Anniversaries and Old Photographs

Diamond Comic Distributors celebrated its 40th-anniversary today. And, even though the office doesn’t have many people working out of it right now due to COVID, the office was decorated for the day with signs. There was even a banner at the main entrance. I hadn’t been out the doors into the main lobby since MarchContinue reading “Anniversaries and Old Photographs”

Adventures in Off-Brand LEGO: The Laser Pegs Aircraft

Friday! The end of a long week of deadline after deadline, deadlines that hurt me physically Tuesday and Wednesday, with one more deadline and one more project to do. So, I walked into the office building, stepped off the elevator, and was greeted by… At least it was National Donut Day, and even if IContinue reading “Adventures in Off-Brand LEGO: The Laser Pegs Aircraft”

Revisiting the Washington That Never Was

You haven’t lived until you’ve digitally clipped mid-19th-century cursive from a scan of a faded and dirty print. This is B.F. Smith’s landscape of Washington, showing projected improvements in the capital city — the Washington Monument, a stone bridge across the Washington City Canal — from 1852. I found this on the Library of CongressContinue reading “Revisiting the Washington That Never Was”

The Washington That Never Was

While looking through the Library of Congress’ website yesterday, I found this vintage 1852 image of Washington, DC, done by the same company that did the map of Baltimore of 1868. “Oh, wow,” I said. “This is cool. There’s the Smithsonian Castle, designed by James Renwick. There’s Trinity Episcopal, also designed by Renwick. There’s theContinue reading “The Washington That Never Was”

My Armistice 100 Adventure

In mid-September it dawned on me that November 11, 2018 would mark the 100th-anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I. Intellectually, as an historian, I knew this. I knew it in the same way that I know that water freezes at 32 degrees and objects fall to the earth at 32 feet perContinue reading “My Armistice 100 Adventure”

One World, One Sky

A few weeks ago, I attended the open house at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Air and Space Museum at Dulles. As part of the open house, people were allowed to go into various restoration areas where they show how they conserve and restore various materials, including things like John Glenn’s Mercury capsule, wings andContinue reading “One World, One Sky”