events from 1850 to 1966.

The thirty-three oral history in this collection reflect the character of Nantucket and represent an important aspect of the Island's legacy.

Through local indigenous traditions and supporting findings by natural science, authors David Fadden and Curt Stager expose, document, and honor the long human presence in the Adirondacks, helping not only to redefine what it means to be an Adirondacker, but also contributing to a more complete understanding of America itself.

"Starting with a brief history of western naval medical care from the ancient Greeks and proceeding to modern times, this book chronicles the evolution of the Navy's first West Coast hospital, the Mare Island Naval Hospital, as it grew from a "palatial" but primitive facility in the 1860s to the Navy's premier amputee center for Marines and sailors returning from the brutal Pacific war. Located in the Navy's largest California shipyard, the hospital benefited from healthful California weather that permitted creation of a tent hospital to care for Spanish flu victims. Navy Yard engineering and mechanical skills helped create the Navy's first ambulance boats, and in World War II, the best limb prostheses available. Hospital commanders skillfully balanced their obligations as naval officers and as physicians to provide the best possible care for their charges. Damaged by the 1898 Mare Island earthquake, the original structure was replaced. The facility grew over time as structures representing new medical knowledge--laboratory science, neuropsychiatry, infectious diseases, internal medicine, the famous "brace shop"--came on line. Despite concerns that its proximity to the Navy Yard's industrial complex could lead to inadvertent (or intentional) bombing in wartime, at its peak, the hospital's 23 structures covered 48 acres and accommodated about 2,300 patients. This complete history of the Mare Island Naval Hospital draws heavily on primary sources and provides a detailed picture of this pivotal hospital."--

This first-of-its-kind compilation shines a spotlight on all fifty designated National Historic Landmarks in Texas, combining accessible history with travel information to guide further exploration.

Campaigning for Edinburgh tells the story of the Cockburn Association - the city's civic watchdog, which, since 1875, has campaigned to protect and enhance. It shows how citizen involvement can, and should, be key to the planning, development and management of places. The book also looks forward, imagining what the city might be like in 2049.

A celebration of Edinburgh's individual and often strange history - from eccentric characters to odd events and places

For years Robert Newton Baskin (1837-1918) may have been the most hated man in Utah. Yet his promotion of federal legislation against polygamy in the late 1800s and his work to bring the Mormon territory into a republican form of government were pivotal in Utah's achievement of statehood. The results of his efforts also contributed to the acceptance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the American public. In this engaging biography--the first full-length analysis of the man--author John Gary Maxwell presents Baskin as the unsung father of modern Utah. As Maxwell shows, Baskin's life was defined by conflict and paradox.

A comprehensive, first-of-its-kind book about Chicago’s residential architecture and the stories that shaped it. This is an entertaining and precisely illustrated story of Chicago homes from the city’s earliest days through the postwar era, revealing everything about what makes a home a Chicago home. A city famous for its architecture—and for arguing with New Yorkers about who built it first and best—now has a definitive guide to the unique housing types and styles that have inspired so much devotion. This book is for curious Chicagoans and visitors alike—anyone who’s ever wondered how to spot a Foursquare or where to find Italianate homes from before the Great Chicago Fire.Why are Chicago’s lots so narrow? How many Chicagoans built homes from a kit? What exactly is a “greystone”? The authors combine their decades of experience in historic preservation and illustration to create an evergreen resource that Chicagoans and visitors will turn to for answers to these and other questions about the city’s neighborhoods and the homes its citizens live in, visit, and admire.