The Introduction of the U.S Army Overseas Cap (New York Times, 1918)A NEW YORK TIMES correspondent reported from Washington what the official line was as to why the U.S. Army had seen fit to toss out the campaign hat in preference to the European-style Overseas cap:
"When the Americans entered the trenches," said an official statement today, "it was found that the brim of their campaign hat interfered with sighting through the trench periscopes and that the high crown, in the case of tall men, could be seen above the parapets. The new cap is so low that it permits the men to move with the same freedom as when they are hatless." A Letter from the Trenches (New York Times, 1915)An interesting letter written during the opening weeks of the war by a Canadian officer stationed with a British Guard regiment. The letter is filled with earnest enthusiasm: "We are all one in aim, in spirit and in that indefinable quality of loyal co-operation which holds together the British Army fighting against enormous odds in France, as it binds together the British Empire by bonds not less strong because they are invisible." A Letter from the Freshly Dug Trenches (New York Times, 1915)This World War I letter makes for a wonderful read and it gives such a vivid picture of what the war must have been like once both sides had resigned themselves to trench warfare. The letter was dated October 8, 1914 and the British officer who composed it makes clear his sense that no war had ever been fought in this queer manner before. Isador Straus (New York Times, 1912)The attached obituary of Isador Straus (born 1845) as it appeared in THE NEW YORK TIMES the day after the news of his death was made known. At the time he had secured passage on board Titanic, Straus was co-owner of the Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. A trusted advisor to U.S. President Grover Cleveland, he was elected to represent the New Yorkers of the fifty-third district and served in that post between 1894 and 1895. He died in the company of his wife Ida; unlike Straus, her body was never recovered.
How John Jacob Astor Died (New York Times, 1912)Two eyewitness accounts relaying the last moments in the life of millionaire investor John Jacob Astor IV (born and his gallantry in refusing a place in the lifeboats. According to Mrs. Churchill Candee (born Helen Churchill Hungerford, 1859 - 1949)and Second Class passenger Hilda Slater (1882 - 1965) he lived up to the expected standards of the day: "I saw Colonel John Jacob Astor hand his young wife into a boat tenderly and then ask an officer whether or not he might also go. When permission was refused he stepped back and coolly took out his cigarette case."
"'Good bye, dearie' he called gaily, as he lighted his cigarette and leaned over the rail, 'I'll join you later.'"
Tales of the Mounted German Corpse (New York Times, 1915)A ghastly story from a 1914 front is told in this letter written by British trooper S. Cargill as he recalled a skirmish between German Lancers and British cavalry. Cowardly Behavior on TITANIC (New York Times, 1912)This is a small notice from THE NEW YORK TIMES reporting on the surprisingly impulsive behavior of the men of high civic standing on-board Titanic who were among the first to scramble for the lifeboats: "It was our Congressmen, our Senators, and our 'big men' who led in the crush for the lifeboats."
It was also pointed out that many of the Titanic heroes that night were also men of prominence within their communities, fellows such as Isador Straus and John Jacob Astor who refused to accept lifeboat seating.
British Officer's Full Dress Caps (New York Times, 1915)Color illustrations of six full dress British Army service caps. Pictured are the dark blue caps worn by those who held such ranks as Aide-de-Camp to the King, Equerry to the King, Staff Officer, British Army Pay Officer and Army Medical Officer. *A Film Clip About British WW I Posters* Brough Called Out for Racial Parity (New York Times, 1915) One year prior to being elected as the 25th governor of Arkansas, Charles Hillman Brough (1876 - 1935), while serving as the chairman of the University Commission on the Southern Race Question, submitted his opinion regarding racial segregation in the Annual Report that he had written for that organization. Dr. Brough, who at the time was a professor of Economics and Sociology at the University of Arkansas, condemned the Jim Crow laws that had separated Whites from Blacks, believing that no good could ever spring from it:
"In my humble opinion, it is better to admit the negro to all the stimulus and the inspiration of the white's social heritage, so far as it applies to economic equality of opportunity given through industrial education, in so far as it does not endanger the integrity of the social heritage itself, than to encourage an ignorant and debased citizenship by his neglect and repression." ''How We Made the October Revolution'' (New York Times, 1919)Here is Leon Trotsky's reminiscence of those heady days in 1917 that served as the first step in a 75 year march that went nowhere in particular and put millions of people in an early grave - this is his recollection of the fall of the Kerensky Government and the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(R.I.P.).
"THE REVOLUTION was born directly from the war, and the war became the touchstone of all the revolutionary parties and energies..."
The review of the first English edition of Das Kapital can be read here...
Enrico Forlanini and His Dirigible (New York Times, 1918)A New York Times photograph and report on the military dirigible designed by Italian Senator Enrico Forlanini (1848 - 1930). A concise account of the differences between Forlanini's dirigible and the German Zeppelin are listed as well as the speed, altitude and various offensive capabilities. Enrico Forlanini is is best remembered today for his ground breaking work on steam-powered helicopters, hydrofoils and various other aircrafts, such as his 1909 dirigible, Leonardo Da Vinci<\i>.
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