Category Archives: Adventures in history

The ex-slave who endowed a church for whites

By Joel Thurtell Born a slave, put Parisian chefs to shame, invested, and endowed a chapel for the white community on Grosse Ile. That is the story of Lisette Denison. Here is my sketch of her life, published with permission … Continue reading

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Rat on the re-run

By Joel Thurtell So far, none of my Free Press friends wants to eat rat. Shoot! I got back on the rat track last year when I discovered that Freepster Zlati Meyer had borrowed from some of my old Free … Continue reading

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The slave quilt hoax

By Joel Thurtell   Early in 2007, I read a New York Times article exposing a hoax involving the history of the Underground Railroad. I call it the slave quilt scam. Soon after I read the Times article, I noticed … Continue reading

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‘Tomatoes & Eggs’ Part II: Erasing slavery on Big Isle

Grosse Ile historians chose not to use photos of slave inventory; one of the slaves mentioned, Charlotte, worked on Grosse Ile. Burton Historical Collection. By Joel Thurtell During the long-ago historical period when I was a grad student in history, … Continue reading

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‘Tomatoes & Eggs’ Part I: Slavery at Grosse Ile, Michigan

Inventory of slaves in Detroit, Michigan. Joel Thurtell photo of record in Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library By Joel Thurtell Just as I predicted in a January 2007 Detroit Free Press story, Grosse Ile’s historians changed history. But not … Continue reading

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Lowell’s oddball bridge

By Joel Thurtell LOWELL, Mich. — It doesn’t attract as many tourists as Italy’s Ponte Vecchio, but Lowell’s Main Street Bridge bears a certain similarity to that 14th-century pedestrian span over the Arno River in Florence. Lowell’s bridge, barely 100 … Continue reading

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Little brown jug o’ lakes

By Joel Thurtell The football rivalry between the Wolverines and the Golden Gophers over the little brown jug isn’t the only bone of contention between Michigan and Minnesota. [The game will be played at noon Eastern time Saturday, November 3, … Continue reading

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My Tarascan Project

Here is a summary of the methods, goals and findings since December, 2012, when I re-commenced work on my old PhD dissertation on history of 17th century Tarascan Indians in western Mexico: By Joel Thurtell When I began doing research … Continue reading

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Electric history

  Electric History: Detection and Measurement of Human Behavior Through Quantifiable Historical Records By Joel Thurtell Ever hear of an “electric historiscope”? Nor had I until I began thinking about history in a new way. “Electric historiscope” is my offbeat … Continue reading

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A gender-sensitive surname transmission system among Tarascan Indians in colonial Mexico

Readers of joelontheroad my be surprised to learn that during the same time that I’ve been publishing blog articles about abuses in school finance in Michigan 19 years ago and in California right now, I’ve also been conducting research into … Continue reading

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