Royal Albert Hall

Per Scriptum E. Wesley - Mackinac Center Intern

Originally chartered to host music expositions and meetings for learned societies, the Royal Albert Hall in London was opened by Queen Victoria on March 29, 1871. With its glass dome, velarium awning, and seating for 8,000 Victorian visitors, the amphitheatre echoed with an almost celestially chime. It was said that the "amen" after the blessing during the opening ceremony reechoed for over a minute. The organ inside was the largest in the world after its construction by Henry Willis in the 1870s, having 7,940 pipes!

The Hall has a special place in the history of liberty. During World War II, Nazi bombers left it standing because it was an excellent point of reference for their pilots. Ironically, it can be seen today as a still standing memorial to the power of Britain's finest hour. Also, the Von Trapp family singers (the inspiration behind the 1965 musical The Sound of Music) preformed at the Hall on October 8, 1950, several years after successfully escaping from Austria during the Nazi invasion. Queen Victoria never knew about the conflicts of the 20th century, and would have never imagined the Hall's significance as a symbol for liberty and endurance in the modern world.





Sources:
Image of RAH Opening 1871 ILN from Wikipedia
Image of RAH Grand Opening by Queen Victoria 29 March 1871 The Graphic from Wikipedia
http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/index.cfm?ID=s0006901
http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/Albertopolis/TheStoryOf/RoyalAlbertHall/RoyalAlbertHall.aspx

"Tack-it-to-the-wall" Debate on Western Formal Attire

Per Scriptum E. Wesley - Mackinac Center Intern

Just for some humor, here's a "tack-it" debate I'm presently having on my cubical wall with an anonymous coworker (click the above image to see more closely). I'm still trying to figure out for myself who it is. First, some background. While discussing Western dress with a church friend, Stephanie MacGown, I briefly explained that in order to help avoid some of the problems maintaining a tie, waistcoats ought to be worn over them. She came up with the brilliant bumper sticker phrase, "Save the tie, wear a waistcoat." This line so caught my fancy, I put it up on my work cubical wall, using an image from this page of the Bookster's Tweed Jacket website.

However, a fellow coworker argued that I ought to call the waistcoat a "vest." Here is a transcript of his/her historical argument from the image above:

Wesley:

1. We won the American Revolution.

2. We won the War of 1812.

3. It's a vest not a waistcoat.

Here is my response (if you couldn't read it from the picture):

On the contrary, secondary sources written as late as 1991 and 2005 attest to the fact that the vest was still known as a waistcoat until it was no longer a necessary part of Western dress. Since the vest was no longer “necessary” in Western dress much after the Edwardians, these sources will suffice. The waistcoat to the left is Victorian or Edwardian by the way.

From the 1850’s section (after the War of 1812, in other words) of Priscilla Harris’s 1991 commentary of Victorian dress entitled American Victorian Costume in Early Photographs, she writes, “Gentleman in satin waistcoat and cravat tied in a lose bow.1”

In Liza Picard’s 2005 book Victorian London: The Tale of a City 1840—1870, she claims, “The Victorian middle-class urban male wore a tall hat, a coat, waistcoat and trousers, with an overcoat in cold weather.2”

Finally, even the Edwardians make reference to “waistcoats” as is apparent from Pearl Binder’s The Peacock’s Tail, “The Teddy-boy dress derives originally from the Edwardian waistcoats and faintly Edwardian rig introduced during the Second World War.3”

By WWII, the “waistcoat” vest was only a superfluous item. Therefore, we must go back to the Edwardians for its “true” name.

1. Dalrymple, Priscilla Harris. American Victorian Costume in Early Photographs. (New York: Dover Publications, Inc). 17.

2. Picard, Liza. Victorian London: The Tale of a City 1840—1870. (New York: St. Martin’s Press). 165.

3. Binder, Pearl. The Peacock’s Tail. (Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers, Ltd). 382.

I'll post any future updates to the debate.

Day 18 of the Battle of Iwo Jima: March 9, 1945

Per Scriptum E. Wesley - Mackinac Center Intern

Tomorrow marks the 19th day of fighting on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, where US marines finally succeeded in dividing the Japanese forces in half. Read the excerpt below from here and watch the video:

"Finally, the breakthrough came on D+18 when a 28-man patrol led by Lt Paul Connally reached the northeast coast. The men stood and stared, hardly believing that they had finally split the Japanese into two. Connally filled his canteen with seawater and sent it to his CO, Colonel Withers who passed it onto General Erskine. The cost to get this far for the 3rd Marine Division had been enormous - over 3,500 casualties. That night, the first major firebombing raid by B29 Superfortresses from the Marianas took place over Tokyo. Around a quarter of Tokyo's buildings were destroyed, just over 1 million people were left homeless, over 83,000 people were killed and almost 41,000 wounded."