Boating Through Time on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Canal boat pulled by mules

Photograph from the National Park Service, E.B. Thompson Collection

The mule was the power in front of the movement raw material such as coal and remained one of the main sources of moving boats through out the canals operation. The initial goal of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was to bring raw materials back to the markets of the east and beyond.

Passenger canal boat.

Photograph from the National Park Service

Like the Erie Canal in New York, one of the C&O Canals purposes was to move people to the western frontier of the Ohio Valley and beyond. The canals role with the expansion west was witnessed by thousands of people like these.

Steam powered Launch

Photograph from the National Park Service

Thought primarily used to transport cargo and people to the Ohio River, individuals have always used the C&O Canal to enjoy the scene and get away from it all.

Boats waiting to offload or cross the Aqueduct, north of Georgetown along Canal Road.

Photograph from the National Park Service

In the early 20th century many canal boat were powered by either steam, coal, or gasoline

Man kayaking and fishing, south of Great Falls, MD

Photographed by: Andrew Easton

The C&O Canal provides water transport, though now only for recreational purposes.

Valentine's Day Challenge Project

Like many holidays we celebrate the time of the year were moved coincided with a pagan festival related to a Christian saint or celebration, Valentine’s Day is an example. Several legends exist about the beginnings of Valentine’s Day which involved the marrying of or letting a romantic interest know how you feel about them. A related festival from Roman and earlier was the Lupercalia festival which celebrated the she-wolf who suckled Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome, in the cave of Luperal on the Palatine.

The Lupercalia Festival developed into a time of promising fertility and easy childbirth. Another aspect of the festival was for the single women to place their name in the large urn. After all the names were placed, the single men of Rome would draw a name of a woman who would then be paired together for one year. The selection would often resulted in marriage. February 14th was degreed as Valentine’s Day by Pope Gelasius in 498 in honor of Saint Valentine who was martyred for marrying Roman soldiers secretly.

Several legends of who Saint Valentine was have survived to today. One legend has St. Valentine as a priest who married Roman soldiers against a degree from the Emperor Claudius II. Claudius II felt single soldiers would be better fighters than whose with families. Valentine went against the emperor’s degree married young lovers. Once Claudius found out about Valentine’s activities a warrant was issued. While awaiting execution two stories developed. The first was that Valentine fell in love with a jailers daughter which the day of his execution he sent a note and signed it “from your Valentine”. The second story tells how people would leave messages in the cracks in the wall for Valentine to read and he would offer prayers for them.

From both the Pagan Rome and Christian holidays a very basic human desire has continued to be addressed, that of finding a special person to share a life together with. It has developed for one day to allows those we care about to be told. Though the date of St. Valentine’s Day may have been moved to “Christianize” a pagan fertility festival the basic message and meaning has survived.

COMMENTARY:

I found the research for the Valentine’s Day Challenge to be generally easy. Wikipedia and the History Channel’s website were the two sources I used proved to be informative and agreed with most of the information presented as fact. One issue I did encounter was with the History Channel's website, the information was very basic and unlike Wikipedia the site did not provide a means to link with important terms and concepts.

From the readings for this week I approached the assignment with a degree of mistrust of the free websites. After reading through the articles from both of the sites I found the facts did match up with several stories I have heard over the years of St. Valentine’s Day origins. I chose these sites, based on a very technical search using Google searching “history of Valentine’s Day”. The History Channel and Wikipedia were the both one of the top returns. Once I selected both I tabbed between the pages to compare and contrast them.

Wikipedia provided the means to dig deeper into the Lupercalia Festival origins by clicking on the hyper link. I was able to get a more specific explanation of the festival. The History Channel site was simple a text page with no hype links of terms. Though for what I was basing the assignment on the History Channel page proved to be more helpful with linking the Lupercalia Festival to St. Valentine’s Day.

The challenge was interesting and has made me more aware of the potential downfalls of open edit sites. Sites such as Wikipedia and the History channel are good for a basis of research but should not comprise the majority of ones citations. All the “facts” should be double checked with online sites were peer reviews are the norm and that the individuals who present the research are traceable. Though the e-democratic ideal that is foundation of the Wiki movement is a good idea, unregulated information presented as facts with no tests is as dangerous in the virtual world as in the real one.

Reviewing the Arlington Historical Society’s Website of Arlington County, VA

Arlington County, Virginia’s non profit historical society, founded in 1956 to maintain the county’s long history from pre-colonial times through the present, maintains this website. By educating the public of their community's diverse past the society supports research, collection, preservation, discovery, restoration and dissemination of the local history of Arlington County, Virginia. The website’s main purpose is to introduce the public to these resources.

Usability
The site is user friendly with links clearly labeled to both internal and external sites, but is plagued with dead links that limit effectiveness. Once the links are clicked, you are taken to more detailed pages where information on whatever topic or subject is sought. Many of the links are to outside resources such as the Barcroft School and Civic League , one of the civic associations that are located throughout Arlington County. Other links include to the county library, which is a dead link; the main county website, also a dead link; and to the Fort Myer history site, which is a dead link also. Some of the links that are good include the Smithsonian Institute, White House, and Library of Congress to name a few.

Apart from the few dead links the usability of the Arlington Historical Society is generally good. The site is very informative about upcoming events of historical interest to all county residents. The site does a good job of mixing the local and national historical topics tying them in together.

Content
The content of the site is primarily text based. The site does however have photos of various buildings both which are currently standing and those not longer around. An examples of these include from the no longer around side the Barcroft community history to Ball-Sellers House which is still standing and open to the public. The site provides many links to other resources and points of historic interest located around the county such as Arlington National Cemetery Newseum, and the Drug Enforcement Agency Museum to name a few.

Scholarship
The educational value of the Arlington Historical Society is focused towards the general public, which fulfills one of the major purposes of the site. The articles online are generally of those individuals sharing basic knowledge and not in-depth analysis. Those the site does link to other more scholarly sites such as the Arlington County Library’s local history department. On the museum section a call for artifacts to add the collect is stated:

The Arlington Historical Society is looking for artifacts to expand their collection and current displays for their museum at the Hume School. If you have any of the items listed below and would care to donate them the museum will gladly acknowledge donors in their exhibits (and you may get a tax deduction as well!) This list does not include everything we need, just some of the items our curator especially desires! Some items may be listed in multiple categories. At the bottom of the list you’ll find a list of things we do not currently need. If you have something interesting that’s not listed, please contact us!

Presentation
The presentation of the historical society’s website is very basic feel is very no frills. The layout takes you where you want to go and allows the user to get back to the main page for more exploration.

Use of new media
The lack of any videos or interactive links leaves the user few options other than to look of the basic information then moving on.

Compare History Websites

http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/

The Valley of the Shadow site is set up much like a history museum, with the various time periods setup as galleries basing the site on the periods before, during and after the American Civil War. After enter from the home page site is laid out like a map. I found the lay out easy to navigate and consistence from one time period to another. The explanation of how to best us the site is clearly visible at the bottom of the second page, this provides the user a better understanding of how the site creators envisioned visitors to use it.

The focus of the site is also very clearly laid out between Franklin County, PA and Augusta Count, VA this made the comparison of the two communities straightforward to compare and contracts from the before, during and after the civil war.

historychannel.com

The History Channel website is a geared towards the non-academic community offering a wide variety of topics from Ancient Discovers to The Universe. The over all feel of the site is very commercial and is a tool for the History Channels television channel. Unlike the Valley of the Shadow site which is to be a tool in and of its self for the discovery of history.
To get to any type of research base takes several steps to dig down into the site. Where as the Valley of the Shadow sites is very focused, the History Channel sits is boarder. I feel like the History Channel sites overall purpose is to sell you new DVD's and other products.

dohistory.org

Like the Valley of the Shadow 's site this general feel of the site is more educationally. The purpose of Do History site is to show individuals with an interesting historical reconstruction of a person’s life how to do it. The site does not seem to be graphically well laid out as in the Valley of the Shadow or the History Channel sites. But the text is well written and the stated purpose of the site as:
“A site that shows you how to piece together the past from the fragments that have survived. Our case study: Martha Ballard.”
The use of one person as a how to guide I find to be very useful for those you learn best by example.

americanhistory.si.edu/index.cfm

The website for the National Museum of American History like the Valley of the Shadow feels like you are about to enter a museum. Of course the American History museum is a real world place where thousands of people visit. Looking at the various links bring memories to mind of my own visits to it. The site's mix of interactive and research based pages are instep with the Smithsonian Institution's ongoing information age evolution.

Blog Watching

I have chosen to monitor the Washington post's PostGlobal, it is an experiment with journalists around the world collaborating on global issues.

Who is the audience?
The audience of the Global Post is the general public who are interested in have a more global view of the how an event is reported.

Is it informative?
The blog is informative with links to other sites and stories globally.

Is it easy to follow?
The site is easy to follow with clearly marked main tabs and no end links.

It is updated frequently?
In the introduction to the site the creators state that twice weekly, at least, the sites main discussion topics will be updated. In the week I have been looking at the site the main topic has not changed.

Is it part of a larger brand?
Post Global is part of a larger brand, washingtonpost.com.

Is it intended to push a particular point or agenda?
In the “About Post Global” the agenda is:

“an experiment in global, collaborative journalism, a running discussion of important issues among dozens of the world's best-known editors and writers. It aims to create a truly global dialogue, drawing on independent journalists in the countries where news is happening -- from China to Iran, from South Africa to Saudi Arabia, from Mexico to India.”

From my almost daily checks of the Post Global blog this does seem to be the case. The blog does offer view points from around the globe.

Does it use picture?
The blog does have picture but they are not the focus of the blog. Like with most other news sites the pictures are secondary to the written text.

What kind of websites does it link to?
The main links are to other news sites such as

Asia Times Online: www.atimes.com

World Politic Review: www.worldpoliticsreview.com

Foreign Policy: www.blog.foreignpolicy.com

Is it well written?
The blog is well written overall.