History Notes: Great Changes, Fat Presidents, and Girl Scouts

The 1910s was a decade of great change for America. It was during this decade that the United States was first considered a world leader. Many of the issues of 1910 are ones we face today: including the escalation of immigration and poverty, labor and monopoly battles, work safety and child labor problems. World War I - the first 'war to end all wars' raged. The 1910s were the decade America came of age. ~Peggy Whitley, Lonestar College

One of the “great changes” during this time was that of the American Woman. She had had enough. As early as 1840, women started taking a stand on issues important to them. The right to vote and the right to own property; the right to make wages the same as their husbands and the right to establish their own businesses; and the right to sue and the right to divorce their husbands on the same grounds as men could divorce their wives.

History Notes: Turn-of-the-Century Education

Rose O’ The River by Kate Douglas Wiggin was published in 1905. In the novel, the characters Stephen and Rose were fortunate enough to have had the opportunity for higher education, but due to family and financial circumstances, both ended up back home without finishing their studies. This was a common scenario in the early 1900s. With fewer job opportunities in the rural areas of America, such as Maine, many men ended up in laboring for the logging and ship-building industries. Only a few were fortunate enough to attend school, and many who did never got the chance to graduate.

Gorham Normal School, Maine, 1905
(Now the University of Southern Maine)

Dog-Warpin' on the River: A Family Tradition

“The forests of Maine have been a resource since the area first was inhabited by humans – but the uses of the forest have changed and grown – from timber for masts and shipbuilding, to sawn lumber for myriad building projects, to raw material for papermaking, to a recreational resource that boosts the tourism economy.” ~Maine History Online

Rose O’ The River, by Kate Douglas Wiggin, takes place in Maine in the heart of the logging industry in the early 1900s. Although modern technology and enhanced safety regulations have helped in improving the job of a logger, it is still today considered a highly dangerous occupation. Requiring brute strength and incredible bravery, it's not for the faint of heart.

In the early logging days, men lived in camps on location while their families lived at home. Often, the cabins the men lived in were on skids so they could easily be moved from site to site when resources had diminished in the current location. The living conditions were deplorable, camps were often rampant with lice and other diseases, and the men wore the same clothing for months at a time. Later, through the unions, logging camps allowed the men to move their wives and families to these remote locations where small communities, complete with schools, were founded.

Meet Vintage Reader Contributor Claire Cole

Claire Cole has loved books her entire life. She grew up in a family that read constantly and never leaves home without a book. Claire currently lives in Virginia with her husband and two children, all of who don't allow her the time to read as much as she would like!

Take Two of These and Call Me in the Morning

I haven’t decided what’s worse. Paying ridiculous amounts of money for health insurance (at least the doctor will find what’s wrong with you and treat you appropriately--maybe) or having a doctor that only prescribes a hot water bottle for your ailments and checks on you a few times a week. Is it because you can’t afford medical insurance and can’t expect to get quality care? No. You live in the 1900s and they’ve only recently named strep throat as an ailment!

Take moment to ponder all the different long-term illnesses we know about today and then think about how many have just been named in the last hundred years. Many of these sicknesses were “diagnosed” as rheumatism.

According to WiseGeek:

Some conditions that were once given the general label of rheumatism or called rheumatic diseases include, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia, and tendonitis. Frequently autoimmune disorders, since they remained unnamed but caused pain as well as affecting other organs, were classed as rheumatism. Illnesses like lupus were particularly susceptible to being called rheumatism. Later understanding of the actions of these illnesses show that the problem is not dysfunction of the joints, but rather immune systems that can attack joints, muscles and organs."