During the first weekend of June, I headed off to the Civil War Preservation Trust’s annual convention in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A great organization--saving battlefield land, hallowed ground, holding its yearly event in the mecca of Civil War towns.

Brought along my t-shirt--the one I had made a few years ago when I led a trip down to Gettysburg for our Civil War Project volunteers, as a thank you to them for their great dedication. The t-shirt list the names, ranks, and regiments of the 20 or so men who were killed at Gettysburg and are interred at Green-Wood. Thought it might be a conversation starter. Little did I know.

I was reading an article in The New York Times today: “No Casual Fans At World Series of Baseball Trivia.” The article was about the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), which has a membership of 6,000 baseball geeks, and its annual convention.

I was doing some research recently, helping a New York Times reporter with an article, and thought it would be interesting to find out how the frequency of burials at Green-Wood has change

Well, we did know that Edwin Bennett was interred at Green-Wood and had served in the Civil War. His obituary in The New York Times told us that much. But we couldn’t find the details of his service. That’s where Sue Ramsey, a truly remarkable researcher, came in. Sue, who lives out in California, loves to research--her idea of a good time is to spend a week in Salt Lake City playing with the microfilm there. One of her passions is the Bodies in Transit records, but that’s another story.

A few weeks ago, in preparing for a tour of Civil War Conderates who are interred at Green-Wood, I came across the story of Gilbert Elliott (1843-1895). It is really quite a remarkable tale: Gilbert, with some training in boat building and some experience as a law clerk, enlisted in 1862 in the 17th North Carolina Infantry and was soon appointed first lieutenant and adjutant.

Today’s New York Times reports that the Obamas’ have made their choices, from several Washington museums, of the art that will be hanging in the White House during their occupancy. Take a look at the slide show of some of the highlights--two paintings by George Catlin and the patent model for Samuel Finley Breese Morse’s telegraph.

I have long-known the story of Samuel Chester Reid (1783-1861).

The Green-Wood Historic Fund’s Restoration and Preservation Program is truly cutting edge. No other cemetery in America has as active and as wide-reaching a program.

Today is the 70th anniversary of the premier of “The Wizard of Oz,” the legendary movie starring Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, and Bi

The 150th anniversary of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry is just a few weeks away.