January 2011

On the first day of December, 1777, a group of four foreign gentlemen landed from the French ship Le Flamand at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. They had had a rough voyage, 66 days at sea diversified by a mutiny of the crew and three occasions when the vessel was on fire. But they were not traveling in search of comfort and safety: they had come to offer their services to the army of the infant United States of America.

Their leader, a genial Prussian gentleman of 48, was Frederick William Augustus Henry Ferdinand, Baron von Steuben, who bore letters of introduction from Benjamin Franklin at Paris to General Washington and to the president of the Continental Congress. A veteran of the Seven Years’ War, he was dressed, like the members of his staff, in a scarlet uniform turned up with blue, which he had understood to be in accordance with American Army regulations. The splendid star of the Baden-Durlach Order of Fidelity glittered on his breast, and he was accompanied by an Italian greyhound named Azor.

“There are at the present time two great nations in the world which seem to A tend toward the same end, although they started from different points: I allude to the Russians and the Americans. Both of them have grown up unnoticed; and while the attention of mankind was directed elsewhere, they have suddenly assumed a most prominent place among the nations; and the world learned of their existence and their greatness at almost the same time.

Boston’s famed Beacon Hill will be preserved if a move now under way is carried to successful completion. At a meeting of more than 100 persons interested in the preservation it was agreed to petition the Massachusetts Legislature to create an “Historic Beacon Hill District” with a board of five members to consider all plans for new construction, exterior restoration, or renovation in the area.

Boundaries of the 22-acre area are based on land records of 1795-96. Although almost entirely residential, with apartments over most shops, the Hill no longer contains only the homes of the wealthy. The majority of the large old mansions have been converted into apartments, many of them of only one room.

Louisburg Square, heart of the stronghold of the proper Bostonians, has a small private park and its street is also private. Each year the wood gathered at tree-pruning time is divided into 22 bundles for the 22 traditional proprietors. The annual candlelit Christmas Eve celebration with its carolers and bellringers always culminates in Louisburg Square.

Museum Extension Service (10 East 43rd Street, N. Y. 17) is the source of two filmstrip examinations of aspects of economic history. When Cotton Was King traces the expansion of cotton cultivation in the pre-Civil War South. The economic importance and the social consequences of the plantation system are brought to view in a selection of vivid pictures. Abolitionism and the sectional conflict are also introduced into this rewarding visual account. Industry Changes America skillfully documents the impact of mechanization on transportation, agriculture, and industry. Some critics may believe the unsatisfactory results of industrialization are overemphasized and that attention should have been given to the place of capital formation in industrial developments. Nevertheless, the excellent selection and organization of material make both filmstrips effective aids to learning in the senior high school.

Visual reports of two of our rivers reveal contrasts in their historical connections as well as their geographic surroundings. The story of The Connecticut River is provided in a Life filmstrip. Here is a treatment, in black and white still pictures, of a river that has long been a part of our economy and history. Color views of summer fields or winter snow might enhance the appeal of this usually placid river. The Colorado River is the subject of a film released by Bill Park Films (666 N. Robertson Drive, Los Angeles 46). This river requires all the motion and color in such a production to do it justice. The grandeur of the Colorado’s natural surroundings fills the screen. Coupled with this material, the film also gives attention to the ways in which the river influenced human history along its course.