Written by the Treasure Guide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Oct 25, 1908 Newspaper Account of Discovery of Santa Margarita by Cable Diver. |
When doing research, check the newspaper archives. Here is a 1908 Chicago Examiner story describing how a cable diver discovered the Santa Margarita. Below is the beginning of the story.
The archives can be accessed by subscription, but you might be able to sign up for the free trial period.
Here is the link. Chicago Examiner, Oct 25, 1908, p. 56 | NewspaperArchive
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A few days ago I mentioned the use of a magnet to separate coins. I decided to test a fairly broad but somewhat random sample of world coins to see how many were attracted to a magnet. |
| World Coins. The Bottom Group Stuck to the Magnet. |
Roughly speaking, it looks to me like one third or one fourth of the sample of world coins were found to be magnetic. The two darker large ones in the bottom group were only slightly magnetic. I didn't test them but suspect they are nickel/copper.
That is something to consider when using discrimination or target ID with your metal detector. There are a good number of ferrous targets out there.
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Many kids cannot read cursive anymore. I ran into a couple myself recently. I don't know how many can't read cursive these days, but it seems that the schools aren't teaching cursive anymore. I know that teaching cursive was an issue that was discussed in education a few years ago.
As a detectorist or treasure hunter, being able to read cursive can be quite helpful for conducting research. I'll explain that more below, but cursive has many benefits.
When I was in school we had penmanship classes. My mother had the same classes. She often spoke of the Peterson Method, which is a handwriting curriculum that in our day involved classes and exercises with a dip pen and ink. It required more skill than using a fountain pen or pencil.
Our school desks had an ink wells and a jar of ink. We used a plain wood dip pen during our penmanship classes.
You probably could not do that todays because kids today could not be expected to handle the sharp pens without danger and the ink would create a mess.
Dip pens required getting the right amount of ink on the nib otherwise you'd have a blob spot of ink on the paper. That is why there were blotters to soak up the excess of ink. Too much pressure would also cause the paper to tear.
Here are some of the general benefits of cursive writing.
First, it is aesthetic and expressive. Think of calligraphy, for example.
Your cursive signature provides a distinctive mark of personal identify.
Classes in penmanship develops coordination and motor skills.
Here is an article that describes some other benefits.
Improve Literacy, Test Scores, and Critical Thinking by learning Cursive. (peterson-handwriting.com)
Now I'll get down to the benefits for the treasure hunter.
Many of the older and most useful research resources such as wills, letters, and census records were handwritten, and you have to be able to read cursive to understand them. They are often borderline readable anyhow.
I'll probably give you some interesting examples in the near future.
My wife using old newspapers and personal handwritten notes was able to recently discover an interesting part of her family history. It was fortunate that she found the same address in an old newspaper that she found on an envelope addressed to her grandfather. Of course, that told her where he lived at the time and that her relative was the one mentioned in the newspaper clipping. That solved a mystery and put the fascinating story together for her.
If children are not taught cursive, they will not be able to read old documents, as I recently discovered. I don't know if it is intentional or not, but that is another way the younger generation will be separated from real history and vulnerable to those who publish textbooks or other history.
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| Beryl. Source: nhc.noaa.gov |
It looks like Texas will get hit by Beryl.
The Treasure Coast will have another week of very small surf.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
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