Journalists
Mrs. Laura Birkhead and the French Medal of Honor
Back in June, I was poking around in newspapers.com* looking for examples of May Birkhead’s war reporting in World War I. In the process, I stumbled across a fascinating story about her mother, Laura Birkhead (1858-1938) Mrs. Birkhead was visiting her daughter in Paris when Germany declared war on France on August 3, 1914. Despite…
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From the Archives-Shin-Kickers From History: Gaston Madru Secretly Films Occupied Paris
I have more new (or more acurately, old) stories to tell you, but I also have four book events over the next eight days–all different in format. So for the moment, allow me to share a few old posts dealing with occupation, resistance, and journalists at the front. ***** Today I stumbled across an unexpected…
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Building Blocks
I’ve lived in Chicago since the fall of 1980, but I never noticed that the street side of the Tribune Tower is embedded with stones from famous buildings around the world until recently. The trigger for me was correspondence from Sigrid Schultz detailing her successes and failures in acquiring, authenticating, and shipping stones to the…
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