Feb. 24, 2009
Posted by Noah
I love a good conspiracy theory as much, if not just a little more, than anybody. I don’t go to bed at night thinking about any of them, though, if you know what I mean. There plenty of other things to worry about these days, so I can’t really devote too much time to whether a secret shadow government is controlling the world from the earth’s core – or better yet, outer space – or whether Rock and/or Roll is really the root of all evil and a creation of the evil counterpart to our secret shadow government, . I’ll just let their endless struggle for the soul of the world, fought by giant lizard men well-equipped with blasters, play out in the secret cities beneath the earth’s crust and on Mars.
So… Conspiracies! Speaking of good ones, I always like a good Skull and Bones story, and a good one has fallen in my lap courtesy of Heritage Historical Manuscripts cataloger David Boozer. If you don’t know about Skull & Bones, it’s a secret society at Yale from which many prominent politicians, diplomats, judges and lawyers – all the people who control all the conspiracies – have emerged seemingly en masse. It just so happens that we have an 1872 Skull and Bones Gold Stick Pin and Album with 23 Cartes de Visite up for bid in the March 6 Manuscript Auction. It’s a very cool lot, and it's tied to the ultra-secretive society that allegedly houses many significant artifacts in its off-campus HQ, known as “The Tomb.”
The shady membership of the 1872 Skull & Bones has finally been revealed and society has been shaken to its core! Or not really.
“This lot is exciting because, finally, the 1872 members of the secretive and mysterious Skull & Bones are exposed for who they really were!” David wrote (the exclamation point it mine. – NF). “Teachers, lawyers, bankers, doctors, and several ministers. So they weren't the most exciting group – no U.S. senators, presidents, or Geronimo-bone thieves – but still, through these beautiful cartes de visite, we can see a bit into the world of secrecy and privilege in the late 19th century.”
He’s right. It’s one of those cool lots that are so in abundance here but for which there is usually little time to promote or give exposure to. This is my little addition, then, and a part of my job that I sincerely love and am glad to do.
The reference to Geronimo-bone thieves is a reference to a New York Times article last week about a lawsuit filed by Geronimo’s grandson alleging that The Skull & Bones is in possession of his grandfather’s skull and some other artifacts. The grandson wants them back, and if the society is in possession, then I don’t blame him. The story is pretty juicy, as it refers to a story that Prescott Bush – father of George H.W. and George W. – with friends, in 1917, broke into Geronimo’s tomb and stole the bones. There’s actually some evidence that the bones may well be in the society’s possession. The jury is out on Prescott’s involvement, but, you know… Boys will be boys, yes?
Showing posts with label Manuscripts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manuscripts. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Forget just being a Pepper, I want to own it!
Feb. 20, 2009
Posted by Noah
You would think, given all the corporate secrecy around the secret formulas for different soda pops, fried chicken batter and sandwich sauces in America that we were dealing with issues of national security when it came to wanting to know the ratio of mustard to mayonnaise on our hamburgers, or of black pepper to paprika in our extra crispy, but no. It is just food. Still, Heritage has itself a good ol’ fashioned piece of American cola history that is as complex as and KFC original recipe mix or Coca-Cola syrup formula: Our May Americana Auction will feature a lot that should be of extra special interest to Texans, and to any one that ever swigged an ice cold soda on a very hot day – the mid-1880s original notebook containing the original handwritten formula for what was to become Dr. Pepper, the first – and arguably the greatest – of America’s big three soda pops.
Granted that Dr. Pepper isn’t what it used to be in terms of soft drink influence. You would be hard pressed to make the case that it is in America’s Top 10 beverages, let alone the top three. To Texans of a certain age, however, Dr. Pepper is what it’s all about. That original formula, deep within the Heritage vault – the source of so much speculation in the 130 years since its creation, and so much corporate deflection – is getting set to be auctioned off. Can a revival of homemade Dr. Pepper be that far off?
Uh… Probably very far off… That, though, is no hindrance. It’s the meaning of the thing; it’s the role that Dr. Pepper has played in the development of Texas’s National identity, and how it spurred on the greater success of Coke and Pepsi, and helped define the very role of America to the world.
Heritage’s Director of Americana, Tom Slater, has been involved intimately with getting the crumbling notebook with the original formula in it – Page 19, to be exact – and he has also been intricately involved with the various aspects of the potential legal wrangling around it. While he couldn’t show me the notebook just now when we met in his office, he could assure me that the formula, as it’s represented in its original state in the notebook, is probably not even close to the current formula, especially in its use of denatured rum.
This is a lot that deserves pages and pages dedicated to it, so interesting is the history, and so much secrecy is there around it, but I don’t have the space here to do anything but offer a tease. There is much in Dr. Pepper that led to America’s corporate culture, but there is also much of the history of Texas in it, as well as proof that Waco – now little more than the midway point between Dallas and Austin, the home of Baylor University and former home of the Branch Davidians – was once the most important city in the state, if not the nation. It’s all there in that sweet, odd taste.
For my part, I can remember numerous field trips to the Dallas Dr. Pepper plant at Greenville Avenue and Mockingbird Lane throughout my childhood. I drive past that intersection everyday on the way to work. Much like the original formula for the drink, though, so much has changed about the site of the plant that all that remains is a clock and sign. It’s now a super market, some apartments and a rail station, just as Dr. Pepper is but a horse in the Snapple stable. That does not, however, diminish the potential power of this piece of superb Texana/Americana at auction. In a corporate culture that closely protects even its oldest secrets, the fact that this original recipe is going to be out of the bag is pretty spectacular. It may not save the world, but it’ll have a whole host of folks whistling the tune, doing the dance with Vim, Vigor and Vitality and saying they, too, indeed wished they could be a Pepper… Stay tuned for more on this as the auction approaches.
Posted by Noah
You would think, given all the corporate secrecy around the secret formulas for different soda pops, fried chicken batter and sandwich sauces in America that we were dealing with issues of national security when it came to wanting to know the ratio of mustard to mayonnaise on our hamburgers, or of black pepper to paprika in our extra crispy, but no. It is just food. Still, Heritage has itself a good ol’ fashioned piece of American cola history that is as complex as and KFC original recipe mix or Coca-Cola syrup formula: Our May Americana Auction will feature a lot that should be of extra special interest to Texans, and to any one that ever swigged an ice cold soda on a very hot day – the mid-1880s original notebook containing the original handwritten formula for what was to become Dr. Pepper, the first – and arguably the greatest – of America’s big three soda pops.
Granted that Dr. Pepper isn’t what it used to be in terms of soft drink influence. You would be hard pressed to make the case that it is in America’s Top 10 beverages, let alone the top three. To Texans of a certain age, however, Dr. Pepper is what it’s all about. That original formula, deep within the Heritage vault – the source of so much speculation in the 130 years since its creation, and so much corporate deflection – is getting set to be auctioned off. Can a revival of homemade Dr. Pepper be that far off?
Uh… Probably very far off… That, though, is no hindrance. It’s the meaning of the thing; it’s the role that Dr. Pepper has played in the development of Texas’s National identity, and how it spurred on the greater success of Coke and Pepsi, and helped define the very role of America to the world.
Heritage’s Director of Americana, Tom Slater, has been involved intimately with getting the crumbling notebook with the original formula in it – Page 19, to be exact – and he has also been intricately involved with the various aspects of the potential legal wrangling around it. While he couldn’t show me the notebook just now when we met in his office, he could assure me that the formula, as it’s represented in its original state in the notebook, is probably not even close to the current formula, especially in its use of denatured rum.
This is a lot that deserves pages and pages dedicated to it, so interesting is the history, and so much secrecy is there around it, but I don’t have the space here to do anything but offer a tease. There is much in Dr. Pepper that led to America’s corporate culture, but there is also much of the history of Texas in it, as well as proof that Waco – now little more than the midway point between Dallas and Austin, the home of Baylor University and former home of the Branch Davidians – was once the most important city in the state, if not the nation. It’s all there in that sweet, odd taste.
For my part, I can remember numerous field trips to the Dallas Dr. Pepper plant at Greenville Avenue and Mockingbird Lane throughout my childhood. I drive past that intersection everyday on the way to work. Much like the original formula for the drink, though, so much has changed about the site of the plant that all that remains is a clock and sign. It’s now a super market, some apartments and a rail station, just as Dr. Pepper is but a horse in the Snapple stable. That does not, however, diminish the potential power of this piece of superb Texana/Americana at auction. In a corporate culture that closely protects even its oldest secrets, the fact that this original recipe is going to be out of the bag is pretty spectacular. It may not save the world, but it’ll have a whole host of folks whistling the tune, doing the dance with Vim, Vigor and Vitality and saying they, too, indeed wished they could be a Pepper… Stay tuned for more on this as the auction approaches.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
What do you reckon a first edition, signed Harry Potter is worth?
Feb. 4, 2009
Posted by Noah
I can’t really guess, and I’m probably the wrong person to ask about this. Anyone in our Rare Books and Manuscripts department could hazard a good guess. All too soon we’ll find out exactly what it’s worth to any number of determined collectors when a book that fits the description in the title of this post actually comes across the block. March 6-7, I believe. It’s a rare softcover, it’s got the impeccable condition and it’s got all first issue points and a card on the inside front, with the cover art on it, signed by Rowling. It will, without a doubt, bring a pretty penny. There are only a handful of these softcovers out there so it’s an important volume, at least to this day and age. I think I speak for almost every writer on the planet when I say: Man! I wish I had written those books.
To be honest with you, and I am most likely in opposition to many, I wasn’t so crazy about the Harry Potter books. You can’t fault the storytelling, I know, but you can fault the writing, and I found myself repeatedly little compelled by Rowling’s prose. The tales are easy to enjoy, like a candy bar, and ultimately just about as filling. The movies have gotten better as time has gone by. I don’t know about the books. Time will be the judge. Will our grandchildren be reading Harry Potter in a couple of decades, or will they be watching it? I’m just saying…
My tastes in literature are many, but when it comes to sci-fi and fantasy I will usually choose sci-fi, and I will snap up most any dystopian futuristic novel in a second – favorite books and authors are a different discussion altogether – and speaking of sci-fi, and the March Rare Books Auction, there’s another cool bit there, too, with the original handwritten manuscript for A Prelude To Space by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Again, not really my cup of tea in terms of Clarke – the book reads like an instruction manual, which in a way it is – but it’s rare that something so specific to the process of a master is so readily accessible, and it shows the remarkable order with which Clarke wrote. Click on the link above, in this graph, to check it out.
Posted by Noah
I can’t really guess, and I’m probably the wrong person to ask about this. Anyone in our Rare Books and Manuscripts department could hazard a good guess. All too soon we’ll find out exactly what it’s worth to any number of determined collectors when a book that fits the description in the title of this post actually comes across the block. March 6-7, I believe. It’s a rare softcover, it’s got the impeccable condition and it’s got all first issue points and a card on the inside front, with the cover art on it, signed by Rowling. It will, without a doubt, bring a pretty penny. There are only a handful of these softcovers out there so it’s an important volume, at least to this day and age. I think I speak for almost every writer on the planet when I say: Man! I wish I had written those books.
To be honest with you, and I am most likely in opposition to many, I wasn’t so crazy about the Harry Potter books. You can’t fault the storytelling, I know, but you can fault the writing, and I found myself repeatedly little compelled by Rowling’s prose. The tales are easy to enjoy, like a candy bar, and ultimately just about as filling. The movies have gotten better as time has gone by. I don’t know about the books. Time will be the judge. Will our grandchildren be reading Harry Potter in a couple of decades, or will they be watching it? I’m just saying…
My tastes in literature are many, but when it comes to sci-fi and fantasy I will usually choose sci-fi, and I will snap up most any dystopian futuristic novel in a second – favorite books and authors are a different discussion altogether – and speaking of sci-fi, and the March Rare Books Auction, there’s another cool bit there, too, with the original handwritten manuscript for A Prelude To Space by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Again, not really my cup of tea in terms of Clarke – the book reads like an instruction manual, which in a way it is – but it’s rare that something so specific to the process of a master is so readily accessible, and it shows the remarkable order with which Clarke wrote. Click on the link above, in this graph, to check it out.
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