The patent models in our portfolio beginning on page 49 of this issue are only a minute fraction of the tens of thousands that still survive. O. Rundie Gilbert, the owner of most of them, is shown here in one of his barns, surrounded by ranks and Stacks of the models that he has recently unpacked. Somewhere nearby are hundreds of unopened crates, all filled with patent models. We can only guess at what treasures from America’s technological infancy are yet to come to light.
Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
In Gilbert’s Barn
Featured Articles
Famous writers including Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts turned Sleepy Hollow Cemetery into our country’s first conservation project.
Native American peoples and the lands they possessed loomed large for Washington, from his first trips westward as a surveyor to his years as President.
In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.
A hundred years ago, America was rocked by riots, repression, and racial violence.
During Pres. Washington’s first term, an epidemic killed one tenth of all the inhabitants of Philadelphia, then the capital of the young United States.
Now a popular state park, the unassuming geological feature along the Illinois River has served as the site of centuries of human habitation and discovery.
The recent discovery of the hull of the battleship Nevada recalls her dramatic action at Pearl Harbor and ultimate revenge on D-Day as the first ship to fire on the Nazis.
Our research reveals that 19 artworks in the U.S. Capitol honor men who were Confederate officers or officials. What many of them said, and did, is truly despicable.
Here is probably the most wide-ranging look at Presidential misbehavior ever published in a magazine.
When Germany unleashed its blitzkreig in 1939, the U.S. Army was only the 17th largest in the world. FDR and Marshall had to build a fighting force able to take on the Nazis, against the wishes of many in Congress.
Roast pig, boiled rockfish, and apple pie were among the dishes George and Martha enjoyed during the holiday in 1797. Here are some actual recipes.
Born during Jim Crow, Belle da Costa Greene perfected the art of "passing" while working for one of the most powerful men in America.