Hello again,

It's now less than 1 week until I get to take part in my first AMA here in AskHistorians.

I'm very much looking forward to talking about my 3D model of ancient Rome, which took 10 years and I believe is the most detailed ever created, and the free online course I helped create.

The course launches on Monday 13 March, you can sign up at http://rdg.ac/FLvirtualrome, and you can join in the conversation on twitter with #FLVirtualRome

See you on Thursday from 5pm GMT!

Dr Matthew Nicholls

Work on my sample chapter of The Costume Designer and Writer's Guide to Historical Fashion (v. catchy title, I know) has been drawing on! I stopped because I went off to Ohio to do unrelated research and attend a ball, and then when I came back I was focusing on a sewing project - but as I'm waiting for ordered fabric to come in, I've moved back to writing. Since I'm trying to do 1700-1739 for the sample and I'm way more used to generalizing about pre-1770 and then going into detail for the Revolutionary period (as most people who write/talk about 18th century fashion are), it's very interesting to learn more about the subtleties of this period.

Anyone here love/hate professional listservs? What's the best historian one for drama and gossip?

Good news is, all of the archivist ones are dramatic! Last fall the Lesbian and Gay Archives Section of the SAA listserv had a surprisingly heated debate about renaming the section, including whether or not "queer" was still a slur or if it had been reclaimed, whether or not we should choose the identity words the kids liked or stick to Boomer words (the part where it got nasty, generational divides are apparently more salient than minority sexual status unity), and whether we should try to get an umbrella term or list every identity in the name to make everyone feel welcome. This internal pettiness had promptly died a quick (and I think rightfully ashamed) death in the wake of the election. BUT LO! Today someone REVIVED IT and I am making some popcorn when I get back from this meeting.

edit: I should probably not leave everyone thinking this listserv purely sucks, it has also been working on identifying this mis-labled "Stonewall" photo for 3 days, and it's going pretty well!

Question for the college professor crowd: How do you talk to undergraduate students about history research?

In high school, we struggle to get students to move away from the instant gratification of web results (e.g. Yahoo Answers). I tell students the holy trinity of history research comprises books, journal articles, and primary sources. I show them books like one of the Caro books on LBJ and remind them that you don't get 10 years' worth of outstanding scholarship for free. Of course, I show them where to look (library catalogs, JSTOR, Perseus, et al) and how to use Google better (site:.edu, filetype:pdf, Google Scholar).

My anecdotal observation is that procrastinators tend to use the worst sources (no time for the library--paper due tomorrow!!), so I've also built in more "checks" as we go along (working bibliography by X date, Y note cards by a certain date, etc.). What approaches have you found successful?

Robert E. Howard, the Texan pulp writer who created Conan the Barbarian, had a great love of poetry, although limited formal education on it, and coupled it with a natural ear for rhythm and a penchant for memorization. Many of his letters and drafts are sprinkled with bits of verse, some of it his own, some of it quoted from other sources, like G. K. Chesterton. One bit caught my attention this week:

“Harry the Fourth was a godly king,

And he loved greatly godly bells;

He bade them ring and he bade them swing

Till a man could hear naught ellz.

In every tavern they soured the sack,

With discord and with din,

But we drowned them all with armadra-gaul

Like this at the Mermaid Inn.”

• Robert E. Howard to Tevis Clyde Smith, May 1932, Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard 2.346

Now, if you're like me, you might wonder what the fhtagn does "armadra-gaul" mean? Having found no reference to it online, I began to suspect that Howard was borrowing without citing his sources again, and sure enough a little digging soon turned up the source: "Big Ben" from Alfred Noyes' Tales from the Mermaid Tavern, where he renders it "a madrigal."

How often are beliefs that we attribute to other cultures, and beliefs that we attribute to people in the past, just rituals and ceremonies?

For example if we look at our culture through the same lens, by looking at fragments of literature and media and household materials, we would find things like Groundhog Day, where we look to see if a groundhog sees its shadow to determine how long winter will be. Or we would see all the references to Santa Clause and think he's a serious deity. In our literal speech we act like those are real beliefs even though we aren't serious. What we see from history and what we see when we look at other cultures are fragments without context, and people tend to take those fragments literally.

So how much has that messed with our perception of history? Were a lot of ancient Roman gods just allegory like Santa Clause and Cupid? How much of 'sacrificing animals to the gods for a good harvest' was just ceremonious like Thanksgiving and like current harvest ceremonies, as in mainly an excuse to get together?

xD i was reading some 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica online, and I suspect two articles may have gotten spliced together

The Federal authorities offered Lee the command of the field army about to invade the White, Lee (" Heroes of the Nations") (1897); P. A. Bruce, Robert E. South, which he refused. Resigning his commission, he made Lee (1907); T. N. Page, Lee (1909); W. H.Taylor, Four Years with Gen- s way to Richmond and was at once made a major-general in eral Lee; J. W. Jones, Personal Reminiscences of Robert E. Lee (1874) hi the Virginian forces. A few weeks later he became a brigadier- LEE (or [[Legh) Rowland]] (d. 1543), English bishop, belonged general (then the highest rank) in the Confederate service. to a Northumberland family and was educated at Cambridge. The military operations with which the great Civil War opened Having entered the Church he obtained several livings owing Wolsey; 1861 were directed by President Davis and General Lee. to the favour of Cardinal olsey; after Wolsey's fall he rose in Lee was personally in charge of the unsuccessful West Virginian high in the esteem of Henry VIII.

Who do you think are more interesting figures from ancient Greece and Rome?

Can anyone recommend a history of US military justice that covers the Reconstruction Era? I'm trying to learn more about the JAG corps at that time.

So, as a guy who likes history but doesn't take it for a profession, does this sub have an 'essential' reading list?