How dumb is AI?

TL;DR -- The title may be self-explanatory. Hype has reigned for a while now. Let's correct that. 

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This is the 2nd post of a series and looks at some articles from the recent IEEE Spectrum. First, what is the IEEE? It's the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers, now known by its acronym, which is over 100 years old. An old motto reminded everyone that for all of the technology events of the 20th century, some member of the IEEE was there. That is due to the pervasive influence of power generation and management. With the computer, the tie is even stronger. 

So, the IEEE has had its ups and downs, as does any groups of humans. But, their collection of articles in the Spectrum of October of 2021 was phenomenally on the mark. We will pick a few articles for this post but will look at all of them eventually in our technology focus. The image on the right is from their cover showing a robot (nicely configured) and the headline: Why is AI so dumb? 

Now, AI has been around for more than 1/2 of a century and was almost named as a lark by John McCarthy. It is famous for having generated lots of interest during its life in a cycle of boom and bust. We are currently in a boom where AI is all over. Companies are piling on the heap of people trying to use. We see some success. 

Mostly, though, we can say that it's far from expectation's ideal in terms of real modes of gain. Hence, the interest of the TGS, Inc. Every group needs some focus. We are taking technology in the perspective of people with 400 years of history under their belt. We have already started to look at these long threads of cultural experience and discussing how we need such in today's world. Expect that effort to continue. 

In particular, we can look at historic fact. Genealogists have used the computer from the beginning. Then, we saw the genetic analysis project gain footing and ground. On the other hand, there are many open questions yet unanswered. In fact, they have not even been asked. When you see commercial outfits piling on something, watch out. AI is like that; so, too, can be genealogy efforts; as well, we can look at the whole of the industry, given enough time. 

But, back to the Spectrum. There were several articles, such as the one looking at AI history. There we see that two views predominated: symbolic and connectionist. Of late, the press has favored the latter which got out of bed finally due to increases in computational prowess. We worked in this, hence the interest. Prior to that, the symbolic approach made some headway. IEEE had a brief history. There are more in-depth looks that we can purview. Specifically, the most recent work has been on tying these two approaches together. That is, as smart people have always done, the work will continue, in the spotlight or out of it. 

Unfortunately, the spotlight perturbs things greatly. One might think that turning the damn thing off is how to go, except for those who want to act and play reality rather than do hard science and engineering. So, in that guise, lets look at three of the articles. 

• An Inconvenient Truth About AI - IEEE calls this the third wave. In each one, the advances were noticeable. This time, we saw the AI win games thought to be too difficult for computers. Everywhere almost, we see AI systems handling customer queries for better or for worse. There are other examples of the good and the bad. Briefly, this technology is not ready for big-time replacement of humans and their talents. So, why the hype? This will need discussion. 
• 7 Revealing Ways AIs Fail - Some of the attributes are discussed, such as brittleness, inherent bias, lack of common sense, and failure to handle mathematics as we would expect. In this latest round, huge stacks of data that came from the computer's existence allowed a focus on AI training itself. Some success got people to thinking of autonomous modes which did not really pan out as expected. But, typical to human endeavors, it took a while for the realizations to hit home. We all know the little engine that could. Just how little is the AI engine? Pun. 
• Deep Learning's Diminishing Returns - One ignored factor has been that these new approaches are expensive in several ways. There is the hardware and then the energy. Then, there was the complexity that was latent. Scaling up is not an option. This AI thrust was leveraged by the general economic boost of the past decade. Profligate ways of business became almost the vogue which is not sustainable. As problems of the technology got more visible, the costs and their issues got attention. So, there is 'deep' here; the whole thing is in a morass with no real plan for extrication. The business and social aspects of AI will be an interesting bit of study. Even magic has its price. 

How does this topic relate to the TGS, Inc.? Technology, going forward, will be only more complicated and with troublesome ramifications on people. The U.S.? Has led in technology for a long while. Too, technology involves people across the board. Now, our interest can and will be several. Consider though, the U.S. history over the past 400 years has some meaning and significance, in terms of technology and society. This post looks at one topic of very many from a viewpoint that is not very well known publicly. There is a lack of places to go to find proper information. This is a general problem whose severity is only now becoming known. But, these issues could have been foreseen. Were. Again, our focus is going forward in a mode that lift people out of the various mires, some of which are historic in scope, others are being created every day, some times by technological errors. 

As an aside, something needing attention deals with truth and what it is. We will help with this discussion, especially from a position that takes note of the need for truth engineering. Technology is core to the issues of truth, though the issues have been in human culture for as long as we can recall. The smaller world created by technology is more of an exacerbating influence than that of any type of mitigation.  

Remarks: Modified: 12/03/2021

10/30/2021 -- Add the TL;DR.  

12/03/2021 -- After some research, this seems in order. Will use this to set a basis: Practical issues of AI. 

Cape Ann to Patriot

TL;DR -- The Mayflower group has a database that identifies the passenger who arrived in 1620 that was the ancestor for a Patriot (SAR/DAR) whose descendants have applied for membership. At the same time, the Mayflower has a published database of applications that were successful and were dated before 1900. That gave us a chance to raise the issues of Lyman Porter, again, who is in the database as is one of his offspring and his brothers. Not to beat a dead horse, we then mention that we are working similarly with a focus on the Cape Ann entrants whose arrival will be celebrated in a mere one year and two months. 

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This post is the 1st of a series about technology a lot of which has to do with computing. The pace of change has accelerated since the PC came on the scene in ways that are obvious. You know, there was progress before then which is embedded in the current modes if you know where to look. So, advances always come from prior work. One motivation for this series was to look at AI through the eyes of the IEEE Spectrum. We'll do that in the next post. 

For starters, lets look at a couple examples of late. The Mayflower group recently announced their new database which one can title Passenger to Patriot. That is, Patriots that are defined by DAR/SAR applications are linked back to their relations on the Mayflower. We, actually, have been doing that with the Cape Ann crowd. Whenever we see some who seems to have New England links, we follow those back. In doing so, many times, we get to a family who came early into Essex County of Massachusetts. And, we document the finding to an extent as well as push them on our research stack. 

Lyman Porter, Record

Now the other thing to note is that the Mayflower applications can be accessed on-line now. That is, those applications that were prior to 1900. A query will return information from Family Search who is sponsoring the query and which will show the line from the Passenger to the person used in the query. So, on doing a search, Lyman Porter is there, as is his daughter and some of his brothers. We will get back to this topic. Also, we will look further at the Mayflower Descendants database. 

Aside: The two ladies about whom our Alden post was done were in their 90s at the time. Both now? Deceased. But, they know. 

Needless to say, links from the databases of New England to those related to DAR/SAR work would be very helpful to researchers. All of us who have been around a while have seen several generations of approches over the past two and one-half decades. Some of these are still around. Some early ones are even now influencing current work. 

Our portal to truth (https://TGSoc.org) is an example. Our development notes indicate how the effort has paralleled the general progress, in a minimal way. That is one key item to discuss. Too, we have had discussions about content versus configuration which too easily get conflated. In fact, the separation was dropped of late with the mania and approaches that we have seen associated with artificial intelligence (AI). That will be covered in the next post. 

It is comforting to see that those embedded enablers are still there. In fact, some old systems were identified last year due to COVID issues as they needed special attention using talents long gone away. On the other hand, we do need to keep honing systems, albeit we have seen the impact of loss of cultural views and any historical appreciation of why things might have been done the way they were. 

In other words, we learn from history; or, we are supposed to. Computing had just been too new to allow much analysis along that axis. That lack will be recognized in the next few years. How things will play out is not known, understandably. Yet, we can hope for the best in new technology as we stay in tune with progress while, at the same time, giving content the respect that it deserves. 

Postnote: Looks like the NEHGS did the work for the Passenger to Patriot. Nice to see the continuity of the work. 

Remarks: Modified: 04/19/2022

10/30/2021 -- Added the TL;DR.  

11/01/2021 -- Added the postcard from the NEHGS: Pilgrims to Patriots. 

04/19/2022 -- Message for today, from D.A.R. 247 years ago. (requires a login) 

KATY - western railroad

TL;DR -- We have spent a lot of time during the COVID period researching the western expansion with respect to New England involvement. It was post the Revolution and the 1812 ordeal that things got going. Jumping to the latter part of the frontier century, we look at a town in KS that had one of the largest railroad yards in the country. There we consider the times and the people with a focus on one family whose origins were New England and England before that. As well, lots of research is pending with a growing stack of requests. 

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We have been looking at the west of the U.S. which is quite huge and complex. When we mention 'west' we are talking the interior which on the east was bounded by the original colonies' western border (which was a dream, many times, going out to the Rockies or further) and the States of the West Coast. Top to bottom is the view, which would mean the Texas Gulf shore up to the border with Canada. Over the past two years, we have many posts related to this theme dealing with areas all over the place. 

So, as the work continues, we will need to have a map that pinpoints the area with which the content of post deals. Also, the next post will be on technology. The west and technology are two of our recurring themes. In the technology sense, details of configuration, many times, can outweigh content. In the internet age, there is a waffle. Of late? Lots and lots of content is copied. 

Another theme would be generations. We have pointed out that the Revolution (the focus of SAR/DAR) was of the fifth generation with the fourth and sixth there. Or the sixth was born in the latter stages of the long war which was shortly followed by the turmoil of 1812. In any case, things settled so that subsequent generations covered the interior with a seemingly unlimited amount of newcomers came on the scene. 

Parsons, KS 1909
photo of postcard
courtesy of Chris Cruz via
You know you are from Parsons when ...
(private FB group)

Anything different than now?

So, a couple of days ago, we saw a photo that was from 1909 and showed a town in southeastern Kansas. A few things stood out. There were a few horseless carriages, but there were lots of carriages. The road was not paved. The town looked western. We will look at one building in the foreground, but the horizon shows a large building and the railroad track sign (cross). This is the photo which is a bird's eye view of old.  

Let's look at the large building first. It was the train station for KATY Railroad (Missouri-Kansas-Texas). Not long after this photo, the building burned down to be superseded by building that lasted until the 1980s. At this time, Parsons was one of the three largest railroad facilities in the U.S. The other two were Los Angeles, CA and Kansas City, which is a Bi-State affair. In the area where we see the railroad crossing on Main Street, the city put in an underpass. A little later, this street had an electric tram running on rails. 

Of interest, too, is that Parsons had a huge rail yard with facilities for repair. Tools for the railroad are huge affairs. Yet, this work was being done prior to the assists by hydraulics. So, technology? Yes, we do have that as a theme from an integrative sense with looks at historical aspects with respect to demands, or causes, for change as well as the issues related to research, development and maintenance, as well as use. 

As an aside, from Wichita, KS which is west of this area, plane builder, Boeing, shipped fuselages by rail to the west coast. The lonely train out in the huge west is almost an iconic scene. As well as the robberies which are one of the features of a lot of westerns. Some fuselage shipping, later, had to be flown in converted planes due to size. So, we do have a hardware focus; expect to hear about and discuss software, too, especially that which now gets lot of attention.  

We mentioned the size of the railroad building. This little town was a major point of transfer. That is, both of goods and passengers. There was a roundabout which was needed back in those days. One sees such with SFO's trolley system. People used to get off and help turn the little thing. 

KATY lines

Another context? Another part of the theme is people and material movement across this wide expanse. We looked at the (stage) coach traffic from St. Louis, MO to San Francisco, CA and provided details about the trip which dipped down into Texas, went across the southern border, and then back up north from LAX to SFO (using the modern parlance). You see, this little post is a continuing look at technology which we can do using the historical modes of the U.S. Before switching gears, let's look at a map of the KATY which is the heavy line. It carried goods and people from the Gulf coast of TX to St. Louis, MO and Omaha, NB and places in-between. 

This is only one example of rail traffic out west. A couple of years ago, while looking at a family history, we saw that one of Ann's uncles was involved in getting a rail line established between Boston and Salem as well as having a similar focus in FL. This was about the same time as the development of the KATY. BTW, John's family was railroad focused, to boot. 

So, let's look at people a little. In this photo, there is a building that has the name, Holcomb. That caught our eye since it is a collateral family. Was this kin? As we have made a point of marking further research needed to identify individuals, many of whom turn out to be kin (examples below). Turns out that the initials are D. H. Before looking at D. H., let's look at technology's future. 

We see this already with apps and such. But, there will be more structure, at some point, so that we have persistence, consistently, through time. On Wikipedia, most locations will have a section that is titled "Notable people" or "From there" or something or other. In the case of Parsons, several names stood out, as well as Holcomb who is not mentioned. Here are a few.  

• William Coffin Coleman - We called him the American tinkerer earlier. We knew that his family had been in southeast Kansas after being in the South. But, his parents were of NY and were on the border with MA. The name Coffin and Coleman? Brings New England to mind, so we have this on our research stack. 
• George Pepperdine - The University? Yes. But, he also started Western Auto. 
• T. Claude Ryan - Aviation enthusiast and entrepreneur. Built the Spirit of St. Louis. 

Based upon our research, we could do this type of thing for any of the locales in the West of the U.S. We already have started with some (say, Grizzly Adams). Technology will help make this more interesting. How many types of media will we have? 

To lift things, we will use Harvard's 400 years to tell stories of the U.S., to boot. 

Now, back to D. H. Holcomb. He is the ninth generation from an immigrant who was an early settler of Windsor, CT. This family put their book (Our Banyan Tree) on the web. David Holcombe (#23766) was born in Ohio in 1850. The family moved further west to IL. The KS Census of 1925 shows that David and his wife had been born in IL. Also, it has his interests to be Real Estate and Insurance which might indicate that he owned the building that had a grocery. David and his wife are in KS according to the 1900, 1910, and 1920 U.S. Census records. 

His great-grandfather, Dr. Jonathan Holcombe, was a Patriot, a young fifer (WikiTree, SAR which points to DAR). And, his daughter, Jesse Holcomb, grew up in Kansas, went to KU, and more (see her bio at Genealogy Trails). She said that his name was David Hartley Holcomb. 

This is cursory as lots more can be researched and written. It is remarkable that we can rely on advances over the past decade to tell fully aspects of stories. Who needs paper? However, having said that, structure is important. We do not live in chaos, ever. For the TGS, Inc., we want to engage in the full coverage related to us and the U.S. and history and more. At the same time, technology requires continual attention. Various aspects of the need are more recognized than others. 'That work is necessary' is a given. 'What work?' is part of the discussions to be had. 

Detailed map
at KU

Remarks: Modified: 01/05/2023

10/28/2021 -- Added a few links. 

12/18/2021 -- 1884 map of Labette County showing the railroads going through Parsons, KS. Besides the KATY, these were the following; 

• Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railway - predecessor of the next one.  
• St. Louis - San Francisco Railway (FRISCO) - now part of the Burlington Northern Railroad. 
• Parsons and Pacific Railroad. 

04/20/2022 -- Added link to the image at KU. 

04/22/2022 -- Added attribution to the 1909 Postcard: courtesy of Chris Cruz via You know you are from Parsons when ... private FB group 

01/05/2023 -- Added link to KDOT map (PDF) that provides historical notes (see 19th Century details). 

Click for detailed 
map from KDOT

In the building owned by Holcomb, there is a sign for Hubbard & Lott. We can research this further, but they did get a mention in The Publisher's Weekly on 23 Sept 1905. 

Research markers

TL;DR -- The influence of New England on the U.S. and the world never ceases. We try to cover these as they are found and as we learn how it relates to the families of Cape Ann. We are a mere two months from 2022 which will have Weymouth stepping up to an acknowledgement of its history and the pedigree of its people. 

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This post pulls together information on three disparate but pertinent topics. They relate to recent work and will be discussed further as we proceed. 

The first two were seen while browsing Facebook which is where we have our expanded index of activity. 

• Ties to New England - This story appeared in a Cape Code periodical and is about a Harwich resident learning about his heritage. He is 3/4 Chinese but has English ancestors. Among the families are Bradford, Blaisdell, Vassall, and more. He is a member of the new group, Descendants of Cape Code and the Island so we expect to be able to learn more in the context of how families intermingle, in particular with respect to the long reach of New England. 

• 

  French Baron who almost drove the English from Maine - We already mentioned New Hampshire of late as a focus for research. But, as expected, Maine comes into play. There is a group with the name The First Families of Maine that meets regularly about area and its peoples. As we know, Maine was part of Massachusetts, for a while. A major work looked at the History and Genealogy of New Hampshire and Maine. However, with respect to New France, that is on our topics.  
  

This next article was seen on Quora. In it, the author looks at AI now and into the future. We have mentioned that thrust as being of importance to our work, as well. 

• Transdisciplinary artificial intelligence - Putting this here as a placeholder. This brief look is worth a quick read as the summary is good, and the discussion about the future is very much apropos to the times. 
  

As mentioned before, Weymouth is up for notice in 2022. Then, Essex County and Gloucester follow in 2023. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/11/2021

10/30/2021 -- Added the TL;DR. 

12/11/2021 --  Ties to Harvard. 

Charles William Eliot

TL;DR -- CW Eliot's name came up earlier when we were looking at the effects of the gift to Harvard by Count Rumford. At that time, we merely noted that CW wished to obtain appointment to the Rumford Chair put into place by Benjamin Peirce (cuz). CW did not get that and went to spend time in Europe. That little sojourn was instrumental in later changes to Harvard that CW accomplished. Also, it was in the reign of CW Eliot that Leland Stanford came to talk using money to endow education. 

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Today's browse brought up a familiar name which got us looking closer at the subject of Harvard in Massachusetts, in New England, in the U.S. and in the world. Earlier, we had posts that looked at James Bryant Conant (1893-1978, #23 1933-1953) and, then, John Thornton Kirkland (1770-1840, #14 1810-1828) due to topical reasons. Notice the numbers on the 2nd timeframe for each. It is their order in serving as Head of Harvard (see History of Harvard). Too, though, notice the time span with respect to their deaths which was over a century. We just looked at that. 

As the name that came up was Charles William Eliot (1834-1926. #21 1869-1909). Given the gaps that are still there, we have several more names to look at. The next one will be considered for his role in the split whose 250th is coming up (SAR/DAR). 

All three of these gentlemen are of early New England heritage, have family ties with Ann, and played a role in the History of Harvard. For instance, one ancestor is Thomas' 2nd wife, Demaris Shattuck. His WikiTree Profile is sparse to say the least. 

Charles was initially of interest for two reasons. There are more that will be looked at. But, he was a candidate for the Rumford Chair. The money for this came in during the time of John T. Kirkland. We will look at that from several angles dealing with the Count's work and writings plus topics still pending some type of discussion. When Charles did not get the chair, he went to Europe for a couple of years. One thing he looked at was the roles of the university in the culture. His study experience prepared him for his long tenure and resulted in his leading Harvard to the future. So, lots to look at there as we are on the verge of changes that are even more drastic. 

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His biography at Harvard Square Library provides a wonderful take on Eliot's motivations for change. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/01/2022

10/30/2021 --  Added the TL;DR. 

12/11/2021 -- Added link to History of Harvard.

 01/06/2022 -- Leland and Jane Stanford visited Harvard in Eliot's time. Oh well, kind of liked the 'hick' story. Stanford, yeah. 

01/07/2022 -- Eliot started the Gold Coast scheme for housing which was halted by Lowell. ... Tributes to Charles William Elliott (The Massachusetts Magazine, Vol. II, No 2) by Edward J. James, Booker T. Washington, David Starr Jordan, Cyrus Northrup. 

09/01/2022 -- While doing post for Jared Sparks and James Walker, we ran into the Harvard Square Library which keeps us aware of Unitarian ways and their benefits. Harvard plays, specifically, in this arena. The HSL is now a regular resource. 

Connections by WikiTree

TL;DR -- After much consideration, we expect to use WikiTree going forward for several reasons. For one, what we have seen so far is excellent research and genealogically sound methods. Too, it's more than menu driven. In this sense, the world has bifurcated into two types (nuances, of course): GUI-framed and textual-logical. This applies to content as well as to programming. 

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This post seems a little repetitious but isn't really. After a bit more work, we will get more of a focus on WikiTree until something better comes along. Based upon what we have looked at, that might take awhile. So, we need to move forward. Along with the attempt at a database, we will recognize the work done so far at collecting information. Example: Empty branches on the family tree (category/Gardner). Put in a comment today (October 7, 2021 at 11:19 am) pointing to Thomas & Margaret as well as to a Coleman query. 

We first saw WikiTree in the 2014 timeframe as we were looking for places to put information about Margaret Fryer that was recently discovered. We didn't hang around long, except we put, in the main menu, a link to the Thomas Gardner profile on WikiTree. Later, we got back to the site and have been helping with the edits of Thomas' Profile as well as that of Margaret Friar. 

About WikiTree, they have one Profile per person which everyone edits, similar as one does with Wikipedia. If a duplicate gets made, easily done by error, then Profiles are merged with nothing being lost due to the methods. That is, WikiTree tracks changes through time very well (what change, when, by whom and reason). Today, we saw their blog for the first time. And, one topic was the Connections function (17 Dec 2019), hence this post. 

This image is from a post that asks: Have a Connection, do you? The Force is strong in this post. There are some example queries that show relationships between actors. 

In terms of using WikiTree, we used the occasion of getting Dr. Frank's hand written notes about his mother's pedigree to link him to existing trees on WikiTree and to get familiar with the ways and means of the site. 

As we got more familiar, we now used WikiTree almost daily. Example: John Thornton Kirkland (Head of Harvard when two things happened: Transcendental modes via Emerson and friends; Count Rumford gave money to establish a technical, engineering, and scientific framework - the Peirces were involved). 

In a sense, we actually used WikiTree almost like Wikipedia. That is, the first stop on a journey on some new person or subject. The trouble can be that WikiTree is more tightly controlled so that one doesn't find the conjucture-fluent world such as that of ancestry. As one researcher noted, these things are hints and, perhaps, some old map to be updated. 

To other views, these are examples of group work where contribution is noted, managed, and rewarded where we get something of use. Guess what? A recent The Economist (Brit-humoured attempt at looking at the world's economy every week - they call it a paper - the only place where the contributors are not named) bemoaned the situation of the web (Silly Valley's disinformation bucket - okay?) and noted that one shining start was Wikipedia. Yes, indeed. Saw that back at its start. And, remember in the 2008 timeframe discussing this; academics were dissing the instrument; many pages now are done by the experts in the area, including academics. 

We'll start a WikiTree category when we clean up those references. However, they did offer this Connections function (app). Here are a couple of examples: Dr. Frank and Henry VIII, Julia Ward Howe. The latter was motivated by an article in Wall Street Journal about an American hymn. As such, we showed some relationships between people somewhat following the Famous Kin mode. 

Note, though, that the links are not only of direct relationships which is nice, actually. As collateral families and their associations are part of the social fabric that the people we are studying live in. So, that is important. See the Dudley post for a discussion. This family started early to study these relationships. One motivation would have been to sort things out. As in one line, there were two instances where a Dudley descendants married into an existing family. So, we have both the part-sibling and the step-sibling occurrence. 

As an aside, seeing that got us thinking of the Mayflower Pure post which was misunderstood. In the line just referenced, there were two instances where one missed the Dudley link. Not that there were not others. So, those were Dudley pure instances. We really need to discuss this type of thing. Again, Mayflower Pure was to represent a line that came through 400 years of close association with MF families and no taint of that blood entering the line. And, we mean, lots of generations in the same locale. Miraculous is the word. Now, let's look at the characteristics involved more closely. That is, it's on the stack of research subjects. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/07/2021

10/07/2021 -- 

History of Harvard

TL;DR -- Over the decade of research, we have run into Harvard lots of times. And so, we need to collect those things seen and written about in a sequence that depicts several things. One of these would be the influence of the times upon Harvard and vice versa. The 1600s got us bogged down. We will be at this for a while updating this post and creating others. 

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This is one of our quests related to the upcoming 400th. We have some time but need to get to work early since there is a lot to do. Harvard has several histories. This one is from the view of the families here for 400 years with members related to Harvard several ways which will be further categorized as we find material. Anyone interested in helping, please contact us. 

We will start with this brief list in a temporal order. It follows, somewhat, the order in this Quora article titled: What is the coolest obscure historical fact you know? We chose the topic of Harvard having a parallel history with the U.S. 

• 1600s - We have seen much material but no coherent overview. Nathaniel Eaton was the first known head according to Wikipedia. However, on the Wikipedia page, his educational experience is out of order. There are several posts in this blog that refer to Nathaniel: search in blog on Eaton. A search in Google (hasty pudding - Nathaniel Eaton) will bring up lots of repeats of the story. On the other hand, this look at the man by the Eaton Families Association needs to be added to the pile (starting on page 13 - A Discussion of Nathaniel Eaton’s Reputation as Seen by History). A few more views: Hanging Crepe in Trump Land—It’s Harvard’s Birthday, Boston 400/Harvard, ...  Moving on: Harvard’s First President: “A Man for All Seasons”. On Dunster. ...
• 1700s - Loosening morals and more. Revolution baby. He helped Transcendentalism to transcend. Rumford Chair of Physics.
• 1800s - Long century of activity on the interior. Post mid-century, as the civil war loomed, most southern students left when Cornelius Conway Felton was President. The turmoil occurred during Thomas Hill's period. C. W. Eliot began his reign in 1869. 
• 1900s - Several topics want attention. Let's start with testing. 
• 2000s - Harvard releases report on its involvement with slavery. 

Note: We will be editing this post continuously. As topics become too big, we'll split out other posts. The motive is to cover the whole of the history from the time of Nathaniel (kin) until the present time with a focus on people other than Harvard staff and students, most of which will be American. 

Which this guy was firstly. That is, he was here before he went back over there. 

Count Rumford
See our first look at the guy

This guy funded the secular revolution at Harvard. How did they go adrift? Of course, one has to also ask, did they? Lots to discuss. 

Heads of Harvard 

0. Nathaniel Eaton, 1. Henry Dunster, 2. Charles Chauncy, 3. Leonard Hoar, 

4. Urian Oakes, 5. John Rogers, 6. Increase Mather, - Samuel Willard, 

7. John Leverett, 8. Benjamin Wadsworth, 9. Edward Holyoke, - John Winthrop, 

10. Samuel Locke, - John Winthrop, 11. Samuel Langdon, 

                                                                12. Joseph Willard, - Eliphalet Pearson, 

13. Samuel Webber, 14. John Thornton Kirkland, 15. Josiah Quincy, III, 

16. Edward Everett, 17. Jared Sparks, 18. James Walker, 

19. Cornelius Conway Felton, 20. Thomas Hill, 21. Charles William Eliot, 

22. A. Lawrence Lowell, 23. James Bryant Conant, 24. Nathan Pusey, 

25. Derek Bok, 26. Neil Rudenstine, 27. Lawrence Summers, 

28. Drew Gilpin Faust, 29. Lawrence Bacow 

In its own words: History of the Presidency. Goes back to Dunster. Also, Hasty Pudding, of which many on this list were members. 

Topical items, mostly. This will be a list to motivate future research. Will add the date it was entered.

• 03/09/2022 -- Obama joins list of seven presidents with Harvard degrees. The other seven were: John Adams; John Q. Adams; Rutherford B. Hayes; Theodore Roosevelt; Franklin D. Roosevelt; and John F. Kennedy. ... Amid the Old Burying Ground. Gosh, buried there are Dunster, Chauncy, Oakes, Leverett, Wadsworth, Joseph Willard, and Holyoke. ... Gripes between bites. Starts with " defeatin' Eaton over eatin' " and continues. Like that. ... 
• ...

Remarks: Modified: 10/31/2022

12/06/2021 -- Add Eliphalet Pearson. Changed pointer for Eliphalet to Wikipedia. ... Add in Samuel and Joseph Willard. 

12/10/2021 -- Add Nathan Pusey who followed James Bryant Conant. 

12/11/2021 -- Add numbers, format, add Henry Dunster (kin). Add John Winthrop as acting at two different times. 

12/15/2021 -- Add link for Joshiah Quincy, III. His mother is hugely of New England pedigree. 

12/24/2021 -- The feed finally provided me with a page. Had been looking at the Hasty Pudding material. Harvard material on Rumford and his daughter. 

01/06/2022 -- We'll have to build a source list, starting with Richard Norton Smith's The Harvard Century: The Making of a University to a Nation (1998) and Elizabeth Tucker's Campus Legends: A Handbook (2005) (quote: Goat's dung and mackerel guts rival modern "fast food" legends in the degree of disgust that they inspire. From this account and others, it seems clear that America's first college students enjoyed telling stories that highlighted -- and probably exaggerated -- the most shocking details of their miserable meals at college) which can be previewed. ... Add Charles William Elliott.  

01/17/2022 -- Add Samuel Webber. There is conflicting information about him published. So, we will check that out. Too, he's of a family that is little known, comparatively. Then, his mathematical interests are appealing, for several reasons.  

01/23/2022 -- Add Charles Chauncy who followed Henry Dunster. It was in Chauncey's term that the first Native American graduated, in 1665. 

02/05/2022 -- Add Samuel Locke. We are now talking about periods related to the Revolution (250th coming up). 

02/09/2022 -- Add Leonard Hoar. He initiated the Catalogue. 

02/16/2022 -- Add Increase Mather and put in link for Samuel Locke. Add a little verbiage for the 1800s. 

03/09/2022 -- Add Drew Gilpin Faust. First woman President. Next up will be to get the narrative up to date. Started the topical list (nice to know of the Gazette). Add John Leverett.

04/05/2022 -- In preparation of bringing in another Head, changed the list to have three per line, for now. 

04/07/2022 -- Add Benjamin Wadsworth whose time was of the early transformation to modern moral declination (complexity, our forte). 

04/18/2022 -- Add Urian Oakes, the 4th Head. 

04/24/2022 -- As we involve Harvard in our look at the U.S. through time, we will bring in the English aspect via comparative views about Oxford and Cambridge. 

04/29/2022 -- Add Edward Everett. #16 of 29 or so. Not quite the middle, but close enough. 

05/02/2022 -- Add link to Harvard's report on slavery. 

05/17/2022 -- Add John Rogers. 

06/28/2022 -- Add Edward Holyoke. Corporal punishment pops up? 

07/16/2022 -- Add Samuel Langdon, D.A.R. Patriot. Irritated Harvard Tories. 

07/22/2022 -- Add Nathaniel Eaton. 

08/13/2022 -- Add post on Cornelius Conway Felton. 

08/31/2022 -- Add Jared Sparks. 

09/01/2022 -- Add James Walker. 

09/17/2022 -- Add John Winthrop (twice in an interim role). 

10/15/2022 -- Add Thomas Hill. This brings us to the 1930s, or 300 years. That's enough. Let's go back and start with the interesting folks and their times. 

10/31/2022 -- Add Derek Bok. Now, will do the two final ones (Rudenstine and Summers). We want to help make the 400ths a time of reflection and regaining of knowledge.