Category: history

family history museums pragmatic historian travel

A Sleepover at Linden Hill

By Mary | by Mary

Last weekend, Hubby and I had the pleasure of sleeping over at Linden Hill Historic Estate in Little Falls, Minnesota. (https://linden-hill.org) The invitation came from good friends of ours who chose to celebrate a significant wedding anniversary there. Having worked for the Morrison County Historical Society for over 25 years, I knew a little something about the history of the place and had even been there before ownership had been transferred to the city. The estate…

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health history

100 Brush Strokes

By Mary | by Mary

I bought a new hairbrush recently. Whoop-de-doo, you might say. But it was kind of a big deal for me because I’ve been using a metal comb for years … and years … and years. It’s a comb I got in late high school or early college. In examining it closely for this blog post, I see that it’s a Swedish Crown brand rat-tail comb, made in Sweden, and has the number 2252 stamped on…

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history reading

“Nobility is expensive, nonproductive, and parasitic”

By Mary | by Mary

I checked my first book out of our new-to-us public library a couple of months ago. It was “The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman, a very good book, whose title accurately describes its contents (what would happen to nature and the human-built environment if humans were suddenly gone), but it took me foooooorever to read. I’ve been too busy moving stuff into the household and painting and such. Truth be told, I’ve also gotten into…

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history pragmatic historian technology writing

My Websites Are Being Used to Train AI – Is That a Good Thing?

By Mary | by Mary

If you spend any amount of time online these days, you’ll hear about two things ad nauseum: The meltdown of Twitter and the wonders of AI (artificial intelligence), specifically text generated by tools like ChatGPT or Google’s Bard. I haven’t had a chance to use ChatGPT because it’s always overloaded with users when I try and I’m not inclined to pay a subscription for a service that I want to test. Google’s Bard has a…

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family health history ideas process tips writing

Writing: Using Health Intake Forms for Character Development

By Mary | by Mary

Forms are on my mind recently, partially because I finished filing our taxes and partially due to a project at work. I have filled out a LOT of forms in my life. From tax forms to social services forms to grant applications to healthcare forms, all ask for some intensive and often highly personal information. After you’ve filled out the same information (name, address, phone, email … etc., etc., etc.) for the twelfth dozen time,…

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