Papers of Sir Joseph Banks
Parallel Histories: Spain, the United States, and the American Frontier
Peter Kolb Travel Narrative 1
Peter Kolb was a German astronomer and mathematician who lived at the Cape from 1705 to 1713. He was initially sponsored by a German baron to make astronomical observations in pursuit of a way to calculate longitude accurately. When this project ended, Kolb stayed at the Cape and observed everything else. About three years after his return to Germany, he began to compile a book about his... Read More »
Peter Kolb Travel Narrative 2
Peter Kolb was a German astronomer and mathematician who lived at the Cape from 1705 to 1713. He was initially sponsored by a German baron to make astronomical observations in pursuit of a way to calculate longitude accurately. When this project ended, Kolb stayed at the Cape and observed everything else. Kolb was writing for a European audience, and therefore often played to their... Read More »
Philippine Photographs Digital Archive
Photo Library of the French School of Asian Studies
Pocahontas (Matoaka) 1595-1617
Pocahontas, a legendary figure in American history, was the daughter of a powerful 17th-century Powhatan chief. Allegedly seeking retribution for the murder of two tribesmen by the English, Powhatans captured John Smith, one of the founders of Jamestown, Virginia, an English settlement established in 1607. According to Smith's account, Pocahontas (whose real name was Matoaka) prevented the... Read More »
Press Release Regarding the Berlin Wall Memorial at the Baker Institute (Rice University)
In 2000, 11 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Rice University installed a section of the former wall as a permanent part of the Baker Institute. Speaking at the opening ceremony for this monument, Rice University President Malcolm Gillis noted that the remnants of the Berlin Wall serve to remind us that no structure is capable of confining "the human mind and the human spirit in its... Read More »
Primer: Global Microhistory
In 1791, the commander of an East India Company ship commented on the interplay between macro-level political and economic forces and the decisions and actions of seemingly marginal actors: “Forgive me for mentioning the circumstance which I do, to show, amongst numberless other instances, how a splendid act of government may be linked with the conduct of obscure individuals, separated even... Read More »
Primer: Transnational History
Transnational History encompasses all history that transcends the national level. As a field within the discipline of History, it arose out of dissatisfaction with what was called “methodological nationalism”: the assumption in most historical inquiry that the nation-state is the main building block of history. By contrast, advocates of Transnational History argue that even national questions... Read More »