Maps Suggest Marco Polo May Have “Discovered” America For a guy who claimed to spend 17 years in China as a confidant of Kublai Khan, Marco Polo left a surprisingly skimpy paper trail. No Asian sources mention the footloose Italian. … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Eyewitness
Christopher Columbus Journal Adisposition and the proper method of converting them to our holy faith; and furthermore directed that I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by a Westerly route, in which direction we … Continue reading
Norman Rockwell could not have done better Three friends take a joyride on their “new” vehicle, Ohio, circa 1924 Look at the oil lamp headlights! Look at the Expressions – Such emotions! This vehicle is International Harvester, 1912-14 highwheeler, used … Continue reading
Eyewitness Pickett’s Charge From 40th New York Infantry David Coon enlisted in the 40th New York Infantry regiment in Syracuse in 1861 at age 16. He was wounded at Chancellorsville in May 1863 and again at The Battle of Gettysburg … Continue reading
Eisenhower’s Farewell Address to the Nation As a Word Clowd January 17, 1961 Eisenhower’s farewell address was the final public speech of Dwight D. Eisenhower as President of the United States, delivered in a television broadcast on January 17, 1961. … Continue reading
Images of D-Day Invasion of Europe The largest amphibious assault ever conceived and executed, D-Day set records in terms of planning and training for such a massive assault and the number of troops, materiel and supplies moved across the English … Continue reading
Fifty-three years after the shocking assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the truth may finally be revealed. What really happened when JFK was shot in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963? The answer may lie in the hands of none … Continue reading
Image of Three Rebel Prisoners In one of the most famous photographs of the Civil War, three captured Confederate soldiers, likely from Louisiana, pose for Mathew Brady on Seminary Ridge on or about July 15, 1863, following the Battle of … Continue reading
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing The United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, ending the Second World War. In what would be final year of the war, the Allies prepared for what … Continue reading
Worlds Fair 1901 The Pan-American Exposition was a World’s Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied 350 acres of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware … Continue reading
Featured Artifact the Burnt Herculaneum Scroll Read When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, it destroyed a library of classical works in Herculaneum. The papyrus scrolls weren’t incinerated, but were instead carbonized by the hot gases. The resulting black carbon … Continue reading
Eyewitness Pliny the Younger, Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD was one of the most catastrophic and infamous volcanic eruptions in European history. Historians have learned about the eruption from the eyewitness account … Continue reading
Eyewitness History Amerigo Vespucci’s First Voyage, 1497 Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer, navigator and cartographer who first demonstrated that Brazil and the West Indies did not represent Asia’s eastern outskirts as initially conjectured from Columbus’ voyages, but instead constituted … Continue reading
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Firsts Below is a photo showing the first presidential motorcade, first open-top one, to boot. The car is a Columbia Electric Victoria Phaeton. Roosevelt is on the left. On the right is Colonel Jacob Greene, chairman of … Continue reading
Eyewitness Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of … Continue reading