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OBSCURE

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HISTORIES

BRINGING HISTORY TO LIGHT

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Secondhand Sons
The Life and Times of the Remittance Men
By Nate Barker

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OBSCURE
HISTORIES, JR.

THE HISTORY DOCUMENTARY CURRICULUM

FOR GRADES 4-12

Learn to write, edit, and produce a
history documentary video.

RECENT HISTORIES

Remittance Men in nineteenth-century Canada

Olive Morris: The short, dynamic life of a Brixton Radical

Operation Mincemeat: How the Allies Fooled the Nazis about the Mediterranean Invasion

The Akwaete & The British: The British abruptly left this Nigerian region in 1902. Why?

The Bixby Letter: Saving Private Ryan and the origin of the Lincoln letter

James Wong Howe: Hollywood Cinematographer

Champi: The ancient Indian practice

Mary Anning: Early English paleontologist defied the odds

VIDEO

MORE HISTORIES

Valentine Greatrakes lays his hands on the head of an afflicted person.

Valentine Greatrakes

This faith healer of the "King's Evil" threatened the newly restored King Charles II in England.

US 22 cent stamp showing Greely and his expedition to northern Greenland

Adolphus Greely's expedition

Established a chain of meteorological stations in Greenland.

An etching of Katterfelto in a wig, pointing at spot on the wall showing illuminated microorganisms

Katterfelto and his Live Insects

This quack 18th Century magician showed microorganisms in his lectures, and ran into some trouble

A stamp of Billy Mitchell with a biplane

Billy Mitchell and US air power

After WWI, Billy Mitchell advocated for the use of airplanes to drop bombs on targets

A black and white image of a young Kate Shelley in a black, high neck shirt with a white collar.

Kate Shelley and the Midnight Train

A teenage girl in Iowa averts a terrible train disaster

A picture of the airship the Wingfoot Express, tethered to the ground and surrounded by a crowd of people.

The Wingfoot Express Disaster

Airships were thought to be the next thing in travel, but the disaster had people thinking otherwise

The poet Phillis Wheatley at a writing desk with a quill and hand to her face, lost in thought.

Phillis Wheatley

Poet who helped define early America

A still from the movie, A Trip To The Moon, with a spaceship stick in the Moon's eye

George Méliès and early film

The magician pioneered special effects in film

Two poses of Dr. Mary Edwards in black trousers and a long black suit coat, leaning up against a chair in a salon

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

A female surgeon in the Civil War, and the first woman to receive a Medal of Honor

A black and white photograph of an older man in a black suit and tie, with white fluffy hair, glasses, and kind eyes.

Hiram Bingham IV

US Diplomat saved thousands of Jewish people in WWII.

Hanaoka Seishu in painting with his medical tools.

Hanaoka Seishu

Surgeon developed general anesthesia in Edo Japan

A wood panel showing columns of Japanese kanji, with brightly colored shapes above each column

Japanese Geometry

This sacred geometry developed completely independent of the West

Whether you are a lifelong learner, a student looking for a novel paper topic, or a teacher looking for flexible and primary-sourced material, we hope to have something here to entertain and enlighten.

HISTORY WITH SCIENCE

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