Not That Boleyn Girl

  August 8, 2025 I think I'm funny... But real talk, the subject of this article may not be suitable for some readers- we're going to be discussing death and dying as well as mourning practices in the antebellum period and how they changed in the wake of the Civil War. I'm going to include pictures of examples of what I'm talking about, and while you may not always be able to tell what is happening in these photos, to be safe I wanted to include an extra warning. If this isn't for you, then there is no harm in skipping this one. I will talk to you later! Disclaimer: This is a very big and broad topic and there is no way that I will be able to cover absolutely everything but I will do my best to cover the basics in a way that illustrates the traditional mourning rituals in antebellum America and how those were changed by the Civil War. Because this post is going to be primarily based off of research done for a paper I wrote for one of my classes, this is going to be ...

  August 2, 2025 Hello all! I have been absent for some time now, which was not in the plan mentioned in my last post... So sorry to have left the wider internet hanging and wondering what must have happened to keep me away for a whole entire year. Well. Nothing really. Writers block, burn out, working to survive the usual.  But here I am again trying to make a comeback! As the title of this post implies, I'll give a few updates and then some recommendations of sorts. We'll see how it goes To begin-  Updates! 1) Last year I began work on my masters degree with the University of Oklahoma in museum studies. I hated it. I know that I am not a fan of online schooling to begin with, I did terribly during the covid distance learning year of undergrad, so I had schedules and supports in place to help and I still was suffering through it. I also felt majorly unsupported by the faculty whenever I did work up the courage to ask for help so I withdrew myself from the program and uni...

  1.6.24      Happy new year! I totally ghosted for a minute...sorry. But I'm back now and I'm ready to spend more time with this blog. But first, how was everyone's holiday season? I spent mine at work and getting holiday pay, new years morning my family and I went to the beach and watched the sunrise. Usually we do this every year, unfortunately I worked an opening shift last year and we weren't able to see it but I feel like I made up for it this year.       Anyway, every year around the new year there's a whole lot of talk about resolutions and what habits people want to make or break. I honestly find it super intimidating and not very useful to try to force myself to jump head first into something, that I probably won't even be able to stick with. So this year in a totally revolutionary move (please note the sarcasm),  I have decided to set goals that I am going to work to achieve this year.      The point of my goals is t...

  09.10.2023 Okay, so at this point I don't think that I will ever be writing a full comprehensive post about my trip this summer... Looking back I think that I would have to write posts as I am traveling- things to keep in mind for the future. Anyway, this post is going to be a museum recap and review.  I spent the day (Saturday, Sept. 09) driving my grandmother to go see a friend of hers in Virginia and wandering around a historic site in Manassas, VA. After two hours and some change I made it to Ben Lomond Historic Site. This is specifically interpreted as a civil war site, though it does have colonial history.  Initially given as part of a land grand to William "King" Carter I, the property would come to be known as Cancer Plantation under the ownership of William Carter III. It was one of thirteen properties that Carter owned, each of which was named after the twelve Zodiacs; two properties were named for Leo as there were thirteen  properties and only twelve Zo...

  7.9.23 This is not the post that I promised. I am working on writing up the first post for my June/vacation recap but there's a lot to work through and I don't want to make those posts too long. I also have to pick out what pictures to include and how to explain what exactly I did- it's getting there, I promise. But in the mean time I figured I could make a post about what I've been reading recently. In the future posts like this one will probably include articles that I've read, but since I haven't had a dedicated research topic recently this post is only going to include books.  The Guest List   ★★★★- four stars  This is a book that I picked up at Target ahead of my trip, just so that I'd have something to read in the airport and on my flights. This book yanked me out of a reading slump that I've been trying to escape since the end of the school year.  From the first few pages I knew I was going to enjoy this book. There was quite a bit of foreshadow...

  Preface: I am by no means an expert on either ancient history or issues surrounding repatriation. This is a compilation of research that I've done. I will link sources where necessary in text and provide a list of sources at the end of this entry! I will always note when a conclusion I draw is my own opinion (which will be most of the time), and when my opinion is echoed by, similar too, informed by the opinions of experts. Welcome to my first "lesson plan"/"lecture" style post. This is a format similar to what I would use as a rough draft for a paper, though there will be editing and consideration made for clarity. I hope that the way I've laid this out is acceptable and makes for easy reading. If you think there is a way to improve future "lecture" posts please don't hesitate to let me know! For now, enjoy learning about the Caryatids, repatriation, and what it means for museums. The Caryatids and Issues of Repatriation I think the best pla...

  5.26.23 Yesterday I took a short day trip out to the Chesapeake Railway Museum. Part of what I want to do is share my thoughts and opinions on historic sites and museums that I go to. Ideally, I'd like to do research before I go somewhere so that I have extra contextual understanding of the location but I didn't have a chance to do that this time. Think of posts like this as reviews/sneak peaks into these places so that if you want to go you know a bit about what to expect. For this post a lot of my information comes from the museum website and the signage at the museum. During the “Gilded Age,” which lasted roughly from 1877 to 1896, the push for industrialization and dreams for “Monte Carlo”-esque vacation spots expanded beyond the big cities and reached out to rural beachside communities like Chesapeake, Maryland. The Chesapeake Railway Museum is housed in the extant, original building. The train line, beginning at East Capitol Street in Washington D.C., had eighteen stops...