In honor of the last day of my Eiffel Tower necklace give away, I pay homage to this fabulous landmark, originally constructed for the 1889 Exposition in Paris. Despite the fact that all of its metal could be melted down to fit a 125-meter-square base less than 2.5 inches high, it took two years to build.
I’m especially thrilled that someone had the smarts, and we had the technology, to photograph the construction process. All these images come from Wikimedia Commons and are in the Public Domain. Click on an image to enlarge and scroll through the gallery. Enjoy!
A few more Eiffel facts:
~ Thomas Edison visited it in 1889.
~ Radio transmitters were fitted in WWI to jam German communications.
~ There used to be a pâtisserie on the second level.
~ Gustave Eiffel entertained in an apartment on the third level.
~ 72 names are engraved on the tower–all French notable people.
~ It’s painted every seven years with up to 60 tonnes of paint.
~ When it opened, the lifts weren’t operable.
~ It took visitors and hour by stairs to ascend the tower.
~ The original spiral stairs were removed in the 1980s.
Korbella is helping me give away an Eiffel Tower necklace made from that spiral staircase to one lucky reader. Korbella’s Charmes de Paris necklace has a retail value of $525. This sterling silver necklace is hand-finished, with a heart-shaped Swarovski CZ drop, a charm in the shape of Paris’ famous landmark. Enter before midnight tonight, February 8th.
I am thrilled to announce that beginning today, I will have a monthly column on the website Shelf Pleasure–a destination spot for women who love reading. My column is called Will Travel For Words. Once a month, I’ll share with you my travels and explorations in my quest for the best story and the best research. If I take a jaunt for anything book related, you can come along.
This month, I take readers up the road, and back in time, to George Wythe’s house for research on my novel about the Declaration of Indendence. We’ll venture into his study in Colonial Williamsburg. So, come on over, take a read, and travel with me to find just the right words. Click here, to go there.
Please forgive my slightly longer word-count on my last blog before the New Year… I must share a thought or two…
Many of my readers, friends and family know I’ve been working on a new novel about the Declaration of Independence. Through my research, I’ve come to learn about two of the lesser-known, yet great founding fathers: George Wythe of Virginia, and Oliver Wolcott of Connecticut. Both of them voted for revolution and signed the document. Before the signing, and throughout the war, they played very different roles, pouring their talents, connections, hearts and minds into very different vessels for “the Cause.”
Oliver Wolcott, in an ironic story, watched as rebel soldiers in New York pulled down a massive iron statue of King George III. He had it carted back to Connecticut, and with the help of family and neighbors, they melted down the king and poured him into molds to make over 40,000 musket balls. All of those cartridges went on to be fired by the Continental Army upon the British during the war.
In Virginia, George Wythe, a professor at William & Mary, taught the man who wrote the Declaration. Thomas Jefferson studied under Wythe in Williamsburg, as did James Monroe, Henry Clay, and our longest-serving Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall. Everything that Wythe had learned of Greek history, of Euripides, of Francis Bacon and of John Locke’s beliefs about life and liberty was poured into his students. After signing the Declaration himself, Wythe fought for the abolishment of slavery, designed the Virginia state seal, and more. But it was through Jefferson as his pen, that Wythe gave America the Declaration in 1776.
As many know, that one piece of parchment not only helped free America from oppression, our Declaration became the gold standard from which dozens of declarations for freedom have sprung. France used sections for their Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens (1784), as did Haiti (1804), Chili (1818), New Zealand (1835), Texas (1836), Czechoslovakia (1918), and even Vietnam (1945), among others.
Very few people besides historians (and my DAR ladies) seem to know much about George Wythe, and even fewer have heard of Oliver Wolcott, with only a small handful ever having heard the King George statue story. The world knows about Thomas Jefferson, and his statue keeps watch over our nation’s capitol. Each year, over two million people visit the National Archives in D.C. to see the original Declaration of Independence. Seldom has anyone given thought to the musket balls, except long-dead relatives who mourned the lives of those British soldiers who never returned home. So, what can we learn from our own history?
We have choice in life. Into which vessel will we pour ourselves? Will it be into a musket ball or an education? History has shown us that while weapons can help a country win a battle, an education will absolutely free the world. This truth, is self-evident.
My heart mourns for the students and teachers of Sandy Hook Elementary and their families. Sadly, those little ones were not yet of the age to have learned about the Declaration. However, the education being shared in that classroom and others before the tragedy took place… that is the firepower that will make America proud, strong and free. That is the weapon in which we should invest the most if we are to secure our future.
I hope you’ll forward this on until we all learn that rights are best freed with our minds. Not might.
I wish you a peaceful, thoughtful, and loving holiday. See you in the New Year.
“The pen is mightier than the sword,” said Edward Bulwer-Lytton. The above painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris is of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence featuring Thomas Jefferson (right), Benjamin Franklin (left), and John Adams (center). The painting is currently located at the Virginia Historical Society here in Richmond.
By Karen A. ChaseThat’s me on the left receiving my reading from Jan Thomas. She jokingly laughed at the idea of putting a “Tarot Reader In” sign in her living room window. Strange how that lighting turned out in this photo. – Photo by Karen Rankin
BOO! In honor of Halloween, a very tiny glimpse into Tarot cards. I was recently at a book club, and a few of us unexpectedly received a reading by the host, Jan Thomas. My first ever. She asked me to provide a specific topic or concern, and she dealt the cards and told the tale she saw. Two things have haunted me most.
First, the artistry. Tarot cards date back to the fifteenth century, and many decks are stunning. Imagery is often filled with old world or art nouveau styling, and for illustrators of sci-fi or fantasy, I imagine they’ll be charmed. (That’s not to say there aren’t modern versions, like these featuring the Simpsons.) Jan’s cards are a Rider Waite Smith deck. “First published in 1908… there are several editions and I was using the one call Universal (has to do with the re-coloring of the deck).”
Secondly, a couple of the cards she pulled were a relief. One was The Knight of Pentacles (see image below). This card has layered meanings, but she described it as a knight who is serious, on solid ground, and holding a coin, so the dreams he looks out over, although a bit away, will be a fruitful reality. The last card she revealed, on the bottom of the deck, was death. That’s good news because it’s the furthest away from my dream, and me personally. Whew!
So will my reading turn out to be a trick, or a treat? I guess I shall have to “stay tuned” to find out. Muwahahaha.
A shot of the cards that were pulled for me with the two cards I mentioned circled. Go ahead, Tarot readers, tell me what else yee kin see in ’em….. – Photo by Kelly Fitzgerald
I was off last week from the blog, gallivanting around the northeastern states for personal vacation time mixed with research for my historical fiction novel about the American Revolution. The highlight of the research portion of the trip was undoubtedly a stop made in Philadelphia. I had planned for a one-on-one tour with an historian, Bill Ochester, to determine what was where in 1776.
Imagine my delight to discover Bill plays Ben Franklin. He plays him at reenactments, readings of the Declaration and Constitution, and various school presentations among others. As if with a paint brush in his hands that removed the years, he walked me through Philadelphia as it may have been in 1776. In the words of Elton John, “It’s Philadelphia Freedom. I love, love, loved it. Yes I do!”
I learned in 1776:
• The whole of town was about eight by six city blocks in total.
• Houses were built on plots of about one acre and surrounded by gardens.
• Church bells were rung often, sometimes to ward off lighting and evil.
• The streets were swept to keep them clean.
• Elfreth’s Alley existed. Still does. It is the oldest intact residential block in the country.
• Taverns abounded for food, coffee, drink and to conduct business. (Some estimates say one per every 125 people.)
• There were 30,000 people living in what became the capital of the states. (=240 taverns.)
• The tower on Christ’s Church was funded by Ben Franklin. Not because he was religious, but so he could have unlimited access to perform electrical experiments. Shocking.
Click on the thumbnails for enlargements and descriptions.
By Karen A. ChaseAs part of a presentation to my DAR group, I got to touch and hold this book of Patrick Henry’s in which he glued a bookplate and scrawled his name multiple times. Jefferson marked his books a different way.
As a lover of books and history, I am fascinated by the library collection of Thomas Jefferson. Over six thousand of his books became the Library of Congress. Terribly, in 1851 a fire reduced it to 2,465 volumes, and one-by-one, the Library of Congress has sought to replace the lost books as best they can. But those new acquisitions don’t always bear the mark of Jefferson’s library.
Bookplates, small paper panels glued into the inside cover or first page, were common in the 18th and 19th century. Books were costly treasures, definitely not 99¢, and so owners inserted custom engraved bookplates, and often signed them.
However, the bookplate wasn’t for Jefferson. During his lifetime, books were hand-printed and bound in small sections called signatures, and then those signatures were stitched together into the book. To ensure those signatures were put in the right order, each one had a tiny letter stamped on the bottom of the first page. “A” for the first signature, “B” for the second signature, “C”, etc.
In his books, Jefferson cleverly hand wrote a “T” before the small imprinted “J” and sometimes a “J” after the “T.” Nothing more. I can just see it. Jefferson, sitting alone in his study, tongue in the corner of his mouth, inking in a small “T” or “J” and nothing more. Smirking. It makes him seem mischievous and not just a little cunning.
Do you write in, or mark up your books as your own? How?
This week I was asked where I’ve been conducting research for my novel about the American Revolution. My response was, “would you like that alphabetically or chronologically?” Certainly, I’ve worked with the traditional sources like libraries and archives. However, historical fiction isn’t like non-fiction where you must always go in search of proof. Sometimes it’s in search of opportunities for fiction.
Conflicting viewpoints are one way to find it. Wikipedia. Blogs. Historians. Those resources are filled with proofs and facts, but also opinions, theories and undocumented sources. Where two ideas collide gives me the opportunity to draw out what would happen if one of those two ideas was correct.
I also search for holes. Historical documents, textbooks (especially elementary and high school versions), and websites by historic hobbyists don’t always provide the same level of facts. Where I find a repeated dearth of details with regard to a place, event or time, is a hole I can fill with… well… stuff I make up.
I also research for the senses. I rarely find those in a book, so I travel to actual locations. I want to hear a place, smell it, touch trees, or look at the view – even if they’ve changed. There’s often a nearby museum, and there’s always some historic-ranger-docent guy who loves the place or whose grandpa told stories. I love them. After all, that’s what I do. Tell stories.
How do you conduct historical research for fiction?
A properly hung American Flag in my neighborhood in Church Hill. Photo courtesy of Worthington Photography located here in Richmond. Worthington-photography.com
I’m a Daughter of the American Revolution (DAR), which means I’ve proven I have an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution. Today, the DAR helps share knowledge about our country’s history, including information about the American flag, which is very appropriate for the upcoming Independence Day celebrations. In case you don’t know, there is an official US Flag Code, and it may alter your July fourth party plans.
The flag should not be put on an article of clothing or anything disposable (paper plates, napkins, etc.). Should you really be wiping BBQ sauce off your face with the flag? It shouldn’t have anything beneath it or touch the ground, so no flag table cloths. If you do hang the flag (stripes down), it should be lit at night if it stays outside and come down during bad weather.
Can you burn a flag? Section 8k states: “When it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, [it] should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.” The Girl Scouts is one of the organizations that performs official retirement ceremonies.
You can read the Flag Code in it entirety, or for a more fun review of wrongful uses go to the Flag Wall of Shame. It’s also a great what-not-to-wear guide.
An interesting note: Betsy Ross didn’t design this flag we have today. Our current flag with the 50 stars was designed by a 17-year old, Robert G. Heft, who in 1958 designed it for a school project. He got a B-minus. When it was chosen out of 1500 entries to be the flag, the teacher changed the grade to an A.
By Karen A. ChaseDuring one of my research trips a couple years ago I visited the Philadelphia State House where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. (I was blonder then. I'm much smarter after all this research.)
For the last three years, whenever I could, I’ve been conducting research for an historical fiction novel I’m writing about the American Revolution. With the upcoming July fourth holiday we celebrate the Declaration of Independence, so I share some of what I learned about the drafting of the finished piece.
Thomas Jefferson, as most know, was the main writer. Most don’t know he wrote it in just two days. The Continental Congress agreed to the resolution for independence on July second, Jefferson presented his rough draft after a little editing help from Adams and Franklin (read Adams’ first-hand account here), the Congress cut off about another quarter of the text, and the formal finished piece was adopted on July fourth. That day, John Dunlap printed 200 copies to distribute throughout the colonies, twenty-four of which exist today, including one in nearby Jamestown Yorktown Victory Center.
The famous parchment version with all the signatures, now housed at the National Archives, had some editing issues. The word “unalienable” was misspelled. It should be “inalienable.” When the founding fathers went to sign it, it’s assumed Jefferson’s hand corrected a couple more. The word “representatives” was missing the “en” so that was penned in. The word “only” was also inserted about ten lines up from the bottom into “Our repeated Petitions have been answered only in repeated injury.” You can actually see the changes on the original parchment. They make me feel so much better about my own editing mistakes.
