Calling Joseph Mandelkern

  “Famous for his artistic eye,” the early-twentieth century theater agent Joseph Mandelkern liked to boast that he discovered the ethereal ...

  • The Wartburg Orphanage
    Postcard of the Wartburg Orphanage, around 1914 A few weeks ago I read a crushing article, “The Lost Children of Tuam,” in the New Yo...
  • The Unexpected Journey of Mary Rankin Cranston
      In New York City toward the end of the nineteenth century, Mary Rankin Cranston lodged in a boarding house on West 56 th Street and worke...
  • Chasing Charles Hemstreet
      Charles Hemstreet, 1900s Up in Buffalo, N.Y., Lake Erie narrows like a funnel into the Niagara River. Even before the Erie Canal opened in...