Freelance Historian

The World of Historical Manuscripts and Ephemera

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and John Wilkes Booth

| January 4, 2012

Most people have heard of the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” where it is proposed that any actor can be linked to the prolific entertainer in six steps or less. Readers of popular online link site Reddit decided to put this to the test, and were even able to connect Lincoln assassin John Wilkes [...]

Things I learned this week

| September 25, 2008

One of the neatest parts about this job is learning new things all the time. While researching lots this week, I learned; A “matross” is the old term for artillery crewman- he helped load, fire and sponge out the cannon. “Diorama” was originally traveling theater presentation using painted linen panels and lighting to produce what [...]

Crazy About History

| August 31, 2008

It’s funny sometimes, how a passion can lead to a vocation. All my life, I’ve been crazy about history. Maybe it’s because I was born and raised in a small town where nothing really ever happened, or because my mother taught me to read when I was a toddler to keep me out of her [...]