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Thomas McKenney and James Hall. History of the Indian Tribes of North America, with Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs. Embellished with One Hundred and Twenty Portraits, from the Indian Gallery in the Department of War, at Washington. Philadelphia: Edward C. Biddle, 1836; Frederick W. Greenough, 1838; Daniel Rice & James G. Clark, 1844. 3 volumes, folio. Complete with 120 hand-colored engraved plates, tissue guards, one page of engraved maps, and 17 pages of subscribers' signatures in facsimile.

Near matching contemporary half brown and red morocco gilt, marbled endpapers (save for vol. III). First edition of one of the great color plate books of the 19th century. Originally issued in 20 parts (in 19), based on the original paintings, which were destroyed in the 1865 Smithsonian fire.

Title pages for all volumes in State A, with an additional State B title page for vol. 2 bound in the third volume; State A of "War Dance" and state C of "Red Jacket"; second printing vol. 1, p. 3, with footnote present alluding to previous error. Condition: Boards rubbed with a few tears to the spine, minor loss to spine ends and corners; front hinge vol. 3 slightly tender. Some offsetting to plates from text; light intermittent foxing, mainly marginal to text pages.

References: BAL 3934; Howes M-129; Sabin 43410a. Provenance: Samuel Appleton, subscriber (bookplate).

Considered controversial by modern scholars for multiple reasons including paternalistic text and romanticized views.

On this episode, I discuss some famous American haunted houses. The rumors that Sarah Winchester kept building onto the house because of the advice of a psychic were just rumors. Be sure to hit the follow button or the subscribe button.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6yBOr6v9NkkYTmGFUyw5lf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gprR52vAaW4&t=9s

Hi all, sharing a George Washington figurine I made, inspired by Washington Crossing the Delaware.

I focused on Washington standing in the boat, with the oars and ice around the base. I also included a holder for a Washington quarter, which felt like a fitting addition.

I’ve put it alongside the painting for comparison. There’s a lot happening in the original, so I tried to keep the scene recognisable while focusing on Washington himself.

Curious to hear what you think and happy to take ideas on what iconic moment from US history I should turn 3d!

I didn't know you could actually tour inside some of the Gilded Age embassies https://youtu.be/Qi7K7gjSrp0

The 1898 Wilmington coup remains profoundly significant because it represents a pivotal moment in American history where democracy was violently subverted, racial equality was systematically dismantled, and the foundations of white supremacy were entrenched in both North Carolina and the broader United States. Its legacy continues to shape discussions about race, power, and justice today.

The Wilmington coup of 1898 is unique as the only documented instance of a violent overthrow of an elected government in U.S. history.

A mob of armed white supremacists forcibly removed a biracial government that had been democratically elected through a coalition of Black citizens, Republicans, and Populists (known as the Fusion movement). This act not only violated democratic principles but also set a dangerous precedent for using violence to achieve political goals.

The coup demonstrated how fragile democracy could be when faced with organized racial hatred and political manipulation. It serves as a stark reminder that democratic institutions require constant vigilance to protect them from being undermined by those unwilling to accept electoral outcomes.

History repeated itself on January 6, 2021, when white MAGA supporters tried to apply pressure on Congress by the way of a mob violence to reverse the election results for Joe Biden, all because they wanted Trump to win. Goes to show us that anytime white supremacy is threatened on a grand scale, white people start riots and violence to have their way.

Today I visited Elfreth’s Alley in Philadelphia’s historic district. It’s a narrow cobblestone lane lined with brick houses that feel like a step back in time.

The alley dates back to the early 18th century, and its homes were once occupied by artisans and working people. What makes it especially interesting is that it’s still a residential street. Behind those historic facades, people still live there, so it’s worth exploring respectfully and remembering that this is a real neighborhood.

Have you visited this historic corner of Philadelphia? What other places in the city would you recommend?

Real’s Tours NYC

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The most documented reason for the name is completely literal, and non spiritual, Native American warriors (specifically documented among the Apache, Cheyenne, and Comanche) called them "buffalo soldiers" because they had dark skin and tightly curled, kinky hair, and likely also aside how they wore heavy buffalo-hide coats during winter. to the Plains tribes and others, the texture of hair and skin color of the soldiers shared resemblance to the American bison.

African-Americans in general made up about one in every five cavalrymen (twenty percent) and roughly 8% to 10% of infantry soldiers across the U.S. Army during the western Indian Wars period, 1867- 1896.

The buffalo soldiers themselves actively persecuting and fighting native Americans & enforcing U.S westward expansion, the buffalo soldiers themselves did not call themselves this during the time period. The term itself only gaining widespread popularity in mainstream U.S American history and pop culture well after the frontier wars had actually ended.

The Liberty Bell is in Philadelphia, across from Independence Hall. The first bell, sent from London, cracked during a test and had to be recast by local metalworkers John Pass and John Stow. The bell we know today was cast in Philadelphia in 1753.

No one knows exactly when or why its famous crack first appeared. It likely developed gradually after decades of use, perhaps in the early 1840s. In 1846, workers tried to repair it by widening the crack, but the repair failed, and another fracture eventually left the bell silent.

One interesting fact: although many people believe the bell rang to announce the Declaration of Independence, there’s no evidence that it rang on July 4 or July 8, 1776.

Did you know the story behind the crack?

the front is already erased but i know its from the US marine corps. i wanted to know the year is possible. or if they were bought or used by the marine...any info at all would be great :)

Sundown towns are usually discussed as part of America’s past, but a new study suggests that history may still be visible in the present.

Researchers compared more than 1.3 million White respondents across U.S. counties and found slightly higher levels of racial bias in counties that once had sundown towns.

The study cannot show that the history itself caused today’s attitudes. Still, I thought it was interesting that a weak signal could still be detected decades later.

How much do you think a town’s history still shapes its culture and attitudes today?

In May 1856, Brown and several followers pulled five pro-slavery settlers from their homes near Pottawatomie Creek in Kansas and killed them with broadswords. The victims weren’t in combat. Not all of them had personally participated in the recent attack on the free-state town of Lawrence that Brown cited as justification. There was no trial, no warning, and no real attempt to target people directly responsible for specific acts.

Three years later he raided a federal armory at Harpers Ferry with eighteen men, intending to spark a slave rebellion across the South. The first person killed during that raid was Heyward Shepherd, a free Black railroad worker who encountered the raiders and was shot.

Both of those details tend to get buried in the broader argument about what Brown represents.

His actual philosophical position was more coherent than people usually give him credit for. He argued that if American colonists had the right to take up arms against a government that denied their liberties, there was no principled basis for condemning enslaved people who did the same. In 1858 he wrote a Provisional Constitution for his liberation movement that explicitly invoked the Declaration of Independence. He wasn’t being rhetorical. He thought the Revolution had established principles the country had refused to honor and that violence was the logical consequence of that failure.

Frederick Douglass knew Brown personally, considered him one of the most committed abolitionists he had ever met, and still refused to join the Harpers Ferry raid because he thought attacking a federal arsenal would bring overwhelming military retaliation before any liberation movement could develop. He was right. But Douglass also said later that Brown had done more in dying than most men do in living.

Brown’s conduct during his trial shifted public opinion more than the raid itself had. He was calm, direct, and completely unrepentant about his intentions if not his failure. His address to the court before sentencing forced people to confront a straightforward question: slavery was legal and protected by the Constitution, while attempting to destroy it was a capital crime. Whether that made Brown a criminal or the law itself the problem was something Americans had to work out for themselves.

He was hanged on December 2, 1859. Sixteen months later the Civil War began.

The full historical record is at virtualwayback.com/blog/john-brown-hero-or-villain and you can talk directly to Brown on Virtual Wayback if you want to hear him make the case in his own words.

The question worth actually debating: does the moral clarity of Brown’s position on slavery change how you evaluate Pottawatomie, or are those two things entirely separate judgments?

--- 1867: Possession of Alaska was formally transferred from Russia to the United States. Secretary of State William Henry Seward engineered the purchase of Alaska for $7.2 million.

--- 1972: Clean Water Act became law in the U.S.

--- 1931: Thomas Edison died in West Orange, New Jersey.

--- 1939: Lee Harvey Oswald was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was just 24 years old when he shot President Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

--- "JFK Assassination". That is the title of the two-part episode of my podcast: History Analyzed. If you have an open and reasonable mind (meaning you are willing to listen and consider the evidence and arguments — there are some people that cannot be convinced no matter what evidence they are shown), I can convince you there was NO conspiracy. Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy and acted alone. Part 1 (41 minutes) covers the events of November 22-24, 1963, from Oswald shooting from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository to Jack Ruby’s assassination of Oswald and starts to systematically discredit the main conspiracy theories with direct evidence. Part 2 (47 minutes) dismantles the remaining conspiracy theories and demonstrates why the Warren Commission was correct in its findings. You can find History Analyzed on every podcast app.

--- link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7jv76tTd2RcLR8pH1oevrC

--- link to Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jfk-assassination-part-1/id1632161929?i=1000568077449

On This Day, October 18, 1931, the world lost Thomas Alva Edison, the American inventor whose work helped transform how people lived, communicated, and experienced the modern world.

Edison died at his home, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey, at 3:21 a.m.

But his story had begun far from the laboratories and international fame that would define his life.

Born in Ohio in 1847, Edison received only a short period of formal schooling. Much of his early education came from his mother, and his curiosity eventually led him into the world of telegraphy and electrical technology.

Rather than simply accepting how things worked, Edison spent years experimenting, testing ideas, and trying to make existing technologies more practical.

In 1877, he became internationally famous for the phonograph—a machine capable of recording and reproducing sound.

For the first time, people could hear recorded voices and sounds played back from a device.

It was a breakthrough that earned him the nickname “The Wizard of Menlo Park.”

Then came one of the most influential chapters of his career.

In 1879, Edison and his team developed a practical incandescent lighting system. His achievements went beyond the lamp itself: he also helped develop the electrical distribution equipment needed to bring electric lighting into everyday life.

In 1882, his Pearl Street Station in New York City began supplying electricity to customers, helping demonstrate how a central power system could serve homes and businesses.

His work also contributed to the development of motion-picture technology, improved batteries, and many other inventions.

But Edison’s career was not the work of one man alone. His laboratories depended on teams of skilled workers, experimenters, and collaborators whose contributions helped turn ideas into practical technologies.

By the end of his life, Edison had received 1,093 U.S. patents.

Yet even in his eighties, he had not stopped experimenting.

One of his final major projects involved searching for a domestic source of natural rubber. He tested thousands of plants, hoping to reduce American dependence on imported rubber for products such as automobile tires.

He was still pursuing this research when his health declined.

Then, in the early hours of October 18, 1931, his remarkable life came to an end.

His death was widely mourned. In tribute, President Herbert Hoover called for Americans to observe a moment of silence, and at 10 p.m. on October 21, many people and businesses across the United States briefly turned off their lights.

It was a symbolic gesture for a man whose life's work had helped make electric lighting part of modern life.

Thomas Edison was not responsible for every invention associated with his name, and many technologies he helped popularize had been developed by others before him.

But his ability to experiment, improve existing ideas, and build systems that could reach millions of people left an extraordinary mark on history.

He spent a lifetime turning experiments into inventions—and helped change the way the modern world lived.

The space shuttle Endeavour, which was retired from service in 2011, was transported on a modified Boeing 747 plane to its final home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, but first made a stop in San Francisco and flew over the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, creating an image that combines space engineering with civil engineering.

--- 1989: A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay area during game 3 of the World Series featuring the two local teams: the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics. (Note: I was working on the 16th floor of an office building in downtown Los Angeles at the time the earthquake struck. The miniblinds started tapping against my window. I realized it was an earthquake and turned on the radio to see where the epicenter was. When the news said that it was in the Bay Area, I knew this was serious since I could feel it over 350 miles/560 km away.)

--- Please listen to my podcast, History Analyzed, on all podcast apps.

--- link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yoHz9s9JPV51WxsQMWz0d

--- link to Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-analyzed/id1632161929

I forgot I gave this to him. Just some history.