Dear manic Monday dreaders,
Think your week is tough? Imagine digging for gold in the heat and hills of California! (Or maybe that sounds like fun to some of you writing dissertations.) Calisphere (from the University of California) offers a remarkable window into the history of California, including the highs and lows of the Gold Rush. With useful teaching guides, the website’s beautiful photographs and daguerreotypes bring alive personalities fit for a John Ford Western, or a profanity-laden HBO series. Take a look at these haunting portraits, clockwise from top left: Joseph Sharp, the widow Nellie Mayhood, and a pair of pickpockets, Dolly Mickey and Jennie Hastings (click the images for more info).
Be sure to also check out their California Cultures exhibit, which offers a look at the histories of African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. The cartoon below, from Harper’s Weekly, “Difficult Problems Solving Themselves,” seems to view the countermigrations of freedmen and Chinese immigrants with ironic ambivalence at best.
Wishing you many happy prospects,
Stephen
The Lazy Scholar 