the bixby letter
The Dallas Historical Society finds what may or may not be a copy of the famed Bixby letter — a letter Lincoln may or may not have written to a woman whose five sons may or may not have been killed in the Civil War.
The famed Bixby Letter, which the Dallas Historical Society is getting appraised as it prays for a potential windfall, has a fascinating history.
The original has never been found. Historians debate whether Lincoln wrote it. Its recipient, Lydia Bixby, was no fan of the president. And not all her sons died in the war.
The letter, written with “the best of intentions” 144 years ago next week, is “considered one of the finest pieces of American presidential prose,” said Alan Olson, curator for the Dallas group. “It’s still a great piece of writing, regardless of the truth in the back story.”
Weekly Picture 128
Mural, The Nature Center, Austin, TX, 9.9.2008
unknown mozart found
An unknown composition by Mozart has been found in a French museum.
The work, described as the preliminary draft of a musical composition, was found by a library in Nantes in western France as staff were going through its archives. Leisinger says the library contacted his foundation for help authenticating the work.
“It’s a melody sketch so what’s missing is the harmony and the instrumentation but you can make sense out of it,” he said. “The tune is complete. It’s only one part and not the whole score with eight or twelve parts.”
“One can really get a feeling of what Mozart meant although we do not know how he would have orchestrated it.”
from the irony
Iraq has plans to turn Abu Ghraib into a museum highlighting Saddam Hussein’s human rights abuses.
Mystery Bug at London Natural History Museum
The London Natural History Museum, with 28 million insect species in its collection, is having a hard time identifying an insect that has shown up in its own gardens.
The almond-shaped insect, about the size of a grain of rice, was first seen in March 2007 on some of the plane trees that grow on the grounds of the 19th century museum, collections manager Max Barclay said Tuesday.
Within three months, it had become the most common insect in the garden, and it was also spotted in other central London parks, he said.
umbrellas
In Pittsburgh, some people emphasize the first syllable of umbrella. (These were in the entry to the greenhouse at the Frick Art and Historical Center on another rainy day.)
trolley
Detail of decommissioned Pittsburgh trolley at the Heinz History Center.
SoFAB
Kathy Anderson/The Times-Picayune
The Southern Food and Beverage Museum: “dedicated to the discovery, understanding and celebration of the culture of food and drink in the South.”
(Memo to India: A Red Velvet Cake Wing?)