Happy birthday, Louis-Jacques Daguerre

An image of Louis-Jacques Daguerre using his photography method.

It is the birthday of French artist Louis-Jacques Daguerre (1781), who is credited with creating the first practical photography method. Daguerre's images were exposed on metal plates that required chemical processing. Daguerre didn't patent his process in France. Instead, he gave the process to the French government to be given to the public. In exchange, he received a pension for the rest of his life. Daguerre also was famous for creating theatrical dioramas in Paris, and for painting and printmaking.

Happy birthday, Claude Monet

It is the birthday of French painter Claude Monet (1840), who is credited as the founder of the French impressionist painting movement. Here is an amazing multi-part BBC mini-series called The Impressionists. It begins with Monet. It is long but worth watching.

Why we celebrate Memorial Day

Originally Memorial Day was Decoration Day, a designated ritual of decorating the graves of war dead. It began more or less informally before the Civil War, but after the war it became a more institutionalized but still unofficial observance, usually held on May 30. The name Memorial Day was first used in 1882. Not all the states joined in. It wasn't until 1967 that Congress made Memorial Day a national holiday and put it on the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend. [Congress also created three-day weekends with Washington's Birthday (February), Columbus Day (October) and Veterans Day. (October)] The law took effect in 1971. [In 1978, Veterans Day was moved back to November 11.] An early annual Memorial Day-like observance was Reunion Day in Boston, The 1896 celebration was depicted in Henry Sandham's painting The March of Time (above), in which nationally known Civil War-era figures were shown, including General William Tecumseh Sherman, Colonel Benjamin Harrison, and Julia Ward Stowe. The artist was a Canadian but he lived in Boston and painted many American historical scenes. Happy Memorial Day!