I'm reminded, semi painfully, of a major change in the last century being heating.
I don't know how the winter has been elsewhere, but here it's been a really cold winter. We've been down below OF repeatedly, including today.
Our house has electric heat. I actually like it quite a bit, but it's been having trouble keeping up in the really cold weather. Most houses around here have gas heat.
Most office buildings, if they're big ones like the one I work in, have a boiler. Ours has a boiler, but for some reason it's having trouble today.
This building was built in about 1917 or so. Not much insulation in it. When the heat isn't working, it's real darned cold in it.
For that matter, it was probably pretty cool in it back in the day during the winter, which is likely why men wore so much wool for office work in those days.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Office machinery and the written word.
Just recently, I resumed using the Dragon voice recognition system for dictation. For those not familiar with it, it's a program that jacks into your computer, and you speak into a microphonewhich then processes the spoken word immediately into print. This is the second time I've experimented with. The first time, I grew frustrated with it and, after the system collapsed, I abandoned using it and simply typed things out on my computer. I'm a pretty fast typist, so this was working well, but any way you look at it, it's slower than speaking. This time around, the Dragon system seems to be working very well, so I've very happy with my resumed use of it.
Anyhow, what a revolution in the process of generating pleadings and letters this is. When I first started practicing law, some 21 years ago, we were using Dictaphones. Now those are practically a thing of the past. For those not familiar with them, a Dictaphone is a specialized tape recorder that allows the speaker to dictate the document. This ended up, at that time, in an audiotape which was handed over to the secretary, who then listened to it and typed out the document. The secretary handed that back to you, and then you manually red lined it for changes. This process could take some time.
This, of course, was an improved process of dictation as compared to the original one, which entailed calling a secretary in to your office and dictating the document to her. She took it down in shorthand. My mother, who had worked as a secretary in the 40s, 50s and 60s, could take excellent shorthand as a result of this process. Now, shorthand is nearly as dead of written language as Sanskrit.
Even earlier than that, legal documents were processed through a scrivener, a person whose job was simply to write legibly. That person wasn't normally the lawyer.
I'm not sure if this entire process is really quicker than the older methods, but it is certainly different. My secretary only rarely sees a rough draft of anything. That rough draft goes on my computer, and I edit it from there. About 80% of the time, by the time I have a secretary proof read a document, it is actually ready to go. Those entering the secretarial field, for that matter, generally no longer know how to take shorthand or even how to work the Dictaphone machine. They're excellent, however, on working the word process features of a computer.
All this also means, fwiw, that the practice of law, at least, is a much more solitary profession than it once was, at least while in the office. Generating a pleading, in a prior era, was more of a community effort in a way. The lawyer heard the pleading for the first time, in many instances, as the same time his secretary did. Over time, most secretaries were trusted to make comments on the pleadings. In the case of letters, they were often simply expected to be able to write one upon being asked to do so, something that still occurs to some degree today. But for pleadings, today, a lawyer tends to wall himself off by himself while drafting them, and any outside input tends to start after a relatively complete document has been drafted. Of course, with computers, it's much easier to circulate drafts and to change documents as needed.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
What one building says about the march of history.
This is the Ewing T. Kerr Federal Courthouse in Casper, Wyoming. I recently posted these photographs of it on my courthouse blog.
In doing this, it occurred to me that this building, in many ways, symbolizes how many changes have come about in the last 80 years.
This building was built under appropriations set out in 1926, but actual construction did not start until 1931. It was completed in 1932. The building, therefore, came early in the Great Depression.
The ceremony for the corner stone included a Masonic Ceremony. That's an amazing fact in and of itself. A Masonic Ceremony would be regarded as unthinkable now for a Federal event, and it probably generated some concern amongst the Catholic lawyers in town at the time. The Masons, however, were quite powerful in Casper in this era, and of course fraternal organizations of all type were much more common then as opposed to now.
The building itself was not built with just the judiciary in mind. Indeed, there was no sitting Federal judge for it at all. At the time, there was one Federal judge who sat in Cheyenne. He was, however, a bit of a circuit rider, and Federal courthouses existed in Cheyenne, Casper, Green River, Lander and Yellowstone National Park. The courtroom was on the second floor of the courthouse, and the main floor and part of the basement housed the Post Office. Service recruiters were also located here, along with other Federal officers. The building was built with this in mind, and it served in this fashion up until about 1970 when a new much larger Federal office building was constructed. This itself shows how much smaller the Federal government actually was, as there is no way this building could serve in this fashion today. Even as late as the early 80s, however, the building still housed various Federal offices, including the United States Geological Survey, for which I briefly worked. It's odd to think that the dingy basement USGS office was once located in what is now a very nice courthouse. Even odder yet is to recall the beautiful Depression Era murals that were once on the main floor, with the mail boxes. The murals depicted scenes of Western migration, and were removed to the new post office (which is now the old post office) when the post office went to the new Federal Building in 1970.
What this courthouse did not see by that time was very much use as a court. By the 1950s at least the Federal Court made little use of this courthouse, and the ones in Green River and Lander had fallen into near complete disuse. In part, this may simply have been due to advances in transportation and technology. The addition of additional Federal judges, however, meant that the court needed to once again use this courthouse, and it was remodeled in the late 1980s and now has a sitting Federal judge.
Even the name of the building illustrates a change. This building was simply called "the Post Office" by most people here when I was young. Later, it was called "the old Post Office". When it acquired a sitting Federal judge most people started calling it The Federal Courthouse. The official name, the Ewing T. Kerr Federal Courthouse, came about in honor of long time Wyoming Federal judge, Ewing T. Kerr. Judge Kerr is notable, amongst other reasons, for being the last Wyoming Federal judge to lack a law degree. He had never attended law school, and actually started off as a teacher. He "read the law" and passed the bar.
By the way, just behind the courthouse is the old First National Bank building. It hasn't been used in that fashion during my lifetime, I think, but was a major office building up until the 1970s. It then fell into disuse, and was abandoned for many years. Very recently, it was remodeled into appointments, and where the bank lobby once was a grocery store now is.
Also, this view is considerably more open than at any time prior to the present time. A small building neighboring the courthouse was recently removed so that room could be made for parking. They heavy iron fence serves a security purpose. Up until recently this also did not exist, showing, I suppose, how things have changed in another fashion.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
365 Days With A Model A.
Here's a blog that takes an interesting look at the early automobile era.
The author notes that this is because he doesn't feel that everything should have a computerized element to it. I couldn't agree more.
The author notes that this is because he doesn't feel that everything should have a computerized element to it. I couldn't agree more.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Building trends and economic eras
It should have occurred to me more clearly a long time ago, but you can begin to discern an economic era in a town based on its significant buildings.
That's certainly the case in this town. I've long known that the building I work in, the Con Roy building, was built in 1917 as part of a building boom associated with World War One oil production. But up until very recently I hadn't noticed how far that building trend must have carried. In putting up some photos for my blog on churches, it really became apparent to me. Most of the downtown churches here, fine old structures, were built right after World War One. I know that all those congregations had existing smaller churches, so they were replacing old ones with new much larger ones. Probably the size of the congregations had dramatically increased as well.
Same thing with some large old buildings here, except their earlier. Say 1900 to 1914. All associated with sheepmen, who must have been doing very well in a way that no rancher could today.
That's certainly the case in this town. I've long known that the building I work in, the Con Roy building, was built in 1917 as part of a building boom associated with World War One oil production. But up until very recently I hadn't noticed how far that building trend must have carried. In putting up some photos for my blog on churches, it really became apparent to me. Most of the downtown churches here, fine old structures, were built right after World War One. I know that all those congregations had existing smaller churches, so they were replacing old ones with new much larger ones. Probably the size of the congregations had dramatically increased as well.
Same thing with some large old buildings here, except their earlier. Say 1900 to 1914. All associated with sheepmen, who must have been doing very well in a way that no rancher could today.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Surgarmill
Couvi posted this item on his grandfather's sugarmill on his site. Fits in with the theme here, and very interesting.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
When horses were a major economic factor.
When horse were a major economic factor.
Not all that long ago, really. Wyoming had a horse boom as late as 1914-1918. We had a remount station up until World War Two, and the Remount program was operating in the state as late as the Second World War.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Friday, November 13, 2009
Saturday, November 13, 1909. Cherry Mine Disaster.
The Cherry Mine Disaster saw 247 coal miners and 12 rescuers killed in the accident at Cherry Illinois. It's the third deadliest mine disaster in U.S. history.
University of Virginia freshman halfback Archer Christian was fatally injured during a game against Georgetown.
Last edition:
Thursday, November 11, 1909. Barbarity.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Telephone
Concerning changes between then and now, something that occurs to me is that those practicing a century ago were much less impacted, if impacted at all, by the telephone.
That may sound obvious, but the impact would be huge.
There are days that I hardly get off the phone. And as I try to take my phone calls, even if really busy, it means that the phone impacts the flow of my work a great deal. This would not have been the case at one time.
It's really difficult to imagine, actually. A day without phone calls and without email. Communications would come solely by mail or by direct contact. I suppose if people had a question, they dropped by to ask it or to make an appointment, and most contacts would have been very much local.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Thursday, November 11, 1909. Barbarity.
The unspeakably brutal lynching of African American Will "Froggy" James took place in Cairo, Illinois before a crowd of 10,000 people.
Three hours later Caucasian Henry Salzner, accused of murdering his wife, was likewise lynched.
Last edition
Wednesday, November 10, 1909. Narcissism as a personality disorder.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Wednesday, November 10, 1909. Narcissism as a personality disorder.
Dr. Isidor Sadger first described narcissism as a personality disorder as part of his presentation "A Case of Multiform Perversion".
On Wisconsin was preformed by the first time by the University of Wisconsin Glee Club.
Last edition:
Monday, November 8, 1909. A Roosevelt tragedy.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Monday, November 8, 1909. A Roosevelt tragedy.
Franklin and Elanor Roosevelt's third child, named Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., died at the age of seven months. They'd use the name again for their fifth child.
Victor Hémery became the first person to drive an automobile faster than 125 miles per hour, driving a 200 PS Benz at 126 mph at the Brooklands track in England.
Deer Creek Falls, Grand Canyon National Park, November 8, 1909.
Last edition:
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Monday, November 1, 1909. Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.
President Taft proclaimed the Gran Quivira National Monument, New Mexico, containing ruins Pueblo settlements dating back to the 9th Century and Spanish missions dating back to the 17th.
Exact dates for the Puebloan settlements would be impossible to determine, but construction of the missions started in 1622 and were completed in 1635. An additional church was built in 1651. The entire population migrated north in 1677, and everything was abandoned.
The expanded site today is the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.
Thirteen year old working in glass factory, November 1, 1909.
Last edition:
Friday, October 29, 1909. First Boy Scout Troop in U.S.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, October 29, 1909. First Boy Scout Troop in U.S.
The first Boy Scout Troop in the United States was organized. It was in Barre, Vermont.
Or maybe. There are other 1909 contenders.
Inspection at West Point.
Last edition:
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Wednesday, October 27, 1909. First American woman to fly in an airplane.
The First Woman to Fly in an Aeroplane in the United States, October 27, 1909
Sir Oliver Lodge published an article in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association theorizing that if there had been intelligent life on Mars, it had been destroyed by a catastrophe two months earlier when, he theorized, the Martian polar ice caps had fractured.
Born on this day. He passed away in 2006.
Last edition:
Tuesday, October 26, 1909. Korean assassins, US pilot, Hookworms, and the passing of O. O. Howard.
Labels: 1900s, 1909, Aircraft, Army, Civil War, Disease, Education, Ethnicities, Indian Wars, Japan, Korea, Native Americans, Nez Perce, Nez Perce War, Personalities
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tuesday, October 26, 1909. Korean assassins, US pilot, Hookworms, and the passing of O. O. Howard.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi was assassinated by Korean An Chung-gun, a Korean nationalist, who walked past the Russian guards while dressed in Western clothing.
U.S. Army Lieutenant Frederick E. Humphreys became the first military pilot to fly an airplane solo.
He'd go on to fly in World War One.
The Rockefeller Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm Disease was created.
Gen. Oliver Otis Howard died at age 78.
The Civil War era general had stayed in the Army after the war and had a founding role in Howard University. He retired in 1894 as a Major General.
His post war career may be best remembered by his halting pursuit of the Nez Perce in 1877.
Last edition:
Thursday, October 21, 1909. Jireh College.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Thurday, October 21, 1909. Jireh College.
Today In Wyoming's History: October 21: 1909 The cornerstone for Jireh College, in Jireh was laid. Jireh College was a Protestant College that no longer exists. The town likewise no longer exists. It's history was relatively short, but it featured a combined effort to create a Christian school with a farming community. Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Sunday, October 17, 1909. First Navy officer flight.
Lt. George Sweet became the first U.S. Navy officer to fly in an aircraft.
He went up as a passenger of Orville Wright.
Last edition:
Saturday, October 16, 1909. Two heavyweight leaders meet.
Labels: 1900s, 1909, 1909 World Series, Automobiles, baseball, Blog Mirror, boxing, Diplomacy, Lighter than air aircraft, Mexico, Porfirio Díaz, Sports, Transportation, William Howard Taft, Wyoming
Friday, October 16, 2009
Saturday, October 16, 1909. Two heavyweight leaders meet.
William H. Taft met Porfirio Diaz at the El Paso Chamber of Commerce. That evening, Taft crossed over the Rio Grande to Ciudad Juárez for a banquet hosted by Diaz, becoming the first U.S. President to visit a foreign country while in office, although it was temporarily declared neutral territory to honor a tradition that was soon to become obsolete.
Taft was in his first year of what would turn out to be a one year presidency. Diaz was one year away from a revolution that would end over thirty years in power.
The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Detroit Lions to win the World Series.
The world's fist passenger airline, DELAG (DEutsche Luftschiffahrt AktienGesellschaft), was founded in Frankfurt, Germany.
It flew Zeppelins.
Stanley Ketchel fought Jack Johnson in a match at Colma, California, knocking the former champion down with his first punch in the 12th round. Johnson in turn struck back with a right uppercut that broke Ketchel's front teeth and knocked out Ketchel.
The board of directors of General Motors approved a plant to buy Ford Motor Company for $8,000,000. . . which fell through when they failed to obtain financing.
Last edition:
Labels: 1900s, 1909, 1909 World Series, Anabaptist, baseball, Christianity, Electrical Power, Lancaster Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania (Lancaster), Protestant, religion, technology, telephone
Monday, October 12, 2009
Tuesday, October 12, 1909. Beginning of the path to a schism.
The Amish bishops of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, denied a request by 35 families to relax the ban on use of electricity and telephones resulting in the Schism of 1910 the following February.
The Tigers beat the Pirates in game four of the World Series.
Last edition:
Monday, October 11, 1909. Convention Internationale Relative à la Circulation des Automobiles and The Key West Hurricane of 1909.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Monday, October 11, 1909. Convention Internationale Relative à la Circulation des Automobiles and The Key West Hurricane of 1909.
The Convention Internationale Relative à la Circulation des Automobiles was signed in Paris by seventeen European nations. The treaty established common roald rules and letter symbols for a car's country of origin, those being: A-Austria, B-Belgium, CH-Switzerland, D-Germany, E-Spain, F-France, GB-Great Britain, GR-Greece, H-Hungary, I-Italy, MC-Monaco, MN-Montenegro, NL-Netherlands, P-Portugal, R-Russia, RM-Romania, S-Sweden, SB-Serbia.
Floridians were digging out after the Key West Hurricane of 1909.
The Pirates beat the Tigers in game three of the World Series.
Last edition:
Sunday, October 10, 1909. Nicaraguan revolution.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Sunday, October 10, 1909. Nicaraguan revolution.
General Juan José Estrada, backed by American businessmen, began a revolution in Nicaragua to overthrow President José Santos Zelaya in what would later be called "the first real American coup".
The claim aside, the US would have an outsized role in the country during Estrada's ultimate administration.
Last edition:
Saturday, October 9, 1909. William James Sidis
Friday, October 9, 2009
Saturday, October 9, 1909. William James Sidis
William James Sidis of Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of two Russian physicians, was admitted to Harvard at age 11, the youngest person to obtain that status.
1914 graduation photograph.
He lived an eclectic and not particularly happy life, not seemingly making the transfer to adult life very well, and having been arrested for being present at a Socialist demonstration in 1919. He died in 1944 of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 46.
Last edition:
Monday, October 4, 1909. Cook exposed on Mt. McKinley.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)