Dur-Sharrukin (“Fortress of Sargon”), present day Khorsabad, was the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria. The great city was entirely built in the decade preceding 706 BC. After the unexpected death of Sargon in battle, the capital was shifted 20 km south to Nineveh. While Dur-Sharrukin was abandoned in antiquity andContinue reading “Rare Photos Taken During the Excavation of the Gate of the Citadel of Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin, Iraq in the 19th Century”
Tag Archives: 1800s
March 31, 1889: The Eiffel Tower Is Opened
The Eiffel Tower was built to be the entrance to the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris. Construction was started by Gustave Eiffel’s company in January 1887 and completed in March 1889. On March 31, 1889, the Eiffel Tower is dedicated in Paris in a ceremony presided over by Gustave Eiffel, the tower’s designer, and attendedContinue reading “March 31, 1889: The Eiffel Tower Is Opened”
Here’s the Earliest Mug Shot Still in Existence, ca. 1843
When photography was invented in the first half of the 19th century, it seemed to be the solution to problems with criminal identification that police around the world had been waiting for: finally, they did not have to rely on their memories and written descriptions of prisoners to recognize criminals. As early as 1841 theContinue reading “Here’s the Earliest Mug Shot Still in Existence, ca. 1843”
“The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink”: The Earliest Known Advertisement for Making and Selling Coffee, circa 1652
Apparently, around 1652, an English merchant, Daniel Edwards, brought Pasqua (as he was probably known) from Smyrna (now Izmir) in Turkey to London as a servant to prepare the coffee to which Edwards had become accustomed on his travels abroad. Edwards himself is noted in The Little London Directory of 1677, a compilation of well-knownContinue reading ““The Vertue of the COFFEE Drink”: The Earliest Known Advertisement for Making and Selling Coffee, circa 1652”
Portrait of Jacob C. Miller, a Civil War Veteran Who Lived With an Open Bullet Wound in His Forehead for Decades
Jacob C. Miller (August 4, 1840 – January 13, 1917) was a private in company K, 9th Indiana Infantry Regiment, and was wounded in the head near the Brock Field at the Battle of Chickamauga on the morning of September 19, 1863. The ball impacted in Miller’s head during the Civil War, but luckily theContinue reading “Portrait of Jacob C. Miller, a Civil War Veteran Who Lived With an Open Bullet Wound in His Forehead for Decades”
The Countess of Clancarty: Beautiful Photos of Belle Bilton in the Late 19th Century
Born 1867 as Isabel Maud Penrice Bilton, the daughter of sergeant in the Royal Engineers, she graced the stage as an actress and vocalist under the professional name Belle Bilton. On 10 July 1889, Bilton married Lord Dunlo at the Registrar’s Office in Hampstead. They were both aged twenty. The groom faced stiff opposition fromContinue reading “The Countess of Clancarty: Beautiful Photos of Belle Bilton in the Late 19th Century”
The Story of the Cardiff Giant, the Greatest Hoax in American History
The Cardiff Giant was one of the most famous hoaxes in American history. It was a 10-foot-tall (3.0 m), 3,000 pound purported “petrified man” uncovered on October 16, 1869, by workers digging a well behind the barn of William C. “Stub” Newell in Cardiff, New York. He covered the giant with a tent and itContinue reading “The Story of the Cardiff Giant, the Greatest Hoax in American History”
Amazing Photos of Calamity Jane in the Late 19th Century
“In fact I was at all times along with the men,” Martha Cannary Burke records in her brief 1896 autobiographical pamphlet, “when there was excitement or adventure to be had.” The words are straightforward and plain, like the rest of her narrative, with little room left for rhetorical flourish. This is probably due to theContinue reading “Amazing Photos of Calamity Jane in the Late 19th Century”
Photograph of Buffalo Bill and Wild West Cast Members in a Gondola in Venice, ca. 1890s
37 Rare and Amazing Photographs of Barcelona, Spain From the 1870s
Barcelona is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the Province of BarcelonaContinue reading “37 Rare and Amazing Photographs of Barcelona, Spain From the 1870s”
