*Please note- This site search does not include the Vic. & Tas. BMD's, Lots o' Links & Worth a Look Books
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PIERRe JAQUET-DROZ
CLOCKMAKER, AUTOMATA
1721-1790
Pierre Jaquet-Droz was born July 28 1721 on a small farm in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. He began to take a serious interest in clockmaking and precision mechanics under the tutelage of older relatives from the Brandt-di-Grieurin, Sandoz and Robert families. It proved to be a true revelation for him. From 1738 to 1747,
Pierre Jaquet-Droz devoted himself entirely to clockmaking. He produced a series of longcase (or "grand-father") clocks whose increasingly sophisticated movements outclassed anything that had been produced earlier. His manual dexterity, meticulous nature and serious approach to his craft, as well as the reasoned application of mechanical principles, led him to add music and automata to his movements, which came
rapidly to the attention of a wealthy and demanding clientele.
Firmly established in his profession, he married Marianne Sandoz in 1750. Soon after the birth of his two children, Julie in 1751 and Henri-Louis in 1752, Pierre Jaquet-Droz lost his wife & then his daughter in 1755. He never remarried, devoting himself entirely to clockmaking. In an encounter that would change the course of his life and prove decisive to his international career, he met George Keith, Lord Marischal, Governor of the principality of Neuchâtel, who advised him to present his creations abroad, especially in Spain where
he could help introduce him to the court. With this support, Pierre Jaquet-Droz, his father-in-law and a young hired hand named Jaques Gevril, built a special carriage designed to carry six clocks and left for Spain in 1758.
In 1758, Jaquet-Droz, scared so many people with his mysterious machines, that he was suspected of witchcraft. That year, he brought his finest pieces to Madrid to show King Ferdinand VI in hope of drumming up some business in Spain.
These were no ordinary clocks: there were figures, people, animals, birds that moved by themselves as if propelled by magic. One especially fearsome clock featured a dog that lurched forward suddenly and barked when anyone removed an apple from the basket of the dog's master. King Ferdinand was amused, but few others were. All but the King fled in fear when they saw the clocks. Most believed Jaquet-Droz was possessed. To clear his name, he asked to meet with Spain's Grand Inquisitor. After demonstrating the clocks and explaining how they worked, he managed to convince the Spaniard that he should not be jailed.
Upon his return to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1759, the large sum of money brought back from Spain enabled Pierre Jaquet-Droz to concentrate exclusively on making watches, clocks and automata & destined to become famous. He set to work, assisted by his son Henri-Louis and a neighbor's son, Jean-Frédéric Leschot, whom he took in after the boy's mother died and thought of as his own. This was the beginning of a close and fruitful partnership. It was as a maker of such amazing automata that these three, as business partners, would achieve fame that has lasted to this day.
Their best-known automatons were “The Writer,” “The Draughtsman” and “The Musician.” The first, a barefoot, three-year-old boy, could write a message containing as many as 40 characters on a piece of paper, his eyes following his pen as it moved. The second, also a young boy, could draw one of four pictures, pausing occasionally to blow the dust off of his paper. The third, a young woman, could play five different melodies on an organ by pressing keys on a keyboard, bowing sweetly after each tune.
The three were completed in the 1770's and shown at royal courts across Europe. Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI saw them (one of the draughtsman's drawings is believed to depict the royal couple). The hoi polloi (the masses; common people).could admire them too, for a fee: Pierre Jaquet-Droz rented a hotel room in Paris and sold admission tickets to the curious. Today the automata can be seen in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Neuchâtel.
Although Jaquet-Droz is most famous for his clocks and automata, which were sold all over the world (the company had a huge following in China), the company was also greatly admired for its watches. The noted timepiece historians Eugène Jaquet and Alfred Chapuis write in their book- 'Technique and History of the Swiss Watch', “The watches made by this house were of a quality as nearly perfect as possible, sometimes
embellished with complications, such as music or singing birds, and tastefully ornamented, usually with enamel.” The company flourished, reaching its zenith just before the French Revolution, when it had workshops in three cities: La Chaux-de-Fonds, Geneva and London.
Pierre Jaquet-Droz died in November 28 1790 in Bienne, where he had moved after retiring. Henri-Louis survived him by just one year. Léschot kept the business going until sometime in the early 1800's, when lack of demand for luxury products forced him to close it. The brand was largely dormant until the Swatch Group
bought it in 2000.
Reference
http://www.watchtime.com/featured/the-man-behind-the-brand- pierre-jaquet-droz/
http://www.jaquet-droz.com/en/node/1801
Pierre Jaquet-Droz devoted himself entirely to clockmaking. He produced a series of longcase (or "grand-father") clocks whose increasingly sophisticated movements outclassed anything that had been produced earlier. His manual dexterity, meticulous nature and serious approach to his craft, as well as the reasoned application of mechanical principles, led him to add music and automata to his movements, which came
rapidly to the attention of a wealthy and demanding clientele.
Firmly established in his profession, he married Marianne Sandoz in 1750. Soon after the birth of his two children, Julie in 1751 and Henri-Louis in 1752, Pierre Jaquet-Droz lost his wife & then his daughter in 1755. He never remarried, devoting himself entirely to clockmaking. In an encounter that would change the course of his life and prove decisive to his international career, he met George Keith, Lord Marischal, Governor of the principality of Neuchâtel, who advised him to present his creations abroad, especially in Spain where
he could help introduce him to the court. With this support, Pierre Jaquet-Droz, his father-in-law and a young hired hand named Jaques Gevril, built a special carriage designed to carry six clocks and left for Spain in 1758.
In 1758, Jaquet-Droz, scared so many people with his mysterious machines, that he was suspected of witchcraft. That year, he brought his finest pieces to Madrid to show King Ferdinand VI in hope of drumming up some business in Spain.
These were no ordinary clocks: there were figures, people, animals, birds that moved by themselves as if propelled by magic. One especially fearsome clock featured a dog that lurched forward suddenly and barked when anyone removed an apple from the basket of the dog's master. King Ferdinand was amused, but few others were. All but the King fled in fear when they saw the clocks. Most believed Jaquet-Droz was possessed. To clear his name, he asked to meet with Spain's Grand Inquisitor. After demonstrating the clocks and explaining how they worked, he managed to convince the Spaniard that he should not be jailed.
Upon his return to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1759, the large sum of money brought back from Spain enabled Pierre Jaquet-Droz to concentrate exclusively on making watches, clocks and automata & destined to become famous. He set to work, assisted by his son Henri-Louis and a neighbor's son, Jean-Frédéric Leschot, whom he took in after the boy's mother died and thought of as his own. This was the beginning of a close and fruitful partnership. It was as a maker of such amazing automata that these three, as business partners, would achieve fame that has lasted to this day.
Their best-known automatons were “The Writer,” “The Draughtsman” and “The Musician.” The first, a barefoot, three-year-old boy, could write a message containing as many as 40 characters on a piece of paper, his eyes following his pen as it moved. The second, also a young boy, could draw one of four pictures, pausing occasionally to blow the dust off of his paper. The third, a young woman, could play five different melodies on an organ by pressing keys on a keyboard, bowing sweetly after each tune.
The three were completed in the 1770's and shown at royal courts across Europe. Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI saw them (one of the draughtsman's drawings is believed to depict the royal couple). The hoi polloi (the masses; common people).could admire them too, for a fee: Pierre Jaquet-Droz rented a hotel room in Paris and sold admission tickets to the curious. Today the automata can be seen in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Neuchâtel.
Although Jaquet-Droz is most famous for his clocks and automata, which were sold all over the world (the company had a huge following in China), the company was also greatly admired for its watches. The noted timepiece historians Eugène Jaquet and Alfred Chapuis write in their book- 'Technique and History of the Swiss Watch', “The watches made by this house were of a quality as nearly perfect as possible, sometimes
embellished with complications, such as music or singing birds, and tastefully ornamented, usually with enamel.” The company flourished, reaching its zenith just before the French Revolution, when it had workshops in three cities: La Chaux-de-Fonds, Geneva and London.
Pierre Jaquet-Droz died in November 28 1790 in Bienne, where he had moved after retiring. Henri-Louis survived him by just one year. Léschot kept the business going until sometime in the early 1800's, when lack of demand for luxury products forced him to close it. The brand was largely dormant until the Swatch Group
bought it in 2000.
Reference
http://www.watchtime.com/featured/the-man-behind-the-brand- pierre-jaquet-droz/
http://www.jaquet-droz.com/en/node/1801
1. Switzerland
2. Mechanical Magic
3. Magic/Witchcraft
4. French Revolution
5. The Paris Exposition
6. The Moonlight Towers
7. Icons (Eiffel Tower/Statue of Liberty)
8. Ellis Island
9. The 'Great' Exhibition
2. Mechanical Magic
3. Magic/Witchcraft
4. French Revolution
5. The Paris Exposition
6. The Moonlight Towers
7. Icons (Eiffel Tower/Statue of Liberty)
8. Ellis Island
9. The 'Great' Exhibition
Switzerland
COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF NEUCHÂTEL
http://vincentbourrut.ch/collegiale-de-neuchatel/
http://vincentbourrut.ch/collegiale-de-neuchatel/
La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss city of the district of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometres south of the French border
From the 12th century, settlers came to the region, firstly in summer, and then permanently from around 1500. In 1656, La Chaux-de-Fonds (which means “the pasture of the spring”) became a commune in its own right. Watchmaking occupied an increasing number of its inhabitants. Like in all villages, the houses were tightly packed around the square, not far from the church. The town burnt several times, and completely, the last time being in 1794. The rebuilding of the village began and was based on a well thought-out plan. The concretisation of this thought process finally took shape in 1835 with the checkerboard-style urban plan created by engineer Charles-Henri Junod. It must be noted that at the time and until the end of the 19th century, watchmaking was not an industry but instead a craft: there were no factories.
http://en.worldtempus.com/article/watch-culture/la-chaux-de-fonds-how-has-watchmaking-shaped-face-city |
View-La Chaux-de-Fonds during the Federal Shooting Festival July 1863
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Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, where'The Writer','The Draughtsman' and 'The Musician'
are on display |
The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire is the largest art museum in Geneva, Switzerland.
Switzerland Genealogy Links
http://www.genealogylinks.net/europe/sw |
SWISS IMMIGRATION TO WISCONSIN PROJECT
The total number of Swiss immigrants who came to Wisconsin in the 19th century is approximately 12,000, according to the most reliable estimates. Also, the Selkirk Project- Swiss emigrants who left Europe in 1821 and traveled together to Lord Selkirk's colony on the Red River of the North in Western Canada. http://www.uwgb.edu/wisfrench/family/swissproj Newspaper articles by and about Swiss immigrants
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNa |
Aarau is the capital of the northern Swiss canton of Aargau
AARGAU: A canton in northern Switzerland, formerly the only one in which Jews were permitted to live. The two townships Endingen and Lengnau, situated in the district of Baden and about three miles apart, formed for several centuries the Swiss ghetto. In the seventeenth century, or probably at an earlier period, when the Jews were banished from the confederation, several Jewish families were collected here under special protection as "Schirmund Schutzjuden." They were, however, forbidden to buy land or to own houses, and they were not permitted to live under the same roof with Christians.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Jewish_Encyclopedia/ The River Doubs
Russia Swiss archive
http://www.hist.uzh.ch/de/fachbereiche/oeg/biblioth SWISS VOLHYNIAN & OTHER MENNONITE GENEALOGY
http://www.swissmennonite.org/genealogy.html Russian Genealogy
http://www.genealogylinks.net/europe/russia/ JewishGen Info File Index
http://www.jewishgen.org/InfoFiles/ |
The "family name book for Switzerland"
http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch/famn/?lg=d |
Swiss National Library
http://www.nb.admin.ch/sammlungen/index.html? |
- Tips on doing research in Switzerland:
- Swiss citizenship is kept on three levels: nationally, the canton, and the Heimatort, or home community. For most people, citizenship was inherited. Therefore, a citizen’s descendants may never even have seen their original home community. The home community was charged with keeping track of its citizens. If a birth, marriage, or death of a citizen took place in another parish, notice of the event was often sent to the Heimatort.
- Church books are one of the most reliable and accurate family history sources. Swiss church records are typically written in German or Latin. Regional dialect may affect the spelling of some German words and use of vocabulary words.
- The number of emigrants who left Switzerland without permission and paying the obligatory “moving-away tax” was fairly high, so there may be no record of their departure. Passports were not registered until the mid-19th Century.
- Photos and scans are not always allowed by the archives and photocopying old books is generally prohibited. Swiss, German, French, Italian, Country borders changed over the years.
- The Swiss Center provides tips to help ...Swiss German French Italian
- http://www.theswisscenter.org/links-to-records
Mechanical Magic
The Writer, The Musician & The Draughtsman
After losing his wife & his daughter in 1755, he never remarried, but devoted himself entirely to clockmaking
The Area in yellow became known as 'Watch Valley'
The Germans are generally regarded as the first people to make clocks small enough to be portable. Most historians credit Peter Henlein, a locksmith and clockmaker who lived in Nuremberg in the early 16th century, with making the first watch. His specialty was miniaturizing clocks so they could be worn as pendants or affixed to clothing. The Germans and Dutch led the way in horological advances in the 17th century with inventions such as the fusee chain and balance spring, respectively. peasants and farmers occupied their winter months by making watch components for firms based in Geneva. England and Switzerland each produced 200,000 timepieces in 1800; by 1850, the Swiss were churning out 2,200,000 watches while the Brits saw virtually no increase. The budding American watch trade began to coalesce around the needs of the railroad industry, which demanded accurate timekeepers
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The "Watch Valley" covers all the Swiss Jura Arc, from Geneva to Basel, and is the primary location of the Swiss watch-making industry. Beginning initially in 15th century Geneva, the cradle of the European time keeping industry, and spreading north east through the Jura Mountains, the great majority of the companies related to the Swiss watch-making industry were first established. Continuing to the present day, centuries of tradition, rigor, and the know-how of skilled artisans, has forged the world recognized reputation of the great Swiss watch houses. The Swiss have the reputation of producing quality watches at the highest level |
Masters of Time: The World of Swiss Watches
51:15 Watchmaking Part 1 21:09
Part 2 21:01 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMunRZVrf_U Part 3 10:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze2KW7Q3Aao Mathematical Magick Book 1 & 2 are included in the following-
The Mathematical and Philosophical Works of the Right Reverend John Wilkins 1708 By John Wilkin https://books.google.com.au/books?id=adYAff6TDg Wooden Dove, Eagle & Iron Fly
Regiomontanus 1436–1476, was the name by which Author Johannes Muller von Konigsberg penned under. He was a German mathematician, astronomer, author, astrologer, translator, instrument maker, Catholic bishop and inventor.
Another Sailing Chariot
Trailer of the DVD "The Jaquet-Droz androids"
7:07 |
How a Watch Works - 1949 Educational Video
19:17 When he was in Spain, Pierre Jaquet-Droz’s presentation of his automata caused such a stir that he was
accused of witchcraft! Reading Material like what is contained in 'The Mathematical and Philosophical Works of the
Right Reverend John Wilkins 1708, may have been read by Jaquet-Droz & others who were interested in Automata. The Second part of the last book, by John Wilkin, mentions others who had previous to 1707, made various automated objects, which were probably inspirational to Jaquet-Droz Sphere by Archimedes
Iron Spider
Articulate Sounds
Also worthy of mention from the same book-
And a Submarine
In The Year 1515 Giuliano de’ Medici presented the newly crowned King of France, Francois I, with a mechanical lion that walked on it own. The automata was designed by Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), but all that is left of it is the diagrams. However, from those plans the lion was reconstructed in 2009.
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/leonardo_da Da Vinci's Mechanical Lion
0:33 |
'The Writer' Automaton- Jaquet-Droz
4:48 |
The Silver Swan by John Joseph Merlin (1735-1803) and owned by John Cox, Bowes Museum
0:50 |
JAQUET DROZ CORPORATE MOVIE
17:49 Singing Bird Box by Jaquet-Droz & Leschot
1:11 Jaquet Droz The Bird Minute Repeater Watch
1:58 The Jaquet Droz Ateliers d'Art
8:15 David Roentgen's Automaton of Queen Marie Antoinette, 'The Dulcimer Player' (c1782-84)
1:15 |
Museum of Automata, York
29:16 Kempelen's Speaking Machine (1791)
3:00 Jacques de Vaucanson
1:05 AUTOMATA "CHINESE MAGICIAN"
3:49 The Turk Automaton History Specials-Magic Decoded Wolfgang Von Kempelen (1734-1804)
15:14 |
Magic/Witchcraft
When Jaquet-Droz first made his amazing Automated dolls, people who were not aware of his genius, viewed them as being 'magical'. Magic, was associated with the devil & witchcraft and was a punishable crime.
Among the laws attributed to King Kenneth I of Scotland (ruled 844 to 860), under whom the Scots of Dalriada and the Pictish peoples may be said to have been united in one kingdom, is an important statute which enacts that all sorcerers and witches, and such as invoke spirits, "and use to seek upon them for helpe, let them be burned to death".
In the 12th-15th centuries, Christianity was throughout nearly all of Europe Monks, priests, physicians, surgeons, midwives, folk healers, and diviners, were said to practice magic, much of which consisted of medicinal herbs in order to heal.
Tens of thousands of trials continued through Europe, generation after generation; the famous witches in Macbeth were committed to paper during the reign of James I, who hanged more witches than any other English monarch.
Accusations against witches were almost identical to those leveled by 3rd-century pagans against early Christians. Witchcraft Act 1542 Religious tensions in England during the 16th and 17th centuries resulted in the introduction of serious penalties for witchcraft.
Henry VIII's Act of 1542 was the first to define witchcraft as a felony, a crime punishable by death and the forfeiture of the felon's goods and chattels So called 'Witches', were blamed for the weather, bewitching the waves,
causing cattle and people to get sick and die, crops to fail, anything that could not otherwise be explained. http://www.livescience.com/55431-infamous-witch |
Magic today, is viewed by most people, as entertainment, knowing that there is some hidden trick behind each illusion, but Magic & Witchcraft has a long history throughout time & the belief and practice of witchcraft in Europe can be traced to classical antiquity.
Instances of persecution of witchcraft are well documented & the practice of such, was punishable by death
The sentence of death for witchcraft was demonstrably not a product of Christianity, but had long been employed in the heathen world and among pagan peoples and polytheistic societies.
Occult power was supposedly a womanly trait because women were said to be weaker and
more susceptible to the devil Artistic depiction of the execution by burning of three alleged witches in Baden, Switzerland in 1585
List of people executed for witchcraft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_execut It was the duty of a parish priest to perform an agricultural ritual for infertile fields in the twelfth century. The ceremony takes an entire day, and consists of digging out clumps of the earth and sprinkling it with holy water, oil, milk, honey, herbs, and a recitation. This is seen as a “Christian” act because the words that the priest says are taken from the Bible, specifically Genesis 1:28. Magical acts such as these were widespread because it seemed to be under the umbrella of Christianity.
Parish Priests and Their People in the Middle Ages in England,
by Edward L. Cutts http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wakefield/ Witchcraft Act 1735 marked a reversal in attitudes. Penalties for the practice of witchcraft, were replaced by penalties for the pretence of witchcraft. A person who claimed to have the power to call up spirits, or foretell the future, or cast spells, or discover the whereabouts of stolen goods, was to be punished as a vagrant and a con artist, subject to fines and imprisonment. The Act applied to the whole of Great Britain, repealing both the 1563 Scottish Act and the 1604 English Act. The Witchcraft Act of 1735 remained in force in Britain well into the 20th century
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Last Witch Burning in Germany (1775)
http://freethoughtalmana Scottish Witchcraft Act 1563 both the practice of witchcraft and consulting with witches were capital offences. This Act stayed on Scottish statute books until repealed as a result of a House of Lords amendment to the bill for the post-union
Witchcraft Act 1735. |
Many people being accused of witchcraft, were burnt at the stake or hung in the gallows Scotland had a harsher view on punishment for witchcraft, they had their own Acts passed & also had a rather unique punishment for them Scottish Witchcraft Act 1649
The Covenanter regime passed a series of acts to enforce godliness in 1649, which made capital offences of blasphemy, the worship of false gods, for beaters and cursers of their parents. Also an act that ratified the existing act of 1563 extending it to deal with consulters of "Devils and familiar spirits", who would now be punished with death. |
Nineteen accused witches were hanged on Gallows Hill in 1692:
List of Names http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrial Slezer castle & Nor Loch 1690
Trial by Douking (Ducking)
In the 16th century Scotland was obsessed with witchcraft. Logic, suspicion, followed by 'mob rule', would ensure that a suitable candidate was accused and tried, often without any basis in evidence. Guilt would be established, either through torture and a likely confession, or ducking (douking) and the Nor' Loch proved to be a perfect spot for this. |
In 1490 King James III ordered that the ground between the Old Town and Princes Street be flooded in an effort to strengthen the Castle's northern defences. A dam was built at the east end, where North Bridge now stands. Natural spring water flowing from the original St. Margaret's Well at the foot of the castle was used to flood what once was a forested valley.
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Initially it was a picturesque and relaxing haven for the residents of Edinburgh, a beautiful sight reflecting the magnificent castle. Over the years, it became a convenient dump for all sorts of waste including human excrement (before proper sanitation) and became a stinking cesspool.
This seemed like a great place to Try the Witches. The suspected witch having her thumbs and toes tied together, would be ducked twice into this cesspool, on a specially designed 'stool'. If she sank and drowned she would be found innocent (but dead!) but if she floated and survived drowning, she would be found guilty and burned at the stake on Castlehill. Either way, it wasn't good
The Ducking Stool Game
Reading Old Handwriting, if you get the word wrong, your witch is lowered into the cesspool. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/ |
When obnoxious fumes and gasses began to seriously affect the health of the local residents. Concentrated Methane gas would cause the locals to have hallucinations. The decision was made, to drain the Loch in 1759, around the same time of the building of the New Town to the north.
http://www.royal-mile.com/history/crimepunish.html
http://www.royal-mile.com/history/crimepunish.html
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, fourteen of them women, and all but one by hanging. In January 1692, 9 yr old Elizabeth (Betty) Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams (her daughter and niece of Samuel Parris, minister of Salem Village) began having fits, including violent contortions and uncontrollable outbursts of screaming. After a local doctor, William Griggs, diagnosed bewitchment, other young girls in the community began to exhibit similar symptoms
http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials The Witches Well is situated at the entrance to the Edinburgh Castle esplande on the west wall of The Tartan Weaving Mill and can easily be missed. A cast iron wall fountain commemorates the place where over three hundred women were burned at the stake accused of being witches. In the 16th Century more witch burnings were carried out at Castlehill than anywhere else in the country. The victims often suffered brutal torture being nearly drowned by 'douking' in the Nor' Loch, before being burnt to death at the stake.
http://www.royal-mile.com/history/witches-well.html |
New research has shown that witch trials were more likely to occur in areas of political instability and religious conflict. Hence both Germany
and Switzerland, each a patchwork of small political entities and divided between Catholics and Protestants, witnessed more witch trials than did France or Spain. In late seventeenth-century Spain, after an outbreak of witchcraft accusations in the Basque region (shared with France), a lawyer for the Spanish Inquisition convinced its supreme council not to prosecute. Instead, the council ordered an "Edict of Silence" forbidding further discussion of witchcraft. In that Spanish case and others, local secular authorities went around the Catholic Church and appealed to the king for the right to try witches. The king agreed with their request and accused witches began to be sentenced until the Inquisition stopped the process on the grounds that this was church business only. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/witchcraft.aspx In an effort to explain by scientific means the strange afflictions suffered by those "bewitched" Salem residents in 1692, a study published in Science magazine in 1976 cited the fungus ergot (found in rye, wheat and other cereals),
which toxicologists say can cause symptoms such as delusions, vomiting and muscle spasms. THE WITCHES STONE OF SPOTT, East Lothian
Witches Executed at Lancaster (includes names)
http://www.pendlewitches.co.uk/witch-trial/ 3 Witches of Forres
http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/town |
‘From Cluny Hill witches were rolled in stout barrels through which spikes were driven. Where the barrel stopped they were burned with their mangled contents. This stone marks the spot of one such burning.’
One of three stones that mark the graves of the three witches, Shakespeare's Macbeth is said to be based the characters and events of the real Witches of Forres, Inverness, Scotland. The grave of a medieval 'witch' who appears to have been burnt alive before being hurriedly tossed into a pit has been unearthed in Italy. The teenager's remains were covered with heavy stone slabs, which archaeologists believe were put in place to prevent her spirit rising. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3356222/W The Bartholomew Fair was one of London's pre-eminent summer Charter fairs. From 1133-1855 it took place each year on 24 Aug. within the precincts of the Priory at West Smithfield, outside Aldersgate of the City of London |
Only one granite stone, 3ft square and 1ft high, remains of three set to mark the graves of the three witches who bewitched King Duncan in 960. It is clasped by an iron band. A second stone is said to exist in the garden of nearby Trafalgar Place. The third stone was broken up in 1802, when the remaining stone was also damaged. The stone is as described above. Part of the top is covered by concrete to support an iron plaque bearing the following inscription: "WITCHES STONE. From Cluny Hill witches were rolled in stout barrels through which spikes were driven. Where the barrels stopped they were burned with their mangled contents. This stone marks the site of one such burning."
"The Sueno's Stone, Forres.
The 3 witches in the play Macbeth were said to be trapped inside 1000-1500 - Allowed some street performers to make a living out of such tricks as the cups and balls, later magicians would perform at Bartholomew Fair including Isaac Fawkes. In 1805 Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin was born (died 1871) and considered the "father of modern magic", bringing it from the street & circus side shows to elegant drawing rooms or stage settings. 1874 was the birth of Harry Houdini (d.1926 with a ruptured appendix). His real name was Ehrich Weiss, obviously taking his stage name from his predecessor?, he achieved great fame as an escapologist.
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French Revolution
School of Northern France, early 16th century
'THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN' Oil and gold on panel
'THE PRESENTATION OF THE VIRGIN' Oil and gold on panel
During the 16th century, Paris was the largest city in Europe, with a population of about 350,000 in 1550.
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The Bourbons ruled the country in the
16th century Louis XIV was crowned king and during his reign, France enjoyed a rebirth of art, music, drama and literature and Italian styles were the rage. Toward
the end of the king's reign, the economy of France was spiraling downward into poverty. In 1789 the French Revolution resulted in the end of the monarchy, and a torrent of bloodshed. |
Tensions between Protestants and Catholics grew, culminating in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572, when several thousand Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots) were killed in the streets by Catholic mobs. At the end of the century, Henry IV was able to return to Paris as King, and permitted Protestants to open churches outside the city.
From 1562 to 1593 the Catholics and Protestants battled in the Wars of Religion.
Louis XIV Seated
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Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1755, Marie Antoinette married the future French king Louis XVI when she was just 15 years old. The young couple soon came to symbolize all of the excesses of the reviled French monarchy, and Marie Antoinette herself became the target of a great deal of vicious gossip. After the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the royal family was forced to live under the supervision of revolutionary authorities. In 1793, the king was executed; then, Marie Antoinette was arrested and tried for trumped-up crimes against the French republic. She was convicted and sent to the guillotine on October 16, 1793.
http://www.history.com/topics/marie-antoinette By 1794, 30,000 French men and women had been murdered for one thin accusation or another, 2,400 people in Paris alone had been killed. Robespierre was finally arrested and beheaded, the last victim of the Reign of Terror.
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In 1792 France declared war on Austria. Louis XVI was apprehended in his attempt to flee France, and executed soon after. In 1793 France declared war on Great Britain. After the death of Louis XVI in 1793, the Reign of Terror began. The first victim in the carnage was Marie Antoinette who had been imprisoned with her children after being seperated from Louis.
Public executions (guillotine) were considered entertainment. Women would sit and knit during the beheadings and men would eat and converse as heads rolled.
"....Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible....". (Speech on the Justification of the Use of Terror).
Napoleon Bonaparte created constitutions and fair laws which included respect for religions and the abolishment of slavery. He encouraged education of science, arts and literature and he ended feudalism. Today, French law is still based on the principles of Napoleon's Code Civil. In 1814 the Bourbons overthrew Napoleon's rule but in 1848 Napoleon's nephew, Louis, became emperor and was renamed Napoleon III. |
Napoleon I died at the age of fifty-two, but not before establishing a mass expansion of France's territories. In 1848 it had claimed an overseas empire colonising the West Indian Islands, Martinique & Guadeloupe as well as other smaller islands, Guyana in Sth America & parts of Senegal on the Guinea coast. Two islands off the coast of Newfoundland, Miquelon & Saint-Pierre, Mayotte & Reunion in the Indian Ocean, certain areas in India, Algeria, Tahiti, and the Marquesas. |
The 18th century was the period in the history of France called the 'Enlightenment',
France was the envy of Europe Legend has it that Napoleon was unusually short, but he was 5'6.5", normal height for that time.
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Slavery was abolished in these colonies as a result of the 1848 revolution. France went on to claim colonization of French Equatorial Africa [Congo, Central Republic of Africa and Chad] and Vietnam in more recent years. In 1870, after Napoleon III was overthrown, Georges Clemenceau ("the Tiger"), a strong Republic, was made mayor of Montmarte in Paris.
A brief history of France
http://www.learn-french-help.com/history-of-france.html
A brief history of France
http://www.learn-french-help.com/history-of-france.html
Paris Exposition
The Paris Exposition Universelle of 1878 by Arthur Chandler
http://www.arthurchandler.com/new-pageparis-1878-exposition/
http://www.arthurchandler.com/new-pageparis-1878-exposition/
Jaquet-Droz, with the fascination of his Automata, unfortunately died the year before the first Industrial Exhibition in Prague & other only seven years later in Paris.
1791 - Prague, Bohemia - First industrial exhibition. France hosted another exhibition in 1798, then with a few exceptions, there has been a World Fair or exhibition every few years since 1801.
1851 - London, U.K. - The Great Exhibition-- The Crystal Palace, is typically listed as the "first world's fair", as it was the first of the 'world expositions' sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE). The designation "World Exposition" or "Expo" refers to a class of the largest, general scope exhibitions of 3 to 6 months' duration. In 2017 Kazakhstan will be the host and Dubai in 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world%27s_fairs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_expositions
1851 - London, U.K. - The Great Exhibition-- The Crystal Palace, is typically listed as the "first world's fair", as it was the first of the 'world expositions' sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE). The designation "World Exposition" or "Expo" refers to a class of the largest, general scope exhibitions of 3 to 6 months' duration. In 2017 Kazakhstan will be the host and Dubai in 2020.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world%27s_fairs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_expositions
Countries that have hosted the World's Fair, or Exposition.
Prince Napoleon had warned, in his final report on the 1855 exposition universelle, that future expositions should beware of attempting to outshine their predecessors,
but that was inevitable.
but that was inevitable.
The International Exposition of 1867
was the second world's exposition to be held in Paris, from 1 April to 3 November 1867. Forty two nations were represented at the fair. Following a decree of Emperor Napoleon III, the exposition was prepared as early as 1864, in the midst of the renovation of Paris, marking the culmination of the Second French Empire. Newspapers reported with pride that, in the first nine days of the 1867 exposition, there were 38,363 paid visitors
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Paris in the Belle Époque, between 1871 and 1914
Republic until the First World War, saw the construction of the Eiffel Tower, the Paris Métro, the completion of the Paris Opera, and the beginning of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre. Three universal expositions in 1878, 1889 and 1900 brought millions of visitors to Paris to see the latest in commerce, art and technology. Paris was the scene of the first public projection of a motion picture, and the birthplace of the Ballets Russes, Impressionism and Modern Art. |
1878 exposition
http://www.arthurchandler.com/new-pageparis-1878-exposition/
http://www.arthurchandler.com/new-pageparis-1878-exposition/
After nine days of the 1878 exposition, 258,342 had paid to see the wonder works of the fair. At the close of the exposition, it became apparent that the event would lose money, but officials agreed that the price paid for the confirmation of confidence in the new Republic was not excessive.
France had lost money on the 1855 exposition, as had Austria 1873 &
Philadelphia in 1876
Philadelphia in 1876
Japanese pavilion Paris 1878
The Republic, took its first steps to separate government from Church, refusing to include any religious statement, in the opening ceremonies. Adrien de Valette, an able writer and defender of the prerogatives of the Church, excoriated the 1878 fair as 'The Exposition without God' Many parish priests told their congregation to stay away from this "atheist exposition" which may have contributed to the lower-than-expected final attendance figures and the financial loss suffered by the 1878 fair.
Adding to the 'Atheist' view of the Exposition, was the Iron statue of a Bull, where it was said that people were going to worship the 'Golden Calf' as in the time of Moses.
The Artist of the Bull was 'Auguste Cain', I'm sure his name would not have gone down well either
Jaquet-Droz probably would have been amazed to see an American watchmaking assembly line demonstrating standardized parts in mass production at the Expo
The QWERTY keyboard, as it is called, was designed by Christopher Latham Sholes (1874) to put letters that are not usually typed in after another next to each other. It may seem strange that designers would try to slow typing down, but it actually created less jams in the keys while typing.
http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ergoprojects/dea4702 The Jones mechanical typographer from 1853.
http://oztypewriter.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/on-this Catalogue of U.S. Exhibitors at the 1878 Expo
Alexander Graham Bell was the first to obtain a patent, in 1876 even though others had been working on developing the telephone before this time. Bell exhibited a working telephone at the Centennial Exhibition
in Philadelphia in June 1876, he adopted carbon transmitters similar to Edison's transmitters and adapted telephone exchanges and switching plug boards developed for telegraphy. Edison took the next step in improving the telephone with his invention in 1878 of the carbon grain transmitter (microphone) that provided a strong voice signal on the transmitting circuit that made long-distance calls practical. According to Edison, Tivadar Puskas was the first person to suggest the idea of a telephone exchange" Tivadar Puskás de Ditró was a Hungarian inventor, telephone pioneer, and inventor of the telephone exchange. It was Puskas who first used the phrase “hello” as a greeting during a phone conversation, whose use later spread throughout the world. It is derived from the Hungarian “hallom” which means “I can hear what you are saying”.
http://www.xpatloop.com/news/father_of_the_radio The Trocadero seated 4,500 people
The Dimensions of the Trocadero were conceived in such a way as to make it evident that the French builders could out do the English. The main auditorium surpassed those of its English the Albert Hall. It was unfinished on the opening day of the exposition, even though over 800 workers labored diligently for a year on the building and its site. Even when the exterior was finished and the internal exhibits mounted, the opening day of the music festival had to be delayed, the grande salle des fêtes was still not finished in June. Less than a month after the concert hall was finished, a careless workman left a water tap running all night on one of the top floors of the building. The ceiling of the hall was damaged; and once again, the music festival had to be delayed.
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On 30 June 1878, the completed head of the Statue of Liberty was showcased in the garden of the Trocadéro palace, while other pieces were on display in the Champs de Mars.
The Steam Engines and Decorative Arts still dominated the 1878 exposition.
New toys like- The first personal printing machine- the typewriter, Rubber Tyres, Singer Company's sewing machines for home use. For the hard-of-hearing, Edison had invented the megaphone, also the phonograph. Some people in the audience at the phonograph booth suspected a trick of ventriloquism. There was Hydraulic engineering for fountains, all sorts of Art, international Food & Industry, even the top section of the Statue of Liberty was on display. The Edison Listening Room
The first words Edison successfully recorded on the phonograph were
'Mary had a Little Lamb' Russian pavilion
Chinese pavilion
American pavilion, 1878 exposition, thought of as 'Cheap', being buit out of timber to reduce costs
Visitors were introduced to International Cuisine
The Trocadero quickly became a major center of cultural activity at the Exposition. Concerts were held almost every night; and the main hall, which held 4,500 people, was usually filled to capacity. On the walls, 4,500 gaslights made every musical performance a visual spectacle as well.
http://www.arthurchandler.com/new-pageparis |
The Arc Light (or “electric candle”) was invented and demonstrated by Sir Humphry Davy at the very beginning of the 19th century in England. Davy, who can be considered the true founder of electric lighting, but it was Pavel Yablochkov, Russian electrical engineer, businessman and inventor of the Yablochkov candle. It was in Paris that he developed his arc light idea into a complete system of electric lighting powered by Zénobe Gramme direct current dynamos fitted with an inverter to supply single-phase alternating current. The first public use of the Yablochkov system was in October 1877 at Halle Marengo of the Magasins du Louvre which was lit by six Yablochkov candles. The Paris Exposition of 1878 presented Yablochkov with the unique opportunity to make a spectacular demonstration for a world audience. Yablochkov's demonstration of his brilliant arc lights at the 1878 Paris Exposition along the triggered a steep sell off of gas utility stocks
The Moonlight Towers
Moonlight Towers installed at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, for a Football Match in 1879
As early as 1820 the French inventor de La Rue made a successful incandescent lamp by putting an expensive platinum coil in an evacuated glass tube. In 1840 an English inventor named Grove used similar lamps to light a whole theater, but was too dim & very costly. Sir Humphry Davy began experimenting long before that with the Arc light (electric candle) at the end of the 1700's & in the first years of the 1800's, he had succeeded & demonstrated his wonderful new invention to an audience in excess of 1,000 in London, England. Davy is considered to be the true founder of electric lighting, when he discovered that a blinding white light was produced by hooking up two charcoal rods to a battery, and bringing them very close together. Large buildings, like theatres, were sometimes lit by hundreds or even thousands of candles with their toxic smoke, smell, heat, build-up of soot and the risk of fire. Oil lamps had similar drawbacks, and open flame gas lamps were only a modest improvement. The only sources of electricity during the first half of the 19th century were inefficient batteries, which made the use of arc lamps very impractical and excessively expensive. It wasn't until the invention of electric generators (dynamos) at the end of the 1870's, that the arc lamp took off & was demonstrated in all it's glory at the Paris 1878 Exposition, thanks to the genius of Russian inventor, Pavel Yablochkov.
Every Country wanted Arc Street Lighting, as the lamps were too strong for indoor use
Paris set the ball rolling in 1878, with street lights on the Avenue de l’Opéra and the Grand Magasins du Louvre. London and other European cities shortly followed.
The Arc lights were more successful at the top of large structures or in the outskirts of town, or thinly settled districts, as in the heart of the city, if not high enough, would create dark shadows from the density of the buildings
The First Arc Light Tower was erected in San José, California, in December 1881. It stood 237 feet tall and was supplied with
6 arc lights boasting a total light production of 24,000 candle-power (a replica half the height has been built on the same spot, the original tower collapsed in 1915 following a storm). Edison's contribution to electric lighting wasn't its invention, but its development
In 1878, the same year as the Paris Exposition, Joseph Swan
made an evacuated carbon filament lamp & managed to get patent protection before Edison duplicated the feat. Edison finally installed his complete lighting system on the steamship Columbia in 1880. He created cheaper, longer-lasting bulbs than anyone else. But he also provided the public with an electrical supply system. He created a complete user-ready lighting system. Of course Edison had to get around Swan. To do this, he took Swan in as a business partner. http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1330.htm Another reason for the decline of the moonlight towers was the fact that alternative electric systems, notably Edison's
incandescent, were improved substantially. The merit of Edison was that he succeeded in dividing the intense light of the arc lamp in smaller units, so that electric lighting became suited for use inside buildings, even in small rooms. http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/01/moonlight-towers In October, 1879, Edison’s developing light bulb burned for a continuous 13½ hours. The following bulbs lasted for 40 hours and Edison and his team worked hard to light the laboratory and his home with several of the new light bulbs for Christmas. On New Year’s Eve of the same year, Christie Street became the world’s first street to be lit by incandescent light bulbs with the help of a power system designed by Edison.
http://www.menloparkmuseum.org/history/thomas-edison-and Edison's first invention, a Vote Machine 1869
1869- Edison's first patented invention was a vote recorder for use by legislative bodies such as Congress
1877- Invented first phonograph 1878- Edison began serious research into developing a practical incandescent lamp 1880- Edison patented a system for electricity distribution 1880- The Edison Illuminating Company was established by Thomas Edison on December 17, to construct electrical generating stations 1882- Nikola Tesla moved to Paris, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company 1883- In Britain, the Edison & Swan companies merged into the Edison & Swan United Electric Company 1885- Tesla breaks with Edison & claims he was offered US $50,000 (US$1.1 million in 2007) if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor 1890- Edison formed Edison General Electric. 1892- Edison received a patent for a two-way telegraph. 1897- Edison received a patent for the kinetographic camera 1893- Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse power the World's Columbian Exposition Assembling a Generator Westinghouse Works 1904
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Grove's Incandescent Lamp, 40 years before Edison's
A loop of wire spinning through a magnetic field will create an alternating current.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanex Brush Dynamo- Electric Machine
The Americans didn't just build poles for street lamps, they built 'Moonlight Towers'
Charles F. Brush developed the first commercially successful arc light systems in Cleveland, Ohio (at Public Square 4/29/1879), after the success of the 1878 Paris Exposition, designing arc lights plus dynamo (generator of DC power). When Thomas Edison traveled through Ohio, he was inspired by Brush's arc light work and he initiated his own electric light work. Brush improved not only the ability to add more lights to the circuit, but developed the Brush Dynamo.
http://www.edisontechcenter.org/Arc 'Moonlight Towers' were being built, despite the carbon rods having to be replaced every one or two hours.
Most Lighting Towers Were Demolished during the first two decades of the 20th century (quite a few also collapsed during storms and tornadoes etc.). There are still 17 remaining towers in Austin, Texas today. Arc lights lasted longer than arc light towers – in London they were still found on the streets in the 1950's. Most street lamps, Theatre lighting & neons today, are descendants of the electric candle. Arc welding developed from arc lighting and this is why it is not advised to use an arc light, as like with welding, staring at the arc from nearby can damage your eyes.
Edison was dubbed
"The Wizard of Menlo Park" Menlo Park New Jersey, was a very sparsely populated rural area and the site of a failed residential development in the early 1870's. Edison purchased two parcels of land, approximately 34 acres from William Carman, who was one of his employees at Newark, in late 1875. The office of the real estate development company, Menlo Park Land Company, at the corner of Lincoln Highway & Christie Street, became Edison’s home. Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory was the world’s first such research and development facility. Edison coined the name “Invention Factory” for the Menlo Park site.
Edison developed his own Dynamo- Long Legged Mary, a commercially successful dynamo for his DC systems 1884
http://www.edisontechcenter.org/ (General Electric Company (backed by Thomas Edison and J.P. Morgan) had proposed to power the electric exhibits at the Columbian Exposition, with direct current originally at the cost of US $1.8 million. After this was initially rejected as exorbitant, General Electric re-bid their costs at $554,000. However, Westinghouse, armed with Nikola Tesla's alternating current system, proposed to illuminate the Columbian Exposition in Chicago for $399,000, and Westinghouse won the bid) https://worldhistoryproject.org/topics/thomas-edison |
Icons
Eiffel Tower & Statue of Liberty
Eiffel Tower & Statue of Liberty
Paris also hosted the 1889 Exposition
In 1885, French officials began planning the Great Exposition of 1889, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The Washington Monument, had recently been completed and at 557 feet high, it was the tallest building on earth. The French decided to top it by constructing a 1,000 foot tall tower right in the heart of Paris. On May 2, 1886, the French government announced a design contest: French engineers and architects were invited to "study the possibility of erecting an iron tower with a base of 125 mtrs sq. and 300 mtrs high. The structure had to be self-financing, had to attract enough ticket-buying visitors to the exposition to pay for its own construction; and it had to be a temporary structure that could be torn down easily at the end of the Exposition. More than 100 proposals were submitted by the May 18 deadline. Some proposals were- building a huge guillotine; erecting a 1,000 foot tall sprinkler to water Paris during droughts.
http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/16/the-eiffel-tower-story/ Selected from among 107 projects, it was that of Gustave Eiffel, an entrepreneur, Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, both engineers, and Stephen Sauvestre, an architect, that was accepted. The first digging work started on the 28th January 1887. On the 31st March 1889, the Tower had been finished in record time – 2 years, 2 months and 5 days – and was established as a veritable technical feat. http://www.toureiffel.paris/en/everything-about-the-tower/themed-files/69.html |
Eiffel Tower in Paris, finished in 1889 and also equipped with powerful arc lights, was inspired by the first San José 'Moonlight tower'. The American city even tried to sue Paris unsuccessfully Upon its construction, it was understood that the tower would be disassembled after 20 years, but the emergence of radio gave Paris a really good reason to keep Eiffel's tower around, as it became an "obnoxious" and "vile" yet totally useful antenna. According to World War I historian Barbara Tuchman, a transmitter in the tower jammed German radio communications and helped the Allies emerge victorious in the First Battle of the Marne, in 1914. http://bigthink.com/1000-words/rise-of-the-eiffel-tower The Tower was the Centre Piece for the 1889 Paris Exposition, but eventually became an Giant Radio Antenna and an enormous Street Lamp Elevator Systems of the Eiffel Tower, 1889 Robert M. Vogel http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32282/32282-h/32282-h.htm The Tower was to be pulled down after 20 years, some considering it to be "obnoxious" and "vile", but it still stands almost 130 years later, as part of France's identity
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Cartoon of Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) French civil engineer and architect
In 1865 a French political intellectual and anti-slavery activist named Edouard de Laboulaye proposed that a statue representing liberty be built for the United States. This monument would honor the United States' centennial of independence and the friendship with France. French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi
supported Laboulaye's idea and in 1870 began designing the statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World." While Bartholdi was designing the Statue, he also took a trip to the United States in 1871. During the trip, Bartholdi selected Bedloe's Island as the site for the Statue. Although the island was small, it was visible to every ship entering New York Harbor, which Bartholdi viewed as the "gateway to America." https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/hist The Arm & Torch on display-Philadelphia Expo 1876
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Eiffel made his name earlier in his career, with various bridges for the French railway network, most famously the Garabit viaduct The Bordeaux bridge, Eiffel's first major work.
France had for some time felt affectionately towards the U.S.
French soldiers had aided the cause of American independence; and the Founding Fathers openly modeled much of their constitutional thinking on the works of the great French thinkers of the Enlightenment. When the Second Empire was overthrown, America was the first to grant official recognition to the new republic. Eiffel had also designed the interior structure of the Statue of Liberty. In 1876 French artisans and craftsmen began constructing the Statue in France under Bartholdi's direction. The arm holding the torch was completed in 1876 and shown at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.
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Interior structural elements of the Statue, designed by Gustave Eiffel.
In 1881 Eiffel was contacted by Auguste Bartholdi who was in need of an engineer to help him to realise the Statue of Liberty. Some work had already been carried out by Eugène Viollet-Le-Duc, but he had died in 1879. Eiffel was selected because of his experience with wind stresses. Eiffel's structure had a four legged pylon to support the copper sheeting which made up the body of the statue. The entire statue was erected at the Eiffel works in Paris before being dismantled and shipped to the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gust Architect Richard Morris Hunt designed the granite pedestal in 1884, but it wasn't finished when the Statue arrived
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The Statue of Liberty is made of copper 3/32in. (about 2.5mm) thick & the internal structure is comprised of cast iron and stainless steel.
In 1885, the statue was dismantled in Paris and shipped in 214 crates across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City
Screwed on copper panels are attached to Eiffel's frame
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The sculpture was made in Paris by Frederic Bartholdi, a French sculptor with the help of Gustave Eiffel. It was given to the U.S. as a gift during the hundredth anniversary of the U.S. independence in 1876 Once the pedestal was completed in 1886 the Statue was reassembled with surprising speed by a construction crew - many of whom were new immigrants. All construction materials were hoisted up by steam driven cranes and derricks. In order to sculpt the Statue's skin Eiffel used the repoussé technique developed by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. A process of molding light-weight copper sheets by hammering them onto the Statue's hallowed wooden framework. The last section to be completed was the Statue of Liberty's face which remained veiled until the Statue's dedication, on October 28th 1886. F.A.Q's- https://www.nps.gov/stli/faqs.htm |
Unpacking her feet
http://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2007/09/statue-of-liberty The Torch has been closed to the public since 1916. "Black Tom" originally referred to an island in N.Y. Harbor next to Liberty Island. It was a major munitions depot for the North-East U.S.. The Black Tom explosion on July 30, 1916, was an act by German agents to destroy American-made munitions to be supplied to the Allies in WWI
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1906: The first public elevator is installed to provide service to the top of the pedestal.
http://renovatingnyc.com/2013/07/ |
Lady Liberty stands on Liberty Island- A federally owned island in Upper New York Bay U.S. An exclave of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It was Long known as Bedloe's Island, then renamed in 1956
After the Surrender of Fort Amsterdam by the Dutch to the British in 1664 English governor Richard Nicolls granted the island to Captain Robert Needham & then sold it to Isaac Bedloe on December 23, 1667. Retained by his estate until 1732, then sold for five shillings to New York merchants Adolphe Philipse and Henry Lane. During their owner-ship, the island was temporarily commandeered by the city of N.Y. to establish a small-pox quarantine station. In 1746, Archibald Kennedy (later 11th Earl of Cassilis) bought the island for a summer residence. In 1753, Bedloe's Island (alias Love Island) is described in an ad. as being available for rental. In 1756, Kennedy allowed the island to again be used as a smallpox quarantine station, and on February 18, 1758, the Corporation of the City of N.Y. bought the island for £1000 for use as a pest house.
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Zoom in 1918 Soldier's Statue of Liberty
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/MPH_56,_Hu
Eiffel
left a lasting impression on the world, as there are plenty of Eiffel Towers out there as well, including Russia, China & India! |
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Ellis Island
GENEALOGY TIPS- Ellis Island
http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/genealogy?gclid=CPnlvsX_ys4CFVYDvAodagsOyw
http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/genealogy?gclid=CPnlvsX_ys4CFVYDvAodagsOyw
From 1892 to 1954, over twelve million immigrants entered the United States through the portal of Ellis Island, a small island in New York Harbor. Ellis Island is located in the upper bay just off the New Jersey coast, within the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.
The local Indian tribes had called it "Kioshk" or Gull Island. Due to its rich and abundant oyster beds and plentiful and profitable shad runs, it was known as Oyster Island for many generations during the Dutch and
English colonial periods.
English colonial periods.
Ellis Island developed from a sandy island that barely rose above the high tide mark, into a hanging site for pirates, a harbor fort, ammunition and ordinance depot named Fort Gibson, and finally into an
immigration station.
immigration station.
Samuel Ellis became the island's private owner in the 1770's
Originally much of the west shore of Upper New York Bay consisted of large tidal flats which hosted vast oyster banks, a major source of food for the Lenape population who lived in the area prior to the arrival of Dutch settlers. There were several islands which were not completely submerged at high tide. Three of them (later to be known as Liberty Island, Black Tom Island and Ellis Island) were given the name Oyster Islands by the settlers of New Netherland, the first European colony in the region. The oyster beds would remain a major source of food for nearly three centuries. |
Landfilling to build the rail yards of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey would eventually obliterate the beds, engulf one island and bring the shoreline much closer to the others. During the colonial period Little Oyster Island was known as Dyre's, then Bucking Island. In the 1760's, after some pirates were hanged from one of the island's scrubby trees, it became known as Gibbet Island. It was acquired by Samuel Ellis, a colonial New Yorker and merchant possibly from Wales, around the time of the American Revolution. In 1785 he unsuccessfully attempted to sell the island: The State of New York leased the island in 1794 and started to fortify it in 1795. Ownership was in question and legislation was passed for acquisition by condemnation in 1807 and then ceded to the United States in 1808. Shortly thereafter the War Department established a 20-gun battery, magazine, and barracks. From 1808 until 1814 it was a federal arsenal. At the end of the War of 1812, Fort Gibson was built and the island remained a military post for nearly 80 years before it was selected to be a federal immigration station.
To support the activities of the United States Bureau of Immigration, the U.S. Public Health Service operated an extensive medical service at the immigrant station, (Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital) the largest marine hospital in the nation. Symbols were chalked on the clothing of potentially sick immigrants following the six-second medical examination. The doctors would look at the immigrants as they climbed the stairs from the baggage area to the Great Hall. Immigrants' behavior would be studied for difficulties in getting up the staircase. Some immigrants supposedly entered the country only by surreptitiously wiping the chalk marks off, or by turning their clothes inside out. The immigration station on Ellis Island, completely burned to the ground in 1897, destroying many years of Federal and State immigration records dating back to 1855
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Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital
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During the early morning hours of June 15, 1897, a fire on Ellis Island burned the immigration station completely to the ground. Although no lives were lost, many years of Federal and State immigration records dating back to 1855 burned along with the pine buildings that failed to protect them. The United States Treasury quickly ordered the immigration facility be replaced under one very important condition: all future structures built on Ellis Island had to be fireproof. On December 17, 1900, the new Main Building was opened and 2,251 immigrants were received that day.
The Ellis Island Hospital (video) http://www.history.com/topics/ellis-island/videos/the-ellis-island-hospital |
Photos Show Immigrants as-
They Arrived on Ellis Island https://fstoppers.com/flickr/photos-show-immigrants Haunting images of abandoned hospital where 1,000's of immigrants were treated on Ellis Island
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/articl Passenger Search- Ellis Island
http://libertyellisfoundation.org/passenger New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island),
1892-1924 https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1368704 |
National Archives at New York City > Finding Aids > Passenger Arrival Lists
https://www.archives.gov/nyc/finding |
The 'Great' Exhibition
The Crystal Palace, built for The Great Exhibition London, 1851
The Committee Organised a Competition for the design of the building and 245 entries were received. The committee was unable to decide in favour of any of the designs, and so produced its own version. This design proved so disastrous that it threatened the entire project. After the design was published in the newspapers, it was scorned and ridiculed almost unanimously. With less than a year before the intended opening the exhibition needed a saviour. It was to find one in the unlikely form of a gardener, Joseph Paxton, who at the age of 23 had been appointed head gardener to the Duke of Devonshire estate at Chatsworth. He had been conducting experiments in glass house design. Paxton was told of the committee's dilemma and persuaded them to allow him to submit a design. The committee agreed, and nine days later he presented his plans. The new proposal was for a glass and iron structure based on the Chatsworth Lily House but on a much larger scale.
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The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and plate-glass structure originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Exhibits fell into four main categories - Raw Materials, Machinery, Manufacturers and Fine Arts.
Somerset House was suggested for the Exhibition, but it soon became apparent that much more space was needed
The Palace was built & the Great Exhibition a success thanks to Paxton's Glass House
When the doors of the Great Exhibition closed in October 1851, it had already been agreed that Hyde Park had to be returned to its original state. Sir Joseph Paxton posed the question- 'What is to become of the Crystal Palace?' he loathed to see the end of his masterpiece and wanted to turn it into a 'Winter Park and Garden under Glass'.
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The Great Exhibition was opened on 1 May 1851 by Queen Victoria. It was the first of the World's Fair exhibitions of culture and industry. There were some 100,000 objects, displayed along more than ten miles, by over 15,000 contributors.
Hyde Park location
The Crystal Palace was removed from Hyde Park in the autumn of 1852 and the components taken to Sydenham. Paxton took this opportunity to add to the building.The Sydenham Crystal Palace was opened by Queen Victoria in June 1854, and became an established venue for major exhibitions, balloon ascents, concerts and sporting events.
http://www.crystalpalacefoundation.org.uk/history/history Water colour pop-up card published 1873 by Benjamin Sulman, of inside the New Building
Crystal Palace was cursed by bad luck and financial crisis |
It Remained at Hyde Park until May 1852, when Protestant MP for Lincoln and staunch objector to the Great Exhibition, persuaded Parliament that it should be removed from the Park, calling the Palace a "transparent humbug and a bauble." the building was dismantled and they looked for a market for the iron and glass.The original Directors between them, raised and contributed over £500,000 (over £25 million today) to buy the building and re-erect it on a new site.
Queen Victoria Opening the Re-located
Crystal Palace in 1854 The name of the building resulted from a piece by playwright Douglas Jerrold, who in July 1850 wrote in the satirical magazine Punch about the forthcoming Great Exhibition of 1851, referring to a palace of very crystal.
The Crystal Palace had the first major installation of public toilets
The first cat show in the world was held at the Crystal Palace 1871
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In 1861 the Palace was damaged by strong winds and on Sunday 30th December 1866 a fire broke out destroying the North End of the building along with many natural history exhibits.In 1892 one person died from a hot air balloon accident & eight years later another was trampled to death by an lose elephant. The night of 30th November 1936 Henry Buckland and his daughter Crystal, named after Crystal Palace, were out walking their dog and noticed a small fire at the Palace. It escalated to a huge fire across the building. By morning most of the Palace was destroyed. There had been 88 fire engines, 438 officers, men from 4 fire brigades & 749 police officers on duty that historic night. The remains were finally demolished during World War 2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/cont |
It was impossible to maintain financially and it was declared bankrupt in 1911
The area of land owned and used by the Crystal Palace Company and (from 1914 the Crystal Palace Trustees) was 200 acres. The acreage has not changed to this day. The delination of the park was (and still is) Crystal Palace Parade
The building was not adequately insured to cover the cost of rebuilding |