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Today's Top 5
Home Lodge: 1863
Submitted by Dave on Sat, 03/21/2009 - 4:46pm.
June 1863. "Washington, D.C. Sanitary Commission workers at the entrance of the Home Lodge for Invalid Soldiers." From photographs of the U.S. Sanitary and Christian Commissions. Wet plate glass negative. View full size.
Small World
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Mon, 03/23/2009 - 3:23pm.
I don't know what it is, but this picture seems to illustrate just how small in stature men were in the 1860s compared to today. Maybe it's the pavers or the picket fence? My first impression was that they all are well under 6 feet in height. Even the building looks tiny.
Doing good work
Submitted by DoninVa on Sun, 03/22/2009 - 5:06pm.
The Sanitary Commission did tremendous work for wounded Union troops at a time when the surgical response to a wound was "hack it off". Raising their own funds, they operated hospitals and nursing homes, and did work similar to today's Red Cross and USO. Staffed by many Unitarians and Universalists, the Christian Commission often tried to push them aside. Without the work of these good people many wounded would have died.
The Reverend Thomas Starr King, Universalist minister of the First Unitarian Church in San Francisco, stumped the California gold fields and camps raising large amounts of money for the Sanitary Commission. He died young in 1864 and was held in such respect by California that his statue is one of two representing California in Statuary Hall in the National Capitol (the other is Father Junipero Serra).
Boardwalk
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Sat, 03/21/2009 - 9:34pm.
The backdrop/building could be one of those plywood "sets" with holes for your face at amusement parks and the boardwalk; The Deadwood Saloon, the Circus, the Sanitary Commission.
Grammar Cops Take Note
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Sat, 03/21/2009 - 7:56pm.
Evidence that the use of non-ironic quotes for emphasis is not a new phenomenon.
FYI
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Sat, 03/21/2009 - 6:51pm.
The full address was 374 North Capitol Street.
Get me rewrite
Submitted by Mal Fuller on Sat, 03/21/2009 - 6:08pm.
It looks to me as if the banner should proclaim, "The Unsanitary home of the Sanitary Commission."
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Today's Top 5