History and Memory
Lincoln's shadow
Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.
Lincoln casts quite a shadow in history. There was a grand speech before Lincoln's at Gettysburg in 1863 by Edward Everett, a well-known orator.
Speaking for 2 hours and over 13,000 words Everett's speech was complex, referencing Ancient Greece and using terms in Latin. Today Everett's speech is largely "invisible."
Lincoln spoke only for 2 minutes, and his 272 words are inscribed on the Lincoln Memorial.
How the Enigma Machine worked
Murlyn Hakon of Bletchley Park explains how the Enigma Machine worked.
The remarkable thing about Enigma, is that when you press a letter on the keyboard and the subsequent enciphered letter lights up to the rear of the machine, the chances of that letter lighting up are nearly 158 million million million to 1.
(Revised and republished April 21st, 2025)
Mavis Batey: Bletchley Park codebreaker
Mavis Batey was one of the codebreakers working at Bletchley Park during World War II. She recently passed away at age 92. Batey was part of the codebreaking team that ensured a successful landing for Allied forces on D-Day.
She initially worked in London, checking commercial codes and perusing the personal columns of The Times for coded spy messages. After showing promise, she was plucked out and sent to Bletchley to work in the research unit run by Dilly Knox. Knox had led the way for the British on the breaking of the Enigma ciphers, but was now working in a cottage next to the mansion on new codes and ciphers that had not been broken by Hut 6, where the German Army and Air Force ciphers were cracked. “It was a strange little outfit in the cottage,” Mavis said. Knox was a true eccentric, often so wrapped up in the puzzle he was working on that he would absent-mindedly stuff a lunchtime sandwich into his pipe rather than his tobacco: “Organisation is not a word you would associate with Dilly Knox. When I arrived, he said: 'Oh, hello, we’re breaking machines, have you got a pencil?’ That was it. I was never really told what to do. I think, looking back on it, that was a great precedent in my life, because he taught me to think that you could do things yourself without always checking up to see what the book said."
(Revised and republished April 21st, 2025)
Ruins of the Acropolis, 1966 - Athens, Greece
These photos (Kodak slides) were also taken by my grandparents while on vacation in 1966, and they've been scanned but not altered. The first image is of the Acropolis of Athens, and in this citadel all the other images except the last are found.
The middle images are of the Parthenon, and also of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an ancient amphitheater.
Second to last is the Porch of the Caryatids, also known as the "Porch of the Maidens,"which is found at the Erechtheion, an ancient Greek temple in the Acropolis.
The last image is of the Panathenaic Stadium, the location of the Panathenaic Games between the sixth and third centuries BC. The Panathenaic Games were like the Ancient Olympic Games but only Athenians competed. In the late 1800s the stadium was rebuilt, and the first modern Olympic Games took place there in 1896.
Roman Ruins, 1966 - Rome, Italy
These photos of Roman ruins were taken in 1966 by my grandparents. These images are scanned Kodak slides, and they have not been altered. The first image with the inscription is near the Basilica Aemilia of the Forum. More information can be found on the inscription at the Index of Latin Inscriptions at the University of Chicago (97A23.11).
I’m assuming the last image is also in the Forum, and the other slides are some interesting takes of the Colosseum.
The Mexican Suitcase
Images of War, Finally Unpacked - The New York Times, 2010
(Revised and republished April 19th, 2025)