Jumbo's Hide, Elvis's Ride, and the Tooth of Buddha

by Harvey Rachlin

  Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, no. 14, part 2. Washington, D.C., 1896.

  Josephy, Alvin M., Jr. The Indian Heritage of America. New York: Bantam, 1969.

  Kansas City Museum catalog cards on the Shawnee peace pipe and the Washington medal.

  Lamar, Howard B. (ed.). The Reader’s Encyclopedia of the American West. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1977.

  Lindsay, G. Carroll. “The Treaty Pipe of the Delawares,” Antiques Magazine, July 1958.

  McClinton, Kim. Collecting American 19th Century. New York: Scribners, 1968.

  Powell, J. W. Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1892-93. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1896.

  Prucha, Francis Paul. Indian Peace Medals in American History. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1971.

  John Adams’s Pigtail

  Bligh, William. Mutiny Aboard H.M. Armed Transport “Bounty” in 1789. N.p.: Bowker and Bertram, 1978. (The source for the “wanted description of Alex: Smith.”)

  Danielsson, Bengt. What Happened in the Bounty. London: Allen & Unwin, 1962.

  Hough, Richard. Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian: The Men and the Mutiny. New York: Dutton, 1973.

  Kemp, Peter (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. London: Oxford University Press, 1976.

  Kennedy, Gavin. The Mutiny of the Bounty. Boston: David R. Godine, 1980. (This book contains an abridged version of Sir John Barrow’s The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty : Its Causes and Consequences, London: John Murray, 1831. Barrow’s book, written anonymously, is probably the definitive account of the whole Bounty mutiny and is the source of my quotes in this chapter as reproduced in Gavin Kennedy’s book.)

  McKee, Alexander. HMS Bounty . New York: Morrow, 1962.

  National Maritime Museum, London, accession records related to John Adams’s artifacts.

  Paine, Lincoln. Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.

  Scott, Brian W. “Pitcairn: What Happened,” in Mutiny on the Bounty, 1789-1989: An International Exhibition to Mark the 200th Anniversary, 28 April 1989-1 October 1989. (An excellent article that tells why John Adams used the name Alexander Smith and reveals that when Adams as a young man left England on the Bounty he left behind a child he had sired.)

  The Doubleday Ball

  Chadwick, Henry, letter of March 20, 1908, to A. G. Mills. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  “A Challenge,” Delhi Gazette, Hamden, New York, July 12, 1825.

  Franco, Barbara. The Cardiff Giant: A Hundred Year Old Hoax. Cooperstown, N.Y.: New York State Historical Society, 1990.

  Gould, Stephen Jay. “The Creation Myth of Cooperstown,” Natural History, November 1989.

  Guilfoile, Bill (ed.). National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum 1990 Yearbook. Cooperstown, N.Y.: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, 1990.

  Heitz, Thomas R., and John Thorn. “Leatherstocking Base Ball Club—Early Baseball Chronology” (sheets), n.d.

  Heitz, Thomas R., and John Thorn. “Leatherstocking Base Ball Club—The 1845 New York Game Rules” (sheets), n.d., Knickerbocker Rule Book, 1845.

  “Home of Baseball,” The Freeman’s Journal, March 26, 1908.

  Lewin, Jonathan, and Jay Maeder. “The Crown and Flower of 19th-century Magic,” New York Daily News, March 2, 1998.

  Mills, A. G., letter of December 30, 1907, to James Sullivan, Secretary, Special Base Ball Commission. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.

  Rader, Benjamin G. Baseball: A History of America’s Game. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.

  Spalding, Albert G. (Revised and reedited by Sam Coombs and Bob West.) America’s National Game. San Francisco: Halo Books, 1991.

  Spalding, Albert G. (With an introduction by Benjamin G. Rader.) America’s National Game. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992. (Originally published in 1911. Source of the Spalding quotes.)

  Thorn, John, and Pete Palmer, with Michael Gershman. Total Baseball (3rd ed.). New York: Harper Perennial, 1993.

  Ward, Geoffrey, and Ken Burns. Baseball: An Illustrated History. New York: Knopf, 1994.

  Woodward, William E. The Way Our People Lived. New York: Washington Square Press, 1965.

  Wright, Marshall D. Nineteenth Century Baseball, Year-by-Year Statistics for the Major League Teams, 1871 Through 1900. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1996.

  Vendovi’s Head

  Herman, J. K. “Vendovi: Cannibal and Curio,” U.S. Navy Medicine, vol. 77, no. 2, March/April 1986.

  Stewart, T. D. “The Skull of Vendovi: A Contribution of the Wilkes Expedition to the Physical Anthropology of Fiji,” Arch. & Phys. Anthrop. in Oceania, vol. 13, nos. 2 and 3, July and October 1978.

  Wilkes, Charles. Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Philadelphia: C. Sherman, 1849. (A fascinating work of five volumes that was the source of the quotes that appear in this chapter.)

  The Battle Sword of Colonel Najera

  Greer, James Kimmins. Colonel Jack Hays: Texas Frontier header and California Builder (rev. ed.). College Station: Texas A&M University, 1987. (Probably the best biography of Hays. The source for my description of the duel between Hays and Lt. Col. Najera.)

  Lamar, Howard B. (ed.). The Reader’s Encyclopedia of the American West. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1977.

  Charles Dickens’s Prompt-Copy of A Christmas Carol

  Ackroyd, Peter. Dickens. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.

  Collins, Philip (ed.). Charles Dickens: The Public Readings. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975. (An excellent book and the source for the review from the Portland Transcript, February 4, 1868.)

  Collins, Philip (ed.). Dickens: Interviews and Recollections. London: Macmillan, 1981.

  Dickens, Charles. (With introduction and notes by Philip Collins.) A Christmas Carol, the Public Reading Version, a Facsimile of the Author’s Prompt-Copy. New York: New York Public Library, 1971. (The term “prompt-copy” insofar as it relates to Dickens’s stage readings appears to have been coined by Philip Collins.)

  Gordan, John D. Reading for Profit: The Other Career of Charles Dickens: An Exhibition from the Berg Collection. New York: New York Public Library, 1958. (Another excellent source on Dickens’s reading career.)

  “Mr. Chas. Dickens’s Farewell Reading,” Illustrated London News, March 19, 1870. (The source for Dickens’s farewell speech.)

  Szladits, Lola L. (compiler). Charles Dickens, 1812-1870: An Anthology from the Berg Collection. New York: New York Public Library, 1990.

  The First American Flag Raised in Japan

  Barrows, Edward M. The Great Commodore: The Exploits of Matthew Calbraith Perry. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1935.

  “Fillmore’s Authorization of ‘Five Full Powers in Blank’ to Commodore Matthew C. Perry” (sheet), United States Naval Academy, n.d.

  Hawks, Francis L. (ed.). Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, Performed in the Years 1852, 1853, and 1854, Under the Command of Commodore M. C. Perry, United States Navy, By Order of the Government of the United States Compiled From the Original Notes and Journals of Commodore Perry and His Officers at His Request and Under His Supervision (Vols. 1-3). Washington, D.C.: Published by Order of the Congress of the United States, Beverly Tucker, Senate Printer, 1856. (My account of Perry’s mission to Japan is chiefly based on material in Volume 1 of this three-volume set.)

  Morison, Samuel Eliot. “Old Bruin”: Commodore Matthew C. Perry, 1794-1858. Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press/Little, Brown, 1967.

  “USNA *55.1 Flag: U.S. Ensign: 31 Stars: Japan Expedition: Commodore Matthew C. Perry (1853)” (sheets), United States Naval Academy, n.d.

  The Emancipation Proclamation

  Basler, Roy P. (ed.). The Collected Works of Abraham Linco
ln. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953. (Source of the letter to Horace Greeley of August 22, 1862.)

  “The Emancipation Proclamation” (pamphlet), Albany, New York State Library. The Emancipation Proclamation: Milestone Documents in the National Archives. (Foreword by John Hope Franklin.) Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1993.

  Franklin, John Hope. The Emancipation Proclamation. Wheeling, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1995.

  Heffner, Richard D. A Documentary History of the United States. New York: Mentor/New American Library, 1965.

  Hill, Walter B., Jr. “Military Service and the Emancipation Proclamation,” National Archives Bulletin, January 1998.

  Johnson, Sally. “Dust Blown Off, Paper Reveals Lincoln’s Hand,” New York Times, May 14, 1989.

  “Library of Congress Opens Special Exhibition for Centenary of Emancipation Proclamation,” Press Release No. 63-5, Advance—for Publication on Friday, September 21, 1962, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress.

  Nevin, Allan, and Henry Steele Commager. A Pocket History of the United States. New York: Washington Square Press/Pocket Books, 1981.

  “The Property of Mr. William Hotine … The Pen of Liberty,” in “Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana,” Christie’s, New York.

  Rawley, James A. Abraham Lincoln and a Nation Worth Fighting For. Wheeling, Ill.: Harlan Davidson, 1996.

  Slices of Tom Thumb’s Wedding Cake

  Barnum, Phineas T. Struggles and Triumphs. New York: American News Company, 1871.

  The Lives of Tom Thumb and Wife (pamphlet), New York: Popular Publishing, n.d. (c. 1881).

  Malone, Dumas (ed.). The Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Scribner’s, 1964.

  “The Tom Thumb Wedding,” The New York Herald, February 11, 1863.

  “The Loving Lilliputians,” The New York Times, February 11, 1863.

  Romaine, Mertie. General Tom Thumb and His Lady. Taunton, Mass.: William S. Sullwold Publishing, 1976.

  Thomas Edison’s Original Tinfoil Phonograph

  Bergerac, Cyrano de. (Translated by Richard Adlington.) Voyages to the Moon

  and the Sun. New York: Orion Press, 1962. “Build the Edison Tin-Foil Phonograph” (sheets), West Orange, N.J.: Edison

  National Historic Site, n.d. Gelatt, Roland. The Fabulous Phonograph: From Tin Foil to High Fidelity.

  Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1955. Koenigsberg, Allen. Edison Cylinder Records, 1889-1912, with an Illustrated

  History of the Phonograph. Brooklyn: APM Press, 1987. “One Hundred Years of Sound Recording” (press release), New York:

  Recording Industry Association of America, 1977. Rachlin, Harvey. “The Sound Recording Industry,” Songwriter’s Review, vol.

  33, no. 3, June/July 1978. Rosenberg, Robert A., et al. (vol. eds.). The Papers of Thomas A. Edison,

  Menlo Park: The Early Years, April 1876-December 1877 (Vol. 3).

  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. (Source of the quotations that appear in this chapter.) Tarr, Douglas. “Sound Recording” (sheet), West Orange, N.J.: Edison National

  Historic Site, May 15, 1998.

  Jesse James’s Stickpin

  “The Dead Outlaw,” Daily Gazette, St. Joseph, Mo., Wednesday, April 5, 1882.

  “Jesse by Jehovah,” Daily Gazette, St. Joseph, Mo., Wednesday, April 5, 1882.

  “Jesse James” (sheets), Jesse James Home, St. Joseph, Mo., n.d.

  “Jesse James Is Very Definitely Dead, Says a Man Who Photographed His Body,” Kansas City Times, November 12, 1948.

  Lamar, Howard B. (ed.). The Reader’s Encyclopedia of the American West. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1977.

  Settle, William A. Jesse James Was His Name, Or Fact & Fiction Concerning the Careers of the Notorious James Brothers of Missouri. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1977.

  Ulysses S. Grant’s Smoking Stand

  Bowman, John S. (exec. ed.). The Civil War Almanac. New York: World Almanac Publications, 1983.

  DeGregorio, William A. The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents. New York: Dembner, 1989.

  Galena Historical Society Accession Record on U. S. Grant’s cigar butt.

  Goldhurst, Richard. Many Are the Hearts: The Agony and the Triumph of Ulysses S. Grant. New York: Reader’s Digest, 1975.

  Grant, Ulysses S. (E. B. Long, ed.) The Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1952.

  “Grant’s Old Cigar Butt,” newspaper unknown, December 30, 1890. (Source of the Ulysses S. Grant-Leo T. LeBron cigar-butt story.)

  Pitkin, Thomas M. The Captain Departs: Ulysses S. Grant’s Last Campaign. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1973.

  Porter, General Horace. Campaigning with Grant. New York: Da Capo Press, 1986. (Source of Porter’s quote.)

  Simon, John Y. The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press. (© by the Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University; Volume 8 © 1979, source of the Mary Duncan letter quote; Volume 16 © 1988, source of the U. S. Grant quote in the interview during the Franklin Simmons “sitting,” the William Tecumseh Sherman telegram aboard the USS Susquehanna, the William Tecumseh Sherman telegram to Ulysses S. Grant, the Comstock letter to William Tecumseh Sherman, the Ulysses S. Grant letter to U.S. Representative John Bidwell; Volume 17 © 1991, source of the Ulysses S. Grant letter to Mary Jane Safford, the George Trask letter that appeared in the April 9, 1867, edition of the Chicago Times; Volume 18 © 1991, source of the letter to H. Bernd of Danbury, Conn.; Volume 19 © 1995, source of the William Gouverneur Morris letter to Orville Babcock; Volume 21 © 1998, source of the costs and amounts of cigars ordered by Ulysses S. Grant.)

  “U. S. Grant Home State Historic Site” (pamphlet), Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 1994.

  Jumbo the Elephant

  “The Great Jumbo Killed,” newspaper article, publication unknown, n.d.

  Reingold, Adam. “The Greatest Show on Earth,” New York, January 25, 1993.

  Saxon, Arthur. P. T. Barman: The Legend and the Man. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.

  Freud’s Couch

  Dudar, Helen. “The Unexpected Private Passion of Sigmund Freud,” Smithsonian, August 1990.

  Freud, Sigmund (Marie Bonaparte, ed.). The Origins of Psycho-Analysis: Letters to Wilhelm Fliess, Drafts and Notes, 1887-1902. New York: Basic Books, 1954.

  Gay, Peter. Freud: A Life for Our Time. New York: Norton, 1988.

  Jones, Ernest. The Life & Work of Sigmund Freud. New York: Basic Books, 1957.

  Kelman, Harold (ed.). New Perspectives in Psychoanalysis. New York: Norton, 1965.

  Molnar, Michael (ed.). The Diary of Sigmund Freud, 1929-1939: A Record of the Final Decade. New York: Scribner’s, 1992.

  The Hoof of Fire Horse Number Twelve

  National Museum of American History catalog cards.

  “An Old Man Burned to Death in His Lonely Home,” Washington Evening Star, no date but circa March 30, 1890.

  “A Pipe Found Beside Him,” Washington Post, March 30, 1890.

  “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”

  Anderson, Bruce. “The National Pastime’s Anthem.” Publication unknown, n.d.

  ASCAP biographical sheet on Jack Norworth, n.d.

  Bauman, Richard. “An All-American Hit Since 1908,” American Songwriter, November/December 1996.

  Debus, Allen G. “Celebrity Corner: The Records of Jack Norworth,” Hobbies— The Magazine for Collectors, September 1957.

  “Dodgers’ Dots & Dashes,” Los Angeles Dodgers Line Drives, vol. 1, no. 3, July 1958.

  Feist, Leonard. An Introduction to Popular Music Publishing in America. New York: National Music Publishers’ Association, 1980.

  Friedman, Ralph. “Best-Loved Baseball Song Born During Subway Ride” (newspaper article), Central Press Association, c. 1959.

  Fusselle, Warner. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” in Total Baseball (4th ed., edited by John Thorn and Pete Palmer). New Y
ork: Viking, 1995.

  Law, Alexander G., letter of October 29, 1953, Englewood, N.J., to Sid C. Keener, Director, Baseball Hall of Fame.

  Lynn Farnol Group (compilers). The ASCAP Biographical Dictionary of Composers, Authors and Publishers. New York: American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, 1966.

  Mote, James. Everything Baseball. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1989. New York Herald Tribune, November 24, 1940.

  Rachlin, Harvey. The Encyclopedia of the Music Business. New York: Harper & Row, 1981.

  Ripley, John W. “Baseball’s Forgotten Casey,” Ford Times, June 1974.

  Rosenthal, Harold. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (publication unknown), March 19, 1958.

  Walsh, Jim. “‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ Still Champion,” Variety, n.d.

  Mark Twain’s Orchestrelle

  Harnsberger, Caroline. Mark Twain, Family Man. New York: Citadel Press, 1960.

  Harnsberger, Caroline Thomas (compiler). Everyone’s Mark Twain. South Brunswick, N.J.: A. S. Barnes, 1972.

  “Mark Twain’s Orchestrelle,” The Fence Painter (Bulletin of The Mark Twain Boyhood Home Associates, Hannibal, Mo.), vol. 4, no. 1, Spring 1984.

  Quick, Dorothy. Enchantment: A Little Girl’s Friendship with Mark Twain. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961. (The source of the woman’s quote on seeing the little girl playing the instrument.)

  The Zimmermann Telegram

  Bredhoff, Stacey. “Zimmermann Telegram” (sheet), National Archives, n.d.

  Friedman, William F. The Zimmermann Telegram of January 16, 1917 and Its Cryptographic Background. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1938.