Fur Trade Quarterly

This outfit is located a bit to the west of my personal definition of the Midwest, but it sounds way too good not to pass on. Would you pay good money to subscribe to a periodical called The Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly?

Well, judging from what Heather Cox Richardson says at The Historical Society, you should. The focus on daily oddments -- a particular kind of tobacco, the indispensability of cats on the frontier -- how could a genealogist or microhistorian not love it?

The museum includes material on the Great Lakes and the War of 1812. Its book-publishing arm, the Fur Press, has begun publishing a projected six-volume encyclopedia of the fur trade:

1. Firearms of the Fur Trade (2011)
2. Gun Accessories & Hand Weapons of the Fur Trade
3. Tools & Utensils of the Fur Trade
4. Clothing & Textiles of the Fur Trade (2012)
5. Ornaments & Art Supplies of the Fur Trade
6. Provisions of the Fur Trade (2014)

If you're in the neighborhood -- Chadron, Dawes County, Nebraska, in the far northwestern corner of the state -- check it out. Meanwhile, if you're curious but don't want to subscribe based on a second-hand testimonial, in my part of the Midwest, Worldcat.org tells us that TMFTQ is held by the following libraries: the University of Notre Dame, Chicago Public, the Newberry, Allen County (Indiana), Michigan State University, and DePauw University.


Harold Henderson, "Fur Trade Quarterly," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 17 July 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

More great history books

Heather Cox Richardson has a wonderful post on The Historical Society's blog, in which she imagines an American history course built around four old classics and four new ones. Of course it warms my heart to hear more about fine books like Edmund Morgan's American Slavery, American Freedom; Robert White's The Middle Ground; Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale; and Robert Mazrim's The Sangamo Frontier: History and Archaeology in the Shadow of Lincoln.

What could be better than seeing old friends appreciated? Learning four more titles that I haven't yet read. I can hardly wait. Now I know where to spend my Christmas loot!