Hello! I am working on writing a historical murder mystery and I was wondering how likely a common American girl would be in the year 1946 to take a shower over a bath. The sound of a shower running would create a helpful alibi as she was doing it during the time the murder took place.
So my question is should my character take a shower or a bath?
Thank you!

In ancient times, were kilns always built near sources of clay, or was the clay transported to kilns as well?

At the outset of WW1, the Russian government renamed St. Petersburg (Sankt-Peterburg) to Petrograd, to remove the German words "sankt" and "burg". Are there other historical examples of a government renaming a place to remove words or morphemes of foreign origin (not including post-colonial administrations)?

What are some examples of materials mentioned in ancient texts that can't be positively identified today?

I recently read about orichalcum, a metal mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman texts that cannot be positively identified with any metal today. It’s not thought to be “legendary” necessarily, just an ancient name for an existing metal that can’t be pinned down with certainty. Are there any other examples of this in ancient writings?

When did people regularly start saying what year it was in the current manner? (e.g. 1977, 2021, etc.)

Does anyone have any resources (books, articles, docs) about the years of lead in Italy that they can recommend?

After World War II, was there a recreational flying boom? I'd imagine with so many pilots being conscripted and the emergence of the Air Force after the dissolution of the Air Corps, recreational flying would become a more accessible hobby. Would anyone happen to know if my assumptions are trending in the right direction, or if any secondary sources exist detailing something similar? Thanks!

I dont suppose anyone here knows about 19th century colonial spanish abbreviations/shorthand? more specifically, I want to know what in^(s) and a^(s) mean. details here

I don't know if this is an appropriate place to ask this but I don't know where else to ask! So sorry if that's the case mods, please feel free to remove this comment or direct me to somewhere better.

I want to be a historian. I have just wrapped up my masters degree. But the job market for history related stuff is a little bit... blurry.

I really can't afford to go into PhD right now, that's a future plan. I am not particularly business minded. What I would consider my strengths are qualitative research and analysis, write ups, and especially a more journalistic style.

I suppose essentially my question is, what are some jobs that maybe aren't as obvious as say marketing or writing for little to no money for online blogs? Any experienced historians want to share their experiences or make some suggestions for those of us a little lost on where to take their skills?

Any advice welcomed!

Can someone recommend a critical history of western philosophy? That is, it doesn't just present the ideas of various individuals and groups but also highlights the common criticisms?

Is "Joyeuse" actually the sword of Charlemagne or a later sword attributed to the Emperor?

Did the Holy Roman Emperors want it in their keeping or did they know it was a fake relic, or just not care?

I saw it on reddit and don't know the name of the incident but would like to learn it. One day a catholic nation declares war to pope. When army goes their pope tells them it is a sin to give ordet to attack vatican. Then catholic general finds a jewish general and says I can't but he can. what is the incident's name?

What was the last or most recent Native American tribe that made contact with Europeans or non-natives?

I was reading about the Washo and learned they likely only really made sustained contact in the 19th century. I was interested by this and wondered what the last tribe ‘discovered’ for want of a much better word was? It’s hard to search for this without finding results exclusively about Ishi, who is more of an individual story than one of a tribe. I was also wondering, I know there’s likely uncontacted tribes in South America, but what about the north? Could there be any in say, Alaska, or another sparsely populated area?

Hi! My according to an online archive, my grandfather was a prisoner at Gross-Rosen. However the document (OCR version only --cannot get access to original document) includes a final line of contact. I cannot decipher if it's referring to a name of a city or just a generic place name:

Polish (original)

ostatnia wiadomość z 1945 r. - przebywał w Linenbergen (szpital)

English (Google translate)

last news from 1945 - he was in Linenbergen (hospital)

German (Google translate)

letzte Nachricht von 1945 - er war in Linenbergen (Krankenhaus)

​

I tried to google "Linenbergen" but was unable to find any cities listed under this name.

Please help.

Thanks.

Did anyone see The Last Duel?

I’ve read Blood Royal by the same author and loved the level of detail of everyday life in medieval France, but I’m not too trusting of Hollywood historical movies.

What is a good book on J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI?

Where would I be able to find the full text to the Japanese Imperial Conference that decided on Pearl Harbor operation and subsequent war with US? I've wanted to find this for a while, but haven't had much luck online. I think it's the September 1941 one.

When and where was the first documented opposition to punishment by death? Not just organized groups but any sort of recorded "So-and-so thinks it's wrong to kill thieves" or something.

Where the newspaper name fusions come about?

Like where I live now there's a newspaper that's The [city name] News-Gazette

Then an article I read mentioned the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

How did these strange names come about?

Which aristocratic titles might work for the specific context of my character in 18th century France?

I'm writing a story and would like to be as historically accurate as possible, & as different titles meant different things in different countries during different periods, my own research online has been confusing.

The specific period is mid- to late-18th century France.

I'm looking for which aristocratic titles might best fit with these specific qualities & circumstances in mind:

* Not an overly high-ranking title, but it's important this title either would come with many restrictions on the life of the character, or possibly require the character do wield enough power to be able to negatively affect the lives of the citizens in their area, or possibly be a very stressful title to hold (possibly due to social climbing in that era/risk of assassination?).

* Preferably a title which the father could choose which son to pass the title along to, although situations in which primogeniture would come into play, or in which any male heirs would automatically be subject to the same restrictions would also work.

I've been considering possibly making the character a Comte or Duke, but I wanted to make sure either of those titles would fit the specifications above.

Thank you!

I doubt this will get an answer but, does anyone know the actual origin of the unit bbl for barrel of oil? Seems to be a lot of speculation but surely there are transaction records somewhere of its first use.

Are there any genocides or crimes in history that are even remotely comparable to the Holocaust?

Many articles that mention the rapid depopulation of the Americas following European contact mention a slew of diseases including cholera, typhus, smallpox, measles, diptheria, influenza, scarlet fever, and bubonic plague. However, I also see a slew of articles that say that bubonic plague didn't touch the western hemisphere until the late 1800s.

Considering I can't find a single documented outbreak of bubonic plague in the Americas from 1492-1897, did it really come with colonists, or did the lack of appropriate animal vectors keep it from spreading?

I’m looking for a general overview of the pacific war.

Something that details the “story” of the war for the Second World War in the pacific particularly from the perspective of japan.

I'm doing a tabletop roleplaying game with some friends, and I chose a character who is an alchemist.

Does anyone know of a repository of translated alchemical texts?

Also, can I get a book recommendation about the history of alchemy? I know chemistry, so it's fine if it's technical in that sense. Thank you!

Does anyone know where I could find English-language materials on the Imperial Japanese Army and Naval academies?

They get skimmed over in various biographies but I haven’t seen much dedicated material on the topic.

"Tamil and Mandarin are the only two ancient languages still in vogue. Further, Tamil is the only major historic as well as current international language of Indian origin."

1. How true is this statement?
2. Does Tamil truly the most ancient Indian language ?
3. How does the 'age' of tamil compared to other languages such as Mandarin, Avestan, Greek, and Sanskrit ?

Thanks!

Did cowboys smoke weed?

So, I said that I think voting doesn't happen on modern ships, but got told this isn't the pirate days anymore. Wasn't voting common on pirate ships?

how was the battle in napoleonic wars arranged?

do the generals sending letters between and decide the time and place of the battle?

Has a temporary or substitute king ever managed to survive, remain ruler or otherwise escape the downside of standing in for a monarch?

In world war 2 why was narvik evacuated? I understand that with the loss of france the capture of narvik seemed a lot less important but stopped iron exports from narvik and tromso was (I thought) the main goal of the Norwegian intervention. So why give up a very defendable position that can’t really be flanked without invading Sweden?

Long shot: I recall reading a quotation from an American general (I think) around the time of the US acquisition of the Philippines in 1898 (or the war that followed) in which the Filipinos were compared to the Native Americans, with--and this is the part that sticks out in my head--the comment that, if they [the Filipinos] come to the negotiating table "like good little Indians" there would be a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

A friend who works on American empire remembers this quote, too, but neither one of us can figure out who said it, and Google is unsurprisingly useless at helping us find it.

Does anyone happen to know who said it off the top of their heads? A citation would be even better, but I don't want to get ahead of myself!

Has paying off raiders ever worked out in the long term?

What did the Nazi have to say about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion being exposed as a fraud?

So it is known as that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion has been exposed as a fabricated antisemitic text by the British newspaper The Times in 1921 and the German Frankfurter Zeitung in 1924. Yet, when the Nazis came into power in 1933, it is taught in German schools as if factual. What did the Nazi have to say about their antiseptic text being exposed as a fraud? Do they just shrug it off as just some left wing or Jewish newspaper trying to dispel the myth that Jews aren’t a dangerous race in their propaganda? Or are there more reasons behind the fact that it was used in schools and even neofascist, fundamentalist and antisemitic groups to this day?

What is the biggest natural or manmade disaster which resulted in little to no lives lost?

U.S. Army unit that passed through Flemalle-Haute Belgium in Dec. 1944...

In December 1944, an all-black unit of the U.S. Army passed through Flemalle-Haute on the way to the Battle of the Bulge. Does anyone know what unit that would be?

Approximately how many Canadian soldiers fought in the battle of the Somme (WW1)?