ELEPHANT MAN:
Professor Sir Colin Berry, London Hospital Medical College; David Nunn, London Hospital Medical College (Museum Department); Dr. D. T. D. Hughes, consultant physician, and Jonathan Evans, district archivist, Royal London Trust. I would like to thank Dr. G. R. Seward for supplying the photographs of Joseph Carey Merrick that had been published in the British Dental Journal. Dr. Seward is a renowned authority on the Elephant Man, and his several BDJ articles on Joseph Carey Merrick were based on his lectures given at the Royal London Hospital bicentenary celebrations.
OWNEY, THE CANINE TRAVELER:
James H. Brims, director, National Postal Museum, Washington, D.C.; Herbert R. Collins.
WRIGHT BROTHERS’ FLYER:
Dr. Peter L. Jakab, National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.; Robert C. Mikesh.
BREAST-POCKET ITEMS THAT SAVED THE LIFE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT:
John Gable, Theodore Roosevelt Association, Oyster Bay, New York; James M. Shea, Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, National Historic Site, New York City; Bruce Kay, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, North Dakota; Herbert R. Collins.
PILTDOWN MAN:
Dr. Frank Spencer, Queens College, a noted authority on Piltdown Man, provided much valuable information and proofread my drafts of this chapter. I am also grateful to Robert Kruszynski, Natural History Museum (Human Origins Group), London.
LADDIE BOY:
Herbert R. Collins; Marilyn Higgins, National Museum of American History.
BABE RUTH’S SIXTIETH-HOME-RUN BAT:
Peter Clark, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York.
JOHN DILLINGER’S WOODEN JAIL-ESCAPE GUN:
John Dillinger Museum, Nashville, Indiana, particularly curator Joe M. Pinkston and researcher Tom Smusyn.
ANNE FRANK S DIARY:
Yt Stoker, Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Anne Frank Center, New York City; Cordula Bartha, consulate general of the Netherlands, New York City.
ENOLA GAY:
Robert C. Mikesh, aviation author and former senior curator, aeronautics, National Air and Space Museum, was extremely helpful. His knowledge of aviation is vast and I am most grateful to him for sharing some of it with me.
EINSTEIN’S BRAIN:
Dr. Thomas Harvey gave me the story firsthand, spending hours on the phone, and politely answering all my questions; Dr. Marian C. Diamond, director, Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley; Robert Schulmann, director, Einstein Papers Project, Boston; Dr. Philip Schewe, American Institute of Physics; Ewing Cemetery Association, Trenton, New Jersey.
RIFLE THAT KILLED PRESIDENT KENNEDY:
Steve Tilley, National Archives, College Park, Maryland; “The Sixth Floor,” Dallas, Texas; John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts.
VOYAGER 1 AND VOYAGER 2:
Timothy Ferris; Mary Hardin and Edward McNevin, Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California; National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
I am very much indebted to the editor of this book, David Sobel, both for making it a reality and for superbly editing it. His keen critiques and editorial suggestions prompted me to flesh out the histories in this book and make numerous other improvements. I also appreciate the excellent work of editorial assistant Jonathan S. Landreth.
As always, I am indebted to my literary agents, Lynn Chu and Glen Hartley. I am honored to be represented by two such fine people, whose enthusiasm for this project also helped make it a reality.
Marisa Nadell translated Italian for me; Fred Steins and Dr. Peter Knote translated German; Alvin Nesbot, Janet Nesbot, Victoria Delgado, and Dr. Blance N. Vazquez translated Spanish.
Many invaluable suggestions for improving the manuscript were made by my friend Judith Stein.
Stephanie Long, James Morgan, Gretchen Worden, Alan Hawk, Rabbi Mordecai Kamenetzky, Agnes Dubin, Max Dubin, Sally Schiller, Pearl Bernstein, Henry Bloomstein, Jeff Burke, Morris Sivak, Sarah Sivak, Lorraine Katz, Susan Healy, Pastor Ken Cavanagh, and John Barilla all were helpful in one way or another.
Nancy Constantine and Paulette Kloepfer adeptly handled the typing of the manuscript and were always a pleasure to work with.
I enjoy a close relationship with my three brothers and their families, and they were constant sources of inspiration during the writing of this book. I extend my heartfelt appreciation to Steven and Jeanne Rachlin, Gary and Lauren Rachlin, Craig and Sharon Rachlin, and nieces Stephanie, Aimee, Amanda, and Serena. The same gratitude is expressed to my parents, Philip and Mazie Rachlin.
I would like to thank my family—Maria, Elyssa, Lauren, and Glenn—for hanging in there during my long periods of isolation spent researching and writing this book.
Finally, I would like to say that this book was truly a labor of love. Delving into the fascinating events and episodes of the past described here was thoroughly enjoyable, and during the research I used to love to share the bizarre or unusual stories I uncovered with friends and strangers alike, as these would always evoke an amused, if not incredulous, response. History needn’t be boring. It can truly be fun and exciting, inspiring and intriguing. It is for me, and I hope it is for you, too.
SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
There were several volumes I used extensively throughout my research for this book. Rather than reproduce their titles in the chapters that follow, they are listed here as general reference sources: The Book of Knowledge (New York: Grolier Society, 1928); The Concise Dictionary of National Biography: From the Beginnings to 1930 (London: Oxford University Press, 1939); Encyclopedia Americana International Edition (Danbury, Conn.: Grolier, 1988); Encyclopaedia Britannica (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1963); The World Almanac (New York: World Almanac, Pharos Books, 1990); The World Book Encyclopedia (Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1958; Chicago: World Book, 1989). Two magazines I also found very useful were Archaeology and Biblical Archaeology.
INTRODUCTION
Begley, Sharon, and Louise Lief. “The Way We Were, Our Ice Age Heritage: Language, Art, Fashion, and the Family.” Newsweek, November 10, 1986.
Geek, Elisabeth; Johannes Gutenberg. Berlin: Brüder Hartmann, 1968.
Lamar, Howard R., ed. The Reader’s Encyclopedia of the American West. New York: Crowell, 1977.
Lossing, Benson John. The Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1868.
Vacquier, J. Souvenir de Napoleon Bonaparte. Kahn: Strasbourg, 1928.
THE BLACK STONE OF THE KA‘BAH
Farwell, Byron. Burton: A Biography of Sir Richard Francis Burton. New York: Viking Penguin, 1988. First published by Longmans, Green, 1963. Source of the quote attributed to Sir Richard Francis Burton (page 14).
Gibb, H. A. R., and J. H. Kramers, eds. Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1965.
Hughes, Thomas Patrick. A Dictionary of Islam. Delhi, India: Oriental Publishers, 1973.
Rice, Edward. Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton: The Secret Agent Who Made the Pilgrimage to Mecca, Discovered the Kama Sutra, and Brought the Arabian Nights to the West. New York: Scribner’s, 1990.
Sharafuddin, Abdus-Samad. “Is the Black Stone an Idol? Is Pilgrimage a Pagan Rite?” Pamphlet. Bombay, India: Ad-Darul-Qayyimah, 1975.
LUCY THE HOMINID
Johanson, Donald, and Maitland Edey. Lucy, the Beginnings of Humankind. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981.
Science Year: The World Book Science Annual, 1973. Chicago: Field Enterprises.
Science Year: The World Book Science Annual, 1979. Chicago: World Book-Childcraft International, 1978.
THE CODE OF HAMMURABI
Kramer, Samuel Noah, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. Cradle of Civilization. New York: Time-Life Books, 1967.
Oppenheim, A. Leo. Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.
Pritchard, James B. Archaeology and
the Old Testament. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1958.
THE CONTENTS OF KING TUTANKHAMEN’S TOMB
Carter, Howard, and A. C. Mace. The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen. 2 vols. London: Cassell, 1923.
Carter, Howard, and A. C. Mace. The Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen. With a new introduction by John Manchip White. New York: Dover, 1977.
Carter, Michael. Tutankhamen, the Golden Monarch. New York: McKay, 1972.
Cottrell, Leonard. The Secrets of Tutankhamen’s Tomb. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society Publishers, 1964.
“Debunking Tut ‘Curse.’” Newsday (from The London Observer), September 21, 1993.
Glubok, Shirley. Discovering Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Tomb. Abridged and adapted from The Tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen by Howard Carter and A. C. Mace. New York: Macmillan, 1968.
THE BLACK OBELISK
Biblical Archaeology Review, January/February 1991.
Layard, Austin Henry. Nineveh and Its Remains: With an Account of a Visit to the Chaldaean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezids, or Devil Worshippers; and an Inquiry into the Manners and Arts of the Ancient Assyrians. 2 vols. New York: Putnam, 1849. It is Layard’s eloquent account of his excavations upon which I have based my story of his unearthing of the Black Obelisk.
Millard, Alan. Treasures from Bible Tunes. Belleville, Mich.: Lion Publishing, 1985.
Pritchard, James B. Archaeology and the Old Testament. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1958.
Tenney, Merrill C, general ed., and J. D. Douglas, revising ed. The New International Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing, 1987.
THE SILOAM INSCRIPTION
Great People of the Bible and How They Lived. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader’s Digest Association, 1974.
Magnuson, Magnus. Archaeology of the Bible. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977.
Millard, Alan. Treasures from Bible Times. Belleville, Mich.: Lion Publishing, 1985.
Pearlman, Moshe. Digging Up the Bible. New York: Morrow, 1980.
“Please Return the Siloam Inscription to Jerusalem.” Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 1991.
Pritchard, James B., ed. The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1958.
THE ROSETTA STONE
Andrews, Carol. The British Museum Book of the Rosetta Stone. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1981.
Belloc, Hilaire. Napoleon. New York: Halcyon House, 1932.
Budge, Sir E. A. Wallis. The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum. London: Religious Tract Society, 1929.
Cottrell, Leonard, ed. The Concise Encyclopedia of Archaeology. 2nd ed. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1971.
Cronin, Vincent. Napoleon Bonaparte: An Intimate Biography. New York: Morrow, 1971.
Guérard, Albert. Napoleon I: A Great Life in Brief. New York: Knopf, 1956.
Ludwig, Emil. Napoleon. Translated by Eden Paul and Cedar Paul. New York: Modern Library, 1953.
Pearlman, Moshe. Digging Up the Bible. New York: Morrow, 1980.
Quirke, Stephen, and Carol Andrews, eds. The Rosetta Stone. New York: Abrams, 1989.
Turner, Major General Tomkyns Hilgrove. “An Account of the Rosetta Stone.” Letter dated May 30, 1810. In Arcbaeologia: or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, vol. 16, page 214. London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 1812. Source of the Turner quote.
Williams, Walter G. Archaeology in Biblical Research. New York: Abingdon Press, 1965.
THE PORTLAND VASE
Biblical Archaeology Review, July/August 1990.
Harden, Donald B., Hansgerd Hellenkemper, Kenneth Painter, and David Whitehouse. Glass of the Caesars. Milan: Olivetti, 1987.
Haufmann, George M. Roman Art. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, n.d.
Shenker, Israel. “A Celebrated Roman Vase Has Become a 20th-century Phoenix.” Smithsonian, July 1989.
Strong, Donald, and David Brown, eds. Roman Crafts. New York: New York University Press, 1976. Specifically, I referred to the chapter entitled “Glass” by Jennifer Price.
Tait, H., ed. Five Thousand Years of Glass, 2nd ed. London: British Museum Press, 1995.
“A 2,000-Year-Old Vase to Be Broken (to Fix It).” The New York Times, June 6, 1986.
Von Hoist, Niels. Creators, Collectors, and Connoisseurs. New York: Putnam’s, 1967.
THE VEIL OF THE VIRGIN
Delaporte, Yves. Le Voile de Notre Dame. Chartres: Maison des Clercs, 1927. My main source of information here.
The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments Translated Out of the Original Tongues. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1901.
THE CROWN OF THORNS
Durant, Will, and Ariel Durant. The Story of Civilization. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966.
Hartman, Louis F. Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible. Translation and adaptation of A. van den Born’s Bijbels Woordenboek. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963.
The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments Translated Out of the Original Tongues. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1901.
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. 4 vols. New York: Abingdon Press, 1962.
Neil, William, ed. The Bible Companion. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.
“Les Reliques de la Passion à Notre-Dame de Paris” (The Relics of Notre-Dame of Paris). Pamphlet. N.p., n.d.
Steinfels, Peter. “For Both the Faithful and the Skeptics, Relics Hold Their Mysteries.” The New York Times, November 9, 1988.
Temko, Allan. Notre-Dame of Paris: The Biography of a Cathedral. London: Seeker and Warburg, 1976. Source of King Louis IX’s relics parade.
THE HOLY LANCE
The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments Translated Out of the Original Tongues. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1901.
Krasa, Josef, commentator, and Peter Kussi, translator. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville: A Manuscript in the British Library. New York: Braziller, 1983.
Labarte, Jules. Histoire des Arts Industriels an Moyen Age et a I’Époque de la Renaissance. Vol. 2. Paris: A. Morel, Libraires-Editeurs, 1873.
National Archives. Ardelia Hall Collection. Record Group 260, Boxes 32-34.
Trnek, Helmut. “The Holy Lance.” In The Secular and Ecclesiastical Treasuries (Illustrated Guide). Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum, 1991.
Young, Brigadier Peter. The World Almanac Book of World War II. New York: World Almanac, 1981.
THE SHROUD OF TURIN
Heller, John H. Report on the Shroud of Turin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983.
Lavoie, B. B., G. R. Lavoie, D. Klutstein, and J. Regan. “In Accordance with Jewish Burial Custom, the Body of Jesus Was Not Washed.” Shroud Spectrum International, June 1982.
Maloney, Paul, ed. The Shroud of Turin: A Case Study in Document Authentication. Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth Press, in preparation.
Meagher, Paul Kevin, Thomas C. O’Brien, and Sister Consuelo Maria Aherne. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion. Washington, D.C.: Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia, Corpus Publications, 1974.
Stevenson, Kenneth E., and Gary R. Habermas. Verdict on the Shroud, Evidence for the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant Books, 1981.
Walsh, John. The Shroud. New York: Random House, 1963.
Wilcox, Robert K. Shroud. New York: Macmillan, 1977.
Wilson, Ian. The Shroud of Turin: The Burial Cloak of Jesus Christ? Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1978.
For further research:
Shroud Spectrum International
Indiana Center for Shroud Studies
1252 N. Jackson Branch Ridge Road
Nashville, Indiana 47448
This is the single best journal source in the English language for researchers to find scholarly articles on the science, medicine, history, art, theology, exegesis, and botanical and textile studies of the Shroud of Turin.
THE BLOOD OF SAINT JANUARIUS
Catholic University of America (editorial staff
), Washington, D.C. New Catholic Encyclopedia. 17 vols. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds., 2nd ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross. London: Oxford University Press, 1974.
Meagher, Paul Kevin, Thomas C. O’Brien, and Sister Consuelo Maria Aherne. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion. Washington, D.C: Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia, Corpus Publications, 1974.
Nature, vol. 353, October 10, 1991.
Newsday, October 10, 1991.
Newsweek, October 21, 1991.
Thurston, Herbert. “The ‘Miracle’ of Saint Januarius.” The Month, vol. 149 (1927), pp. 119-29.
Thurston, Herbert. “The Blood Miracles of Naples.” The Month, vol. 155 (1930), pp. 44-55. Source of the Father Landi and Thurston’s Pozzuoli quotes.
THE RUBENS VASE
Bankers Almanac 1881. Haywards Heath, England: Thomas Skinner Directories, 1882.
Schoettler, Carl. “The Vase.” Baltimore Sun, May 6, 1980.
Vikan, Gary. “A Vase and a Chalice.” Paper delivered at the Curator’s Choice dinner on June 9, 1986, at the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland. Source of quotes and Marvin Chauncey Ross anecdotes.
THE ANTIOCH CHALICE
Eisen, Gustavus E. The Great Chalice of Antioch. New York: Kouchakji Frères, 1923. My source for some of the history of the Antioch Chalice, including its oxidation cleaning in Paris and then being sent to New York for safekeeping. Also my source for much of the artistic study of the object.
Maltin, Leonard, ed. Leonard Maltin’s TV Movies and Video Guide, 1989 Ed. New York: Penguin/NAL, 1988. Source of Paul Newman movie debut.
Mango, Marlia Mundell. Silver From Early Byzantium. Baltimore: Walters Art Gallery, 1986. Much of my account is based on Mango’s chapter, “The Stuma, Riha, Hama, and Antioch Silver Treasures: Their Modern History.”
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