history

history

Women in Protest Music

Women in Protest Music

, , Research
Women have played an integral role in American protest for the last 100 years, from raising their voices for equality to securing rights for themselves and others.  While the earliest women’s protest songs were written primarily by men, women have taken over as songwriters and have produced some of the most important protest music in American recorded history. Here is a profile of six of these remarkable performers, who come from a variety of backgrounds, religions and regions of the country.  United Mine Songwriters: Florence Reece and Aunt Molly Jackson Mining has always been dangerous work, made even more so by a lack of safety controls and, more importantly, dismal pay (sometimes not in cash but scrip, which undercut miners’ … Continued
Early American protest music

Early American protest music

, , Research
What’s a protest song? According to musicologist David King Dunaway, a protest song functions more as a mode for a message, rather than a distinct art form itself.  “It is not popular music… it is not per se folk music…the field of political music includes everything from an electoral song of the 1730s to a punk-rock protest of the 1980s,” he observed in 1987. That means there are a lot of different songs that qualify as protest songs, and we’ll take a brief look at some of the very earliest American protest songs ever written. Yankee Doodle Written around 1755 by a British doctor, Richard Schuckburgh, “Yankee Doodle” has a rather interesting and perhaps unintentionally hilarious history. Although an author … Continued
Graves: lost and found

Graves: lost and found

, , Frances Yates, Jesse Whitton, outreach, Uncategorized
Photographing graves that family and others have not visited due to time, location, or other factors is currently a focused extension of the Home is History: Dead Tell Tales project. For Graves: Lost and Found, IU East Assistant Archivist Jesse Whitton is visiting cemeteries throughout the counties IU East serves, and fulfilling requests for photographs that are posted at Find a Grave. The idea for Graves: Lost and Found developed from Jesse’s collaboration with IU East library director and Home is History project coordinator Frances Yates, along with Union County Middle School English teacher Emily Snyder. Jesse assisted 8th grade students with locating graves that have had photo requests via Find-A-Grave. Despite not knowing section numbers and there being 4,647 … Continued
Celebrating family history

Celebrating family history

, , Frances Yates, Library Resources
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution in 2001 to establish October as Family History Month. In the FamilySearch blog “Why We Need Family History Now More Than Ever” Rachel Coleman explains that “Knowing our cultural background and where we came from can help us develop a strong sense of who we really are. The way we relate to our family stories and create our own narratives about ourselves helps establish our unique, authentic core identity.” She also discusses the benefits of family history sharing in terms of connection, resilience, selflessness and self-worth. FamilySearch.org is the largest free genealogical database in the world, containing more than 3 billion names. In addition to research, they offer an option to create a free … Continued
Independent but Intertwined

Independent but Intertwined

, Library Resources, Matt Dilworth
On July 4th, Americans celebrate our Independence Day, and the anniversary of our declaration of ‘no more rule by redcoats’.  At the time – a mere 245 years ago – the United States and Great Britain were bitter enemies.  But today, there is a ‘Special Relationship’ between the two, and both affirm the other as their most important foreign ally.  What would become the United States was hardly the only territory that chafed under the rule of the British Empire.  The peoples of Ireland, India, China, Apartheid South Africa, Aborigines in Australia, and more had grievences with the Crown.  Immediately after the Revolutionary War, average Americans viewed Great Britain as synonymous with everything bad in the world, and vice versa.  … Continued