behind AotW

The Navy cruiser, part of the Stennis Carrier Strike Group has entered the 7th Fleet operational area “to promote peace, regional cooperation and stability”. Navy News service posted a photo of the ship in transit. Go Navy.

See also the ship’s official website.

Both houses of the Virginia legislature Saturday unanimously passed a resolution expressing œprofound regret for the state's role in slavery. In part, it proclaims that government-sanctioned slavery œranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's history, and the abolition of slavery was followed by systematic discrimination, enforced segregation, and other insidious institutions and practices toward Americans of African descent that were rooted in racism, racial bias, and racial misunderstanding.

This doesn’t change the past, but it is important for the future.

Thanks to the Associated Press via a piece on MSNBC. Haven’t found the full text yet.

Post-war papers of Benjamin Franklin Eshleman, a battery commander at Sharpsburg, have been donated and are being preserved at the U of South Carolina. This according to a local news piece. Correspondence and further research are indicated.

Just finished Six Frigates by Ian Toll (W. W. Norton, Oct 2006). Two thumbs up. The story of the first serious American warships and their fights (1794-c.1815). USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) and her sisters. Decatur, Preble, and peers.

Built on primary source research, eclectic coverage from shipbuilding to politics to Teddy Roosevelt (!), and a great read. Thanks for the gift, lads.

Anybody else read this?

I was first introduced to the legendary soldiers of the Late Unpleasantness as a new Civil War reader in the 1960s. Lee, Jackson, and Stuart; Grant and Sherman, certainly, but also more accessible lesser deities like Mosby, Pelham, Forrest, Semmes, and Gordon. For the generations before mine, particularly in the South, those and dozens more were household names. Today, most beyond the Big 5 are largely unknown.

JH Chamberlayne in Confederate Uniform
From an oil portrait by John Elder

One of the heroes I remember from that period, and still find often in my reading, was the young artillerist John Hampden (Ham) Chamberlayne (1838-1882). I expect his prominence is due to a collection of his war-era letters published by his son in 1932. These letters are quoted in later works on the Civil War in the East, as well.

He may not have been well known during the War, but his letters have helped make him immortal. Let me see if I can put some flesh on his bones.

I was knocked out to get comments this week on the Morrison article from Joseph Graham Morrison IV. His daughter clued him to it. He’s passing it along to his 92 year old father (JGM III), the grandson of one of our subjects.

I hope to do my guys–those who were at Sharpsburg–justice and that they have decendents who appreciate them. It is most gratifying to have this kind of reenforcement.

Very nice. Now that’s what the Internets is all about.

John David Hoptak and his fellow Rangers are fixing to unveil the new Union Advance trail at the Park.

Once again, I’m amazed by the considerable effort and care the great team at the Antietam National Battlefield are putting in to bring the Battlefield back to its 1862 state.

Or at least as close as can be.

Bravo Zulu.

(Noted in John’s fine 48th Pennsylvania blog).

quickPosts! A new behind AotW feature for pointers to interesting things elsewhere and short notes on other subjects as they may arise.

As ever, I’m glad to have any comments from you.

When it rains, it pours goes the old saw. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been up to my ear lobes in two proposal writing projects. I expect two more by the end of March. The normal pace is two in a year. These are good for business, but hard on my personal and online lives.

This time crunch has tightly focused the effort I told you about in a December post about an off-the-shelf content management system (CMS) as basis for a website. To recap: I’m working a pro bono project to help a worthy historical non-profit upgrade their online presence. Last we talked I had built a demo website on WordPress and was planning to migrate to the more sophisticated Textpattern platform.

I just won’t have time for that anytime soon, and the non-profit wants to publish fast. So, after some reassuring research, I’ve decided to stick with WordPress and avoid the learning curve and rework needed to implement on Textpattern.

Why?

First, there is an array of proven plugins and custom modules available for WordPress to meet all the likely business needs of the client. Just ask Lorelle, for instance. Sure, there is danger that too many plugins or widgets will result in Lego architecture, but for the few functions we’re considering, I think the maintenance burden will be low.

Second, the client wants to implement new functions and features iteratively–one at a time at a moderate pace–so I will have opportunity to write custom PHP within the WordPress framework or bite the bullet and convert to a new platform later, if worst comes to worst.

It comes down to the fastest and easiest way to get function online with minimum investment.

I’d appreciate hearing from anyone with similar projects: I need all the advice I can get! I’ll keep you up on how it goes …

In contrast to Wednesday’s Library of Congress announcement, the following highlights significant cultural change in not quite seven years. Let me disclaim up front by saying I really appreciate the organizational attitude change apparent since the following was reported, and imply no criticism of the Library or Librarian of Congress.

(April 15, 2000 – Tech Law Journal) The Librarian of Congress, James Billington, gave an address at the National Press Club on Friday, April 14, on the role of the Library of Congress in the Information Age. He harshly criticized the Internet, and stated that the Library will not digitize books. However, the Library has plans to expand its web publication of other materials.

“So far, the Internet seems to be largely amplifying the worst features of television’s preoccupation with sex and violence, semi-literate chatter, shortened attention spans, and near-total subservience to commercial marketing,” said Billington.

Billington said that the Library of Congress has plans to unveil a new web site. “We hope it will realize one of the earliest promises of the Internet: to put the Library of Congress at the fingertips of every boy and girl where they live.”

But then he followed up by stating the “we are not digitizing books, but bringing hitherto little used, specially formatted materials like maps and recordings …” He added that the new web site “is not replacing our traditional print library.”

He said that the Library of Congress now has 28 Million items in its print collection, and 119 Million items in all formats. Its web site currently contains 3 million primary documents, including drafts of the Gettysburg Address, 19th Century baseball cards, and forgotten music.

Billington elaborated on why the Library will not put books online during the question and answer session. “The rationale is two fold. We have so much special format material that nobody has seen that it is more important to get those out.” He added that the Library is more concerned with “rare pamphlets” than “full books”.

“Secondly, behind this … is an implicit belief [that books] are not going to be replaced, and should not be replaced.”

“There is a difference between turning pages and scrolling down,” he said. “There is something about a book that should inspire a certain presumption of reverence.”

“We should be very hesitant … that you are going to get everything you want electronically.”

“You don’t want to be one of those mindless futurists,” said Billington, “who sit in front of a lonely screen.”

“It is isolating. It is a lonely thing.” In contrast, “libraries are places, a community thing.”

“It is dangerous to promote the illusion that you can get anything you want by sitting in front of a computer screen.” He described this as “arrogance” and “hubris”.

He added that while electronic books may succeed commercially, they are “seductive.”

The LoC website now makes available more than 7.5 million digital objects from its American Memory site alone, and the new project looks to add thousands. To be fair, the Library is still not talking about digitizing books generally, but I’d bet Dr. Billington feels slightly differently about the Web–or at least would be embarrased to say some of these things–today.