January 2011

In 1989 the National Trust for Historic Preservation launched a program that identified 31 lodgings across the country as Historic Hotels of America. It selected hotels that were at least 50 years old and listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Today there are more than 170 members, and the rules are flexible enough to include places “recognized locally as having historic significance.” Four of the newest entries reflect that broad scope: a pair of neighboring Hudson River mansions that were once the official residence of Mali’s United Nations envoy; a 1926 hotel in Lawrence, Kansas; a railroad hotel in Roanoke, Virginia, built in 1882; and a 1924 Cincinnati landmark modeled after a seventeenth-century English manor house. The organization offers a wonderfully readable and beautifully illustrated directory for the bargain price of $3.50 (202-588-6295). And if you call 800678-8946 to reserve a room at one of these treasures, a percentage of the rate will go to the nonprofit trust.

FURTHER RESEARCH

Web site http://home.pacbell.net/dbscorp/mascots.html and www.mascotman.com .

Book Motoring Mascots of the World, by William C. Williams (Graphic Arts, 1990).

Museum Gilmore Car Museum, Hickory Corners, Mich., www.gilmorecarmuseum.org .

For almost half a century now, people have been complaining about the visual homogenization of American automobiles, and it’s true that in the 1920s the various makes of cars were far more distinctive, right down to the hood ornament, that bit of sculpture in metal, plastic, or glass sitting on top of the radiator cap. A flying lady, “The Spirit of Ecstasy,” meant that a Rolls-Royce was coming. A cormorant had a Packard in tow. The Lincoln, a big, heavy car, relied on a greyhound to lead the way. The more humble cars had their mascots too: Pontiac used a chieftain, while Plymouth had a little boat. Hood ornaments weren’t regulated, though, and owners changed them at will, to the consternation of naive car spotters and the delight of collectors today.

The press has recently shown an unusual interest in historiography. During a long, stern inquiry, it has followed accusations of plagiarism against prominent contemporary historians and often compared fragments of their works with those of their predecessors.

Like most things, the practice is nothing new. A predecessor of ours, Historical Magazine , reported similar goings-on in its January 1860 issue. Here the malefactor was Benjamin Franklin, whose famous aphorisms in Poor Richard’s Almanac helped make the young journalist famous. But as “S.A.G."—probably the Boston physician and historian Samuel Abbott Green— reported, “It is generally supposed that most of the proverbs ... originated with Franklin, although he nowhere lays claim to their originality. I have in my possession a copy of ‘A Collection of English Proverbs,’ by F. Ray [Father John Ray], second edition, Cambridge, 1678, in which many of these maxims are to be found. Below are some from each in parallel columns.”

Founding Filcher THE BUYABLE PAST FURTHER RESEARCH A ROOM WITH A PAST BEATBALL Gettysburg’s New Look EDITORS’BOOKSHELF SHOOT ALORS! ON EXHIBIT SCREENINGS

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc., is not and has never been “an organization of the President’s descendants,” as was stated in “Doubts About Jefferson and Hemings: The Debate Goes On” in the “History Now” section of the February/March issue. Founded in 1923, it is a private, nonprofit organization governed by a board of trustees. The foundation owns and operates Monticello, Jefferson’s home near Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Monticello Association is the organization of Jefferson’s descendants through his two daughters who lived to adulthood. The association owns and controls the cemetery on the grounds of Monticello, where Jefferson and other family members are buried.

Rarely have I read a more powerful and clearheaded article than “The Longest War.” It should be required reading for all those (many of them in the academy and the clergy) who are determined to stay out of touch with today’s reality. Thank you so much for printing it.

I admire Victor Hanson’s courage in pointing out the reasons for the triumph of the West down through the centuries. I say “courage” because this is not a “politically correct” or “multiculturally acceptable” attitude today. I was thrilled to read that article (I read it three times) and intend to use it in my social studies classes (in a private school in Michigan). Once again I say, “Well said, well said, well said!” Keep up the good work.

Despite Victor Davis Hanson’s arguments, all our might has not stopped fascism—or any other maladies of the spirit that plague the world and have given us the God-awful litany of carnage he describes in this monumentally depressing article. Its dismissive tone about the peace movement—the use of a couple of Hollywood characters to make the point—suggests there have been no epic struggles for peace. Yet the only answer is peace: peace, humanitarianism, sharing, negotiation. Down Hanson’s road is nothing.

Hanson’s article lost all credibility in the fourth paragraph with that fantastic list of America’s magnanimous acts of salvation, beginning with ”. . . but we also saved the Afghanis from communism.” To anyone aware of the consequences of our efforts to embarrass Russia in Afghanistan, this statement is the equivalent of saying that Europeans saved millions of Native Americans from paganism (via smallpox) and tens of millions of Africans from nonproductive lives (via ocean voyages and employment in the making of sugar).