Before the pandemic began, I curated an exhibit on 16th century book binding. I got an email form a well known book collector that said she saw it on her last trip in before we closed and that she loved it. It felt good!

I don't often post about food history, but when I do, I do it here.

In 1727, the Yongzheng Emperor issued a proclamation in which at one point, he exhorted the Manchus to eat more vegetables. Why, you may ask? This came in the context of a broader tirade against increasing profligacy among the Banners (translation by Mark C. Elliott):

It looks as though the Manchus have forgotten frugality and are willing for the sake of their appetites to mortgage their houses and sell their property. Soldiers, for example, want to eat meat at every meal. With what they spend for one measure of meat they could pay for several days of vegetable dishes... Moreover, these people do not think of storing up the rice provisions they get every season, but, for the sake off a few days of meat dishes, break the rules and sell them off cheaply [to have] wine to drink and meat on the table.

He goes on to claim that Manchus were outright bankrupting themselves to feed their apparent meat addiction (the general presentation is eerily similar to later narratives of opium addiction), to the point where they couldn't even afford clothing and grain!

The Yongzheng Emperor being probably the most pro-acculturation of the Qing emperors, his desire that the Manchus reduce their meat consumption also comes in line with his more general ethnic policy of eroding cultural differences between Manchus and Han. His son, the Qianlong Emperor, worked instead to reinforce ethnic distinctions, but I'm not aware of him bringing up Manchu meat consumption: either his father had succeeded in altering Manchu dietary habits, or the Qianlong reign's greater emphasis on cultural performance made meat consumption more desirable as a distinctly Manchu characteristic.

The reasons for the Manchus' higher meat consumption aren't that strange when you get down to it. Manchuria is not a particularly arable region, and so agriculture was, for the pre-conquest Manchus, only a basic part of their food security. Hunting, and to an extent herding, filled out the Manchu diet, and thus seems to have ingrained a love of meat and dairy. Intriguingly, the Yongzheng Emperor's proclamation singles out pork rather than beef, though to be fair that was the more common meat in China.

Whichever way meat consumption went after 1727, one dietary quirk of the Manchus that was quite consistent had to do with their tea. No, I'm not talking about the predecessors of the sudden fad that is kombucha, but rather what they put in their tea: milk. The drinking of tea with milk was seen as a distinctively Manchu practice, so next time you drink your tea with milk, you can take pride having done your part in keeping a Manchu tradition alive.

I'm sure everyone has seen the new Assassins Creed: Valhalla trailer and I'm equally sure everyone is thrilled at the thought of a massive influx of Viking questions! We've covered history games in our free for all chats before, but no one really mentioned history RPG's. What are your favorites? Are you a big Creed fan? Prefer to brawl in Bohemia?

What is meant when politicians / powerful figures keep "papers"? For example, in the BBC show Fall of Eagles, when some royal or other dies, the claimant to the throne rushes to gather the deceased's "papers". What is typically contained in these papers? Incriminating stuff, secrets? Why keep them in the first place?

Hey you experts and knowledgeable people. What area is your expertise in? And do you have any book recommendations on that topic that are geared more to the average lay person who doesn't have previous knowledge on that subject?

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Unsure whether to make a proper thread about this but we'll see! Anyone know of any decent books or articles on the history of Paganism? Looking for books based on the UK and maybe those mad druid lads; but general histories would work very well too!

I helped curate an exhibit on the history of beer and brewing for a graduate class this semester. Our opening day was just before the state was shutdown. Much of our programming was cancelled, but we're still hosting this Trivia night on Facebook Live. Check it out if you're bored and at all interested in beer, brewing, and/or connections between brewing and larger historical processes! Tonight at 7pm MST

Virtual Beer History Trivia Night

Does history repeat itself? Particularly with the Spanish Flu when cities like St. Louis, who had relatively low cases, re-opened and saw a rise in cases and eventually had to close again?