Saving History With Sandbags: Climate Change Threatens the Smithsonian

(NYTimes) ... Eleven palatial Smithsonian museums and galleries form a ring around the National Mall, the grand two-mile park lined with elms that stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol. But that land was once marsh. And as the planet warms, the buildings face two threats. Rising seas will eventually push in water from the tidal Potomac River and submerge parts of the Mall, scientists say. More immediately, increasingly heavy rainstorms threaten the museums and their priceless holdings, particularly since many are stored in basements. Continued

A Country’s Attic, on Display: ‘House & Home’ Opens at the National Building Museum

(NYTimes) WHAT makes a house a home? The lives lived in it, of course. The relationship between people and their homes, sometimes passionate, sometimes indifferent, confounding or fraught, is the subject of “House & Home,” an exhibition that opened Saturday at the National Building Museum here. Continued

Panda does perfect tumblesault - in his sleep

(Daily Mail) The animal, called Tai Shan, was sitting in his zoo enclosure when he began to doze off, his eyes flickering open and shut before he succumbed to sleep and slumped forward.
The sleepy panda could have fallen flat on his face. But instead he popped his head between his legs and turned head-over-heels before landing on his back. Continued

The Federal Reserve System

(LoC) On December 23, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Owen-Glass Act, creating the Federal Reserve System.
The first major banking reform to follow the Civil War, the Federal Reserve was organized to regulate banking and provide the nation with a more stable and secure financial and monetary system. It remains the central banking authority of the United States, establishing banking policies, interest rates, and the availability of credit. It also acts as the government's fiscal agent and regulates the supply of currency. Continued

Photo: Theodor Horydczak/Library of Congress

Historical blizzards

The Baltimore Sun has a nice little slide show of snowstorms that hit the region over the years.
Falmanac has also covered the Great Blizzard of 1888 and the infamous Knickerbocker Storm of 1922. The Knickerbocker storm was named for a Washington D.C. theatre which collapsed in the blizzard, killing 98 people and injuring 133. Also, check out this odd story from a snowstorm in 1772. And please, whatever you do, don't forget the snacks!

Photo: The Great Blizzard of 1888 (NOAA)

Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.

General Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. (December 18, 1912 – July 4, 2002) was a United States Air Force general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen.
Davis was the first African-American general in the United States Air Force. During World War II, Davis was commander of the 332nd Fighter Group, which escorted bombers on air combat missions over Europe. Davis himself flew sixty missions in P-39, Curtiss P-40, P-47 and P-51 Mustang fighters. Continued

Photo: Library of Congress

The Capital Centre

(Wikipedia) The Capital Centre (also briefly known as US Airways Arena and USAir Arena) was an indoor arena located in Mitchellville CDP, unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland; a suburb of Washington, D.C. Completed in 1973, the arena sat 18,756 for basketball and 18,130 for hockey. It was renamed for corporate sponsor US Airways in 1993, but reverted to its original name of Capital Centre after the airline dropped its naming rights. Most TV and Radio crews broadcasting from the venue referred to it by its nickname "Cap Centre". The venue's name is also sometimes misspelled as Capital Center, Capitol Center, Capitol Center Arena or Capital Center Arena. The venue closed in 1997 and was demolished [December 15] 2002. Continued

Photo: Tony Reonegro (Dead.net)

Richard Cassilly

(Wikipedia) Richard Cassilly (14 December 1927 – 30 January 1998) was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954 and 1990.
... Born in Washington D.C., Cassilly spent his childhood on a farm near Aberdeen, Maryland before moving to Baltimore, Maryland with his family in his early teens. He first became involved in music through singing in his high school's glee club. In 1946, at the age of eighteen, he entered the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University where he studied singing with Hans Heinz. As a student he sang in college productions of The Flying Dutchman (as the Steersman) and Madama Butterfly (as Pinkerton). During this time he also had the opportunity to study under Rosa Ponselle who had retired from her career and was residing in Baltimore. Continued

Photo: Wikipedia

Panda Tai Shan returning to China

(National Zoo) Tai Shan will be sent to the People’s Republic of China in early 2010, as stipulated in the agreement between the Zoo and the Chinese government. The exact date of his departure has not been determined due to the lengthy process of finalizing permits and preparing Tai Shan for the trip.
Under the agreement, giant panda cubs born at the National Zoo belong to China and are to be sent to the Wolong's Beifengxia Base in Ya'an, Sichuan sometime after the cub turns two. In April 2007, shortly before his second birthday, China granted the National Zoo a two-year extension for Tai Shan to remain in Washington, D.C.; that extension expired in July but the Zoo was provided a second extension to January 2010. Continued

Photo: Giant Panda, Mei Xiang, plays with son, 7 month old Tai Shan, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2006, at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, DC. Tai Shan was born on July 9, 2005, and weighs over 33lbs. White House photo by Shealah Craighead. (Via Wikipedia)

Firpo Marberry

(Wikipedia) Frederick "Firpo" Marberry (November 30, 1898 – June 30, 1976) was an American right-handed starting and relief pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1923 to 1936, most notably with the Washington Senators. The sport's first prominent reliever, he has been retroactively credited as having been the first pitcher to record 20 saves in a season, the first to earn 100 career saves, the first to make 50 relief appearances in a season or 300 in a career, and the only pitcher to lead the major leagues in saves five times. Continued

Photo: "Yankees catcher Wally Schang slides safely into 3rd base in second game. Senators 3rd baseman is Ossie Bluege and pitcher backing up play is Firpo Marberry. Senators won 2nd game 7-2" of the 1924 World Series. (Library of Congress)

Morris Louis

(Wikipedia) Morris Louis (Morris Louis Bernstein) (November 28, 1912 - September 7, 1962) is a United States abstract expressionist painter, one of the many such painters to emerge in the 1950s. From 1929 to 1933, he studied at the Maryland Institute of Fine and Applied Arts (now Maryland Institute College of Art) on a scholarship, but left shortly before completing the program. He worked at various odd jobs to support himself while painting and in 1935 was president of the Baltimore Artists’ Association. From 1936 to 1940, he lived in New York and worked in the easel division of the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project. Continued

Photo: Wikipedia

Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin dies at age 85

(ESPN) Abe Pollin, the Washington Wizards owner who brought an NBA championship to the nation's capital and later had the mettle to stand up to Michael Jordan, died Tuesday.
... Pollin was the NBA's longest-tenured owner. With his death, a group led by longtime AOL executive Ted Leonsis is poised to take ownership of a Washington-area sports empire that began when Pollin purchased the Baltimore Bullets in 1964. Continued

Elvin Hayes

(Wikipedia) Elvin Ernest Hayes (born November 17, 1945 in Rayville, Louisiana) is a retired American basketball player. He is a member of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.
... In 1972, Hayes was traded to the Baltimore Bullets, where he teamed with Hall-Of-Famer Wes Unseld to form a fierce and dominating frontcourt combination. The 18.1 rebounds per game Hayes averaged in 1974 is the third highest rebounding average of any NBA player since Wilt Chamberlain retired in 1973.
Hayes and Unseld later led the Washington Bullets to 3 NBA Finals (1975, 1978, and 1979), and an NBA title over The Seattle SuperSonics in 1978. He shined brightly, especially in the NBA playoffs. Continued

Photo: "Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld, the twin pillars of the championship Bullets teams of the 1970's." (Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.)

Mule-yachting on Chesapeake and Ohio Canal: a picturesque and leisurely form of diversion

"The Memorial day excursion to Great Falls on the canal, held under the auspices of the District Library Association, was deemed a very jolly outing by the ninety-and-nine who took part. About half the party, comprising the early risers, started with the "mule yacht" John R. Mason at the Aqueduct bridge at 8.30, while the more leisurely members boarded the boat two hours later at Cabin John Bridge.
No unpleasant incidents marred the pleasuse of the journey, and the easy method of transportation made strolling between locks a popular pastime. Some even walked all the way to the Falls from Cabin John, and a pedometer worn by one of the ladies has now registered the exact distance between these points so as to make future surveys unnecessary.
At the Falls lunch demanded first attention. The provisions aboard might have fed the Japanese army for a week, and comprised most known edibles, from the traditional hamsandwich up to caviar and maraschino cherries. Four-fifths of the party followed the advice of the executive committee and provided two meals instead of depending on the uncertainties of holiday accommodations at hotels.
After a stay of nearly four hours the signal for return was sounded promptly at 5 o'clock. Gently floating down the canal through the late afternoon and early evening was delightful. The singing, which began somewhat ambitiously with "set pieces" from the Arion quartet books, decended imperceptibly along semi-classical lines, to the strictly orthodox 'Clementine" and "Bull Dog on the Bank," which might have been heard in the vicinity of Chain Bridge. At 10.10 o'clock, when the last effort of the mule team was over, everybody was just tired
enough to be glad to be at home again and glad to have shared the pleasures of the trip." - Library Journal 1904.

Photo: New-York tribune, October 16, 1904 (LoC)

Calvin Griffith

(Wikipedia) Calvin Robertson Griffith (December 1, 1911 - October 20, 1999), born Calvin Robertson in Montreal, Canada, was a Major League Baseball team owner (1955 - 1984). He was famous for his devotion to the game and for his sayings.
He was the nephew of Clark Griffith, who raised Calvin from the age of 11. After Calvin's father died a year later, Clark adopted the boy. The senior Griffith owned the Washington Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955; upon his death, the team passed into the hands of Calvin, who had worked up through a variety of positions with the team, starting as a batboy, and serving a brief stint under Joe Engel and the Chattanooga Lookouts at Engel Stadium. Continued

Photo: Library of Congress

Gore Vidal

(Wikipedia) Gore Vidal (born Eugene Luther Gore Vidal October 3, 1925) is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter and political activist.
... Vidal was raised in Washington, D.C., where he attended Sidwell Friends School and St. Albans School. Since Senator Gore was blind, as a boy his namesake read aloud to him and was his guide. The senator's isolationism contributed a major principle of his grandson's political philosophy, which is critical of foreign and domestic policies shaped by American imperialism. In 1943, on graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy, Vidal joined the U.S. Army Reserve serving in the Aleutian Islands during World War II, where he served as master of an Army freight and supply boat. Continued

Photo: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Van Vechten Collection.

C-SPAN's Supreme Court Week Debuts Sunday

(C-Span) This Sunday night, Supreme Court Week kicks off on C-SPAN with the premiere of our new feature-length documentary The Supreme Court: Home to America's Highest Court. Hear directly from all 11 current and retired Supreme Court Justices about the role of the Court, its traditions, and history. Tour the building and see the grand public spaces of this historic building, including the Great Hall and Supreme Court Chamber, and spaces only accessible to the Justices and their staff, such as the Robing Room and the John Marshall Dining Room. The rest of the week features more original Supreme Court programs, including interviews with the sitting and retired Justices, Supreme Court staff, historians, and journalists at 9 pm ET, Oct. 5 - 11. For video clips, a trailer, bonus material about the Supreme Court, and series information, visit www.c-span.org/supremecourt.

Photo: Library of Congress

1933 World Series

(Wikipedia) The 1933 World Series featured the New York Giants and the Washington Senators, with the Giants winning in five games for their first championship since 1922, and their fourth overall. ... Washington, D.C. has not hosted another World Series since. Continued

Photos: Theodor Horydczak Collection (Library of Congress)

1907 - The cornerstone is laid at Washington National Cathedral in the U.S. capital

"Construction lasted 83 years." Continued

Photo: Library of Congress

Inside the mind of William Jefferson Clinton

(Newsweek) - ... When he was in the mood or had time, Clinton would call Branch at his home in Baltimore, and Branch would drive down with two tape recorders, set them up on a table somewhere private in the White House, and start the conversation. Branch himself has never heard the tapes. After each session, he would turn them over to Clinton-who hid the cassettes in his sock drawer-while Branch would tape his own memories of their talks on the drive back home. The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History With the President is the consequence. Continued

Photo: TaylorBranch.com