How can the dead speak when we’ve deemed them too unimportant to listen? On this episode, we’ll explore what Lena Johamesson calls the “significant insignificances” of history through the lens of two Wisconsin fires: The Great Peshtigo Fire, and the fire and murders at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin. This week’s questions are: How and why do historical events and figures become significant? Is there a way to reframe the way we think about or approach history to elevate what Johamesson calls “the significant insignificances”? What tiny but crucial details do you care about in your historical subject of interest? Please be sure to get in touch with your answers! Find me on Twitter and Instagram @ladycryptoid and by email at ladycryptoid@gmail.com. Many, many thanks this week to Matt Spireng for permission to read his poem, “The Peshtigo Fire Cemetery,” and for his time and insight. You can find his poetry all over the place, but go ahead and buy his collections What Focus Is and Out of Body. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING Brown, H. (2004). “The Air Was Fire”: Fire Behavior at Peshtigo in 1871. Fire Management Today, 64 (4), p. 20. Friedman, A.T. (2002). Frank Lloyd Wright and Feminism: Mamah Borthwick’s Letters to Ellen Key. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 61 (2), p. 140-151. Holbrook, S. (1944). The Peshtigo Fire. The American Scholar, 13 (2), p. 201-209. Lyons, C. (2011). Hell on Earth: The Peshtigo Fire. History Magazine (Februrary/March), p. 38-40. Pernin, P. (1971). The Great Peshtigo Fire: An Eyewitness Account. The Wisconsin Magazine of History, 54 (4), p. 246-272. Peters, A. (2012). The House on the Ledge. Southwest Review, 97 (1), p. 89-112. Rosenwald, M.S. (2017). “The night America burned”: The deadliest -- and most overlooked -- fire in U.S. history. The Washington Post, 6 Dec 2017. Schwarz, F. D. (1996). 1871: One hundred and twenty-five years ago -- Two fires. American Heritage, 47 (6), p. 118-120 Spireng, M. J. (1998). The Peshtigo Fire Cemetery. College English, 60 (1), p. 67. Tarshis, L. (2015). The Blood-Red Night. Storyworks, 22 (4), p. 4. MUSIC CREDITS Intro: Ferera and Paaluhi, “The Saint Louis Blues” (W.C. Handy, composer) The Sky Ablaze: Moriz Rosenthal, Etude Nouvelle in A Flat and Etude in C Major, Op. 10, No. 1 (Frederic Chopin, composer) Bellini Ensemble Unique, Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, “Moonlight” (Ludwig van Beethoven, composer) Mamah: National Parks Service, “Dawn Soundscape from the Sun Valley Trail” Conclusion: American Quartet, “Moonlight Bay” (Percy Wenrich, composer)
