“Two centuries after his death, Chief Justice John Marshall still presides over the Supreme Court,” Josh Blackman wrote on the SCOTUSblog last summer. “His larger-than-life statue greets visitors. During investiture ceremonies, new members sit in his chair. And the justices cite him whenever possible.” His presence has been especially large for the13 men who have […]

“We bring you ‘Voices from America,’” said announcer William Harlan Hale at the start of a 15-minute shortwave radio broadcast that was transmitted into Germany on February 1, 1942. “Today, and daily from now on, we shall speak to you about America and the war,” he continued. “The news may be good for us. The

San Francisco doesn’t have a public school named after John C. Fremont, who was court-martialed for mutiny on January 31, 1849. But if it did, it probably would have been on the list of more than 40 schools that the city’s board of education wants to rename. However, San Francisco – and many other places—have

Maybe it’s something in the water or perhaps it’s the famous fog but San Francisco, apparently, has a thing for name changes. One hundred and seventy four years ago today, the Alcalde (or mayor) of a hamlet called Yerba Buena changed its name to San Francisco, which already was what the adjacent bay was called.

I don’t know what you would do, but I want to know more when I see a listing that says: “NEWS OF THE WORLD OF STAMPS; In Honor of the U.N.’s Weather Bureau – – Swedish Railways Worldwide Coverage SWEDISH RAILWAYS CASPARY SALES BEE MAN FIRST-DAY SALE STAMP DAY.” That was one of three listings

Another day and another tarnished hero appears in my #stampoftheday annals. This time it’s John James Audubon, the famed ornithologist, naturalist and painter. Audubon, who died on January 27, 1851, appeared on a 3-cent stamp that was one of the 35 picturing “Famous Americans” issued in 1940. As I’ve noted in previous posts while many

I haven’t seen the eyes of Isabella Gibbons, which look out from the exterior wall of the new Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia. But reviewers say they are haunting, in part they are so lightly etched in the stone that they are only clearly visible at dawn and dusk. They also

Four years ago today my wife, several neighbors, and I drove to the Alewife MBTA station to take a Red Line train to the Women’s March protest in downtown Boston. Although we tried to get an early start, the station’s lobby already was full of people trying to buy Charlie Cards, go through turnstiles and