Traditionally the First Lady of the United States stays above the fray during campaign season, not wanting to sully the office in the mire of hand-to-hand politicking. This year Michelle Obama has ventured into the public sphere, acting as a proxy campaigner for Hillary Clinton. The First Lady has stepped out of her comfort zone … Continue reading First Ladies and Presidential Campaigns
There is a long tradition of proxies stumping for their candidate using whatever tools come to hand. In 1928, Archie Rice, a Stanford classmate of Herbert Hoover, produced a small flyer advocating for Hoover based on summary biographies comparing candidates’ careers. On the front cover, Rice identifies himself as an analyst of news and … Continue reading Comparing Candidates Careers, 1928
by Spencer Howard One of the annoyances of modern life is the variety and volume of shady emails that clog our computers. Phony pharmaceutical ads, Nigerian investment schemes, too-good-to-be-true offers for jobs or relationships, the list goes on. Modern technology makes it much easier for the perpetrators, but all of these scams were tried through … Continue reading Telegram Scam
In the wake of the recent Presidential debate, Republican candidate Donald Trump pointed to a malfunctioning microphone and spotty sound system as one of the reasons his voice was not heard. This Hoover archivist was reminded of a previous episode of microphone malfeasance and its impact on a Presidential hopeful. The year was 1940. World … Continue reading Microphone Malfunctions and Campaigns
As the calendar turns from September to October, baseball fans’ thoughts turn to the World Series. Fans in Boston, Washington, Cleveland and on the north side of Chicago, cross their fingers and hope that this will be their year. Long-suffering fans of the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs, although their teams have clinched playoff berths, … Continue reading Boys of Summer and the Fall Classic
Cartoon from 1921 by William Morris by Spencer Howard When President Harding was inaugurated in 1921, a sharp recession was underway that had begun the year before. By mid-1921, some five million people were out of work - perhaps 12% of the workforce. Concerns arose about the possibility of widespread hardship through the coming winter, … Continue reading The President’s Conference on Unemployment – 1921
On viewing Shakespeare’s First Folio [currently on exhibit at the University of Iowa Library], a wandering Hoover archivist recalled correspondence exchanged between Emily Folger and Herbert Hoover. Emily Folger, widow of Henry Clay Folger, wrote Hoover on July 28th 1934, seeking advice on who to hire as Director of the recently opened Folger Shakespeare Library. … Continue reading On Viewing Shakespeare’s First Folio
By Thomas F. Schwartz Often projects that seem simple at first, become more complicated and involved once begun. Unanticipated problems emerge as greater comprehension of what is required only emerges by working through the project. And so it was when the Hoovers decided to undertake an English translation of Georgius Agricola’s De Re Metallica, a … Continue reading The Discovery of a Professional Tradition: Herbert and Lou Hoover’s Translation of De Re Metallica
By Thomas F. Schwartz If there is any public recognition of the word “Tommyknocker” it is probably a reference to the 1987 Stephen King novel The Tommyknockers or spin off ABC miniseries with Jimmy Smits and Marg Helgenberger. The Stephen King novel’s use of “Tommyknocker” has nothing to do with the ancient mythic gnome that … Continue reading Herbert Hoover and the Tommyknockers: Mythic Gnomes of the Mine Shafts
by Spencer Howard Presidential Libraries are not libraries in the usual sense. They are archives and museums, bringing together in one place the documents and artifacts of a President and his administration and presenting them to the public for study and discussion. Like all Presidential Libraries, the Hoover Library has collected documents and artifacts from … Continue reading The Papers of Rose Wilder Lane
