I was born in a country that shouldn’t exist: a Central European state that couldn’t even be found on a map from 1795 to 1918, that served as the focal point of German Lebensraum between 1939 and 1945, and that was handed over to the Soviets right after the war — remaining under their heel for nearly half a century.
Many people says that history is the teacher of life. If people don't know own history then they are forced to repeat the same mistakes. Maybe that's the goal.
You may find interesting that this kind of history is not just "freelance history". There's a specific field of research, started from the Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, which is entirely devoted to explain small things in order to change our understanding of the big picture: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microhistory
“ It’s a bummer that we’re not making a concerted effort to catalog and preserve this knowledge”
Oh, but we do! I mean, they do! At archive.org. It’s unbelievable how many weird knowledge and hobbies can be found there for free. And they still lurk for more. They call for support and it’s definitely worth it, if you care about “retro”.
I like it that you don't directly call for funding the internet archive. But it made me look up their about page and surprisingly to me, there seem to be no national or global institutions funding it - only private ones. So yes, maybe the easy way is to fund them. But if one knows a historian it would be better to show that person, how one values their work.
This article resonates with me, as I come from a similar background, and am one of those obscure historians (WW2 radio gear). I like how you've set the stage and described the value.
Many people says that history is the teacher of life. If people don't know own history then they are forced to repeat the same mistakes. Maybe that's the goal.
You may find interesting that this kind of history is not just "freelance history". There's a specific field of research, started from the Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg, which is entirely devoted to explain small things in order to change our understanding of the big picture: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microhistory
I hope to one day visit your museum of extremely large bank notes.
One treasured 20+ y/o site is https://yarchive.net/home.html a collection of Usenet articles that I still visit occasionally.
“ It’s a bummer that we’re not making a concerted effort to catalog and preserve this knowledge”
Oh, but we do! I mean, they do! At archive.org. It’s unbelievable how many weird knowledge and hobbies can be found there for free. And they still lurk for more. They call for support and it’s definitely worth it, if you care about “retro”.
I like it that you don't directly call for funding the internet archive. But it made me look up their about page and surprisingly to me, there seem to be no national or global institutions funding it - only private ones. So yes, maybe the easy way is to fund them. But if one knows a historian it would be better to show that person, how one values their work.
yet another... great article!:)
This article resonates with me, as I come from a similar background, and am one of those obscure historians (WW2 radio gear). I like how you've set the stage and described the value.