During the twentieth century, technological developments meant that the temperature of ovens could, at long last, be exactly regulated. As a result, the old terminology for oven temperatures had to be translated - but not every cookbook or recipe got around to that. Some, however, provided helpful information on how to determine oven temperature. Here's … Continue reading Oven Temperature Guide
Author: historylive
More vintage cooking pamphlets
Acquired at the Brimfield Antique Show today! First up, from 1918, the Ryzon Baking Book by Marion Harris Neil. This is an unusual item - a hardcover, with color illustrations inside. Here's the cover (click for larger version): It also provides this very helpful image explaining how Ryzon's activity level measures up to "other" baking … Continue reading More vintage cooking pamphlets
More politics & the War of 1812
Connecticut was not the only New England state to object to the Federal government's war plans and activities. Recently I found, in that batch of correspondence of Connecticut's Gov. Smith (and held in the collections of the Connecticut Historical Society), a longhand copy of the Rhode Island General Assembly's committee report and resolution on the … Continue reading More politics & the War of 1812
U.S. History Standards (K-12)
I'm not a K-12 teacher, but I teach people who went through those grades. And that means the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's report on U.S. history standards across the country is really depressing to me, too. From the executive summary: A majority of states’ standards are mediocre-to-awful. The average grade across all states is barely … Continue reading U.S. History Standards (K-12)
Manners & the 19th Century
More on reading War of 1812 documents - even (especially?) in writing, these gentlemen had very nice manners. But that doesn't mean they couldn't cut to the bone with a few well-chosen remarks. Consider this July 14, 1812 letter from Secretary of War William Eustis to Lt. Governor John Cotton Smith (CT): The absence of … Continue reading Manners & the 19th Century
Politics & the War of 1812
The more I look into the War of 1812, the more I suspect that one of the reasons it's been neglected by historians is that it torpedoes the pleasant image of a post-Revolutionary nation that was happily united except for the slavery thing. Certain documents I'm examining indicate rather strongly that the states may have … Continue reading Politics & the War of 1812
Kristen Noble Keegan, Historical Geographer 