Pokémon Trading Card Game

# Pokémon Trading Card Game

## Abstract

The Pokémon Trading Card Game (ポケモンカードゲーム, Pokemon Kādo Gēmu, "Pokémon Card Game"), abbreviated as PTCG or Pokémon TCG, is a collectible card game developed by Creatures Inc. based on the Pokémon franchise. Standard gameplay cards include Pokémon cards, energy cards, trainer cards, and stadium cards, a variant of trainer cards. Pokémon cards contain data about the creature's type,and where it came from, attacks, ability, and HP as well as any special effects the cards have on the game. Basic (unevolved) Pokémon can change into their evolved forms during the game by playing subsequent evolution cards in the deck. Energy cards can be attached to Pokémon cards to power up attacks, and trainer cards can be used for different effects on the game. Card effects often rely on elements of luck, such as dice rolls and coin tosses, to decide an outcome. Counters are stacked on top of cards in play to indicate damage dealt, and players may choose to put their Pokémon cards on a bench to switch to a different attacker.

The game was originally released in Japan by Media Factory in 1996 as Pocket Monsters, which was based on the Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow Game Boy video games. Beginning in 1998, Pokémon trading cards were released in North America by Wizards of the Coast, which was known at the time for producing Magic: The Gathering. Wizards of the Coast released one demo set and eight expansion sets of cards for the first generation of Pokémon as well as nine expansion sets for the second generation of Pokémon. In June 2003, publishing rights were transferred from Wizards to The Pokémon Company. Since the release of EX Ruby and Sapphire in 2003, the Pokémon Company has handled publishing for every English-language expansion of the series.

Competitive challenges have been a part of the game since its early inception in Japan. Wizards of the Coast handled early tournaments during the Pokémon Trading Card Game League era, during which local competitions were held at American venues such as Toys "R" Us. A wide set of prizes, including Pokémon badges and Pokémon cards, were offered as prizes during this time. Competition has continued since the Pokémon Company assumed the role of publishing in 2003.

Spin-off media for the Pokémon Trading Card Game include the video game adaptation of the same name for Game Boy Color, the Pokémon: Play It! series for PC, Pokémon TCG Online, and Pokémon Card Game: How to Play DS. As of March 2024, the game has produced over 64.8 billion cards worldwide.

## Development and publication

The Pokémon Trading Card Game was developed in Japan, based on the 1996 Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow Game Boy video game by Nintendo. It was first published in October 1996 by Media Factory in Japan. In the US, it was first published by Wizards of the Coast, towards the end of 1998 to capitalize on the US popularity of Pokémon. Over the next five years, Wizards of the Coast published more than a dozen expansion sets for the game, allowing the company to sell millions of cards and earn more revenue from Pokémon than they had from Magic: The Gathering in its first 10 years. Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast in September 1999 for $325 million dollars based on the strength of the Pokémon license. In 2001, Nintendo created its affiliate Pokémon USA, Inc., so that it could recover the US licensing rights to the game. In June 2003, Nintendo transferred the publishing rights from Wizards of the Coast to The Pokémon Company. Wizards sued Nintendo on October 1, 2003, and accused the company of poaching employees and violating its patent; the lawsuit was settled out of court.

## Gameplay

The Pokémon Trading Card Game is a strategy-based card game that is usually played on a designated playmat or digitally on the official game client Pokémon TCG Live where two players (assuming the role of Pokémon Trainer) use their Pokémon to battle one another. Pokémon that have sustained enough damage from attacks–that reaches or exceeds its HP –is referred to as being "Knocked Out", granting the opponent a prize card; however, powerful card mechanics like Pokémon-V and Pokémon ex grant extra prize cards when Knocked Out.

Taking all six prize cards is the most common win condition. Other ways to win are by "Knocking Out" or by removing all opponent's Pokémon in play–the Active and those on the Bench (i.e. the row behind the Active that can house up to five additional Pokémon to support and substitute Active Pokémon if it retreats or is "Knocked Out"), or by Decked Out–if at the opponent's next turn they have no cards left in deck to draw into.

Players begin by having one player select heads or tails, and the other flips a coin; the winner of the coin flip will decide who goes first or second. (Dice may be used in place of coins, with even numbers representing heads and odd numbers representing tails; dice are also primarily used in official tournaments organized by The Pokémon Company). The player going first cannot attack or play a Supporter card (powerful Trainer effects card) on their first turn. Players shuffle their decks and draw seven cards, and then each puts one Basic Pokémon in play as their Active Pokémon. This Pokémon is the one that is actively attacking and receiving damage. If a player does not have any Basic Pokémon, they must call mulligan, shuffle, and then draw another hand until they draw a Basic Pokémon; the opponent may draw one additional card per mulligan. Once both players have at least one Basic Pokémon, they can play up to five more Basic Pokémon onto their Bench, and then take the top six cards of their deck and place them to the side as Prize cards.

Play alternates between players who may take several actions during their turn, including playing additional Basic Pokémon, evolving their Pokémon, attaching an Energy card, playing Trainer cards, and using Pokémon abilities and attacks. After Trainer cards are played, cards are discarded by effects from Trainer cards or Abilities, and after Pokémon were "Knocked Out", they are put into the discard pile. A player may also retreat their Active Pokémon, switching the Active Pokémon with one on the Bench by paying the Active Pokémon's retreat cost of a certain number of Energies. At the cost of ending the turn, players may use one of their Active Pokémon's attacks once the prerequisite number and types of Energy attached to that Pokémon is fulfilled. Effects from that attack are then activated and damage may be dealt on the defending Pokémon, which may modify based on the defender Pokémon's type weakness or a resistance policies, and/or by any other effects on the defending Pokémon. Players alternate attacking until a player wins either through one of the above win conditions or by concession.

### Card types

Pokémon cards depict one or multiple Pokémon from the Pokémon franchise, one to two elemental types, one or more attacks and/or an Ability, and a certain amount of HP. Basic Pokémon are Pokémon that have not evolved and can be played directly onto the Bench; they have Stage 1, Stage 2, and/or special mechanic evolutions. Each player may have up to six Pokémon in play: one in the Active Spot and five on the Bench.

Most Pokémon have attacks that require a certain amount of Energies to use. Attacks deal damage to the opponent's Active Pokémon and sometimes deal additional damage to their Benched Pokémon; they may have additional effects like drawing cards, inflicting Special Conditions (Asleep, Burned, Confused, Paralyzed, or Poisoned) or altering the opponent's deck and/or board state. Abilities, previously called Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies until 2011, are not attacks, but special effects on Pokémon that may be activated once or multiple times during their turn, such as drawing additional cards or switching the opponent's Active Pokémon with one of their Benched Pokémon, or can be passive, i.e. they remain in effect as long as the Pokémon with the Ability remains in play.

The other type of Pokémon cards are Evolution Pokémon. In contrast to a Basic Pokémon, Evolution Pokémon cannot be directly put into play; they must be placed on top of the corresponding previous Stage Pokémon to evolve it, and they cannot be played onto a Pokémon the same turn that Pokémon was put into the Bench or during the player's first turn. Stage 1 Pokémon evolve from Basic Pokémon, and Stage 2 Pokémon evolve from Stage 1 Pokémon. As a Pokémon evolves, it gains HP and their attacks change, usually becoming more powerful. Over the years many different variations to the standard mechanics have been added, the most prominent of which are the signature feature of their respective expansion series.

Other Pokémon attributes include Owner's Pokémon, Baby Pokémon, Crystal Pokémon, Dark Pokémon, Light Pokémon, Team Magma's cards, Team Aqua's cards, δ Delta Species, Pokémon Prime, Pokémon SP, Restored Pokémon, Team Plasma cards, Ancient Trait, Ultra Beasts, Single Strike, Rapid Strike, Fusion Strike, Ancient, and Future cards.

Trainer cards perform various effects to affect the game, including but not limited to: drawing cards, healing Pokémon, discarding Energy from opposing Pokémon, or retrieving cards from the discard pile. Before the Diamond & Pearl series, all cards that were not Pokémon or Energy were considered Trainer cards. Afterward, Trainer cards were subdivided into three categories, Item, Stadium, and Supporter. Item cards directly affect the battling Pokémon and include the subcategory Pokémon Tool cards to attach to a Pokémon and provide for different effects. Stadium cards provide global effects both players can use, usually once per turn. Supporter cards have considerably the strongest effects, but they are limited to one per turn. Starting with Scarlet & Violet, Pokémon Tool cards are considered as a separate category from Item cards; existing Pokémon Tool cards have received errata to conform to this change. ACE SPEC Trainer cards have powerful unique effects but only one ACE SPEC card is allowed in the deck.

Energy cards are attached to Pokémon in play to power their attacks. Only one Energy card may be attached per turn, unless a player has an effect that specifies otherwise. There are two categories of Energy cards: Basic Energy and Special Energy. The nine different Basic Energy types which correspond to Pokémon card types are Grass, Fire, Water, Lightning, Psychic, Fighting, Darkness, Metal, and Fairy. The Dragon type does not have a corresponding Basic Energy card, and instead uses multiple types of Energy cards. Basic Energy cards fulfill costs for attacking and retreating and don't have additional effects, while most Special Energy cards have additional effects. Most attacks require a certain type and amount of Energy. If the attack has a Colorless Energy requirement, that requirement can be met by any Energy card. Any amount of Basic Energy can be put in the deck, but only four of each special energy can be put in, just like Trainer and Pokémon cards.

### Pokémon types

Pokémon Types are elemental attributes, determining the strengths and weaknesses for each Pokémon and its attacks. Pokémon take double damage from attacks of types they are weak to and less damage from attacks they resist. These type matchups offset one another in rock–paper–scissors -style relationships. Pokémon Types in the TCG include Fire, Fighting, Dragon, Lightning, Grass, Water, Fairy, Psychic, Darkness, Metal, and Colorless. Other Pokémon types such as Ice and Ground types from the franchise, however, do not have their own types in the TCG and instead are categorized/incorporated inside other types; for example, Ice type and Ground type are categorized under Water type and Fighting type, respectively.

Starting with Dragons Exalted, Dragon type Pokémon are now listed as Dragon-type, and they were previously categorized under the Colorless type. Similarly, starting with Sword & Shield, Poison type Pokémon are categorized under Darkness-type; Poison-type were previously Psychic type, and before that they were categorized under Grass type.

A simplified type system was adopted from the video games for use in the trading card game. Darkness and Metal types was introduced alongside the corresponding Pokémon Gold and Silver video game, the Dragon-type was introduced in the Japanese Dragon Selection set; and Fairy type was introduced in the XY set to correspond to its introduction in the franchise, but they were later categorized under Psychic type starting with Sword and Pokémon Shield. While most Pokémon have only one type, three exceptions are EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua which introduced dual-type Pokémon that have two different types, as well as XY and HeartGold and SoulSilver series sets. Dual types were also utilized in Pokémon-Legend cards from HeartGold and SoulSilver. In August 2016, XY Steam Siege reintroduced the dual-type mechanic, but this time on regular Pokémon and Pokémon-EX.

## Sets

The Pokémon TCG debuted In Japan in 1996 with the release of "1st Starter & Expansion Pack/Base Set" (第1弾スターターパック & 第1弾拡張パック), which was the original core series of cards and Theme Decks released in Japan on October 20, 1996, and in the United States on January 9, 1999. The "1st Starter & Expansion Pack" contained various Pokémon cards depicting the original 150 Pokémon species in the main Pokémon franchise, and it is the only expansion not to have a set logo or symbol (i.e. except for the error "no-symbol" Jungle cards).

In the United States, the "1998 Pokémon Demo Game Plastic Pack" was the earliest introduction to the Pokémon TCG, preceding the "1st Starter & Expansion Pack"; and consisting of 24 Base Set shadowless cards and an instruction manual. "The Pokémon Demo Game Plastic Pack", "Base Set", along with the subsequent expansions "Jungle", "Fossil", "Base Set 2", "Team Rocket", "Gym Heroes", "Gym Challenge", make up the "First Generation Sets" published by the original English-edition publisher Wizards of the Coasts. Similarly, the "Second Generation Sets" published by Wizards comprised "Neo Genesis", "Neo Discovery", "Southern Islands", "Neo Revelation", "Neo Destiny", "Legendary Collection", "Expedition Base Set", "Aquapolis", and "Skyridge". The "Second Generation Sets" is the last collection set published by Wizards before Nintendo transferred the publishing right to The Pokémon Company In July 2003. Since July 2003, The Pokémon Company has published eight additional "Generation" sets, which has gradually transitioned the TCG to more modern gameplay and mechanics.

## Card collecting

Pokémon cards are sold at stores in many different formats including pre-constructed decks, booster-packs-bundled promo cards set, booster box of 36 packs, or individual packs. Subsequently, cards are also available through e-commerce websites and individual sellers. However, buyers should be cautioned of fake Pokémon cards.

Pokémon card collectables are valued based on their rarity, though some lower rarity cards can be worth more than higher rarity ones. This depends on the popularity of the card within competitive play, the age of the card, number of cards printed, and various other factors. From the lowest to the highest level, cards rarities are indicated by different shapes on the bottom corner, i.e. Common (circle), Uncommon (diamond), and Rare (star). Japanese-edition cards use letters rather than shapes to denote rarities; i.e. from the lowest to the highest level, C, U, R, RR, SR, and UR. In a single Pokémon TCG booster pack, a collector can pull 10 cards in total, i.e. five Common cards, three Uncommon cards, a reverse holographic card of any rarity, and sometimes a Rare card. Starting with the Scarlet and Violet series however, each pack will contain one holographic card, as well as two reverse holographic cards. Unlike the basic Common and Uncommon, Rare collectables are divided into many different sub-groups, comprising Holo Rare, Reverse Holo, Half Art/Half Body, Full Art/Full Body, Secret Rare, Ultra Rare, Rainbow Rare, Promo, and card mechanics including EX/GX, V/VSTAR/VMAX, and Tag Team. Rarities can be also account for old card collectibles such as "1st-edition Base Set" and "First Generation Sets", and such collectibles are some of the rarest and most expensive Pokémon cards with some valuing at thousands and millions of dollars.

Holo Rare are Rare cards that have a holographic illustration, whereas Reverse Holo are any-rarity cards that have holographic textures elsewhere on the surface except for the main illustration. Half Art and Full Art are Half Body and Full Body artworks covering the entire/half the card surface, respectively. In comparison, Secret Rares can be Full Art or Half Arts but with additional artwork schemes such as alternative holofoil scheme, shiny scheme, or a gold trim; they are characterized by a set number past the actual printed size of the set (ex. 242/220). Secret Rares also comprise the subset Rainbow Rare, which features similar materials but in rainbow-color foil schemes. In response to these collectible's considerable rarities, card collectors use card sleeves to protect them from wear and tear.

From least to most, the top 15 most rare and expensive Pokémon cards are "20th Anniversary 24-karat real-gold Pikachu", "Prerelease Raichu", "Master's Key", "Espeon and Umbreon Gold Star POP Series 5", "2002 Pokémon World Championships No. 1 Trainer", "1996 Pokémon Japanese Base Set No Rarity Symbol Holo Venusaur", "1999 Pokémon Japanese Promo Tropical Mega Battle Tropical Wind", "1999 Super Secret Battle No. 1 Trainer, "2006 Pokémon World Championships Promo No. 2 Trainer", "2000 Pokémon Neo Genesis 1st Edition Holo Lugia #9", "Kangaskhan-Holo #115 Family Event Trophy Card", "Black Star Ishihara Signed GX Promo Card", "Pokémon Blastoise #009/165R Commissioned Presentation Galaxy Star Hologram", "1999 First Edition Shadowless Holographic Charizard #4", and a PSA-graded 10 "Pikachu Illustrator".

The "Pikachu Illustrator" is the rarest and most expensive Pokémon card ever sold in history, and it was acquired by the celebrity and collector Logan Paul for $5,275,000 in July 2021. Created as a prize for the 1997-1998 Pokémon design contests organized by the Japanese manga-magazine CoroCoro Comic and with only 41 copies printed, it is the only Pokémon card to say "Illustrator" instead of "Trainer" like other Trainer cards. The card was illustrated by Atsuko Nishida, the original designer of the Pokémon species including Pikachu. The Japanese imprint reads: "We certify that your illustration is an excellent entry in the Pokémon Card Game Illust Contest. Therefore, we state that you are an Officially Authorized Pokémon Card Illustrator and admire your skill." While the Pikachu Illustrator Card purchased by Logan Paul has the record for the most expensive Pokémon Card ever sold, other lower grade versions of the card have been sold for high prices elsewhere. Shopping platform ZenPlus, a subsidiary of shopping service ZenMarket (now part of ZenGroup), sold two of the cards in 2020, for the Japanese Yen equivalent of US$233,000 and US$208,496 respectively. A third card was sold on the platform in 2022 for US$772,000.

## Competitive play

In addition to the collectible aspect of the card game, The Pokémon Company International (formerly known as Pokémon USA) has also organized Play! Pokémon, a program run by Pokémon Organized Play (POP), players can compete against others in tournaments and earn player points, two-card booster packets for promotional sets, badges, stickers and other prizes. POP are governed by League Leaders and League Owners. Play! Pokémon also features a professor program, where individuals aged 18 or over may be nominated as a "professor", who can help sanction the tournament.

League Leaders assist in organizing the league, while League Owners are the main organizer of the event. The latter report directly to the Organized Play program every seven weeks. A league cycle is usually divided into eight seasons, each of which lasts about five weeks and is typically represented by themes found in Pokémon (e.g. gym badges, starter Pokémon). Play! Pokémon supports both standard and expanded card format, however in its competitive tournaments only standard format (i.e. card rotation format that discontinues older Pokémon cards to foster new strategies and a healthy competitive environment) are permitted. In contrast to the former, expanded card format permits inclusion of any Pokémon cards, regardless if they are older cards.

The first Pokémon TCG tournament began on June 14–15, 1997, at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall. As the tournament had no real skill-based qualifiers, participants were admitted through preregistration and through an extensive lottery system process if too many people applied. Many deck lists including the winning deck lists used in the tournament are poorly built because of the lack of skill sets in the admittance process, with many players running incomplete evolution lines and excessive Trainer cards. The tournament was divided into four sessions with three solely restricted to elementary school players and one allowing players up to junior high. The top three player of the tournament were awarded the No.1, 2, and 3 trainer trophy cards; this practice continue through subsequent Pokémon TCG tournaments and organized plays.

Players in a tournament are split into three age categories: Junior (11 years old and younger), Senior (12 to 15 years old), and Master (16 years old and older). Notable references include Austin Brewen who won the first junior tournament, Brenden Zhang who won the first Senior Tournament, and Arturo Heras who won the first Master Tournament. These tournaments play several rounds, where players will play a standard game against each other and wins and losses will be recorded. In most tournaments, there are some Swiss-style rounds where players are paired up against others of similar win/loss ratios, usually from their age group (this does not always occur in smaller events, though). Afterward, there will be a cut off the top record-holders (approximately the top 1/8 of participants) where players will play best two out of three matches and the loser gets eliminated (standard tournament bracket style), with an eventual winner.

POP runs a season for these tournaments, which allows players to earn larger prizes and play in a more competitive environment in comparison to League. These range from City and Regional Championships, all the way up to the Pokémon World Championships, the single invite-only event of the year. Players can earn invites to the World Championships by winning or ranking high at International Championships, doing well at tournaments to get Championship Points, or by qualifying in the Last Chance Qualifier. Some of these methods are only used in the United States, as PUI and POP are based in the United States, but they are represented by local distributors who provide the Organized Play program to their own country.

Although The Pokémon Company International tries to keep Organized Play as uniform as possible globally, there are some notable differences in how POP is run outside of the United States. The Pokémon Card Laboratory (PCL), located in Japan, is the designer of new cards and the ultimate authority on any matter relating to the Pokémon Trading Card Game. It can declare rulings on any in-game circumstance, issue errata, change card text after publishing, and change the basic game rules, although the latter three rarely occur. PCL runs Organized Play in Japan. The Pokémon Trading Card Game in most European countries is currently handled by The Pokémon Company International. Certain countries have no direct official presence; in these regions, distributors of the game run tournaments. European countries can qualify for positions at the Pokémon Trading Card Game World Championships each year, through National Championships and European Rankings.

### Pokémon TCG World Championships

The first Pokémon TCG World Championships was held in 2004 at Orlando, Florida, U.S. The venue was organized by Wizards of Coasts, with more than 100 invited contestants from various countries. To qualify for the championships, players are required to collect Championship Points across regionals and other official tournaments, which can vary based on each championship and different regions.

## Controversies

In November 2000, Israeli magician Uri Geller alleged that Kadabra's spoon bending and Japanese name, Yungera, were unauthorized appropriations of his identity, leading him to sue Nintendo. Geller learned of the similarity after fans of both himself and Pokémon noted the similarities between him and Kadabra, He remarked that the lightning patterns on its abdomen is popular with the Waffen-SS and that Nintendo had "turned into an evil, occult Pokémon character". A Nintendo director denied this, stating that they had no knowledge of any Pokémon named "based on the image of any particular person". In 2008, Pokémon anime director and storyboard artist Masamitsu Hidaka stated that Kadabra would not be used in the Pokémon Trading Card Game until an agreement was reached on the case. In November 2020, Geller told TheGamer that he received emails from Pokémon fans which convinced him to drop the case and allow Nintendo to bring back Kadabra.

In March 2023, a player was disqualified from a regional tournament for allegedly laughing when they were asked by a game official for their pronouns. This generated backlash from the community and a fundraiser was created to help cover the teenager's travel and lodging costs. The fundraiser, as of March 30, had raised over $3,000.

## Reception

The reviewer from the online second volume of Pyramid in 1999 stated that " Pokémon is the second most popular CCG in Japan (behind Magic: The Gathering), and it's no fluke. The game plays like a kinder, gentler version of Magic, with easier rules and graphics geared to the younger crowd." In the United States, Wizards of the Coast reported in early 1999 that it had sold 400,000 packs of Pokémon trading cards in less than six weeks of its release.

In 2016, it was the year's top-selling toy in the strategic card game subclass. In 2017, it had an 82% share of Europe's strategic card game market. As of March 2023, the game has sold over 52.9 billion cards worldwide.

## Reviews

- Family Games: The 100 Best

## Video games

The Pokémon Trading Card Game video game adaptation was developed by Hudson Soft and Creatures and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color console. It was released in Japan in December 1998 and later in North American and Europe in 2000, reappearing in the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console released in 2014. The adaptation are similar in gameplay and rules, featuring 226 cards from the TCG with infrared linking for multiplayer and trading. The video game was accompanied by Pokémon Card GB2: Great Rocket-Dan Sanjō!, a Japan-exclusive sequel released in March 2001. In addition to the Pokémon Trading Card Game video game, Wizards has developed another digitized adaptation, Pokémon Play It!, which consisted of two versions that offer players a beginner's introduction to the different gameplay aspects of TCG as they slowly transitioned into "Advanced Challenges" in the 2nd version. The first version of Pokémon Play It! was released in 1999, followed by its sequel Pokémon Play It! Version 2 in 2000.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Online was a prominent video game adaptation of the Pokémon TCG. It was released on March 24, 2011, as Pokémon Trainer Challenge for Microsoft Windows, Android, macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. The game initially offered three starting decks but significantly expanded its card collection shortly after release. Card packs and premade decks could be redeemed using in-game currencies and rewards. Beginning April 6, 2011, players could redeem digital booster packs using a promo code card bundled inside printed booster packs.

The Pokémon Card Game: How to Play DS (ポケモンカードゲーム あそびかたDS, Pokemon Kādo Gēmu asobi kata DS) how-to-guide video game adaptation was released in Japan on August 5, 2011, for Nintendo DS, alongside three bundled 30-card decks, a play mat, and damage counters tokens.

On September 20, 2021, another Pokémon Trading Card Game -based video game was announced, titled Pokémon Trading Card Game Live. A closed beta of Pokémon Trading Card Game Live was released for Canadian players on February 22, 2022. Later, a global beta of Pokémon Trading Card Game Live was released on November 15, 2022 on Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows. The game is now also available on macOS. Upon the full release, Pokémon Trading Card Game Live replaced Pokémon Trading Card Game Online, and the latter was discontinued shortly after. Crown Zenith was the final set supported on Pokémon Trading Card Game Online. Existing players of Pokémon Trading Card Game Online can transfer their account and in-game data to Pokémon Trading Card Game Live.

On February 27, 2024, yet another Pokémon Trading Card Game -based video game for Android and iOS was announced in the Pokémon Presents presentation developed by Creatures (company) and DeNA titled Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket. The game features entirely original digital cards not present in the physical card game featuring dynamic artwork, as well as the ability to look into the artwork of certain cards to see obscured elements. A streamlined battle system is present, as well as the ability to trade cards with other players. Players are given two booster packs to open every day at no charge. The game is set to launch in 2024.


Jona Rizvanolli

# Jona Rizvanolli

## Abstract

Jona Rizvanolli (born 2 May 1992) is an Albanian professional racing cyclist. She signed to ride for the UCI Women's Team Pro Cycling Team Fanini for the 2019 women's road cycling season.


Nancy F. Cott

# Nancy F. Cott

## Abstract

Nancy Falik Cott (born November 8, 1945) is an American historian and professor who has taught at Yale and Harvard universities, specializing in gender topics in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. She has testified on same-sex marriage in several US states.

## Early life and education

Cott was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 8, 1945. Her father was a textile manufacturer and her family origins are Austro-Hungarian Jewish. She attended public schools in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania and then Cornell University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1967. She then attended Brandeis University, where she obtained an master's degree in American civilization in 1969. She married Leland D. Cott in 1969. They have two children, born in 1974 and 1979. She obtained her doctorates in American civilization from Brandeis in 1974.

## Career

Cott became a lecturer at Boston Public Library, then in 1975 was appointed to teach history and American studies at Yale University.Cott was assistant professor 1975–79, associate professor 1979–86 and professor 1986–90. She obtained research fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and Guggenheim Foundation and from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Cott was one of the founders of the Women's Studies program at Yale. She chaired the American Studies Program at Yale in the mid-1990s, and then directed the Division of the Humanities. In 1990 she was appointed Stanley Woodward Professor of History and American Studies.

Cott was named Sterling Professor of History and American Studies in 2001 at Yale University. At the invitation of Drew Gilpin Faust of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study she accepted a position as Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library in 2001. She had a long association with the library, having used it to research her first book, Root of Bitterness: Documents of the Social History of American Women (1972). Cott was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008. She left the Schlesinger Library in June 2014. As of 2014 Cott was Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History at Harvard University. She was teaching undergraduate courses on the history of sexuality and gender, and graduate-level courses on the history of the US in the 20th century. In 2014 she was also president-elect of the Organization of American Historians.

## Same-sex marriage

Cott has helped write amicus curiae briefs on same-sex marriage in several states since 1999. These have included challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Cott testified as an expert witness in the case of Perry v. Schwarzenegger in California. Cott has pointed out that the Christian tradition of monogamous marriage only dates back to the time of Christ, and was not strongly enforced by Catholic ecclesiastical law until 1400 or 1500. Protestants, including the founders of the US, have historically seen marriage as a civil concern, mainly concerning child support. Views on marriage continue to change, with higher divorce rates, different views on the role of marriage and the legalization of interracial marriage.

Cott says she has come to favor same-sex marriages, "as a result of my historical research and study." In her view, "if gender symmetry and equality and the couples' own definition of spousal roles are characteristic of marriage, then same-sex couples seem perfectly able to fulfill those roles." When testifying in January 2010 in the challenge to California Proposition 8 (2008), which banned same sex marriage, she was asked to comment on the defense assertion that "the purpose of the institution of marriage, the central purpose, is to promote procreation and to channel naturally procreative sexual activity between men and women into stable and enduring unions." She responded that, "It rather reminded me of the story about the seven blind men and the elephant, in that each of them is feeling the animal at some side of it; and the one that feels the trunk says, oh, this animal is just like a snake."

## Publications

Publications include:


Madeleine Dring

# Madeleine Dring

## Abstract

Madeleine Winefride Isabelle Dring (7 September 1923 – 26 March 1977) was an English composer, pianist, singer and actress.

## Life

Madeleine Dring spent the first four years of her life at Raleigh Road, Harringay, before the family moved to Streatham. She showed talent at an early age and was accepted into the junior department of the Royal College of Music where she began on her tenth birthday. She was offered scholarships for violin and piano and chose violin. She studied piano as a secondary instrument, with RCM students guiding her studies for the first several years.

As part of their training, all of the students performed in the children's theatre under the guidance of Angela Bull. Dring formally began composition studies at the junior department with Stanley Drummond Wolff in 1937, in 1938 with Leslie Fly, and worked with Sir Percy Buck for the next two years. Near the end of her studies, she was assigned to Lilian Gaskell for piano studies. She continued at the Royal College for senior-level studies where her composition teacher was Herbert Howells. She had occasional lessons with Ralph Vaughan Williams (an official substitute for Howells). She dropped the violin study after the death of her instructor, W.H. Reed, at the end of the first year. She focused on piano and composition and studied mime, drama, and singing. Dring's love of theatre and music co-mingled happily; many of her earliest professional creations were for the stage, radio, and television.

In 1947, she married Roger Lord who served as Principal Oboist with London Symphony Orchestra for over thirty years. She composed several works for Roger, including the highly regarded Dances for solo oboe. Soon after her marriage, her first pieces were published with Lengnick and with Oxford (1948). The Lords had one son in 1950.

Dring died in 1977 of a cerebral hemorrhage (brain aneurysm). Dring's tombstone was recently uncovered (in situ) at Lambeth Cemetery in Streatham. Both Roger and their son, Jeremy, died in 2014. Roger died at age 90 and Jeremy died of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

A book, Madeleine Dring: Her Music, Her Life, by Ro Hancock-Child, was published in 2000 (2nd edition 2009), and included cartoon illustrations from Dring's own notebooks interpreted by Ro Hancock-Child. The biography was partially funded by Dring's husband, Roger Lord, in order to disseminate information about his late wife's compositions. Several articles, compact disc recordings, and inclusions of Dring's biographical information in books about composers in the last decade have secured her name a place in the modern lexicon.

Another book, Madeleine Dring: Lady Composer by Wanda Brister and Jay Rosenblatt was published in 2020 by Clemson University Press and Liverpool University Press and is distributed by OUP. Over 100 pages of footnotes and references are included in this volume as well as complete works lists and document performances by Dring. It has received positive press from journals on singing, women in music, double reeds, and light music.

Both of these authors have also worked diligently to record and publish works by Dring.

Dring's most recent posthumous honor was to have the Streatham & Clapham High School Dining Hall named after her. It is indeed an honour, since she did not attend this high school, but attended La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls' School in Clapham Park. It is geographically located in the middle of the neighborhood in which Dring spent most of her life.

## Music

Dring's favourite composer in her youth was Rachmaninov and she owned much piano and vocal sheet music by Rachmaninov, which is now in the possession of Ro Hancock-Child. Dring studied with Herbert Howells but her own work shows no debt to his musical style. Occasionally she was taught by Ralph Vaughan Williams but again there is little obvious influence, and her music does not reflect the English folk song tradition, although she studied this genre as a singer. She sometimes set a text she had encountered in a solo or choral work, leaving her mark on it. She looked further afield.

Dring particularly enjoyed (and imitated) the mannerisms of Poulenc, for instance in the accompaniment to her song I Feed A Flame. As observed by Ro Hancock-Child, Dring preferred jazzy idioms, Gershwin, Cole Porter and the sunny style of Arthur Benjamin. Having heard the calypso in London, she responded with her own Caribbean Dance and West Indian Dance, for piano.

Dring deliberately did not repeat her musical material from piece to piece, always finding a fresh approach to harmony and rhythm. If her vocal music has ever been compared to Roger Quilter (possibly because of similar text choices) it is a mistaken comparison. Quilter was solidly Victorian in outlook, and his songs are deeply melodic and contrapuntal. By contrast, Dring looked to the future, and thrived on novelty and surprise, hoping that what she wrote might gently shock or make you smile. Her vocal melodies arise from the underlying harmonies and can be difficult to pitch: the chords come first, as Ro Hancock-Child observes. Dring wrote most of her songs for her own use: she had a soprano voice with a wide range, and perfect pitch. Several informal and informative recordings exist of Dring singing and playing her own compositions.

Dring's cabaret songs and West End Revue material sometimes featured her own lyrics and are full of clever writing, both musically and textually. They have recently been recorded and published by several dedicated artists.

Dring chose not to compose large-scale works, therefore most of her output was in shorter forms. She wrote pieces for solo piano, piano duets, songs with piano, and some chamber music, including pieces for piano duo, flute, oboe, harmonica, recorder, and clarinet, a small number of which are pedagogical works. Her works for television and radio are all within a 45-minute time frame or shorter. She completed a one-act opera, Cupboard Love with her friend D.F. Aitken (never performed during her lifetime, but it was published in 2017 and received its stage premiere in the United States in April 2018 at Florida State University and its European premiere in Scotland in June 2019). A dance drama entitled The Fair Queen of Wu which was broadcast on BBC Television in 1951. The ballet called for a full company of soloists who were off camera. She was commissioned to write music for "The Real Princess," a ballet and for several stage plays in London given from 1946 to 1971. She often collaborated with Felicity Gray, choreographer, and D.F. Aitken, librettist.

## Works

Dring rarely provided dates for her compositions; many dates come from Alistair Fisher's treatise on her songs. Publication dates have been provided, many of which are posthumously published by her husband, Roger Lord. Some dates have more recently been re-established using dates of first performances and other information as confirmed in Dring's personal papers as well as in archival newspaper reviews. In 2018 three volumes of songs were engraved and published as well as four volumes of cabaret and musical revue numbers. Duets and ensembles were also published.

### Instrumental

- Italian Dance (1960) Oboe and Piano

- Fantasy Sonata in one Movement (1938, published 1948), solo piano

- Three Fantastic Variations on Lilliburlero for Two Pianos (1948), two pianos

- Jig (1948), piano

- Prelude and Toccata (1948), piano

- Tarantelle (1948), piano duet

- Festival Scherzo (1951), piano and string orchestra;

- Sonata for two pianos (1951)

- March: for the New Year (1954), piano

- Caribbean Dance (Tempo Tobago) (1959), piano duet or solo

- Dance Suite (1961), piano

- Polka (1962), oboe and piano

- Colour Suite (1963), piano

- Danza Gaya (1965), two pianos or oboe and piano (original score housed at Royal College of Music, London)

- Three Dances (1968; Josef Weinberger), piano

- Trio for Flute, Oboe, and Piano (1968)

- Valse française (1980), solo or duo piano * (original scores housed at Royal College of Music, London)

- Three Pieces: WIB Waltz, Sarabande, Tango (1983), flute and piano*

- Waltz (1983), oboe and piano*

- Suite (1984), harmonica and piano (later arranged by Roger Lord for oboe)*

- Trio for oboe, bassoon, and harpsichord (1986)* (original score housed at Royal College of Music, London)

- Idyll for oboe (viola) and piano (The composer's husband Roger Lord, disappointed that the piece remained unplayed and unpublished for many years, perhaps because of its chromaticism, decided to transcribe the solo part for oboe, his own instrument, to which it is well suited. Idyll was first recorded in 2007 by Thierry Cammaert, oboist of the Quartz Ensemble, a Belgian winds ensemble. The ensemble has also performed the work as a trio for flute, oboe and piano.)

### Vocal

- Three Shakespeare Songs (original score housed at Royal College of Music, London), (1949) (Published by Legnick 1949, republished with 4 additional Shakespeare songs, Thames 1992, published as Dring Volume 1)* First performance 10 May 1944 with Ifor Evans, Baritone, Madeleine Dring, Accompanist, performed at the RCM

- Thank you, Lord (1953), vocal, text L. Kyme (not published as composed - Dring did not approve of this edition)

- An additional four songs with texts by L. Kyme were written in 1953. They have now been published.

- The Pigtail (1963) vocal duet, text A. von Chamisso.

- Dedications: Five poems by R. Herrick (1967), vocal suite (published 1992 by Thames as Dring Volume 2)* (original score housed at Royal College of Music, London)

- Love and time: Four Songs (1970s) (published in 1994 by Thames as Dring Volume 5)*

- Four Night Songs: texts of Michael Armstrong (1976), (published 1985 Cambria (US) 1992 Thames as Dring Volume 3)*

- Five Betjeman Songs (1976) (published in 1980 by Weinberger)* (original score housed at Royal College of Music, London)

- Seven Songs for Medium Voice (various compositional dates, compiled and published by Thames in 1993 as Dring Volume 4)*

- Six Songs for High Voice (various compositional dates, compiled and published by Thames in 1999 as Dring Volume 6)* Includes: My true-love hath my heart, Echoes, The Cherry Blooming, The Parting, The Enchantment, Love is a Sickness

- Previously Unpublished Vocal Works Volume 1: Art Songs and Arrangements: Lyrics of Shakespeare, Herrick, Rossetti, Ellison, Anon, and Arrangements of Horn, Pinsuti, Kjerulf, and Pattison. Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR. Published 2018 Copyright Simon Lord.

- Previously Unpublished Vocal Works Volume 2: Cabaret Songs: All Music and Lyrics of Madeleine Dring. Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR. Published 2018 Copyright Simon Lord.

- Previously Unpublished Vocal Works Volume 3: More Art Songs: Lyrics of Cibber, Marlowe, Goldsmith, Blake, Dring, Longfellow, and Tynan. Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR. Published 2018 Copyright Simon Lord.

- Previously Unpublished Vocal Works Volume 4: More Cabaret Songs: Lyrics of Madeleine Dring and Charlotte Mitchell. Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR. Published 2018 Copyright Simon Lord.

- Previously Unpublished Vocal Works Volume 5: Still More Art Songs, Arrangements, and Love Songs: Lyrics of Herrick, Campbell, Lord, Dring, and Kyme. Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR. Published 2018 Copyright Simon Lord.

- Previously Unpublished Vocal Works Volume 6: Still More Cabaret and Theatre Songs: Lyrics of Dring, Mitchell, Vanbrugh, and Bridie. Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR. Published 2018 Copyright Simon Lord.

- Previously Unpublished Vocal Works Volume 7: Cabaret Duets: Lyrics of Aitken, Breton, Dring, Howitt, Lear, Mitchell, and Rafferty. Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR. Published 2018 Copyright Simon Lord.

- Previously Unpublished Vocal Works Volume 8: Cabaret Ensembles of 3 or More Voices: Lyrics of Dring, Mitchell, and Aitken. Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR. Published 2018 Copyright Simon Lord.

- Previously Unpublished Vocal Works Volume 9: Songs from West End Revues: Lyrics of Dring, Mitchell, and Rafferty. Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR. Published 2018 Copyright Simon Lord.

### Theatre, drama, and television

#### Incidental music

- The Emperor and the Nightingale (1941) Performed at the RCM 20 December 1941. No score is available at this time.

- Tobias and the Angel (1946) Incidental music and two songs published 2018

- Somebody’s Murdered Uncle (1947) for BBC radio; Duets: "I should have trusted you darling" and "There's nothing to stop us now" There are also two quartets: "There's no such thing as a perfect crime" and "Bloggins, Birch, and Frome," as well as a solo entitled, "J. Allington Slade." Songs published 2018

- The Buskers (1959), for which she provided music for the Wedding Song, not located at this time.

- Little Laura Cartoons (1960–61), Dring provided and played music for six episodes. Four episodes were broadcast in New Zealand in 1976.

- The Jackpot Question (1961), for Associated TV, repeated in 1962 with another cast.

- The Whisperers (1961), for ITV Season 7, Episode 7.

- The Provok’d Wife (1963), texts by Vanbrugh: Four pieces typeset by Alistair Fisher. Published in 2018

- The Lady and the Clerk (1964), for Associated TV

- I Can Walk Where I Like, Can’t I? (1964), for Associated TV

- When the Wind Blows (1965), for Associated TV

- Helen and Edward and Henry (1966), for Associated TV

- Variation on a Theme (1966), for Associated TV

#### Musical revues

- Airs on a Shoestring (1953) Songs: "Model Models," Films on the Cheap Side at Cheapside" "Strained Relations," and "Snowman" (all lyrics by Charlotte Mitchell), "Sing High, Sing Low" (Lyrics by Madeleine Dring). Songs published 2018

- Pay the Piper (1954) "Pay the Piper" (Lyrics at BL) Location of song scores unknown at this time).

- From Here and There (1955) "Resolutions" and "Life Sentence" (Lyrics Charlotte Mitchell) (Lyrics at BL) (Location of song scores unknown at this time)

- Fresh Airs (1955) "Mother knows," Sketch "Witchery," and "Miss Spenser," (Lyricist Madeleine Dring) (Lyrics at BL, but location of song score for Miss Spenser unknown at this time). Mother knows published 2018

- Child’s Play (1958) Overture, "High in the Pines," "Love Song," and "Hearts and Arrows" have been recovered. (Location of scores for four other songs missing this time)) (Lyricist Sean Rafferty) These are not at the BL because Players' Theatre is a private club and was not censored.

- Four to the Bar (1961) "Diedre" was included in this, also known as "Mother knows" from "Fresh Airs"(Lyricist Madeleine Dring.) An LP was produced by Philips of this music. Published 2018.

#### Ballet

- Waiting for ITMA (1947), for BBC TV

- The Real Princess (1971), scored for 2 pianos

#### Opera

- Cupboard Love (performed posthumously December 19, 1983, at St John's Smith Square by Intimate Opera Company). Published in 2017 by Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR, American staged Premiere in April 2018, Florida State University. European staged premiere Byre Opera, St Andrews University scheduled for June 2019. London staged premiere by The Operatists, Tête à Tête Opera Festival 6 September 2023.

#### Other compositions

- The Wild Swans (1950), children's play, Cygnet Company

- The Fair Queen of Wu (1951), dance-drama for BBC TV, Score at RCM

- The Marsh Kings’s Daughter (1951), children’s play, Cygnet Company

- The Scarlet Crabapple, Cygnet Company

## Sources

- Banfield, Stephen, "Madeleine Dring". Grove Music online. (subscription access)

- Barnett, Rob, "Madeleine Dring: her life and Music by Ro Hancock-Child" (review of 2000 edition), MusicWeb International, April 2000

- Berg, Gregory,"The Listeners Gallery: Songs of Madeleine Dring" Journal of Singing, Sept/Oct 2014, Vol 71, No 1, pp. 128–131.

- Berg, Gregory,"The Listeners Gallery: Cabaret Songs of Madeleine Dring" Journal of Singing, May/June 2019, Vol 75, No 5, pp. 621–625.

- Brister, Wanda, CD: Courtney Kenny, Nuala Willis, Matt Cooksey, "Madeleine Dring: Lady Composer," Cambria Music, 2022 liner notes. 30 vocal selections. Selections from stage, revues, radio, and song.

- Brister, Wanda and Jay Rosenblatt, "Madeleine Dring: Lady Composer," Clemson University Press 2020 (full academic biography) 356 pages.

- Brister, Wanda, The Songs of Madeleine Dring: Organizing a Posthumous Legacy, DMA dissertation, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2004. (Biography, overview of works, examination of art songs.)

- Brister, Wanda, "The Songs of Madeleine Dring," Journal of Singing: The Official Journal of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Vol 64 No 5, pp. 565–578. (Biographical sketch and discussion of all published art songs by 2004.)

- Brister, Wanda, CD: "The Songs of Madeleine Dring," Cambria Music, 2013 liner notes. 40 vocal selections.

- Brister, Wanda, CD: Courtney Kenny, Nuala Willis, "The Cabaret Songs of Madeleine Dring," Cambria Music, 2018 liner notes. 17 vocal selections.

- Brister, Wanda,"Madeleine Dring" (biographical notes), inside each volume of Previously Unpublished Vocal Works, Classical Vocal Reprints, Fayetteville, AR. (c) Wanda Brister.

- Davis, Richard, "The Published Songs of Madeleine Dring. Journal of Singing. March/April 2007. Vol.63. Nr. 4. pp. 393-403.

- Fisher, Alistair, The Songs of Madeleine Dring and the Evolution of Her Compositional Style", Bachelor's thesis, University of Hull, 2000

- Hancock-Child, Ro, Madeleine Dring: Her Music, Her Life 2nd edition, Micropress 2009 (biography and full catalogue of works)

- Kimball, Carol, "Madeleine Dring," article in Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature, Rev ed, Hal Leonard 2006, pp 401–403. (biographical sketch, short look at vocal works, includes bibliography.)

- Lord, Roger, biographical notes, Thames/Elkins volumes of songs.

- Roland-Silverstein, Kathleen, "Past Treasures and New Discoveries," Journal of Singing, Nov/Dec 2018, Vol 75, No. 2, pp. 227–230. Review of newly published works.


William Scott Ferguson

# William Scott Ferguson

## Abstract

William Scott Ferguson (November 11, 1875 – April 28, 1954) was a Canadian-American classical scholar.

## Biography

William Scott Ferguson was born in Marshfield, Prince Edward Island on November 11, 1875, the son of Senator Donald Ferguson.

He was McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History at Harvard University from 1929 to 1945. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1921. He was president of the American Historical Association in 1930. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1937.

He died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 28, 1954.


Annette Gordon-Reed

# Annette Gordon-Reed

## Abstract

Annette Gordon-Reed (born November 19, 1958) is an American historian and law professor. She is currently the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University and a professor of history in the university's Faculty of Arts & Sciences. She is formerly the Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History at Harvard University and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Gordon-Reed is noted for changing scholarship on Thomas Jefferson regarding his relationship with Sally Hemings and her children.

She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for History and the National Book Award for Nonfiction and 15 other prizes in 2009 for her work on the Hemings family of Monticello. In 2010, she received the National Humanities Medal and a MacArthur Fellowship. Since 2018, she has served as a trustee of the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, NC. She was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019. She is a Trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

## Background and education

Gordon-Reed was born in Livingston, Texas, to Bettye Jean Gordon and Alfred Gordon. She grew up in Jim Crow Conroe, Texas, and was the first black child in her elementary school. In third grade she became interested in Thomas Jefferson. She graduated from Dartmouth College in 1981 and Harvard Law School in 1984, where she was a member of the Harvard Law Review.

## Marriage and family

Gordon-Reed is married to Robert R. Reed, a justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, whom she met while at Harvard Law School. She lives on the Upper West Side of New York with her husband and two children, Gordon and Susan.

## Professional and academic career

Gordon-Reed spent her early career as an associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and as counsel to the New York City Board of Corrections. She speaks or moderates at numerous conferences across the country on history and law-related topics. She was previously Wallace Stevens Professor of Law at New York Law School (1992–2010) and Board of Governors Professor of History at Rutgers University, Newark (2007–2010).

In 2010, she joined Harvard University with joint appointments in history and law, and as Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. In 2012, she was appointed the Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History at HLS. In 2014, she was the Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Visiting professor at Queen's College, University of Oxford.

### Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy (1997)

Her first book, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, sparked considerable interest from fellow scholars, as it investigated and analyzed the long-standing historical controversy of whether Thomas Jefferson had a sexual relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and fathered children by her. Most academic historians had accepted the denials of Jefferson descendants and their assertion that the late Peter Carr (a married nephew of Jefferson) was the father. Biographer James Parton adopted this alternative account to rumors about Jefferson's paternity, as did succeeding historians for more than 100 years.

As some historians began to reinvestigate Jefferson in the late twentieth century, his defenders responded as if assertions of his paternity were intended to damage his historical reputation, despite the widespread acknowledgement by then of the numerous interracial liaisons in Jefferson's time. In 1974, Fawn M. Brodie wrote the first biography of Jefferson to seriously examine the evidence related to Sally Hemings; she thought the Hemings-Jefferson liaison was likely.

Gordon-Reed analyzed the historiography and identified the set of unexamined assumptions that had governed the investigations by many Jefferson scholars. These assumptions were that white people tell the truth, black people lie, slave owners tell the truth, and slaves lie. Gordon-Reed cross-checked the versions of events provided by former Monticello slaves, such as Madison Hemings, who claimed Jefferson as his father, and Isaac Jefferson, who confirmed Thomas Jefferson's paternity of the Hemings children, against documented historical evidence to which they could not have had access. She similarly cross-checked oral traditions among Hemings' descendants against such primary sources as Jefferson's papers and agricultural records. She demonstrated errors made by historians, and noted facts overlooked by the white Jefferson descendants and historians, which contradicted their assertions that one or more of Jefferson's Carr nephews had fathered the children.

As the historian Winthrop Jordan had noted, which was also noted by Brodie, historian Dumas Malone 's extensive documentation of Jefferson's travels showed that Jefferson was at Monticello during the period of time when Hemings conceived each of her known children, and that she never conceived when he was not there. Gordon-Reed noted that all of Sally Hemings' children were freed. They were the only slave family to gain such freedom, which was consistent with what Madison said Jefferson had promised to his mother, Sally Hemings. Gordon-Reed concluded that Jefferson and Hemings did have a sexual relationship, though she did not try to characterize it. Reprinted in 1999, her new edition of the book has a foreword incorporating the 1998 DNA study.

#### Reception

Gordon-Reed "drew on her legal training to apply context and reasonable interpretation to the sparse documentation" and analyzed the historiography as well. The writer Christopher Hitchens in Slate described her analysis as "brilliant."

Critics such as John Works and Robert F. Turner of the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society have pointed out several transcription errors in Gordon-Reed's first book. Although Gordon-Reed said the errors were a "mistake," Works and Turner have alleged them to be alterations of historical documents.

Gordon-Reed's study stimulated a revival of interest in this topic. In 1998 a Y-DNA study was conducted of direct male descendants of the Jefferson male line, Eston Hemings line, and Carrs, as this DNA is passed down virtually unchanged. There was a Y-DNA match between the Jefferson male line and a male descendant of Eston Hemings, but no such match for the Carrs. Researchers noted that, when added to the body of historical evidence, this strongly suggested Thomas Jefferson was the father of the children.

### Vernon Can Read! (2001)

This memoir of Vernon Jordan, the civil rights activist, written with him, portrayed his life from childhood through the 1980s. It won the Best Nonfiction Book for 2001 from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. In 2002 it won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and a Trailblazer Award from the Metropolitan Black Bar Association.

### The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (2008)

In 2008 Gordon-Reed published The Hemingses of Monticello, the first volume of a planned two-volume history on the Hemings family and their descendants, bringing a slave family to life on their own terms. She traced the many descendants of Elizabeth Hemings and their families during the time that they lived at Monticello; she had 75 descendants there. It was widely praised for its groundbreaking treatment of an extended slave family. It won the Pulitzer Prize for History and 15 additional awards.

### Andrew Johnson (2011)

In 2011, Gordon-Reed published a biography of the US post-Civil War president Andrew Johnson and his historical reputation. She notes that he did not favor integration of freedmen into America's mainstream and caused the delay of their full emancipation. Although he was long considered a hero, his reputation became tainted after 1900, as white historians researched his actions or lack thereof regarding integration of African Americans. Gordon-Reed has noted that the abolitionist Frederick Douglass realized Johnson was no friend of African Americans.

Gordon-Reed argues in the book that much of the misery imposed on African Americans could have been avoided if they had been given portions of land to cultivate as their own. Without land, African Americans in the Deep South generally earned livings as sharecroppers, primarily (if not totally) under white land-owners. They had few economic resources or choices and, often illiterate, were forced to accept the owner's reckoning of accounts at the end of the year. They often had to buy supplies at his store, which became part of the reckoning. She likens their situation to that of immigrant workers in the New York garment industry (sweat shops) in the 1890s, and coal miners, who were captives of mining company stores until the UMWA was founded in 1890.

### Awards and recognition

Gordon-Reed was the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for History, for her 2008 work on the Hemings family. She won 15 additional awards for the book.

- National Book Award for Nonfiction,

- Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Book Award

- Pulitzer Prize in History,

- George Washington Book Prize,

- Anisfield-Wolf Book Award,

- New Jersey Council of the Humanities Book Award,

- Frederick Douglass Prize,

- Owsley Award from the Southern Historical Association, and

- Library of Virginia Literary Award.

- On February 25, 2010, President Barack Obama honored Annette Gordon-Reed with the National Humanities Medal, the highest national honor for the arts and humanities.

- On September 28, 2010, Gordon-Reed was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. The Foundation noted that her "persistent investigation into the life of an iconic American president has dramatically changed the course of Jeffersonian scholarship."

Gordon-Reed has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship for Monticello Legacies in the New Age, 2009; and a Cullman Center Fellowship from the New York Public Library for 2010–2011 to work on Monticello Legacies. She was Columbia University's Barbara A. Black Lecturer, 2001; and won a Bridging the Gap Award for fostering racial reconciliation, 2000. She holds honorary degrees, from Ramapo College in New Jersey and the College of William and Mary in May 2010.

On March 7, 2009, she was interviewed on the WBGO program Conversations with Allan Wolper. She discussed the intimate relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, as well as issues that American black women face today.

- On July 28, 2020, she was named a University Professor, Harvard University 's highest faculty honor. Claudine Gay, the Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and of African and African-American Studies, said, "This is a wonderful recognition of Annette's seminal contributions to our understanding of American history, including our most harrowing tragedies and painful contradictions. She reminds us of the transformative power of academic discovery. I am thrilled by this appointment."

2021

- On July 23, 2021, she was elected a corresponding fellow of the British Academy.

- In 2022, she was named a Vincent J. Dooley Distinguished Teaching Fellow by the Georgia Historical Society. The honor recognizes national leaders in the field of history as both writers and educators whose research has enhanced or changed the way the public understands the past.

## Bibliography (books only)

- 1997 – Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy (University of Virginia Press) 1998 – reprint with new foreword discussing DNA evidence

- 1998 – reprint with new foreword discussing DNA evidence

- 2001 – Vernon Can Read!: A Memoir (with Vernon Jordan) (PublicAffairs)

- 2002 – Race on Trial: Law and Justice in American History (Oxford University Press)

- 2008 – The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family (W. W. Norton & Company)

- 2011 – Andrew Johnson: The American Presidents Series—The 17th President, 1865–1869 (Times Books/Henry Holt)

- 2016 – Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination (Liveright)

- 2021 – On Juneteenth (Liveright)


Adecco

# Adecco

## Abstract

The Adecco Group is a Swiss – French company based in Zürich, Switzerland. It is the world's second largest human resources provider and temporary staffing firm. It is a Fortune Global 500 company and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

Services offered by the group include temporary staffing, permanent job placement, career transition, and talent development in the office, industrial, technical, financial, and legal sectors, as well as business process outsourcing and consulting. As of 2021 the company had placed 115,000 workers in full time employment and had 500,000 workers in temporary roles daily. It operates three global business units: Adecco, Akkodis, and LHH. Its operating brands include Badenoch & Clark, DIS AG, General Assembly, Innovation Foundation, Lee Hecht Harrison, Modis, Pontoon, Spring Professional, and Yoss.

## History

The Adecco Group was formed on 1 January 1997 by the merger of the French company Ecco founded in Lyon as Interecco in 1964, and the Swiss company Adia Interim, founded in Lausanne in 1957 as Adia.

In 2015, Alain Dehaze becomes CEO and, in 2022, was succeeded by Denis Machuel as CEO.

## Mergers and acquisitions

In September 1997, the company acquired US temporary staffing company TAD Resources International of Cambridge, Massachusetts, for $387.5 million.

The company acquired Olsten Staffing in late 1999, and became the largest recruitment company in the U.S., with a combined revenue of €11.6 billion.

UK recruitment company Spring Group was acquired in 2009, and a year later in 2010, Jacksonville, Florida -based staffing firm MPS Group was acquired for an estimated 1.3 billion.

At the start of 2011, The Adecco Group began a joint venture in Shanghai with Chinese HR services company FESCO and in September of that year, acquired US-based Drake Beam Morin, Inc.

In January 2012, it was announced that the company had acquired Japanese staffing service VSN Inc.

2014 saw the acquisition of U.S freelance worker-on-demand company OnForce of Lexington, Kentucky

Canadian recruitment services company Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, a company offering career transition, talent and leadership development, was acquired in 2015.

In March 2016, the company acquired UK recruitment services company Penna Consulting PLC.

The Adecco Group acquired Vettery, a recruitment marketplace startup, for $100 million USD in February 2018. In April of that same year, the U.S.-based education technology provider General Assembly was acquired.

In 2019, the company announced the sale of U.S. healthcare staffing business Soliant Health to Olympus Partners for a cash consideration of $612 million.

In November 2020, Vettery purchased competing tech marketplace Hired for an undisclosed amount and combined the two business's products under the Hired brand.

French engineering and technology consulting firm Akka Technologies was acquired in July 2021 for a reported €2.0 billion.


Charles Homer Haskins

# Charles Homer Haskins

## Abstract

Charles Homer Haskins (December 21, 1870 – May 14, 1937) was an American medievalist at Harvard University. He was an advisor to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. He is widely recognized as the first academic medieval historian in the United States, and the Haskins Medal was named in his honor.

## Biography

Haskins was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

He was a prodigy, fluent in both Latin and Greek while still a young boy, taught by his father. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University at the age of 16, and then studied in Paris and Berlin. He received a Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University and began teaching there before the age of 20. In 1890, he was appointed instructor at the University of Wisconsin, became a full professor in two years, and from 1892 to 1902 held the European history chair there. In 1902 he moved to Harvard University, where he taught until 1931.

Haskins became politically involved enough to become a close advisor of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, whom he had met at Johns Hopkins. When Wilson attended the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 where the Treaty of Versailles was drawn up, he brought only three advisors including Haskins, who served as chief of the Western European division of the American commission.

Haskins was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1913 and the American Philosophical Society in 1921.

He died on May 14, 1937, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His widow died in 1970.

## Legacy

He was primarily a historian of institutions, like medieval universities and governments. His works reflect the mostly twentieth-century optimistic, liberal view that progressive government by "the best and brightest" is the way to go. His histories of medieval Europe's institutions stress the efficiency and successes of their governing bureaucracies, implicitly analogous to those of modern nation states.

Haskins's most well known pupil was medieval historian Joseph Strayer, who went on to teach many American medievalists of the next generation(s) at Princeton University, some still active today. Other eminent medievalists trained by Haskins included Lynn White, Jr. (UCLA), Gaines Post (Wisconsin and Princeton), Carl Stephenson (Cornell), Edgar B. Graves (Hamilton College), and John R. Williams (Dartmouth).

The Haskins Society, named in his honor was organized in 1982, a "Founding Father" being the late C. Warren Hollister. It publishes an annual Journal whose volume 11 (2003) reconsidered Haskins' magnum opus seventy years after its publication. From 1920 to 1926, he was also the first chairman of the American Council of Learned Societies, which still offers a distinguished lecture series named after him.

His son George Haskins was a University of Pennsylvania Law School professor.

## The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century

Haskins' most famous work is The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century (1927). The word "Renaissance," even to historians in the early 20th century, meant the 15th-century Italian Renaissance, as defined by 19th-century Swiss historian Jakob Burckhardt in his The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. Haskins opened a broader view when he asserted, "The continuity of history rejects violent contrasts between successive periods, and modern research shows the Middle Ages less dark and less static, the Renaissance less bright and less sudden, than was once supposed. The Italian Renaissance was preceded by similar, if less wide-reaching, movements."

Haskins' fresh assessment of a sort of pre-renaissance, ushering in the High Middle Ages around 1070, was resisted by some scholars at first. His approach was broader than a mere literary revival: he stated in his preface that he found that 12th-century Europe

was in many respects an age of fresh and vigorous life. The epoch of the Crusades, of the rise of towns, and of the earliest bureaucratic states of the West, saw the culmination of Romanesque art and the beginnings of Gothic art; the emergence of vernacular literatures; the revival of the Latin classics and of Latin poetry and Roman law; the recovery of Greek science, with its Arabic additions, and of much of Greek philosophy; and the origin of the first European universities. The twelfth century left its signature on higher education, on scholastic philosophy, on European systems of law, on architecture and sculpture, on the liturgical drama, on Latin and vernacular poetry.... We shall confine ourselves to the Latin side of this renaissance, the revival of learning in the broadest sense—the Latin classics and their influence, the new jurisprudence and the more varied historiography, the new knowledge of the Greeks and Arabs and its effects upon western science and philosophy.

Haskins focused on high culture to prove that the 12th century was indeed a period of dynamic growth. He looked at the history of art and science, the universities, philosophy, architecture and literature, and provided a celebratory view of the period. More recent views of the renewal have expanded the focus. Once the ice had been broken, other scholars concentrated on an earlier, more constrained revival of learning in some circles under the patronage of Charlemagne, and began talking and thinking of a " Carolingian Renaissance " of the ninth century. By 1960, Erwin Panofsky could write of Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art.

Less wide-ranging was Haskins' earlier study of the Normans, Norman Institutions (1918), which still forms the basis of current scholarly understanding of how medieval Normandy functioned. He also wrote the more popular book The Normans in European History (1915).

## Works

- The Yazoo Land Companies. New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1891.

- A History of Higher Education in Pennsylvania. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902 (with William I. Hull).

- The Normans in European History. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1915.

- Norman Institutions. Harvard University Press, 1918.

- Some Problems of the Peace Conference. Harvard University Press, 1920 (with Robert Howard Lord).

- The Rise of Universities. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1923.

- Studies in the History of Mediæval Science. Harvard University Press, 1924.

- The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. Harvard University Press, 1927.

- Studies in Mediaeval Culture. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1958 (1st Pub. 1929).

### Selected articles

- "The Vatican Archives," The American Historical Review, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1896.

- "The Life of Medieval Students as Illustrated by their Letters," The American Historical Review, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1898.

- "Opportunities for American Students of History at Paris," The American Historical Review, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1898.

- "Robert Le Bougre and the Beginnings of the Inquisition in Northern France," Part II, The American Historical Review, Vol. 7, No. 3/4, 1902.

- "The Early Norman Jury," The American Historical Review, Vol. 8, No. 4, 1903.

- "The University of Paris in the Sermons of the Thirteenth Century," The American Historical Review, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1904.

- "The Sources for the History of the Papal Penitentiary," The American Journal of Theology, Vol. 9, No. 3, 1905.

- "Normandy Under William The Conqueror," The American Historical Review, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1909.

- "A List of Text-Books from the Close of the Twelfth Century," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 20, 1909.

- "The Sicilian Translators of the Twelfth Century and the First Latin Version of Ptolemy's Almagest," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 21, 1910.

- "A Canterbury Monk at Constantinople, c. 1090," The English Historical Magazine, Vol. 25, 1910.

- "Adelard of Bath," The English Historical Review, Vol. 26, 1911.

- "England and Sicily in the Twelfth Century," Part II, The English Historical Review, Vol. 26, 1911.

- "The Inquest of 1171 in the Avranchin," The English Historical Review, Vol. 26, 1911.

- "Further Notes on Sicilian Translations of the Twelfth Century," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 23, 1912.

- "The Government of Normandy Under Henry II," The American Historical Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, 1914.

- "Mediaeval Versions of the Posterior Analytics," Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 25, 1914.

- "The Government of Normandy Under Henry II," The American Historical Review, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1915.

- "The Reception of Arabic Science in England," The English Historical Review, Vol. 30, 1915.

- "Charles Gross: From the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society for December, 1915," Boston, 1916.

- "The Materials for the History of Robert I of Normandy," The English Historical Review, Vol. 31, 1916.

- "A Charter of Canute for Fécamp," The English Historical Review, Vol. 33, 1918.

- "Leo Tuscus," The English Historical Review, Vol. 33, 1918.

- "The Greek Element in the Renaissance of the Twelfth Century," The American Historical Review, Vol. 25, No. 4, 1920.

- "The 'De Arte Venandi Cum Avibus' of the Emperor Frederick II," The English Historical Review, Vol. 36, 1921.

- "Science at the Court of the Emperor Frederick II," The American Historical Review, Vol. 27, No. 4, 1922.

- "The Saar Territory as It Is Today," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1922.


Bob McDonald (science journalist)

# Bob McDonald (science journalist)

## Abstract

Bob McDonald OC (born January 25, 1951) is a Canadian author and science journalist. He is the national science commentator for CBC Television and CBC News Network (formerly Newsworld), and since 1992 has been the host of a weekly radio science show, Quirks & Quarks which draws approximately 800,000 listeners each week.

## Career

McDonald was an unexceptional student who admits he showed no aptitude for science, failed grade 9, and attended York University, studying English and Philosophy, but flunked out in his 2nd year. In 1972, with no formal academic training, he began his science communication career as a demonstrator at the Ontario Science Centre, and eventually travelled to California to watch the live action of NASA's Voyager 2 space probe launch. Upon returning to Canada, he was in great demand to talk about the missions and eventually became the regular science correspondent for a number of shows.

From 1986 to 1992, he was the host and one of the producers of Wonderstruck, a Gemini Award winning science program for children. Over the years he has hosted a variety of other science or technology themed specials and documentaries, including the special The Greatest Canadian Invention.

In 1992, he became the host of the weekly CBC Radio science program " Quirks & Quarks," taking over from Jay Ingram. The show is among the most popular on the network, and is also heard on Sirius XM Radio as well as a number of public radio stations in the United States.

On September 8, 2005, McDonald premiered a new three-season, 39-part series on TVOntario called Heads Up!, which he both wrote and hosted. Heads Up! was nominated for Gemini awards for best children's TV program and best writing for a children's TV program in August 2006, and best writing for a children's or youth program or series and best host in a preschool, children's or youth program or series in August 2008. He was awarded the Gemini for best host in a preschool, children's or youth program or series in October 2008. McDonald has written a number of books including Wonderstruck, Wonderstruck II and Measuring the Earth with a Stick: Science as I've Seen It, which was short-listed for the Canadian Science Writers Association book award.

## Honours

McDonald received the 2001 Michael Smith Award for Science Promotion, from NSERC, the 2002 Sandford Fleming Medal from the Royal Canadian Institute, and the 2005 McNeil Medal for the Public Awareness of Science from the Royal Society of Canada completing the "triple crown" of awards for science communication in Canada. He has been honoured for his work by the University of Toronto, Western University in London, Ontario, the University of Guelph, Laurentian University in Sudbury, Carleton University in Ottawa, McMaster University, the University of Calgary, Athabasca University in Alberta and the University of Winnipeg which each granted him honorary doctorates. McDonald was granted an Honorary Diploma in Environment, Media and Technology Studies from Niagara College on June 16, 2011, and an honorary diploma from Loyalist College on June 10, 2011.

In 2010, McDonald was initiated as an honorary life member of the Sigma Xi honour society.

McDonald was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada on June 30, 2011 "for his contributions, as a journalist and educator, to the public understanding of science."

In July 2014, an asteroid, that had previously been assigned the number 332324 and the designation 2006 XN67, was named after McDonald. This occurred at the request of David D. Balam, the Canadian astronomer who had discovered the asteroid.


East Paulding High School

# East Paulding High School

## Abstract

East Paulding High School is a public secondary school located in Dallas, Georgia, United States.

EPHS was established in 1991 and is nestled in one of the country's fastest-growing counties. The school's enrollment is approaching 1800 students.

Brad Thomason was appointed Principal during the summer of 2020.

## History

The school was founded in 1991.

In 2009, the school added a 44-classroom, two-story building, including a cosmetology lab and a new band room, nearly doubling the school's capacity. In June 2017, a fire destroyed the gymnasium while contractors were repairing the school's HVAC system and roof.

## United States Air Force Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC)

The EPHS Air Force Junior ROTC Drill Team is the 2010 Air Force Nationals Unarmed Eastern Division Champions. The Junior ROTC Drill Team is also the 2014 National High School Drill Team Champion in the Armed and Unarmed divisions.

Previous Drill Team archived files found in wrong section:

## Fine and Performing Arts

East Paulding has multiple fine arts programs including Visual Arts, Drama, Band, and Chorus.

The EPHS Theatre Company's one-act play "Epic Proportions" was the GHSA Region 7-AAAAA Champion in 2012. The EPHS Theatre Hall of Fame 2002-2015 under the direction of Grant Brown.

## Notable alumni

- Chas Henry - punter, played for the Philadelphia Eagles; played college football at the University of Florida.

- Dishon McNary - defensive back, Montreal Alouettes; played college football at Central Michigan University.

- Zachary Wheeler (class of 2009) - pitcher, Philadelphia Phillies; former first round draft pick of San Francisco Giants.


Chris Apoua

# Chris Apoua

## Abstract

Chris Apoua (born 30 January 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays for Northland in the National Provincial Championship. His position is prop.


John Bigelow

# John Bigelow

## Abstract

John Bigelow Sr. (November 25, 1817 – December 19, 1911) was an American lawyer, diplomat, and historian who edited the complete works of Benjamin Franklin and the first autobiography of Franklin taken from Franklin's previously lost original manuscript. He played a central role in the founding of the New York Public Library in 1895.

## Early life

Born in Malden-on-Hudson, New York, he graduated in 1835 from Union College, where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Society and the Philomathean Society and was admitted to the bar in 1838. From 1849 to 1861, he was one of the editors and co-owners of the New York Evening Post.

## Political and literary career

Bigelow began his political career as a reform Democrat, working with William Cullen Bryant in New York. In 1848, his antislavery convictions led him to leave the party, and he joined the Free Soil Party. In 1856, he led other former Democrats into the newly formed Republican Party and wrote a campaign biography of John C. Frémont, who won the Republican presidential nomination that year. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him American consul in Paris, and Bigelow progressed to Chargé d'Affaires and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Napoleon III. In this capacity, working together with Charles Francis Adams, the United States minister to the United Kingdom, Bigelow helped to block the attempts to have France and the United Kingdom intervene in the American Civil War in favor of the Confederacy and thereby played a material role in the Union victory. Bigelow also negotiated with Emperor Napoleon III over withdrawing France's troops from Mexico, which were supporting Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. Historian Don H. Doyle writes, "Bigelow was one of Seward 's most brilliant appointees, and he soon became a pioneering master of the arts of public diplomacy in Europe". On March 15, 1865, Lincoln appointed Bigelow ambassador to France. After leaving this position, he went to Germany, where he lived for three years, through the period of the Franco-Prussian War, and he became a friend of Otto von Bismarck.

After the war's conclusion, he returned to New York, where he assisted his old friend Samuel J. Tilden in opposing the corruption that flourished in New York City under William Magear Tweed. Because of the universal respect in which Bigelow was held in New York, he was offered nominations by both political parties for state office in 1872. Under the influence of Tilden, Bigelow decided to rejoin the Democratic party, accepted its nomination, and was elected Secretary of State of New York, a position he held until 1876. When the Democrats nominated Tilden for President in 1876, he served as Tilden's campaign manager, and in that capacity advised Tilden in the famous dispute over the result of the presidential election. Tilden died almost a decade after the dispute was decided in favor of his rival, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Bigelow then acted as one of Tilden's estate trust executors. He carried out Tilden's wishes, over several years, to develop, design, and establish the New York Public Library and served as its first president from May 27, 1895, until his death on December 19, 1911.

He was a staunch proponent of the development of the Panama Canal. He was a friend of Philippe Bunau-Varilla, who brought Panama's declaration of Independence to Bigelow's home. Panama 's first proposed flag, made there by Mrs. Bunau Varilla, was rejected by the Panamanians, who made their own.

Bigelow's writing career, begun with Bryant on the New York Evening Post, included several books. He was one of the first Americans to visit Haiti with an open mind, and published The Wisdom of the Haitians, which, before the Civil War, was one of the few American works to take a positive view of Haitian independence.

Bigelow published an edition of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin in 1868, the first publication taken from Franklin's original, and nearly complete, manuscript, which had been lost sometime after Franklin's death. After haggling over the price, he finally agreed to pay the original asking price of 25,000 franks and purchased the manuscript from William Temple Franklin, Benjamin's Franklin's grandson. Since the manuscript ended at age 51, in 1757, Bigelow re-worked it, incorporating Franklin's extensive correspondence, into the three-volume The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Written by Himself, first published in 1874.

In 1895 Bigelow published the two-volume The Life of Samuel J. Tilden.

## Personal life

On June 11, 1850, Bigelow married Jane Tunis Poultney and they had nine children. They included:

- John Bigelow Jr. (May 12, 1854 – February 29, 1936) graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1877. He served in the United States Army in Texas with the Buffalo Soldiers, taught at West Point, served again in the West, and fought and was seriously wounded in Cuba. He retired in October 1904. From 1905 to 1910, he was a professor at M.I.T. During World War I, he was recalled to active duty and served in Washington. He traveled and wrote until his death in 1936.

- Poultney Bigelow (1855-1954) was a lawyer and a noted journalist and editor.

- Flora Bigelow, who first married Charles S. Dodge, with whom she had a daughter, Lucie Bigelow Rosen, and a son, John Bigelow Dodge. Flora and Charles divorced, and Flora married The Hon. Lionel Guest (1880–1935), son of Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne (1835–1914).

- In 1854 he had a life-changing experience he wrote about in the book The Bible That Was Lost and is Found.

### Legacy

On August 8, 2001, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani signed a bill adding the name "John Bigelow Plaza" to the intersection of 41st Street and Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, directly in front of the New York Public Library Main Branch. His estate at Highland Falls, New York, known as The Squirrels, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

## Sources

- Bigelow, John, The Life of Samuel J. Tilden (2 vols., 1895; edited and revised by Nikki Oldaker 2009). ISBN 978-0-9786698-1-2 Samuel Tilden.net

- Mr. Lincoln and Friends: John Bigelow

- Retrospections of an Active Life. 3 volumes. New York: Baker & Taylor Co., 1909.

- Bigelow Genealogy at fp.enter.net

- Bigelow and Union College, in NYT on May 18, 1913

- Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

- John Bigelow Papers, The New York Public Library.

- The Correspondence of John Bigelow, Union College Archived 2015-10-29 at the Wayback Machine


Silicon Valley BART extension

# Silicon Valley BART extension

## Abstract

The Silicon Valley BART extension (officially VTA's BART Silicon Valley Extension Program, commonly known as BART Silicon Valley) is an ongoing effort to expand the Green and Orange Line service by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) into Santa Clara County via the East Bay from its former terminus at the Fremont station in Alameda County. Planned since at least 1981, the project has seven stations in three sequential phases.

The first phase, known as the Warm Springs Extension, was built by BART at a cost of $790 million, terminating at the new Warm Springs/South Fremont station. Construction began in 2009, and the extension and new station opened in 2017.

The $2.3-billion second phase, known as BART Silicon Valley Phase I or the Berryessa Extension, includes two new stations, Milpitas and Berryessa/North San José. Construction began in 2012, and the extension and its two new stations were inaugurated on June 12, 2020, while service for the public began on the next day. Many credited the former Mayor of San Jose, Ron Gonzales, with bringing this project to fruition.

The $12.2-billion third phase to downtown San Jose, known as BART Silicon Valley Phase II, remains unfunded. Targeted for completion in 2036, it would add three new subway stations south of Berryessa: 28th Street/Little Portugal, Downtown San José, Diridon, and a surface station in Santa Clara. Initial testing and preliminary construction activities began in January 2019.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) built the Berryessa Extension and intends to build the final downtown San Jose extension, but BART operates and maintains the completed portion of the extension and will also do so for the final phase when completed.

## Funding

Santa Clara County was originally planned to be part of the BART system, but local governments did not approve. Minor service at Palo Alto near San Mateo County had also been planned originally.

In 2000, Santa Clara County voters approved a 30-year half-cent sales tax increase to fund BART, which took effect in April 2006. To make up for a shortfall in projected federal funding, an increase in the sales tax by 0.125 percent was proposed if additional federal funding were secured. In the process of obtaining the federal funding necessary to build the BART extension, the Federal Transit Administration issued a "Not Recommended" rating in January 2004. The FTA was concerned about the ability of VTA to operate BART and other bus services at the same time. VTA continued to design BART and prepare the required environmental documents.

In 2006, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors placed a half-cent general sales tax increase for unspecified transportation projects along with other county services. It was advocated by supporters of the BART Silicon Valley extension and labor groups. The measure would have funded improvements to local hospitals, clinics, and transportation. On June 6, 2006, voters defeated the measure by a margin of 58% to 42%. In December 2006, the VTA board authorized $135 million in contract amendments to continue engineering work and environmental clearance on the extension, with a proposal to bring a tax increase to operate the BART extension in 2008.

By a two-thirds majority, Santa Clara County voters approved Measure B in November 2008, implementing a 30-year, 1/8-cent local sales tax dedicated solely to funding the operating and maintenance costs associated with the BART Silicon Valley extension. The 2008 Measure B sales tax took effect in July 2012.

The economy worsened in 2009, and the 2000 sales tax was projected to generate $7 billion — short of the originally expected $11 billion. As a consequence, the number of planned stations was reduced. In addition, the line from Berryessa to downtown San Jose was delayed until 2026, pushed back from 2025.

VTA awarded $770 million to Skanska-Shimmick-Herzog in 2011 for the first phase of the Berryessa Extension (Milpitas and Berryessa/North San Jose Stations), and the federal government granted $900 million for the project in 2012. Construction began the same year. It was scheduled to open in 2016.

For phase II, VTA sought funding from the federal New Starts program in 2016. A half-cent 30-year sales tax passed in the 2016 elections, to raise $6.0 to $6.5 billion with up to 25% of this (or $1.6 billion) for BART. VTA also sought $1.5 billion from New Starts, and $750 million from the California Cap and Trade program.

In 2018, VTA was awarded $2.6 billion for the project from the state's Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program funded by the 2017 gas tax bill. In August 2019, the VTA received $125 million from the FTA under a new accelerated funding program.

$140 million was included in the version of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 passed by the House of Representatives, but was dropped in the Senate.

In August 2024, the FTA made a commitment to grant $5 billion for Phase II. VTA will apply for a Full Funding Grant Agreement from the FTA after covering existing funding gaps.


Edward L. Keenan

# Edward L. Keenan

## Abstract

Edward Louis "Ned" Keenan Jr. (May 14, 1935 – March 9, 2015) was an American professor of history at Harvard University who specialized in medieval Russian history (especially the cultural and the political history of Muscovy). He became a prominent and controversial figure after conducting various studies that analyzed and ultimately disproved the authenticity of major resources in East Slavic history. Two of his books argue that two texts were not medieval at all, but seventeenth- and eighteenth-century, respectively: The Kurbskii-Groznyi Apocrypha: The Seventeenth-century Genesis of the "Correspondence" Attributed to Prince A. M. Kurbskii and Tsar Ivan IV (1971), and Joseph Dobrovsky and the Origins of the "Igor Tale" (2003) He eventually became one of the world's leading experts on medieval Russian history. He also wrote a number of seminal articles.

## Early life and education

Keenan was born in Buffalo, New York. In the fall of 1953, he entered Harvard and proceeded to "essentially waste freshman year". Eventually he decided to major in Russian, completing his A.B. degree in Slavic Languages and Literatures in 1957. He received his A.M. in Regional Studies in 1962, and his Ph.D. in History and Middle Eastern Studies in 1965.

## Career

Keenan served as an associate director (1973–1975) and then director (1976–1977) of Harvard's Russian Research Center. He was the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (1978–84) and the director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies over a considerable period (1981–1983, 1986–1987, 1993–1994). He also served as a director of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library in Washington DC.

## Work

Keenan was skeptical of the authenticity of texts that were attributed to medieval Russia. Two of these supposedly medieval texts were used to characterize the relations between Muscovites and the Mongol steppe. These texts were the Iarlyk of Akhmed-khan to Ivan III and Kazanskaia istoriia (The History of Kazan). He was also skeptical of the authenticity of the correspondence between Tsar Ivan IV and Prince Andrei Kurbskii. The Kurbskii-Groznyi Apocrypha: The Seventeenth-century Genesis of the 'Correspondence' Attributed to Prince A. M. Kurbskii and Tsar Ivan IV claims these letters were forgeries. Also, in a more recent study, Joseph Dobrovsky and the Origins of the 'Igor Tale ', Keenan argued the Igor Tale, traditionally thought to be from the twelfth century, was created in the nineteenth century by Bohemian linguist and scholar Josef Dobrovsky. This work has led to renewed interest and debate about the authenticity of the Igor Tale and has gained mixed reviews. Scholars who were critical of Keenan's views expressed their criticisms in articles, books, and reviews. Keenan was known for his witty and charismatic personality and was well versed in story-telling. He died in his home at Deer Isle, Maine, at the age of 79.

## Publications

- Josef Dobrovský and the Origins of the Igorʹ Tale (2004)

- The Kurbskii-Groznyi Apocrypha: the 17th-Century Genesis of the "Correspondence" Attributed to Prince A. M. Kurbskii and Tsar Ivan IV (1971)