Category: Learn History Through Fiction

Las Vegas officially became a city in 1905. For a time there were two towns named Las Vegas. The east side (which now includes Main Street and Las Vegas Boulevard) was owned by U.S. Senator Williams Andrew Clark while the west (north of modern day Bonanza Road) was owned by J. T. McWilliams. The city of Las Vegas incorporated in 1911 as a part of Clark County. Read more Las Vegas history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

“Spinning” is the title of a short story in progress, about Bartlett Yarns, the last commercially operated spinning mule in the United States. Located in Harmony, Maine, the mill was established in 1821, then burned down and was rebuilt in the early 1920s. Today it is committed to sustainable practices, including the use of organic products to wash, card, spin, and skein wool from local farmers. My story, inspired by an article about the company in one of my fiber art magazines, imagines the lives of three young women working at the mill roughly one hundred years apart: 1821, 1920, and present day. Read more about the mill and spinning mule in BEHIND THE STORY and learn about my other tales in SHORT STORIES.

My short story “The Mask” is about the heyday of the silent film era (with an unusual twist, i.e., a stage actor with a terrible voice finds salvation in silents, unlike silent actors with bad voices who were later ruined by the talkies.) The early 1910s to late 1920s were an artistically and technically fruitful period, ushering in three point lighting; close-up, long shot, and panning shots; and advances in editing. Color was more prevalent in silent than sound films for decades, usually in the form of tinting (colorization) but also with real color processes such as Kinemacolor & Technicolor. Discover more interesting facts about popular culture and the arts in BEHIND THE STORY.

The 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire spread quickly, 18 minutes from start to finish. Flames were fueled by hundreds of pounds of cotton scraps, tissue paper patterns, and wooden work tables. Smoking was prohibited, but workers hid matches and cigarettes in wicker bins along with leftover material, a likely source of the fire. Smelling smoke, they turned on the hose valves but no water came out. Read about one survivor of the fire in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Olive trees are gnarled and twisted, and often kept small to facilitate harvesting on the ground. The trees can live for hundreds of years but, depending on the variety, they don’t start to bear fruit until they are 3 to 12 years old. Yield depends on a tree’s size, age, variety, and growing conditions. Mature trees which have not been pruned can reach 40-60 feet in height and produce up to 800 kilos of olives while others only produce 50. Read more about olives and olive farming 100 years ago and today in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

 

In 1929 in San Diego, the 2,400-seat Fox Theatre opened during the heyday of the silver screen era, at a cost of $1.8 million (worth $25.5 million today). The theater, now called Copley Symphony Hall, is the home of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Discover more San Diego history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

 

The Commission on Industrial Relations (a.k.a. the Walsh Commission) was created by the U.S. Congress on 08/23/1912 to scrutinize labor laws. The final report, published in eleven volumes in 1916, contain tens of thousands of pages of testimony from a wide range of witnesses, including Clarence Darrow, Louis Brandeis, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, scores of workers, and industry titans such as Henry Ford, and Andrew Carnegie. Read more about labor laws over the last century in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

 

The gradual segregation of schools in Topeka began in the early 1900s, despite protests by Negro parents against the doctrine of “separate but equal.” The School Board did not rule for segregation outright but instead selectively closed schools, using housing boundaries. As the city thrived and the population grew, new schools with better facilities were constructed in white neighborhoods. Read more about race relations in Topeka 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Marshall Field & Company, a Chicago landmark, was built 1891-1892. Its signature feature was the Tiffany glass dome. Customers received the royal treatment. Goods were stored behind mahogany counters; models circulated wearing the latest women’s fashions. There was a reading and writing room with popular magazines and tables with pens and free stationary. Read more Chicago history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

The 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire killed 146 people, 129 women and 17 men, primarily Jewish and Italian immigrants who spoke little English. Ranging in age from 14-43, most were only 16-23. They died of fire or smoke inhalation, 20 fell 100 feet to their death when a fire escape collapsed, others plunged down an empty elevator shaft after the car’s last descent, and 62, facing their inevitable end, jumped from the 8th, 9th, or 10th floor where the factory was located. Read about one survivor in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).