As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand. Josh Billings I am reflecting on a statement I recall from the Re...

There are books that I start over and over again, always returning them to the shelf before getting far. There are many reasons for this beh...

Wits may laugh at our fondness for molasses, and we ought all to join in the laugh with as much good humor as General Lincoln did. General ...

A constant pleasure of history are the little stories that pop out while reading primary sources. Often distracting from the purpose that ...

As a student, I railed against textbooks and lectures. I wanted primary sources, strong monographs, discussion and debate. In addition to le...

In January 2011, I posted " Young's Cauldron ." These brief two paragraphs were written in a few minutes during lunch a couple...

There is plenty of public discussion concerning global climate change, and yet some historical data does not seem readily accessible. Recent...

Poking around in a sale bin at my neighborhood grocery store, I found a four DVD set of documentaries: Vietnam: America's Conflict (Mil...

Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy. Attributed to Benjamin Franklin There are plenty of references to beer in Benjamin...

[B]ehold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People--a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance...

 Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they spent several weeks exploring Cape Cod. On this day in 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt visi...

Read this entry in a primary source that was reprinted in the Oregon Historical Quarterly many years ago: 11 February 1836 [I]n complia...

Oregon in the 1830s was not a wholly lawless frontier, but with joint occupation by the United States and by England, and with a small non-I...

Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury under President George Washington, might be termed the father of the national debt. He suggest...