So nothing happened in 1902, eh?

[snacky]

Apparently the MM writers have low regard for 1902 as a year. Here is a starter list of random things that happened in 1902. Anyone with the urge to Google, feel free to pile on.

Jan 8 – A train collision in the New York Central Railroad's Park Avenue Tunnel kills 17, injures 38, and leads to increased demand for electric trains and led to the banning of Steam locomotives in the state.
Jan 23rd - Winnipeg Victorias sweep Toronto Wellingtons in 2 for Stanley Cup
Jan 27th - 5 workers killed on explosion during IRT subway construction (NYC)
Jan 28 – The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, DC with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.
Feb 1st - China's empress Tzu-hsi forbids binding woman's feet
Jan 30th - Anglo-Japanese Alliance
Feb 11 – Police and universal suffrage demonstrators are involved in a physical altercation in Brussels.
Feb 21st - Dr Harvey Cushing, 1st US brain surgeon, does his 1st brain operation
Mar 7th - Boers beat British troop in Tweebosch Transvaal
Mar 10th - A United States court of appeals rules that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera.
Mar 18th - Enrico Caruso becomes 1st well-known performer to make a gramophone record
Apr 2nd - 1st motion picture theater opens (LA)
Apr 2nd - Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated by a terrorist in the Marie Palace, St Petersburg.
Apr 2nd - "Electric Theatre", the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles, California.
Apr 4th - Cecil Rhodes scholarship fund forms with $10 million
Apr 18th - Denmark is 1st country to adopt fingerprinting to identify criminals (huh?)
Apr 20th - Marie & Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive element radium chloride
Apr 30th - Debussy's opera "Pelléas et Mélissande" premieres in Paris (impressionism in music)
May 6th - Zulu assault at Holkrantz South-Africa
May 8th - Mt Pelee erupts, wipes out St Pierre, Martinique, kills 30,000
May 15th - Lyman Gilmore is 1st person to fly a powered craft (aw)
May 17th - Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer.
May 24th - Empire Day 1st celebrated in Britain
May 24 – The first Victoria Day is celebrated in Canada
May 31st - Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal
Jun 2 – The Anthracite Coal Strike begins in the United States.
Jun 9th - 1st Automat restaurant opens (818 Chestnut St, Phila)
Jun 15th - Canada's Maritime Provinces switch from Eastern to Atlantic time
Jun 16 – Australia: Female British subjects (with the exception of Asians, Aborigines and Africans) win the vote with the Uniform Franchise Act.
Jun 24th - King Edward VII develops appendicitis, delaying his coronation.
Jun 28th - US buys concession to build Panama canal from French for $40 million
Jul 1 – Ray Knight stages the first Raymond Stampede in Raymond, Alberta, and in so doing coined the rodeo word stampede, thus launching his rodeo career as the world's first rodeo producer
Jul 11th - British premier Lord Salisbury resigns
Jul 12th - Australian parliament agrees to female suffrage
Jul 14th - The Campanile in St Mark's Square, Venice collapses, also demolishing the loggetta.
Jul 29th - Union of Orthodox Rabbis of US & Canada forms
Jul 30th - Anti-Jewish rioters attack funeral procession of Rabbi Joseph (NYC)
Aug 9th - Edward VII of England crowned after death of his mother Victoria
Aug 22nd - Pres Teddy Roosevelt became 1st US chief executive to ride in a car
Aug 31st - Split skirt 1st worn by Mrs Adolph Landeburg (horse rider)
Sep 2nd - "A Trip To The Moon," the 1st science fiction film released
Sep 29th - Impresario David Belasco opens his 1st Broadway theater
Oct 9 - Altona Schoolhouse Shooting (Canada)
Oct 21st - In the United States, a five month strike by United Mine Workers ends.
Nov 15th - Leopold II, King of Belgium almost assassinated by Italian anarchist
Nov 18th - Bkln toymaker Morris Michton names teddy bear after Teddy Roosevelt
Nov 20th - Geo Lefevre & Henri Desgrange create Tour de France bicycle race
Nov 30th - American Old West: Kid Curry Logan of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor.
Dec 10 – The first Aswan Dam on the Nile is completed.
Dec 28th - Trans-Pacific cable links Hawaii to US
Dec 30 - Discovery Expedition: Scott, Shackleton and Wilson reach the furthest southern point reached thus far by man, south of 82°S.
Dec 31st - Boers & British army sign peace treaty


Chinese Exclusion Act made permanent in the US

Development of radio?

Fabians and rise of Labour party in Britain.

In France, Alfred Loisy writes L'évangile et l'Eglise, which inaugurates the Modernist Crisis.

The first movie theatre in Canada opens in Vancouver

Cuba gains independence from Spain.

The insurrection ends in the Philippines.

Socialist-Revolutionary Party build up in Russia.

Ongoing cholera epidemic in many parts of the world.

Oliver Heaviside and Arthur E. Kennelly independently predict the existence of what will become known as the Kennelly-Heaviside Layer of the ionosphere. (Cats!)

McClure's Magazine prints "Tweed Days in St. Louis" by C.H. Wetmore and Lincoln Steffens. The article introduces the muckraking era.

Beatrix Potter writes her first Peter Rabbit story.

Willis H. Carrier designs the first system to control temperature and humidity, inventing modern air conditioning.
The fossils of a Tyrannosaurus rex are discovered by Barnum Brown in Hell Creek, Montana.

The lie detector or polygraph machine is invented by James Mackenzie.

Britian's Madge Syers opens the door for women figure skaters when she enters the all-male 1902 world championships and places second. Her second place finish causes officials to ban women from the championships until 1905 when a separate ladies event is held.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton died in 1902.

Professor R.A. Reiss, professor at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and a pupil of Bertillon, set up one of the first academic curricula in forensic science. His forensic photography department grew into Lausanne Institute of Police Science.

Einstein is also in Switzerland at this time. Maybe he can approve a patent on one of William's inventions, hehe.

**********
THOUGHTS

There's a lot of potential for women's and labor history that I think MM is already following up on. Spikes in anti-semitism might be worth a look at. That Anglo-Japanese treaty seems to have been a very big deal. Since Ruby is in Africa, perhaps she could come back dragging Cecil Rhodes? The race to Antarctica was also a big deal (especially for hollow-earth believers like George!). Many movie theaters open up. The schoolhouse shooting seems a little too dark for MM. The antikythera device is cool, but might be too weird for MM.

Perhaps William could consult with Prof. Reiss on setting up the Forensic Science program in Switzerland? Julia could do a meet up with Freud. Where is the honeymoon going to take place, anyway? Niagara Falls would be LAME! Going to Martinique would be a bad idea this particular year.

I vehemently reject the idea, brought up in many of William's visions of the future, that he will have a mustache.

[snacky]

Emma Goldman, Birth Control Pioneer: sunsite.berkeley.edu/goldman/Exhibition/birthcontrol.html

I see a premise for the return of Red Emma there. Maybe she and Emily can strike up a friendship.

[snacky]

Aurel Stein's first major silk road expedition was 1900-1901. Could Anna Fulford have crossed paths with him? Stein made Indiana Jones type discoveries, exposed forgeries, and was sucked into the Great Game (Britain vs. Russia fight over central Asia, which led to the British invasion of Tibet in 1904). There were quite a few adventuring archaeologist competing in the area.

Perhaps Anna could return in pursuit of some stolen or missing relic or because of some missing/dead archaelogist/spy involved in the Great Game. Sure she's supposed to be dead, but she hasn't let blowing her Witness Protection Program stop her before.

I don't think she should return as any sort of romantic rival to Julia. I think she's a cool character on her own accord and would make a great female Indiana Jones.

[snacky]

Nellie Bly had retired by 1902, but she's a good role model for Ruby:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly

Julia and Ruby are both part of the wave of "New Women": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Woman

(Or perhaps Women of the Future: www.retronaut.com/2011/09/women-of-the-future-1902/ )

[snacky]

William's Catholic side doesn't get enough play, so I was wondering whether anything interesting happened with the church in 1902. While I don't immediately see anything specific to 1902, I find it interesting that in the last years of the 19th century, the Pope found it necessary to address "new things" - including the relationship between capital and labor: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rerum_Novarum

The next Pope was an active reformer, but that starts in 1903.

By the way, Papal Infallibility was only established by the First Vatican Council in 1870 - I had no idea that this notion was established so recently.

It's harder to find a timeline of Protestant churches. I suppose the missionary movement was important. The Methodist Susan Collins started a mission in Angola in 1902. Tent revivals and faith healing were important - and direct rivals to quack medicine and "electrical cures".

From the Christianity.com timeline: "New philosophies such as Darwin's evolution, Marx's communism, and Freud's psychology, attack the traditional Christian view of life and history. German "higher critics" attack the historical validity of the Scriptures."

I wonder what William thinks of "Christian Science"?

What is Christianity by Adolf Harnac - focuses Christianity on the Life of Jesus and removes the supernatural elements. What did William think of this?

What church does Julia go to, anyway? Even if she's personally an atheist, she's probably affiliated with some church for social reasons. Is the church venue going to cause a problem for the wedding?

[snacky]

The Gibson Girl as the belle epoque Barbie - early controversy of feminism: www.loyno.edu/~kchopin/new/women/gibsongirl.html

I wonder if Julia read The Awakening: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Chopin

[snacky]

There were two World's Fairs held in 1902 (possible honeymoon locales).

1) Cork International Exhibition - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cork_International_Exhibition_%281902%29
Canada participated in that one.

2) Turin, Italy - Prima Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Decorativa Moderna
I'm more fond of Italy as a honeymoon spot. (Actually I'm thinking Paris-Venice with a stopover in Lausanne, Switzerland for a forensics conference or guest lecture. I also like the Italian Exposition because it was about the "modern", particularly as expressed through art and design.

Turin is the location of the Shroud of Turin (occasionally held to be a hoax of Leonardo da Vinci), home of Fiat (which I believe sponsored some notable modernist architecture), "old European charm" from its early modern role as a capital city (of Savoy), and one of the first cinemas in Europe. Turin can be a stop between Lausanne and Venice or between Paris and Venice.

Lausanne is also a stop on the Orient Express. If William and Julia get on the Orient Express, they can indulge in some "Orient Express" style murder mystery while hitting Paris, Lausanne, (Turin?), Venice. Too bad Vienna/Budapest/Istanbul isn't on that route. I'm sure both William and Julia would want to check out the "Orient".

[snacky]

Looking into some more history of technology:

The Flatiron building in New York was completed in 1902. This is a step in the new era of skyscrapers. People took bets on whether the wind would blow it down: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatiron_Building

There was a whole pop culture industry based on the wind blowing up women's skirts there, lol.

There might be some fascinating stories around the rise of the synthetic dye industry: the fashion crazes, the health implications of the exposure to chemicals, the discovery of medicines, increasing environmental pollution, R&D labs and the patent wars, the development of deadly gases as the first weapons of mass destruction. There is potential for industrial espionage and Silkwood-style "whistle-blowers".

www.goodreads.com/book/show/580291.Mauve

January 1, 1902 - Nathan Stubblefield makes the first public demonstration of radio in Pennsylvania, USA.

I suppose something can be done with radio.

1902 Nov 24, The first Congress of Professional Photographers convened in Paris.  (Honeymoon sidetrip?)
Alfred Stieglitz founded the Photo-Secession.

Earth was under meteor attack!!!

July 1

A fireball is observed over Saint Petersburg, Russia, crashing on to the shore of Ladoga Lake in region of Marialachti Bay. Pallasite-type fragments are distributed over 50m radius, largest found is 22.7kg

November 15
A meteorite falls to earth, landing in Sharpsburg, Kentucky, USA. The main piece weighs 181 pounds.

[snacky]

Zola died after his triumph of the Dreyfus Affair: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_Affair

Was it murder?

Also, the pogroms and vicious antisemitic propaganda were a significant cause of Jewish immigration in the later half of the 19th century. I forgot whether this was mentioned in the Maiden episode.

[snacky]

Learned that the invention of the air conditioner was used to cool machines, not people.

I can see a Murdoch invention here to prevent some explosion at a large factory while there are still people inside.

In other news:

1902 Sep 3, US Secret Service agent William Craig was killed when a speeding trolley car rammed into the open-air horse carriage carrying Pres. Theodore Roosevelt in Pittsfield, Mass.

Sep 22, A long-simmering feud between the Brooks and McFarland clans erupted into a bloody gunfight in the railroad town of Spokogee, Indian Territory

[snacky]

OMG, McGonagall (the bad poet from "Anything You can Do") died!

1902 Sep 29, William McGonagall (b~1825), poet, died in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was mocked by literary critics and had food thrown at him during public readings. He died penniless and was buried in an unmarked grave. Critics later awarded him the "world's worst" label because of the crashing lack of subtlety in terms of rhyme, imagery, vocabulary or repetition. His most famous poem is about the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879, in which 75 people died. In 2008 35 broadsheets of his original poems were auctioned for $13,200.

Other literary highlights:

Anton Chekhov published his collected works.

Joseph Conrad, born in Poland as Josef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, published his novella "The Heart of Darkness."

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published his book "Hound of the Baskervilles. (and a bunch of other Sherlock Holmes books that year)

S.W. Erdnase published "The Expert at the Card Table." The book revealed secrets behind card tricks and cheating techniques.

William James published "The Varieties of Religious Experience,"

Rudyard Kipling published "Just So Stories."

V.I. Lenin’s What Is To Be Done? was published and espoused the need for a disciplined, centrally-directed revolutionary party.

Samuel Armstrong Nelson published his book: "The ABC of Stock Speculation."

"Garden Cities of Tomorrow" was published. John Papworth and Ebeneezer Howard were already on record as British theorists for planning new towns.

[snacky]

1902 Nov 16, A cartoon appeared in the Washington Star, prompting the Teddy Bear Craze, after President Teddy Roosevelt refused to kill a captive bear tied up for him to shoot during a hunting trip to Mississippi.

I bet George gets one for Emily.

[snacky]

Parker Brothers brought table tennis to the US from Europe. - lol pingpong diplomacy.

Animal Crackers invented. (Watch out for the tiger, Henry!)

Charles R. Debevoise invented the brassiere, but the market rejected it. (I bet George's aunt invented it first).

In Italy the Campanile in the Piazza San Marco in Venice collapsed. (I see a honeymoon incident).

The rise of photojournalism stemmed from war photography, but it culminated in an important exposure of New York slums in 1890: How the Other Half Lives en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Other_Half_Lives

Slums have been an ongoing issue of urbanization and wealth polarization ever since.

[snacky]

MM still hasn't done the "escape from the asylum" story yet, even though that's even in the books.

Turn of the century asylums weren't just nightmares because of questionable diagnoses (hysteria!) and dreadful therapies (early lobotomy experiments, electric shock). The asylum could actually make you insane...via lead poisoning!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969706008163

The way drugs were thrown around, it wouldn't take much to make someone forget how they got there, either.

I wonder if there was ever a debate about bringing the electric chair to Canada, as a "humane" alternative to the noose? (it always gives me the creeps when William says that).

Though apparently aboriginal schools could use electric chairs on children(!):
knlive.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-forced-to-turn-over-reports-of-electric-chair-use-at-residential-school-1.1641479

Is this "10% darker" yet?

[snacky]

Just for George and Emily, a web page that lists when new foods were introduced:
www.foodtimeline.org/fooddecades.html#1900s

One interesting note on that page is that many new foods, and fads for those foods, came out of World's Fairs. Same thing with women's fashion, I think.

That led me to another web page where science went tragically wrong - home economics.
rmc.library.cornell.edu/homeEc/masterlabel.html

The eugenics of domestic life!

I also read a book once that argued that household appliances - the "technologizing" of the house - actually made more work for women.

I'm also reminded of a story I once read about late 19th century shopping addiction driven by department store catalogs. Apparently some women just had to buy all the chapeaus in Godey's Ladies Book.

Which makes me think about the wonderful automated toys in such catalogs...just waiting for William and Julia's first (adopted?) child.