History Commons^™

Self-Promotion Saturday, Ken Pomeranz

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

“Self-promotion Saturday?” My mother would be appalled, but times (and media cultures) change, and I do have a few things that might be of interest to China Beat readers. In addition to co-editing China in 2008 (which regular visitors to this site might possibly have heard of), I have another co-edited volume that came out this spring, and another book I edited has just come this summer.

The spring volume is The Environment and World History, 1500-2000 (UC Press), co-edited with Edmund Burke III; it includes both regional essays (I did the one on China), and topical ones (on energy …

Irene H. Boykin

African American Funeral Programs

No abstract provided.

Delafield Baptist Church - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 266), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 266. Record books (3) of Delafield Baptist Church from 12 December 1893 to 21 October 1914. Entries consist chiefly of church business meetings.

Farmer, James E. (Sc 1696), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1696. Paper: "River Transportation in Kentucky" written by James E. Farmer for a Western Kentucky State Teachers College class. He writes about the history and economic benefits of Kentucky's rivers.

Witten, Tempie Jane (Bell), 1901-1985 (Mss 261), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 261. Correspondence, chiefly genealogical related; family files; research materials about Grayson County, Kentucky schools, churches, businesses, history, and personalities. Also includes items related to Witten's long career as a teacher in Grayson County schools.

Reading Round-Up

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

To start, a few pieces not related to the events in Xinjiang:

1. “Edge of the American West,” a history/philosophy academic group blog, ran a piece today by David Silbey titled, “Death Preparatory to Resurrection [Boxers, July 13-16, 1900]” that reflects on Western media coverage during that time of the supposed massacre of foreigners in Beijing (later proven to be false):

This was the week that the westerners besieged in the embassies in Beijing died. They would be reborn again quite quickly, but for several days in the middle of July the world was firmly convinced that they had all …

Golden L. Martin

African American Funeral Programs

No abstract provided.

The Xinjiang Riots: Tried Paradigms, Fresh Tensions, James Leibold

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

The mainstream media, both Western and Chinese, seem to be struggling to make sense of the deadly riots that broke out in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi last week. Well-worn explanations on both sides have largely failed to grasp the complexities behind this new, unprecedented wave of mass communal violence in China. Not since the dying days of the Manchu Qing empire has China witnessed this sort of spontaneous ethnically-based violence.

With initial headlines like “Chinese riot police, Muslims clash in northwestern city,” “China in deadly crackdown after Uighurs go on the rampage,” and “Uighurs cling to life in People’s …

Baird, Thomas Henry, 1933-2009 (Sc 1945), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1945. Letters written by Thomas Henry Baird to his wife, Nancy Disher Baird, Cherry Point, North Carolina, discussing his service as a physician on a navy vessel on a mission to several African nations.

Guthrie, James Berry, 1907-1984 (Sc 1946), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1946. Letters to James B. Guthrie, Scottsville, Allen County, Kentucky, about his military service in the U.S. Army; includes a recruitment flyer for the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Ada News - 07/13/2009, American Dental Association, Publishing Division

ADA News

Established in 1970 as the official newspaper of the American Dental Association, the ADA News serves practicing dentists and others allied to the dental profession in the U.S. and internationally. It is the No. 1 source of news and information about the many benefits and services the ADA delivers to members daily as well as timely information on scientific, social, political and economic developments affecting dentistry and health care.

Bell, Charles R., 1891-1976 (Sc 1951), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1951. Correspondence related to the selection of Kelly Thompson as president of Western Kentucky State College (now WKU) in 1955.

Helm, John Blakey, 1889-1979 (Sc 1983), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1983. Letter, 4 February 1937, from John Blakey Helm, Louisville, Kentucky, to his brother Harold Holmes Helm in New York City, describing the effects of the 1937 flood on Louisville and relief efforts.

Fabulous Finals At Wimbledon, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It’s been a week now since the finals were played at Wimbledon. On the women’s side the Williams sisters once again demonstrated to their opponents just how difficult it will be to win a tournament during which both of them are playing their normal game. On the men’s side Roger Federer entered the history books by winning his 15th Grand Slam event. As always Wimbledon offered a level of play that was memorable, and laid down new bench marks for high quality play and then reset the argumentative territory for the title “best Wimbledon match of all-time,” or at the …

Simpson, Sarah (Middleton), 1903-1987 (Sc 1939), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1939. Cassette tape "Vines and Branches" in which Sarah (Middleton) Simpson relates some Middleton and Simpson family history for her grandchildren.

Walking Box Ranch Planning And Design Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending July 10, 2009, Margaret N. Rees

Walking Box Ranch

• UNLV participated in the 100% Design Concept Plan meeting, June 10-12, 2009 at the BLM Las Vegas Field Office and Walking Box Ranch (WBR), and provided comments toward proposed concepts for the museum and field, research, and training center at Walking Box Ranch.
• A request for funding for road construction and repair at WBR was submitted to NDOT (6/24/09).
• UNLV participated in the following meetings related to the search for renewable energy funding for the ranch: ARRA Implementation Workshop sponsored by Senator Reid (4/16); UNLV Stimulus Funding Workshop (4/17), Renewable energy meeting with UNLV engineering faculty (4/21), Harry Reid Center …

Harris, Hilary (Fa 461), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 461. DVD: "Circle of Friends: Life and Times of Girls Scouts" produced by Hilary Harris for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

U.S. President Barack Obama And Pope Benedict Xvi, Antigua Post Office

Rodney Lawrence Hurst, Sr. Stamp Collection

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican,, Antigua & Barbuda, sheet of one stamp. The President Obama International Stamp Collection.

Reading Round-Up

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Little bits and pieces from around the web…

1. In case you missed it, David Brooks wrote a column about China in The New York Times last week. In it, he details two perspectives on China’s future presented at the Aspen Ideas Festival. On the one hand,

The agent provocateur was Niall Ferguson of Harvard. China and the U.S., he argued, used to have a symbiotic relationship and formed a tightly integrated unit that he calls Chimerica… During the first few years of the 21st century, Chimerica worked great. This unit accounted for about a quarter of the world’s G.D.P. …

Obenchain, Lida (Calvert), 1856-1935 (Sc 1692), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1692. Letter, 9 March 1922, from Lida (Calvert) Obenchain, Dallas, Texas to high school student Pearl Lowe, Bowling Green, Kentucky providing information for a paper Lowe was writing about Obenchain. Includes some biographical information about Lowe.

Lanthorn, Vol. 44, No. 01, July 8, 2009, Grand Valley State University

Volume 44, July 8, 2009 - June 10, 2010

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present. The Lanthorn, Vol. 44 No. 2 is missing.

Though The Candles Flicker Red, Jonathan Tel

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Jonathan Tel’s collection of stories, The Beijing of Possibilities, was released last month. China Beat ran an earlier selection, “Year of the Gorilla,” in March 2009. Tel’s previous publications include Arafat’s Elephant and Freud’s Alphabet. You can learn more about The Beijing of Possibilities at the website of Other Press.

Blame it on the Olympics. The authorities are trying to clean up the city, give it a new face. Let’s fool tourists and athletes into thinking it’s always been like this. Street performers of all kinds, they’re swept out of sight. Not that they vanish, they relocate to the outskirts, …

Womi (Radio Station) - Owensboro, Kentucky (Sc 1943), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1943. Program Verification card sent from WOMI, Owensboro, Kentucky to Harold Gentry, Haworth, Oklahoma.

We Latter-Day Saints Are Methodists: The Influence Of Methodism On Early Mormon Religiosity, Christopher C. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Historians have long noted Joseph Smith's early interest in Methodism. Demographic studies of early Mormon converts have demonstrated further that many of those attracted to the Mormon message on both sides of the Atlantic came from Methodist backgrounds. These two points, and the many similarities between Methodist and Mormon beliefs and practices, have led many scholars to suggest that Smith's church was influenced by the Methodists who joined the movement. This thesis explores the Methodist backgrounds of those Methodists who converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1830, when Joseph Smith formally organized his church(originally called …

Porter, Elvis Hines, 1850-1935 (Sc 1950), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1950. Reference letter written by staff members of the "Bowling Green Democrat" for Elvis Hines Porter.

Is Russia Having Second Thoughts About Inviting Obama?, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

Sexton, Alma Lorene (Smith), 1922-2002 (Sc 1947), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1947. Letter, 2 December 1943, written by Alma Lorene Sexton, Siloam, Greenup County, Kentucky to her husband Earl Sexton who is in military service during World War II. She discusses Thanksgiving and expresses her concern for her husband's hygiene.

Watson, Robert Clark, 1914-1987 (Sc 1940), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1940. "History of the Watson Family" by Robert Clark Watson; also relates some local history of Summer Shade, Metcalfe County, Kentucky.

Underwood, John Cox, 1840-1913 (Sc 1938), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1938. Letter, 25 March 1900, from John Cox Underwood, New York City, to Charles S. Sweet, Chicago related to a missed appointment with Robert Todd Lincoln; letter is on stationery of the Confederate Memorial Association.

Pioneer Cemetery - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 1949), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1949. Correspondence and a news clipping related to the use of tombstones in a proposed sidewalk at Pioneer Cemetery, Bowling Green, Kentucky.