Documents That Changed the Way We Live

By (author) Joseph Janes

Publication date:

26 May 2017

Length of book:

296 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

235x157mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781538100332

Documents are milestones and markers of human activity, part of who and what we are. Our story can be told through the objects, profound and trivial, famous and forgotten, by which we remember and are remembered. Documents That Changed the Way We Live examines dozens of compelling stories that describe these documents; their creation, motivation, influence, importance, historical and social context, provenance; and their connections to contemporary information objects, technologies, and trends. These documents include the following:

“Exaltation of Innana,” a Sumerian hymn composed c. 2300 BCE by the high priestess Enheduanna, likely the first known author…of anything
The “We Can Do It!” poster everybody knows is Rosie the Riveter calling women to work in the factories in World War II. Except it’s not, and she isn’t
Joseph McCarthy’s “list” of Communists that ruined lives and careers, because it was believed - even though it never existed
The “He has waged cruel war…” passage on slavery, deleted from the Declaration of Independence
The poorly designed Palm Beach County “butterfly ballot,” on which the 2000 U.S. presidential election may have hinged
And the lesser-known stories behind the Zapruder Film, the Watergate tapes, the Obama birth certificate, airplane black boxes, Thanksgiving, IQ tests, the Star-Spangled Banner, why Americans spell the way they do, Nobel Prizes, Wikipedia, and how you’re cooking dinner tonight

Gregorian Calendar, 1582/Gutenberg Indulgence, 1454
2.Exaltation of Inanna, c2300 BCE
3.Rosetta Stone, 196 BCE
4.Donation of Constantine, c750
5.Liber Abaci (Arabic numerals), 1202
6.Annals of the World, 1650
7.Philosophical Transactions, 1665
8.The Riot Act, 1714
9.Declaration of Independence Deleted Passage, 1776
10.What Is the Third Estate?, 1789
11.“The Star-Spangled Banner”, 1814
12.Webster’s Dictionary, 1828
13.The Book of Mormon, 1830
14.First Women’s College Diploma, 1840
15.John Snow’s Cholera Map, 1854
16.Rules of Association Football (Soccer), 1863
17.Alaska Purchase Check, 1868
18.Robert’s Rules of Order, 1876
19.Alfred Nobel’s Will, 1895
20.First X-Ray, 1895
21.Fannie Farmer Cook Book, 1896
22.The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, c1900
23.IQ Test, 1905
24.Zimmerman Telegram, 1917
25.The Nineteenth Amendment, 1920
26.Statistical Significance, 1925
27.Stock Market Ticker Tape, 1929
28.Richter Scale, 1935
29.Einstein’s Letter to Roosevelt, 1939
30.FDR and Thanksgiving, 1939
31.“Letters of Transit,” 1942
32.“We Can Do It!” Poster, 1943
33.Joseph McCarthy’s List, 1950
34.Mental Disorder Diagnosis Manual, 1952
35.Airplane “Black Box,” 1958
36.Space Needle “Sketch,”, 1959
37.Obama Birth Certificate, 1961
38.Zapruder Film, 1963
39.Quotations of Chairman Mao, 1965
40.The 18 ½ Minute Gap, 1972
41.Internet Protocol, 1981
42.Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1982
43.AIDS Quilt, 1987
44.Nupedia, 2000
45.Palm Beach County “Butterfly” Ballot, 2000
46.Pope Benedict XVI’s Resignation, 2013

This is, as consummate library and information science educator, author, and veteran American Libraries columnist Janes explains, 'the printed and illustrated version of a podcast series . . . started in 2012 called Documents That Changed the World.' By documents, he means 'the various kinds of things we create, intentionally and otherwise, to record and remember.' And what variety! Here readers will find essays on topics as diverse as the Rosetta stone, the Fannie Farmer Cookbook, the Gregorian calendar, the Book of Mormon, the Nineteenth Amendment, the Richter scale, the Zapruder film, the AIDS Quilt, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Ranging in length from three to six pages and accompanied by illustrations and lists of sources, each portrait of a document recounts its origin and background and often poses some interesting questions about it. This lively, engaging book is much more than what we used to call a 'miscellaneous book of facts'; it’s an informative, occasionally ironic look at some of the most iconic records and significant texts in human history. Recommended for any library collection.