An American History of the Marble Relief Sculptures from Sicily

1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 55-59
Author(s):  
Susan Vicinelli
Keyword(s):  
American History ◽  
History Of

Novel Approaches for Assessing the Preservation of Historic Silks: A Case Study of the First Ladies' Gowns

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Becker ◽  
Noreen Tuross
Keyword(s):  
American History ◽  
The United States ◽  
National Museum ◽  
First Ladies ◽  
Current Conservation ◽  
Unique Challenge ◽  
Conservation Project ◽  
The Arts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Friable natural products are often used in articles of personal adornment, and the perishable nature of these materials presents a unique challenge to museums. At the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, a collection of gowns worn by the First Ladies of the United States is a popular display of historical and sentimental import. Opened to the public on February 1, 1914, fifteen gowns were displayed as part of a “Period Costumes“ exhibit in the U.S. National Museum (now known as the Arts and Industries Building). Within just a few years, the exhibit was recognized as “one of the most interesting and popular in the Museum.” A First Ladies' Hall was created in the mid-1950s to exhibit the gown collection in period room settings. This design theme continued when the Hall moved to the Museum of American History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History) in 1964. The First Ladies' Hall was closed for renovation in 1987, allowing the curatorial staff to reassess the collection's use and conservators to perform long overdue examinations and treatments. Reinstallation of the exhibit is scheduled for spring 1992.The First Ladies' conservation project includes a history of each gown's use and exhibition as related to its physical condition and also includes stabilization treatments to meet the demands of future display. The current conservation project provided an unusual opportunity for extensive research into fabric deterioration of a popular and important collection. The goals of the research are twofold: first, to determine each object's state of preservation by studying the effectivenss of several analytical approaches with minimal destructive sampling and, second, to begin investigating the mechanisms involved in the degradation of silk, the material predominant in this collection.

What Does Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) Do?

2020 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
pp. 542-545
Author(s):  
Jean M. O’Brien
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
American History ◽  
Critical Appraisal ◽  
Indigenous Studies ◽  
Native American History ◽  
Lively Discussion ◽  
King Philip's War ◽  
Indigenous History ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
History Of

Abstract David Silverman offers a critical appraisal of two prizewinning works in Native American and Indigenous studies (NAIS), Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, by Lisa Brooks, and Memory Lands: King Philip’s War and the Place of Violence in the Northeast, by Christine M. DeLucia. Silverman’s review treats the methodology associated with NAIS with some skepticism, offering the opportunity for a lively discussion about the merits and perils of community-engaged history scholarship. Four scholars of Native American history, including DeLucia, respond, defending new approaches to Indigenous history represented by these recent works.

scholarly journals The Need for an Established Senate Rule on Election-Year and Lame Duck Session Supreme Court Nominations

2021 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Jacob Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
American History ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Presidential Campaign ◽  
Look Back ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lame Duck ◽  
Explicit Rule

In 2016, the Republican-held Senate refused to hold a hearing on President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, sparking outrage among the Democratic Party. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell justified his party’s actions based on what became known as the “McConnell Rule.” This controversial rule holds that during years of presidential elections, when the president and the Senate majority are of different parties, the Senate is not expected to confirm the president’s Supreme Court nominees; but, when the president and Senate majority are of the same party, vacancies may be filled. When the Senate applied this rule in 2020, the stakes were even higher. Revered liberal stalwart Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away only 46 days before the 2020 presidential election. Invoking the McConnell Rule, the Republican-held Senate moved forward with the confirmation of President Trump’s nominee Amy Coney Barrett. This contentious move again infuriated Democrats, and the presidential campaign. Now that Justice Barrett has been appointed and the presidential election has passed, it is useful to look back on the history of Supreme Court nominations during presidential election years. Such a review suggests that the so-called McConnell Rule is rooted in valid historical precedent. In fact, viewed in light of American history, even a Trump lame duck nomination and confirmation would have been valid. This blog post argues that the Senate should distill this historical precedent into an explicit Rule of the Senate that will govern the chamber going forward. The rule should obligate the Senate to either (1) hold a vote to confirm the election-year or lame duck nominee, or (2) hold a vote to postpone action on the nomination. If a vote to postpone action on the nomination fails, the rule should then compel the Senate to hold a vote to confirm the nominee. Such a rule removes all doubt about the Senate’s authority to act or refuse to act on election-year and lame duck nominees, exposes unfounded threats of retaliation by minority parties, and best conforms to the Constitution.

scholarly journals Book Review: History of African Americans: Exploring Diverse Roots

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Trent Shotwell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
American History ◽  
Social Life ◽  
African American History ◽  
The United States ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich

History of African Americans: Exploring Diverse Roots by Thomas J. Davis chronicles the remarkable past of African Americans from the earliest arrival of their ancestors to the election of President Barack Obama. This work was produced to recognize every triumph and tragedy that separates African Americans as a group from others in America. By distinguishing the rich and unique history of African Americans, History of African Americans: Exploring Diverse Roots provides an account of inspiration, courage, and progress. Each chapter details a significant piece of African American history, and the book includes numerous concise portraits of prominent African Americans and their contributions to progressing social life in the United States.

The History of Africanization and the Africanization of History

2006 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 85-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esperanza Brizuela-García
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Graduate School ◽  
American History ◽  
African Studies ◽  
African History ◽  
Not Given ◽  
Latin American History ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Challenges

The idea of Africanization is arguably one of the most important and prevalent in African historiography and African studies. I first encountered this notion some eight years ago when I started graduate school. With a background in Mexican and Latin American history, I found it necessary to immerse myself in the historiography of Africa. It was in this process that I encountered the idea of Africanization. It was not always identified in this manner, but it was clear that historians were, in one way or another, articulating a concern about how “African” was African history.The objective of this paper is to examine the history of Africanization in African historiography. It departs from two basic premises. First, the issues that come with the idea of Africanization are more pronounced in the field of African history. When compared to other fields, such as Latin American history, this indigenizing of history is not given nearly so much attention. Second, the idea that African history needs to be Africanized has been taken for granted, and has not been critically examined. Here I will contend that the historical conditions that have framed the emergence and development of African historiography have made it necessary to emphasize the issue of Africanization. I will also argue that those conditions have changed in the past fifty years, and that the questions raised in the quest to Africanize history should be redefined in view of the new challenges for African history and of historiography at large.

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