Casts from the Past

In honor of the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank on November 10th, 1975 on Lake Superior, please enjoy these excellent YouTube videos and other resources.

The Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The Launching …

Technorati Tags: Edmund Fitzgerald, Gales of November, Gordon Lightfoot, Great Lakes, Lake Superior, Michigan, shipwreck, tribute

On November 10, 1975 the bulk freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior with all hands lost. This post is dedicated to the memory of those 29 men and the families they left behind. This very touching video directed by Joseph Fulton shows some excellent footage of the Fitz …

Technorati Tags: 1975, Carl D. Bradley, Dossin Great Lakes Museum, Edmund Fitzgerald, Gales of November, Lake Superior, Michigan, Michigan History, November, remember, ship, shipwreck, storm, tribute, Whitefish Point, William Clay Ford

I can’t believe it has been five years since The Man in Black has passed. I don’t have much to say other than his music is still important and relevant and his legend still looms large. The world needs him now more than ever and although he is …

Technorati Tags: bluegrass, country, Johnny Cash, June Carter, Man in Black, memorial, music, Walk the Line

On August 19, 1839, Louis Daguerre and the French government gave the gift of “practical” photography to the world. It was instantly popular with the public and everybody wanted a portrait of themselves. It was the Polaroid of its day.

A daguerreotype is a …

Technorati Tags: Albumen, Ambrotype, Anniversary, Daguerre, Daguerrotype, Ferrotype, France, Library of Congress, Louis Daguerre, Photo, photography, portraits, Still life, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Saturday, July 26, 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In honor of this celebration, the FBI has published a book entitled, “The FBI: A Centennial History, 1908-2008″.

You can purchase hard or soft copies from the Government Printing Office or …

Technorati Tags: FBI, FBI history, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Government Printing Office, Special Agents

I am a huge Civil War fan. My dad is a blackpowder skirmisher and a member of the North South Skirmish Association (N-SSA) for over 30 years (go First South Carolina Vols!). He’s dragged me to just about every Civil War battlefield there is. Last year …

Technorati Tags: battle field, Civil War, Gettysburg, National Park Service

April 7th, 2008 marks the 75th anniversary of the return of our favorite beverage here at Scenes from the Past / Casts from the Past: BEER! (NOTE: Just in case you ever feel like grabbing a six pack or two and swinging by, I prefer the Canadian …

Technorati Tags: beer, history, prohibition

I doubt that Alexander Graham Bell could have ever foreseen the advent of the cell phone or the dreaded telemarketer, but a day late I celebrate the invention and inventor of the telephone by posting this charming little video.

Bell’s journal contains the following entry for March 10, 1876:

I …

Technorati Tags: Alexander Graham Bell, invention, inventor, telephone, Thomas Edison

On the morning of Thursday, February 14, 1929 St. Valentine’s Day, Al Capone sent a bloody .45 caliber Valentine when five members of George ‘Bugs’ Moran’s gang were lined up against a brick wall of the garage of the SMC Cartage Company in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago’s North …

Technorati Tags: Al Capone, alcohol, bootlegger, capone, Chicago, Eliot Ness, FBI, mob, mobster, moran, thompson, tommy gun, valentine's

On November 10, 1975 the bulk freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior with all hands lost. This post is dedicated to the memory of those 29 men and the families they left behind. This very touching video directed by Joseph Fulton shows some excellent footage of the Fitz …

Technorati Tags: Edmund Fitzgerald, Lake Superior, Michigan, shipwreck