September 29:

Morning found me at the Roadrunner RV Park in El Paso, TX. After a quick bowl of grits and a walk with the boys, I headed for Hueco Tanks State Park . What a special place this is! If you are ever in this area you must make a stop here. You will not be sorry!

The 860-acre park is named for the large natural rock basins or huecos. These "tanks" have provided water in this arid region for thousands of years. From Paleo-Americans to Native Americans, from weary Butterfield passengers to their horses, these tanks were a vital source of water.

As I approached the mountains, I was amazed at how alien they seemed — unlike the surrounding land or the Franklin Mountains  in the distance. As one Native American visitor to the park said recently, "It's as if when the gods were finished with the world they had some left over rock and decided to just store it here." And that is a pretty good description. It looks like someone has just piled massive boulders of all shapes and sizes on top of one another in the desert. It is spectacular.

From 150 year-old "graffiti," to Native American pictographs , this park is filled with reminders of the people who sought shelter and liquid sustenance amid these mountains. Because it is such a special place and such a fragile environment, the park is guarded well, with limited access. There is a maximum number of people allowed into the park each day, and everyone entering must watch an orientation video describing what a special place it is and how to protect it.

So after watching the informative 15 minute video, I was off to the Interpretive Center to visit with Park Superintendent Wanda Olszewski. Not only is Wanda knowledgeable, she is also very passionate about her job and this special place.

Did I mention that this place was special?

Continue reading "Thank You, Texas!" »

Posted by Casey at 02:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Animals, Artifacts, Dogs, Environment, Experts, First-hand Accounts, Misc, Museums, On the Road, Overland Mail Co. 150th, Participate, Perspective, Remember, Ride sharing, San Diego, Stagecoach, Transportation, Travel, Wells Fargo Bank

(Casey wrote this post last week and sent it to me with lots of good video. I wanted to keep it all together, as one piece, because the story is richer with words and video together. Also, Casey insists the whole story, in one place, represents our deep thanks to Garland and Lana Richards for their genuine friendship to Casey and our Butterfield Overland journey. —CR)

September 23:

Being a little behind on editing and downloading and uploading and sending video, I worked most of the morning. I finally emerged from the RV just before lunch. While I was busy working, Garland and Lana Richards' had one of their ranch hands take my flat spare tire — or as it turns out, shredded! — and replace it. Thank you again, Garland and Lana. I was truly overwhelmed by your generosity and concern for my safety.

After meeting in the Richards' office for a quick show-and-tell of the incredible research they have done on Fort Chadbourne  and the Butterfield stop that's located on the grounds, we decided lunch was necessary before we began our tour....

Continue reading "Fort Chadbourne, the Richards & Big Daddy" »

Posted by Casey at 07:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Found in Animals, Artifacts, At Home, At Work, Barbecue, Dogs, Environment, Experts, First-hand Accounts, Get Involved, Misc, Museums, On the Road, Overland Mail Co. 150th, Participate, Perspective, Prepare, Remember, Ride sharing, San Diego, Stagecoach, Transportation, Travel, Wells Fargo Bank

It's a Thursday here at the Wells Fargo History Museum in downtown Minneapolis. Thursday means vegetables — just a block away from us to the north is the Nicollet Mall Farmer's Market , held on this day every week during the summer.

It's fitting that our visitors on Thursdays are often on their way to or from the Farmer's Market: Wells Fargo has a long history of being part of agricultural businesses here in Minnesota.

When Wells Fargo came to Minnesota, it was on the Great Northern Railroad, and then on the Chicago Great Western Railroad. Our agents handled shipments of both crops and livestock. We worked with small farm families and the huge mills  along the Mississippi River. Wells Fargo express cars carried packages to and from the University of Minnesota's School of Agriculture , which opened in 1888 . There is a long list of farm produce and equipment that Wells Fargo shipped to and from Minnesota, but my favorite item is a photo from MNHS   of a shipment of beer from different breweries, including August Schell's brewery  in New Ulm, Minn.

Today, Wells Fargo supports farmers in the Midwest and throughout the US with Agricultural Business Banking, as well as Agri-Business Insurance. Our ties to the farming community remain as strong now as they were in the 1800's, and you could say that those ties have borne a lot of fruit.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go buy some pure Minnesota-made maple syrup.

Posted by Phyllis at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in Agriculture, At Home, Branding, Environment, Experts, Farmers, Get Involved, Minneapolis, Misc, Museums, Participate, Prepare, Railroads, Remember, Transportation, Wells Fargo Bank, Wheat

On Friday afternoon, August 15, Greg will sign copies of his book at the Wells Fargo History Museum in San Francisco. We're very proud of his achievement, and we invite everyone to come and pat him on the back. Of course, you should insist he spell your name right! (CR)

I have not written for the Guided by History blog very often this year for a number of reasons. Much of my time has been allotted to a book I have been working on for a year. This book, my first publication, was released by Arcadia Publishing  on June 2nd.

The title is A History of Alcatraz Island: 1853-2008  and it is part of Arcadia's "Images of America" series. This is the same series for which Bob Chandler wrote the volume about Wells Fargo .

Having finished the book, I wanted to find a historical connection between Wells Fargo and Alcatraz Island for GBH. Well, an opportunity actually presented itself on my birthday this year! As I put up a "This Day in Wells Fargo History" flyer in the Old Sacramento museum, I found out that Wells Fargo shipped soldiers from Alcatraz to Nevada in 1860.

Some may not know that Alcatraz was originally designed as a fort to help defend the San Francisco Bay. Military construction on Alcatraz began in 1853, and the islandremained under military control until 1933. As a fort, Alcatraz had artillery and soldiers — on May 15, 1860, Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express shipped a "company of artillery from Fort Alcatraz" to Placerville, and then to Nevada. These soldiers and artillery reinforced volunteer troops fighting in Nevada near Pyramid Lake .

The soldiers were sent over the Sierra Nevada, via Placerville, by Wells Fargo agent Theodore Tracy. Theodore is a brother of Wells Fargo's famed Sacramento agent Felix Tracy, whom I wrote about a while ago.

There is little else about the shipment that is interesting, but it allowed me to find the Wells Fargo connection. And if nothing else, someone working at Wells Fargo has something to do with Alcatraz, yesterday and today!

Posted by Greg at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Experts, Misc, Museums, Participate, Perspective, Remember, Sacramento, San Francisco, Wells Fargo Bank

A few months back we began selling a new book in our museums, What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking. Published in 1881, this happens to be the first known African American cookbook and a very rare work.

Cooking 125 years ago? Without the Food Network , the guidance of celebrity chefs  or Alton Brown ?

It was certainly a different world then, one in which cooking required more time and labor than it does today, as well as that all-important cook's touch. Those people really had to know what they were doing.

Mrs. Fisher certainly did.

Abby Fisher was an ex-slave from South Carolina who moved to San Francisco in the 1870s. She and her husband began a pickle and preserves manufacturing business. Mrs. Fisher was so well-known for her skill in the art of cooking (she was awarded medals and diplomas in many fairs in California) that she was asked by her "lady friends and patrons" to write a cookbook sharing her knowledge. Unable to read or write herself, she dictated the information (which explains her "Circuit Hash" [succotash] and "Carolas" [crullers] recipes).

Her cookbook was published by the Women's Cooperative Printing Union  — a union that came into existence with the support of Wells Fargo Bank superintendent James Latham, 50 years before women won the right to vote. Way to go, Mrs. Fisher and way to go, WCPU!

What Southern dishes does Mrs. Fisher share with us? Recipes for sauces, pickles and preserves abound, as these were her specialties and her line of business. The rest are recipes for various meats, breads, cakes, pies and other dishes — from turtle soup to ice cream.

And just to clarify, "Beef a la Mode"  is not served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Let's get cookin'!

Posted by Ileana at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in African American History, Artifacts, At Home, Barbecue, Experts, Misc, Museums, Prepare, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank, Women's History

Wells Fargo launched the Someday Stories^SM contest recently — it's a chance to win $1,000, $10,000…even $100,000!

It's easy: Tell your story in a paragraph or two. A Someday Stories entry is a 250-words or less expression of your true financial dreams that Wells Fargo can help you achieve. Make sure you submit your dream  before July 25th.

From June 9th to August 25th, Wells Fargo is awarding $1,000 for the "Story of the Week." In July and August, five finalists will each receive $10,000 toward fulfilling their "Someday" goal. The prizes will be announced on September 17th, and a team of Wells Fargo financial professionals will help winners develop the plan to achieve their goals.

The prize delivery, financial consultation and winners telling their individual "Story" will be filmed and a two-minute clip posted online. Everyone is welcome to visit the site and vote for their favorite of the Someday Stories entries. The top vote-getter becomes the grand prize winner, and gets $100,000 on November 17th.

But wait — there's more!

When people go online to cast votes for their favorite video, they can also vote for one of three great causes: Junior Achievement , Boys & Girls Clubs of America  and Habitat for Humanity . The charity that receives the most votes gets $250,000! The second- and third-most vote-getters receive $150,000 and $50,000, respectively.

It's a pretty generous contest. So many can win money they need and deserve: organizations that help people, and individual people who dream of a brighter tomorrow — all great causes. Enter! 

Posted by Charles at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Found in At Home, At Work, Branding, Experts, First-hand Accounts, Get Involved, Misc, Participate, Wells Fargo Bank

A couple weeks ago, the Olaf Wieghorst  Western Heritage Day's Festival took place in El Cajon, California. It's always great to be able to get out and interact with the public in that type of environment. After 6 years, I'm still amazed at the reaction people have when they see the stagecoach, whether it's the memories it conjures, the curiosity it piques or the awe it inspires. Men and women, young and old — so many people are drawn to it.

And because I love to educate and tell stories, it was a great time.

After spending the weekend dressed in an 1870s costume, complete with waist coat and pocket watch, answering questions and telling stories about stagecoaches and Wells Fargo history in the hot El Cajon Valley sun, I decided to take a day off.

So, here I sit with my road atlas, a well-warn copy of The Butterfield Overland Mail  by Waterman L. Ormsby, Post-it Notes  in three colors, and of course, my laptop with internet at the ready. What could I possibly be doing?

Well, if all goes as planned, I will have the unique opportunity to travel the old Butterfield mail route  from St. Louis to San Francisco. What's the occasion you ask? As many of you may know, this year is the 150th anniversary of the first overland mail trip  via the Butterfield Route .

As part of our celebration of this anniversary — which will include new interactive exhibits in our museums! — I'm hoping to recreate the trip in the same amount of time as the historic journey .

Launching from St. Louis on September 16 and arriving in San Francisco on October 10 (to what I imagine will be a ticker tape parade!), I'll spend 26 days on the road. I plan to blog, video, photograph and interview interesting people and places I see along the way.

As you can imagine, this is no small undertaking: which brings me back to the atlas, book, post it notes, etc.

Right now, I'm in the process of working out the logistics, budget, research and all else that goes into planning a trip of this kind. I can only imagine what planning, anxiety and excitement must have gone into the pioneers' and 49ers' preparations. It's been a lot of work so far, but I think it will be incredibly rewarding in the end.

I can't wait to share this experience with you! So keep your fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted....

Posted by Casey at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in Agriculture, Animals, At Work, Barbecue, Baseball, Branding, Coffee, Disco, Dogs, Environment, Experts, First-hand Accounts, Get Involved, Hollywood, Misc, Movies, Museums, Music, Perspective, Remember, San Diego, Stagecoach, Transportation, Travel, Wells Fargo Bank, Westerns

In Wells Fargo's Sacramento history, the one name that stands out is Felix Tracy. Tracy was widely known for his reliability as an express agent, but that position was only one he held during a life full of accomplishments. He served in public office, was appointed to expand education, worked for civil rights, and was active in community groups. Tracy's life was productive — for himself, his Company and his community.

Tracy was born in Moscow, New York and emigrated to California when he was 20 years old. Working first as a merchandiser in San Francisco, he then moved to the gold fields to take his chances . Soon after, he gave up prospecting and began his career as express agent.

Tracy began with Adams and Company Express  in 1855, opening an office in Salt Lake City. But later that year, Adams and Company went out of business; Felix Tracy was unemployed. Two years later, Tracy started as Wells Fargo's agent in Shasta, California . He was elected Shasta County Treasurer in 1861 and held that position for four years.

One year after his tenure as Treasurer, Tracy was selected to serve on the board that established a location for the University of California. After looking at several places, the board decided on Alameda County. By 1873, classes were being held at the University of California, Berkeley , because of Tracy's efforts.

But his brightest years were yet to come…in Part II, that is! Stay tuned!

Posted by Greg at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Work, Experts, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Remember, Sacramento, Wells Fargo Bank

In my Monday post about Kate Buick, I related a story from her niece, Veva Buick Poorman regarding Kate's use of Morse code.

Here's another one about Kate from Ms. Poorman that describes how her aunt safeguarded Wells Fargo gold.

In Roseburg, Oregon , gold sometimes arrived on the evening train after the local bank was closed. Armed with a small pistol in her handbag, Kate Buick carried Wells Fargo gold home in a satchel. If it was too heavy for the satchel, Kate lugged the gold in Veva's lunchbox. The next morning, Buick would deposit the gold in the bank.

In December 1912, George Sewell replaced Kate Buick as Agent. Roseburg's newspaper, the Daily Review, declared:

In relieving Miss Buick as its local agent, the company was merely following out its newly adopted policy of placing all of its branch agencies in the hands of men. Many of its offices besides the one in this city are affected. Miss Buick, on account of her long experience and thorough efficiency, will be retained by the company as an assistant to Mr. Sewell.

Kate Buick had the last word when she married George Sewell seven months later.

In 1918, the federal government consolidated all express businesses, including Wells Fargo's, under a government-run corporation called American Railway Express . Mrs. Sewell continued work as an agent for Railway Express until 1939, and sporadically thereafter into the 1950s.

Today, nearly two-thirds of Wells Fargo employees are women.

As a tribute to women in the workforce, the Wells Fargo History Museum is collaborating with the Portland Police Museum  and Portland State University's Friends of History  to showcase a free presentation entitled Lola Baldwin, America's First Policewoman.

Posted by Steve at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in At Work, Experts, First-hand Accounts, Gold, Misc, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank, Women's History

Wells Fargo has a good history of employing women. Between 1873 and 1918, Wells Fargo hired over 350 women as agents, whose duties included handling shipments of money, delivering mail, loading gold aboard trains and stagecoaches, selling money orders, and transferring funds by telegraph. Hundreds more women worked at Wells Fargo as auditors, clerks, copywriters, stenographers, and telephone operators.

One agent of note was Oregonian Kate Buick, employed by Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express in the Roseburg office from 1898 to 1912. Ms. Buick learned Morse code from her father, who was one of the first telegraph operators on the Southern Pacific Railroad line  between Roseburg and San Francisco.

In 1880, President Rutherford B. Hayes  made a trip across the West  and visited Oregon. A newspaper reporter covering the President’s visit came to the telegraph office to wire his report back East. Her father was overwhelmed with work at that moment, so Kate volunteered to send the telegram.

As Kate started to tap the message, the reporter said that he preferred an adult send the message—Kate was only thirteen years old at the time!

Immediately, the reporter penciled an addition to the story and announced to the nation that a young girl from Oregon sent the telegram. Kate's niece, Veva Buick Poorman, further recalled in a later interview that Kate Buick contributed to the war effort by using her knowledge of Morse code  to instruct over fifty people during World War I.

Posted by Steve at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Found in Artifacts, At Work, Experts, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Railroads, Remember, Transportation, Wells Fargo Bank, Women's History

So Guided By History marks its second anniversary today. That's right, two years of bringing History to The People!

Frankly, I deserve all the credit, but I want to share it because that's just the kind of guy I am — a sharer.  I choose to share credit with:

• Valerie, our best buddy in Minneapolis.

• Joel and Ed, who do more things for the production of this blog than they're actually allowed to do.

• Henrik, who pushes 3 accurate buttons for every 12 wrong ones I push. (And who really oughta consider a safer sport...)

• Tim, who thought it was a pretty good idea and probably wonders if he made the right decision.

• All my colleagues in the History world of Wells Fargo who write so well.

And of course I share credit with all of you who drop by every day and check in with us. No YOU, no Guided By History. Period.

Thanks, Everyone!!

Posted by Charles at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Found in Experts, Get Involved, Holidays, Misc, Participate, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

In Stagecoach days, drivers carried Wells Fargo treasure shipments and passengers across the frontier. It took skill to drive a coach and Wells Fargo added rigorous standards of its own: superior reinsmanship, self-reliance and upstanding character.

(FYI, it still takes driving talent and good character to drive Wells Fargo stagecoaches today.)

In 1855, 11-year old George Monroe came west from Georgia. When Monroe had grown, he came to exemplify the greatness of fact and legend of the best stagecoach drivers. He was described by his employers as "the best all-round reinsman in the West."

Early on, George Monroe exhibited a knack for training and driving horses. At age 22, he took a job driving for the A.H. Washburn and Company stage line into Yosemite . That stage line carried passengers and Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express into Yosemite Valley. Monroe expertly navigated the treacherous cliff-side roads into the Valley and became the best driver around.

One time, the brakes of Monroe's coach failed between Mariposa  and Merced  while full of passengers. Monroe stayed cool, and at an opportune moment drove his team into a clump of brush, bringing the stage to a safe halt. Grateful passengers passed the hat and presented Monroe with $70.

In 1879, the celebrated Monroe was asked to carry a fellow celebrity into Yosemite — Ulysses S. Grant , 18th President of the United States. Grant's schedule took him and Mrs. Grant down the dangerous, 26-mile route into Yosemite Valley, with hairpin turns and fallen rocks and chuckholes. There was a stretch so narrow, the stagecoach's wheels brushed against the granite walls of the cliff. Inches from the other wheels was a thousand-foot gorge.

The crusty General chose to sit next to the driver, a place of honor in those days. An expert horseman in his own right, Grant's assessment of Monroe's skills would make or break his reputation as a stagecoach driver. Monroe did his magic and Grant was duly impressed: "He would throw those six animals from one side to the other," the President marveled, "to avoid a stone or a chuckhole as if they were a single horse."

By 1885, Monroe had driven two more Presidents to Yosemite: James A. Garfield and Rutherford B. Hayes, as well as General William T. Sherman. George Monroe died in 1886 when a stage overturned and mortally injured him. Ironically, Monroe was not the driver, but a passenger — it's a good bet he'd have avoided the accident entirely if he had been "in the box" as driver.

Posted by Charles at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Found in African American History, Animals, At Work, Branding, Events, Experts, Misc, Remember, Transportation, Wells Fargo Bank

Robberies of treasure carried by Wells Fargo Express aboard stagecoaches, unfortunately did take place. But Wells Fargo's crack detective force pursued the bandits with cold calculation and didn't stop pursuing till they netted the bad guys and locked them away. The legend "Wells Fargo Never Forgets" is the single best artifact from those years.

The town of Umatilla, Oregon  is nestled on the Columbia River  about three hours east of Portland. On October 21st, 1875, six miles outside of Umatilla, two men robbed the stagecoach from Boise City  and made off with gold from the Idaho mines .

Wells Fargo's detective force immediately sprang into action. Portland's Special Agent H. C. Paige sent a telegram to John J. Valentine, General Superintendent of Wells Fargo, to inform him that the extent of loss was unknown — but agents were in pursuit of the robbers. On October 29th, Paige wrote a letter to Valentine from Baker City , reporting a loss of up to $4,000, based upon the value of the gold listed on the manifest. Once the loss was known, Paige distributed a reward poster .

At first, Paige went after a red-headed fellow he had been suspicious of, based on a comb with red hairs found at the crime scene. A nearby hotel keeper confirmed the comb belonged to the suspect. On November 5th, Paige wrote Valentine from Pendleton . Two other suspects had confessed to the robbery and were in custody.

Paige had solved the case.

There is more about Wells Fargo's detective force at the Portland Museum. Our new exhibit, "Crime Scene Investigation: Officers in Pursuit," officially opened on January 16th. Check it out!

Posted by Steve at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Found in Artifacts, At Work, Crime, Experts, First-hand Accounts, Misc, Museums, Perspective, Remember, Stagecoach, Wells Fargo Bank

Wells Fargo's Minneapolis History Museum has a program this month commemorating the 1982 Thanksgiving Day Fire. The Fire and people's memories are also featured on Wells Fargo's History site.

That blaze in downtown Minneapolis destroyed the Northwestern National bank headquarters, the company that rebuilt itself as Norwest and later merged with Wells Fargo.

The fire took everyone by surprise and the event was seared in the community's memory.

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Fire. Minneapolis Curator Megan Schaack blogged about the fire, developed exhibits and hosted events that culled memories of the disaster, good and bad.

WellsFargoHistory.com has video memories from employees, including today's CEO John Stumpf, who began work immediately to get business back on track. The fire occured on Thanksgiving Thursday and burned through the weekend, but the Company opened first thing the following Monday morning. Rock stars!

The fire is a big deal in the Twin Cities. The Museum's events got a lot of attention from the media, in print from the Downtown Journal  and on TV at KARE  (Channel 11) and Fox 9 

(Check out how Channel 5   uses WellsFargoHistory.com as their content — that darn media!)

Posted by Charles at 02:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Found in At Work, Events, Experts, Fires, First-hand Accounts, Minneapolis, Misc, Museums, Natural Disasters, Participate, Perspective, Prepare, Remember, Thanksgiving, Wells Fargo Bank

I have been watching Ken Burns' The War  on PBS this past week. As a History guy, wars aren't my favorite topic (I'm more the Eyes on the Prize  type). But Burns has made some monumental pieces about stuff I like – baseball, Jazz and the West. I've seen none of them.

Frankly, it's an issue of time. Watching a two-parter is easier to arrange than seven parts of two hours over a week and a half. Invariably, I miss the first, half of the third and then the entire last night, only to struggle to see the repeats on Saturday afternoons. I end up on my bicycle instead, or distracted by college football (anyone see the Cal-Oregon  game? That was monumental!). Plus, after the success of The Civil War years ago, all documentaries since have been Burnsian – pans across photos, celebrities reading letters in character voice, slow fades with sad piano that jump to happy photos and barn dance music. It's a little hard to salute the guy who perfected that form when it's the only history you see – good, bad or History Channel .

My impression so far is that Burns' greatest strength is the ability to demonstrate the human experience in all his films. Burns stresses that wars may be necessary, but they're never "good." He records the events, then lets human beings and their feelings provide the last analysis: letters, a chuckle, the wry comment. It's quite effective because it's real. And no matter how zippy Americans were on the home front, or how stoic soldiers acted despite the grim purpose of their job, the reality of wholesale, anonymous death is the final message.

That's the only message, really. Courage, heartbreak, national identity and prosperity all proceed from muddy roads littered with dead bodies.

As I watch, I wonder what motivations may be at work, pro- or anti-war. I think Burns is above that, presenting watchable history that helps us decide for ourselves. But there is something at work, a generational thing  that is, in my estimation, as historical as the events in The War. As Baby Boomers  near retirement age, there is an appeal to reach out to their parents, the same people who experienced the Second World War firsthand.

Baby Boomers were the American dividend after the War. Thousands of GIs returned home expecting payoff for their sacrifices and got it – marriage, family, the GI Bill and a world-driving economy. For 15 years or so after the war, couples with suburban tastes churned out millions of babies who were reared on Ricky Nelson and weaned on the Beatles. They rejected their parents' world in the '60s by pretending to uncover a new consciousness, only to become conservative Republicans in the '80s with a 20-year consumerist mania that made the '50s look positively quaint. Feeling a certain guilt for unparalled social destruction for its own sake, Boomers pine to celebrate their parents' successes.

As Steven M. Levine wrote , many Boomers "have the feeling that back in the Sixties they went a bit too far. Sometimes they even put the Idea of America into question, asking not when America would live up to its ideals but whether America could live up to those ideals." Levine continues:

Dissent meant making America live up to its vision of itself, it did not mean questioning whether America could actually do it and still be another ordinary nation-state. The Sixties mostly did not ask this question either, but it was posed. In posing it, one transgressed the so-called 'rituals of consensus,' as Scavan Bercovitch calls them, which tied together the Idea or Symbol of America. Not only did Boomers transgress these rituals, but they also transgressed them while having a good time. Of course, there were many, many serious young men and women...but there were many other young men and women who mouthed the slogans.... One has the feeling that the Boomers, now looking at themselves retrospectively, don't think this really stood up compared with the trials of their parents, the so-called Greatest Generation (another Boomer obsession).

William Strauss and Neil Howe  have written interesting books on this generational thesis of history (and as Boomers, have also built a thriving business around it). Their first, Generations, is very detailed, well-written, and easy to recommend. If this generational thesis is off the mark, and it's just good ideas entertained on a blog, Burns has done well enough making me think about history and about events that shape my world.

If this thesis is correct, then Burns' film continues a chronicle of Boomer apology.

Posted by Charles at 04:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Found in Baseball, Experts, Films, Misc, Movies, Perspective, Protests, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

Once upon the '90s, SPY magazine  had a section called "Logrolling in Our Time"  that described how authors would hail each other's works in turn. The upshot was a certain lack of objectivity. Well, Logrolling is an art, I guess, and I have a regular Stradivarius  in this blog.

First off, there's a new feature in here, "Ask the Expert." Have a question and want a personalized, somewhat smart-alecky answer? Welcome aboard, matey—hit the button, and your response is only hours away (maybe months—it's up to me.) But The Expert is IN.

Seriously, though, we get questions in the comments box, and we want to answer reasonable questions with reasonable answers. (And the opposite, too.) So ask us those tough questions you expect on exam day. We're here to help.

Now to Logrolling. The bloggers at our companion site, The Student LoanDown, are about to celebrate their one-year anniversary in the 'sphere, and it's my duty to not only wish them a Happy Birthday, but to send you, dear reader, to The LoanDown. You see, the blogosphere was developed in anticipation of The LoanDown—it combines all the best of knowledge, service, help, wit and flat-out graphical beauty.

It's the promise of the Internet, fulfilled.

And I'm not just saying that. Earlier this week we all met and discussed stuff that affects us as bloggers—and, yes, as artists—and it was all those bloggers at LoanDown who are driving the Wells Fargo presence on the blogosphere. What you see here was built there.

Happy Birthday, LoanDown! Keep it going! But slow down a little, will ya? It's hard for an old fogey like me to keep up.

Posted by Charles at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in At Work, Branding, Experts, Holidays, Misc, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

The history of the American West  is a changing field, which makes sense if you follow the history of the environmental West. That is directly concerned with the changes in landscape from human actions. But the West as history has several interesting dimensions.

First, the West is a place that is hard to accurately plot: Minnesota was way out there in the 1830s. Daniel Boone  made a name for himself leading pioneers West—to Kentucky. St. Jo  was the edge of the earth for most Americans in the 1840s and California was, well, another country entirely, seen only by sailors as a sort of high seas rest stop. California and the Pacific Northwest have their own coastal distinction, and Texas is it's own thing entirely. But all are the West. Count in the Dakotas and the Great Plains, too. And how many of you thought of Nebraska as the West?

Western historians have been arguing for a generation about where the West "begins." One operating consensus is the 100th Meridian , which marks the western reach of moist air. (See also the contentious 98th Meridian .) Westward from there, agriculture relies heavily on irrigation.

After the Civil War, industry in the United States developed rapidly. Corporations, transportation and technologies moved people westward, along with their schemes for getting rich. The West urbanized rather quickly due to the huge migration. The "wide-open spaces" of our national myth is in truth the most urbanized region , and much of the expanse is federally controlled land or possessed by large-scale resource extraction—mining, agriculture, water projects, etc.

The West has experienced the effects of several layers of people and cultures. Effects as real as layers of geography in shaping the region. Humans apparently arrived in the West  between 10,000 and more than 40,000 years ago, following megafauna . These people evolved across the continent; there was a great variety of cultures when Europeans arrived. The West had indigenous empires, French mountain men, British trading outposts, Russian forts, and flourishing Spanish and Mexican colonies. Anglo and African American populations of the United States pressed west from the original colonies. The California Gold Rush  brought the whole dang world to the West. Asian populations crossed the Pacific to the Wild, Wild East.

Many people still imagine the West as a mythic thing, a point in fancy where white men ride tall and silent, women long to serve them, and diverse peoples don't exist unless they're outlaws or corrupt officials. But it ain't so and, frankly, never was. Even Western stories have changed, from simplistic cowboy heroes on the silver screen to the trenchant cowboy fiction of Cormac McCarthy . The West is still in transition because it's a vital, changing place.

Posted by Charles at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Found in Animals, Experts, Hollywood, Latin America, Misc, Movies, Perspective, Remember, Westerns

This morning I find a plaque on my desk with a note, "Blog?" That's an easy question, because the answer is always "Yes"—if it exists, it's as good as blogged about. Which is both existential philosophy  and grammaticide . Whatever.

Anyway, the plaque commemorates a partnership between Wells Fargo and TIME Magazine , "40 Years of Partnership in LATIN AMERICA."

In 1941, Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust Co. ran an ad in TIME that showed booming levels of trade with Latin America. Much of Latin America enjoyed recovery from the worldwide Great Depression  of the 1930s, thanks to better prices for their exports and a nicer exchange rate of international money. Some nations were able to settle their debts, stimulate internal economies and meet demands for their products in world markets. Industry in Latin America  had reached maturity, and with the Depression affecting the whole world, that maturity came at a good time. Things were looking up.

World War II  broke out in Europe in 1939, and industry became the vital component of alliances. Combatants needed stuff and lots of it. Latin American industries were ready, but as with every business, they wanted cash. North American and European banks stood in line to invest, and Wells Fargo Bank & Union Trust was one.

The Company established representative firms and correspondent relationships throughout the region, and—after other institutions moved on to other business—Wells Fargo stuck around. By 1981, Wells Fargo's Interamerican Bank was able to boast of a long and stable history of business in the hemisphere.

Presently, Wells Fargo has bustling foreign exchange and international operations that span geographies and commodities. Wells Fargo has had correspondent international offices since the first day of business in 1852—because a wider field of business is a wider field of opportunity.

Posted by Charles at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in Artifacts, Experts, Latin America, Misc, Perspective, Remember, Wells Fargo Bank

Did you feel the excitement in the air this week? No? Well, this wasn’t broadcast live on television.  It wasn’t made into a musical.  The winners probably won’t throw the first pitch  at a major league baseball game. But, for a select few, this week was the highlight of months of effort, and a time they’ll likely remember for years to come. I won’t keep you in suspense any longer—it’s National History Day! 

For lack of a better comparison, think of a science fair only starring young historians doing original historical research and interpretation. Students choose topics relating to a broader theme, conduct research through libraries, archives, museums, oral history interviews and historic sites. After organizing the research and drawing conclusions, students present their work through categories such as original paper, exhibit, and performance. Students proceed through local and state competitions, hoping to make it all the way to national. The National Contest just finished this week. Even Ken Burns—a historical interpretation celebrity(!)—was there.

I had the pleasure of judging history day for the first time a number of years ago, and look forward to it every year. (I am proud to support a home team, and mention Sacramento County  has two contestants at nationals this year.) Considering our company history, it is no surprise that other Wells Fargo employees enjoy supporting National History Day in some way. Some of the Wells Fargo History Museum&