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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 1d

13 October 1938
Rep. Thomas O'Malley (D-WI) to Sec'y. of State Hull, concerned over reports that Britain may relinquish its Mandate over #Palestine :

"restricting #immigration...will impose cruel hardship on the #Jewish race in Europe who have no other place to go"

#Holocaust

Western Union Telegram from O'Malley to Hull:

"Respectfully request you protest to Great Britain against instituting new policy of restricting #immigration to #Palestine. This new policy will impose cruel hardship on the #Jewish race in Europe who have no other place to go"

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 1d

There's much to be said about both #Columbus Day & #Indigenous People's Day, but in this age of rampant oversimplification, misinformation, & disinformation, a calm look at the history itself, the memory of history, & the history of commemoration is more necessary than ever

6/6

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 1d

The roots of the 1st national #Columbus Day in 1892 are largely forgotten: not just a quatercentenary celebration but also a response to the lynching of #Italian immigrants & the consequences for international relations + domestic electoral politics

https://wapo.st/3W1NbYt

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22 July 1892 New York Times article on President Harrison's proclamation of Discovery Day (part 1)

This was a proclamation for a single anniversary event. The permanent national holiday dates from 1937

22 July 1892 New York Times article on President Harrison's proclamation of discovery day (part 2)

This was a proclamation for a single anniversary event. The permanent national holiday dates from 1937

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 1d

We associate the origins of #Columbus Day w early C20 struggles to assert pluralism over nativism, as @hcrichardson.bsky.social points out

heathercoxrichardson...

But the 1st celebration occurred in 1792: a quest for a figure to unite the new nation
www.americanhistory....
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October 12, 2025

On October 9, President Donald J.

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 1d

Although we tend to associate #IndigenousPeoplesDay with reactions to the 1992 #Columbus quincentenary, the origins in fact go back to a UN conference of 1977:

acervo.socioambienta...

#Indigenous Peoples' Day, as explained by #NativeAmericans : NPR
www.npr.org/2021/10/...
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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 1d

Amherst, MA @TownOfAmherst @townofamherst.bsky.social adopted #IndigenousPeoplesDay as a holiday in 2016, at the initiative of middle-school students of US history.

State Rep. Ellen Story & her successor Solomon Goldstein-Rose pressed unsuccessfully for statewide acceptance
2/6

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 1d

#Columbus Day remains a federal holiday, but many other jurisdictions have declared the Monday holiday #Indigenous Peoples Day

Here in Amherst, Massachusetts @TownOfAmherst
@townofamherst.bsky.social school children successfully urged Town Meeting to make the switch in 2016
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on low stage with curtains in orange and yellow panels in the background

a young girl (dark curly hair, brown skin; wearing a blue-and-white patterned dress) stands holding a sheaf of papers

while a young boy (blond, wearing plaid shirt in shades of orange, blue, and white) speaks at the rostrum

another boy sits on the steps in the background, waiting his turn to speak

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Reposted by Jim Wald

neil guthrie @nguthrie.bsky.social · 2d

Capability Brown rendered in southern Germany: the English Garden, Munich #c18th #c18 #18thc (and later)

View of lawns and tress with t rut owners of the city in the distance

View of a stream with a small artificial waterfall

The Monopteros (folly composed of a circle of columns with a green domed roof) on a hillock, seen from a distance, surrounded by trees

The Monopteros (completed 1837) seen up close, from below. In the centre of the circle of columns is a shorter column with laudatory inscriptions.

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 2d

big surprise

#Museums Aren’t Doing Enough to Identify Nazi-Looted #Art, Report Finds
news.artnet.com/art-...

Up to 100K works in US alone
Most interesting: an intersection of failure of will + failure of technological support and follow-through

Museums Aren't Doing Enough to Identify Nazi-Looted Art, Report Finds

A new report from the World Jewish Restitution Organization found that U.S. museums aren't doing enough to help identify Nazi-looted art.

news.artnet.com

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 2d

“Fuck Columbus - Celebrate Indigenous Resistance”:

@hampshirecolg students marked #ColumbusDay on the 520th anniversary of his landing, 2012.

Because now, as in 2012, it’s fall break, I do not know what hijinks our young rascals are up to today.
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as described in the post:

text scrawled along the length of an asphalt walkway, lawn on either side, leading to the modernist/quasi-brutalist library building: bands of red brick and bare concrete, tall bare concrete pillars

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 2d

So, here’s your annual #ColumbusDay cartoon from the tattered photocopy on my office door.

It dates from 1992, as the tide of sentiment began to turn decisively against Columbus just when he was to have been most feted.
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cartoon by Benson, Arizona Republic, 1992

at right, beneath a palm tree, two indigenous residents holding spears, observe with curiosity as Columbus, dressed in the Renaissance garb familiar from portraits, stands,
left hand holding sword planted in earth, right hand at waist, holding telescope:

GRAB ALL YOU CAN, MEN, IN 500 YEARS WE'LL BE POLITICALLY INCORRECT

A priest and a few armed men with a cannon stand behind him as a ship waits offshore

a treasure chest is half-buried in the sand at front left

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 2d

12 October is the historical #ColumbusDay. To say his image has evolved is an understatement. Consider 1893
Intern Spotlight: The Shifting Reputation of Christopher #Columbus as Seen in the Christopher Columbus Collection at the Library of Congress
http://tiny.cc/xo5qzz
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Intern Spotlight: The Shifting Reputation of Christopher Columbus as Seen in the Christopher Columbus Collection at the Library of Congress | Unfolding History

The Christopher Columbus collection at the Library of Congress includes a rare and valuable copy from 1502 of a group of documents known collectively as the “Book of Privileges,” purchased by the Library in 1901. The larger collection also contains additional copies in various formats the Library acquired from the 1890s through the 1940s. Junior Fellow Molly Williams explores the history of these documents.

tiny.cc

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 2d

12 October 1938
Rep. Thomas O'Malley (D-WI) to Sec'y of State Hull, concerned re: reports Britain may relinquish #Palestine Mandate:

"will undoubtedly result in the extinction of the one place that
#Jewish #refugees have found to work out their problems & establish themselves"

Carbon copy of letter from O'Malley to Hull:

Jewish constituents have brought to his attention their concern over reports that Britain is considering abandoning its Mandate for Palestine:

’ The abandonment of Palestine by the British Government, in view of present conditions will result not only in great hardship and distress for the refugees who have found a haven in that land, but will undoubtedly result in the extinction of the one place that Jewish refugees have found to work out their problems and establish themselves. The abandonment, therefore, of the British protectorate over Palestine would be a major tragedy and of grave concern to all democratic governments.

I will appreciate being advised from time to time as to the position of our Government on this problem snd the proposed acticn of the British Government, and would also appreciate advices as to the position our Government takes in this mattsr in its Repre- sentations to the British Government.

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 3d

🤣😀

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 3d

Savannah, 11 Oct. 1853
cornerstone is laid at monument to Polish Count Kazimierz Pułaski, on the presumed anniversary of his death (now more likely 15 Oct)

"the Heroic Pole, who fell mortally wounded, fighting for American Liberty at the siege of Savannah, October 9, 1779”

base of the monument with partial view of the column that it supports

the top of the base features an eagle posed on two shields flanked by olive leaves

mock columns connecting the upper and lower portions of the base are in the form of inverted cannon

a marble relief on the side shows the wounded officer falling backward from his horse

https://www.georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/pulaski-monument/

all text

historical marker (gold raised letters on green metal plaque)

marble slab next to the monument

a visitor has placed two small red and white Polish flags in front

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Reposted by Jim Wald

Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · Oct 13

Oct. 11 1777 death of #Polish hero of the #AmericanRevolution Casimir Pułaski, mortally wounded at the Battle of Savannah. Date & place of death were long disputed. New forensic research led to suggestions he was intersex. For today, let's just honor the founder of the US cavalry

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks!

Today's cultural and ethical norms demand the basic info, but I find it good (though time-consuming) to add more, which also avoids producing a string of posts.

In fact, it drives me up the wall when accounts w tens or hundreds of thousands of followers just post undocumented pics and shit

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Reposted by Jim Wald

Stephen Chambers @stevejchambers.bsky.social · 4d

First stop of the day. I do like this memorial and would love to assemble something similar in my garden. Anyone have a spare 6pdr or drop cannister? #Arnhem

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 4d

By chance, I was yesterday reading the original 1960 edition of Maj. Gen. Stanisław Sosaboski's memoir, Freely I Served, about his career in the Polish army, experiences during #WWII, and of course, Arnhem.

Stephen Chambers @stevejchambers.bsky.social · 4d

First stop of the day. I do like this memorial and would love to assemble something similar in my garden. Anyone have a spare 6pdr or drop cannister? #Arnhem

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 4d

In other news, I am pleased to say that, at our #bibliography + #beer gathering this evening, my co-conspirator (co-chair of the seminar in #book #history) was wearing a t-shirt with this great design.

Added to my wish list √

(bonus: 1 of 2 Classicists was able to join us)

black t-shirt (his was maroon) with an image of a little girl whose clothing bears the acronym SPQR, holding an umbrella and strewing salt as the walks

beneath

CARTHAGO DELENDA EST

The reference is of course to the habit of Cato the Elder, who ended every speech with a call for the destruction of Carthage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthago_delenda_est

For non-Americans: the girl refers to the packing of Morton Salt, which shows a little girl with an umbrella strewing salt, and the motto, "When it rains, it pours," i.e. Morton salt will not cake in humid weather

https://www.mortonsalt.com/heritage-era/her-debut/

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 4d

A relaxing end of the work day at Treehouse Brewery, Deerfield MA
(For pioneering the "hazy" New England IPA, they deserve eternal damnation but their other #beer redeems them)

Work + pleasure, actually: plans for bibliographic & bibliophilic projects in western Massachusetts

inside the taproom in former industrial (publishing) building

multistory atrium with balconies, plants, living walls, trees with lights; strands of lights overhead

a variety of tables for customers, bar at left rear, pizza counter off to right

lively atmosphere, family-friendly

an array of small round metal garden tables outside on the patio just outside the outer wall of the Taproom at right

large tree at left, strings of lights running from front to back

evening beginning to fall, the sky has turned a darker blue

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 4d

Last night:

First, faculty gathering hosted by new head of Institute for #Holocaust, #Genocide, & Memory Studies @UMassAmherst @umassamherst.bsky.social

Then on to #Yiddish #Book Center for
Mikołaj Grynberg: #Jewish #Poland Today on Page and Screen

www.yiddishbookcente...

three men on light wood stage in armchairs (windows in the background), engaged in conversation

author Mikołaj Grynberg at center, wears a cap
translator Sean Gasper Bye sits at left

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Jim Wald @citizenwald.bsky.social · 4d

We have already seen dog and frog together, so now I offer you another charming local scene:

Cattle and birds together, or, as I prefer to call it:

Birds may safely graze.

All peacefully go about their common business of finding sustenance

If they can get along, why can't we?

roadside farm scene in Hadley, Massachusetts

a flock of birds recently flew overhead (sometimes these mass movements remind me of the Hitchcock film), but only a few alighted on the telephone wires.

Instead, most landed on this corner of farmland, picking their food out of the grass and/or soil as cows carefully graze among them

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Reposted by Jim Wald

American Association of Wine Economists AAWE @wineecon.bsky.social · 6d

"No more than a liter of wine a day" - In the early 1950s, when French wine consumption was 140+ liters/capita, France launched the campaign "Santé Sobriété" to limit alcohol consumption. In 1954, Philippe Foré became the chief designer. #WineHistory`

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Reposted by Jim Wald

Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 5d

#OtD 10 or 19 Oct 1609 pioneering English revolutionary Gerrard Winstanley was born. He was a farmworker and the primary theoretician of the Diggers, or True Levellers, during the English Civil War who took over enclosed lands and farmed them stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8239...

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