J. L. BELL is a Massachusetts writer who specializes in (among other things) the start of the American Revolution in and around Boston. He is particularly interested in the experiences of children in 1765-75. He has published scholarly papers and popular articles for both children and adults. He was consultant for an episode of History Detectives, and contributed to a display at Minute Man National Historic Park.

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Monday, May 14, 2007

365 Days of Boston 1775

This is the anniversary of Boston 1775, so I’ve taken a look back at the first month (well, two and a half weeks) of postings.

Some of those entries have stood up to internet time better than others. The New Yorker took down its article about a supposed portrait of an eighteenth-century black sea captain—so I just added a better link from N.P.R.

I still haven’t found an image of the Boston Athenæum’s portrait of John Adams by Mather Brown to link to in “John Adams: the many faces.” But through 13 July it’s no longer confined to an upstairs board room but available to visitors as part of the institution’s “Acquired Tastes” exhibit. Also on display are a Gilbert Stuart portrait of Adams, a Houdon bust of Lafayette, and a battle painting by John Trumbull.

May 2006 also saw the start of some series of postings:

I managed a couple of book reviews that month; I’ve meant to write more but haven’t gotten around to them.

One of my bigger surprises about how this blog has developed is that the individual with the most entries is George Washington. Of course I expected to write about Washington since he was so important and interesting, but he wasn’t a Bostonian and probably spent less than two years total in New England over his lifetime. But you know what Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee would have written about Washington if he’d had better internet access: “first in war, first in peace, and first in the blog topic index.”

3 comments:

Randy Seaver said...

Dude - your blog rocks.

Seriously, I enjoy reading your musings and essays every day. Thank you for the interesting and informative and often humorous posts.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers -- Randy

Anonymous said...

Your blog has become a daily pleasure for me - and inspired, I suspect, some posts on the American Revolution of my own. Posted something last night, in fact, on the Battle of Chelsea Creek and the schooner DIANA which I am confident you could improve upon. My very best wishes to you for the next 365 days.

J. L. Bell said...

Thanks for the kind comments.

And as for Walking the Berkshire’s take on Noddle's Island and the grounding of the schooner Diana, that link's going to save me a lot of work when the anniversary of that skirmish comes around!