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History at home

With all the great liberal arts-focused content available online from vetted sources, it’s not difficult to put together a decent learning plan to supplement your school’s online curriculum. This page pulls together themed mini-courses focused on history, literature, culture and the arts that include readings and activities that you can…Continue reading “History at home”

25Feb 201527 Feb 2015

Why Clio?

One of the great things about the ancient Greco-Roman religion was that there was a god or goddess for everyone. Like hunting?…

History from home

COVID-19 has closed schools and canceled summer camps and left kids and parents to our own resources. The kids in my life are just finishing up 10th and 8th grades…

Personal Day History Playlist

25 Jan 201925 Jan 2019

Took a personal day today and ended up You Tubing way more than I should have. Here are some of the fun, history-themed spots I watched. Getting dressed in the…

My Transcendental Summer, Part 1

13 Jun 201623 May 2020

God, I love the Transcendentalists. Or at least I love reading about them. The key word there is about, since with the exception of Thoreau's Walden, I find it tough going…

Playlists from the Past: Check out the National Jukebox!

16 Jul 201516 Jul 2015

The Library of Congress' National Jukebox preserves historical recordings and serves them up to the public over the web free of charge. Their 10,000 recordings from the Victor label made…

Gloves Off: Vintage baseball offers a look at the past of the great American past time

15 Jul 201516 Jul 2015

"And it's ONE! TWO! THREE! strikes you're out"...or maybe not. Turns out that a strike wasn't always a strike, as we know it. Catchers wore scarlet. Uniforms included a tie and…

Madison Early Music Festival 2015: Because who doesn’t like a medieval Balkan dance party?

15 Jul 201515 Jul 2015

The 2015 Madison Early Music Festival is in full swing now at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Free lectures and events, concerts at a cost and music such as most…

Art…

Dancing in the Sheets: Multi-Layered Art of Old Sheet Music

About a century ago the American composer John Phillip Sousa lashed out against a disturbing new technological phenomenon that was invading the American home: the Phonograph. "The time is coming…

Pets

George Washington, Dog Lover: In Search of the Colonial Canine

25 Feb 201516 Jul 2015

There have been many famous First Pets. Fala. Checkers. Socks the Cat. Abraham Lincoln had a pet turkey. The Theodore Roosevelts had a badger. Many presidents kept cows at the…