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Category: Gilded Age

Illustration shows two Martians, one holding a telescope and yawning, expressing relief now that the election for governor of New York has been decided (in favor of Charles Evans Hughes); in the background, on planet Earth, fireworks mark the celebration in New York.

Crazy About Those Martians!

Posted by: Neely Tucker

We're talking today with David Baron, author of “The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America,” who will be at this year’s National Book Festival on Sept. 6. It’s about the public fascination between 1890-1910 with what looked to be the very real possibility of life of Mars. The main cultural artifact of this belief might be H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel, “The War of the Worlds,” which imagined hostile Martians invading Earth in spectacular fashion. But as Baron writes, most of the views were utopian, picturing Martians as a far advanced, heroic people.

Posted in: Gilded Age, Kluge Center, Library Work and Employees, National Book Festival, Researcher Stories, Science, Technology

Sepia toned, three-quarters formal photo portrait of a young man in a three piece suit with a white shirt. He has a full head of black hair, faces the camera with his left hand holding the top of a chair and his right hand tucked into the top of his suit pants.

True Crime: William Kennoch, The Ace Counterfeit Detective

Posted by: Neely Tucker

-Research by Micah Messenheimer in the Prints and Photographs Division and Jake Bozza, formerly of the Manuscript Division, contributed to this report. It turns out that William “Bill” Kennoch, one of the nation’s top counterfeit detectives in the chaotic post-Civil War era, didn’t have any nifty nicknames, such as “Dollar” or “Wild.” He was a rather …

Posted in: Civil War, Gilded Age, Manuscripts, Prints and Photographs Division